Teaching has always been considered one of the most stable and admired professions. Defined schedules, long vacations and a vocation based on teaching mean that many young people continue to see it as a ideal job. However, the reality that many teachers in Spain live is far from that idyllic image. More and more people recognize that their daily lives are marked by emotional exhaustion, lack of respect and loss of motivation.
In the 2023-2024 academic year, Spain reached a historical record with 784,425 teachers in non-university centers. But behind that figure lies great discomfort. According to the latest report from the Santa María Foundation (SM), 36% of teachers claim to suffer a strong demotivationand one in three has experienced apathy or loss of enthusiasm for your work.
One of those teachers is Ana Lirioa high school teacher, who has gone viral after sharing in her social networks a sincere confession about the situation he experiences daily in his educational center. “In the last days I went to work wanting to cry in the face of helplessness,” he wrote, generating a wave of support among other colleagues who identified with his testimony.
“Yesterday, desperate, I told my 2nd and 3rd ESO students that I couldn’t take it anymore. They couldn’t imagine how horrible it was to try to speak, to explain, and to not be allowed to do so. I ask you to listen to me, I beg you to please let me teach the class. They start to laugh, they laugh at me“, he said in a publication that quickly went viral.
Ana’s message is not the only one. According to the CSIF union, seven out of ten Spanish teachers acknowledge having suffered some type of aggression by the students. In most cases they are not hitting or pushing, but rather verbal attacks, ridicule or behavior that seeks to humiliate the teacher.
“I go to school with clothes that are as neutral as possible so as not to give them reasons to laugh at me or disrespect me further. Every day, there are 25 teenagers pointing at me and laughing at me“, denounces the teacher, who confesses that every night he dreams of not having to go back to school. “My goal is none other than to make a living in another way,” he admits.
In the comments to his publication, dozens of teachers shared similar experiences: from attacks to continuous mockery within the classroom. Many admit to having thought about abandon teachinga decision that more and more professionals end up making.
Experts warn that this problem is not new, but it has worsened in recent years. mental health of the students has become a determining factor, psychologists warn of a worrying increase in disorders such as anxiety, depression or ADHDwhich can directly affect behavior in class.
Added to this is an educational system that, according to teachers, has been reducing its level of demand, which generates a lack of effort, frustration and loss of respect towards the figure of the teacher. Before the teacher was an authority figure, now many students see the teacher as someone to rebel against. Meanwhile, thousands of teachers like Ana Lirio continue trying to keep their vocation alive amid the chaos.
