How (un)happy teachers are

Date: 12.03.2026

We asked over 1000 of you how you felt about a range of professsional issues in our end of year (2025) survey. Here's a brief, fairly bleak summary of what you told us.

Professional Recognition

There is a significant gap between how you feel valued by the community versus the government.

Society: Only about 30% of teachers feel valued by society, while over 69% disagree.
Government: Sentiment is even lower here, with 75% of you feeling the government does not value the profession.
Parents: This is the brightest spot for recognition; 44% of you feel valued by parents, though 55% still feel this is lacking.

Job Satisfaction & Work-Life Balance

While more than half of you (59%) report being generally satisfied with your jobs, the "day-to-day" specifics tell a more challenging story.

High Satisfaction Areas

Learning & Development: 64% are satisfied with growth opportunities.
Career Progression: 59% feel positive about their advancement path.

Low Satisfaction Areas

Workload: This remains a primary pain point, with 77% of teachers dissatisfied with their overall workload.
Work-Life Balance: 74% of you are dissatisfied with your current balance.
Pay & Flexible Working: Roughly 63–65% of respondents expressed dissatisfaction with both their pay/benefits and the opportunities for flexible working.

Future Outlook

While opinion is divided, you are generally more hopeful about your individual school than the national system.

Your School: Around half (52%) are optimistic about the future of their specific institution.
Your Career: 43% feel optimistic about their own future as a teacher, though a larger group (57%) remains pessimistic.
National System: Optimism drops significantly at the national level. Over 80% of you are pessimistic about the future of the teaching profession and schools nationally

NOTE The sample was an even split of primary vs secondary state school teachers in England. As in all our surveys, we paid participants for taking part to help minimise any bias in the response.

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