Teachers exhausted by communication with children's parents

Teachers in Czechia consider communication with the schoolchildren's parents more and more exhausting, and for most of them, it is more demanding than that with students, according to a research by the SYRI National Institute.

The SYRI researchers were interested in how teachers perceive work skills and the requirements that influence them. The study showed that the demands often went beyond the professional sphere, leading to conflicts between work and family, which further aggravated the situation of teachers.

"Teachers express concern about their unhealthy lifestyle that is affected by physical, social and organisational work demands as well as the work environment. For example, teachers have complained about the lack of time to rest during the teaching day," said Petr Hlaďo from SYRI and Masaryk University in Brno.

Communication with parents, which is often more challenging for Czech teachers than working with students, also contributes to stress. "Although teachers have tried to understand parents, the interview results have revealed that the relationship between teachers and parents has deteriorated in recent years, leading to increased demands on communication. Some teachers perceived a lack of respect for their authority from parents who try to excessively interfere with their autonomy in teaching," Hlaďo said.

"In our study, we have observed that the parents' attitudes toward teachers contribute to interpersonal conflicts that subsequently lead to job stress, threatening feelings of professional inadequacy, and erosion of professional identity," Hlaďo said.

Read more: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-024-02811-1