Teacher quits education blaming poor parenting for out-of-control kids

Indiana Russell got into teaching because she loved watching kids learn, but when the job became more about parenting than teaching, she had enough.

Out-of-control kids and rude parents are among the reasons Indiana Russell, 24, is not returning to school on Monday.

Ms Russell, from Modbury, said when she started teaching at an Adelaide Hills public high school in 2022, straight out of university, she loved it.

But now Ms Russell will work in administration at an engineering firm, having quit education before the holidays.

It comes as Education Department data reveals double the number of teachers are quitting the public system compared to five years ago.

Data from 2023-24 revealed 288 teachers left public schools, compared with just 120 in 2019-20.

Indiana Russell quit teaching after two years due to stress and anxiety. She said parents don't teach manners anymore. Picture: RoyVPhotography

During her time as a teacher, class behaviour started to escalate to regular shouting and swearing, making her dread coming to school.

“I had kids who would scream at someone whenever they wanted to or they would kick a door open to walk into the class,” said the former maths teacher, who taught years 7 to 11.

Ms Russell said she started to feel anxious every day.

“You don’t know what they’re going to do or what they’re going to say,” she said.

“They don’t make it feel like it’s a safe environment to be in.

Parents are to blame, Ms Russell said, and often she did “more parenting than teaching most days”.

In one incident during her first year, Ms Russell described a parent yelling at her because her son failed an assignment.

Some kids thought they would pass “for writing their name on a work sheet”, she said.

“Kids are used to having their parents say yes to everything they want, [and] are then told no by a teacher and they don’t know how to deal with it,” she said.

“It’s really evident when you speak to parents and they have some of the same behaviours and I can see where the kids learnt it from.

“I get the abuse and the swearing and disrespect from the kids because the parents don’t want to deal with that.”

Ms Russell was also working 60 to 70 hours a week and “just keeping on top of what needed to be done”.

She would often sacrifice her weekend to develop lesson plans and complete admin work.

“I didn’t really have much of a social life because I didn’t have time and I was exhausted all of the time,” she said.

An Education Department spokeswoman said the school took the issues Ms Russell raised seriously and “took action regarding a classroom issue to support her”.

The spokeswoman also said the department is “making significant investments to support early career teachers as keeping educators in the teaching profession is a key focus for us”.

Early career teachers have access to a two-year induction into the profession, which includes mentoring in the first year, key resources, ongoing check-ins and professional learning.

Measures to address workload were also included in the latest enterprise agreement for public school teachers, with a one-hour reduction in teaching time each week and the right to disconnect.