10 Challenges of Teaching | How to Overcome Them | Care Check (2024)

Teaching is a phenomenal career – it’s gratifying to make a difference in the youth. Yet, it’s also a career that comes with its challenges that many aren’t aware of.

To the everyday person, teaching children seems like a breeze. The misconception comes from the idea that teachers get school holidays and half days – but that’s far from the truth. In addition, while there are challenges in the classroom, outside of school hours, there are as many challenges.

While the rewards outweigh the challenges, it’s still important to understand teachers’ roles and the problems they overcome.

1. Understanding the different learning challenges amongst students

Regardless of the class or students you are teaching; there will always be a diverse set of learning abilities that demand your attention. Given that there are eight learning styles, a teacher has to think outside the box when it comes to meeting the needs of each of their learners.

Different teaching strategies satisfy and stimulate learners in various ways, and as a teacher, you’re required to put in extra hours and effort to meet their needs. However, once a teacher develops these strategies, they’re rewarded with empowered and thriving learners.

2. Student family problems & bullying

A key issue in education is students not having access to healthcare professionals, which results in students turning to teachers for emotional support and safeguarding regarding family issues and bullying. Of course, it’s fantastic to be there for your students, but it goes beyond a teacher’s scope and can often leave too much on your plate.

Because teachers work closely with vulnerable groups and children, they must complete an enhanced DBS check.

3. Lack of funding

One of the current educational issues facing teachers today is the lack of funding. Unfortunately, unless you are working at a private school, public or independent schools across the country often encounter issues with funding.

When schools encounter budget issues, the first step is to reduce pupil to teacher ratio, which directly impacts the scholars’ learning. Teachers face a growing number of students per class, which prevents them from providing crucial one-on-one attention. The result is lower student achievement and satisfaction.

4. Lack of effective communication

Every year, students are faced with the daunting task of communicating their needs to teachers. Some kids have a natural knack for it – they can talk about what they want engagingly and get what they need. But many find themselves struggling to communicate effectively with their teachers. As the wiser of the bunch, teachers need to build trust with their students and work on their communication skills every day.

You are building an effective communication channel not only between yourself and your students but also their parents.

5. Being encouraging and motivating under challenging times

The school year is dotted with exciting learning activities and adventures for pupils throughout the year. And most of the year is going to be spent bonding with your students.

But there will be times when you need to motivate your students through the treacherous parts of the year. For example, high school students are bombarded with exams and assignments that their futures depend on. Preschool students, on the other hand, have to overcome challenges such as pen grips and ball skills. Both age groups need a supporting shoulder from a teacher who they can trust.

6. Disciplining students

Discipling students is a challenge in the classroom and can be a timely, emotionally taxing process. While you’re guaranteed to have delightful children in your class, it’s not uncommon that you’ll encounter students who lack good manners and are disrespectful.
Disrespectful students can kill your love of teaching, but you also have to be careful in the way you go about dealing with disruptions and disciplining students. Ways to combat the lack of manners in your classroom is to implement justified consequences, get to the root of the problem, get the parents involved and create intervention plans.

7. Endless paperwork & extended working hours

If you remember anything from your school years, it’s the fact that teachers were always up to their necks in marking and grading papers. And sick days aren’t always an option. Unfortunately, marking papers isn’t a task performed during teaching hours, which often leaves teachers marking once the day has ended.

Paperwork involves accounting for the growth of your students by tracking their progress throughout the year. In addition to teaching notes, individual evaluations need to be recorded, and this is often a task that requires extended working hours.

8. Time Management

Teaching is a job that needs you to be on your feet all day, and there’s often little time for rest. So on top of being on your feet, you need to be keeping busy bees’ minds active.

Creating creative ways to keep little ones entertained is vital to making your job as a teacher easier. This is where planning and time management comes into play. As with high school scholars, time management involves designing a stimulating schedule and covers the year’s work without flying past content.

9. Pressure from school administrators

Teaching has become a super competitor industry which requires teachers to be thinking out of the box constantly. Competition applies to those in the school, with a lot of teachers feeling as though they need to achieve greater things each year
On top of the competition, teachers are solely responsible for a student’s development, growth indicators, and disciplinary factors; these factors put a lot of pressure on a teacher’s shoulders.

10. Burn out

It’s no secret that teaching can be a demanding profession. With the constant pressure to produce great results, it’s not uncommon for teachers to experience burnout. But how do you know when you’re suffering from the condition? Here are some signs of burnout in educators: feeling drained after working on lesson plans or grading papers, dreading going into work every day, wishing you could leave your job and find something else to do with your life.