Victoria's teachers reveal what they love and hate about the classroom

NO respect, bad manners - and that's just the parents. Teachers reveal what really irks them about our education system in our exclusive survey.

Teachers say the bad behaviour they see in students reflects their home life and society as a whole.

NO RESPECT. Bad manners. And that's just the parents.

More than 800 teachers told us what they really think about their pupils, parents and the education system - and how it should change.

This is some of what they had to say:

"Focus on the 3 rs, get students to care about other students, parents to establish good behaviour at home and model it. Stop praising kids for everything they do, let them stuff up and learn from mistakes. Parents need to show kids how to give back to society and value this."

"Love teaching children. Dislike being told how to teach by 'experts' who have spent little time in the classroom!!"

"Our system at the moment is not helping our young people. Disrespectful and hateful students are coming through, not because of their schools, but because of how society is progressing. We need more funding, more support and a lot more training. Teaching should be an apprenticeship like course, rather than a university course so teachers receive a huge emphasis on practical teaching. The expectation on teachers needs to be reduced as well."

"There is little respect for teachers in Victoria, even though we are charged with bringing up other people's children. There are too many excuses made for poor behaviour and no support from parents. In order to improve, education needs to get back to basics, stop focusing so much on ICT, and learn to read and write by hand. The education minister should actually be a teacher, because, unless you are one, you've got no idea what it is like."

"More money to finish all building requirements. A campaign to make parents more responsible for the upbringing of their children. If society needs help to improve the knowledge of children, the response is 'Get the schools to do it'."

"More accountability for staff who do not pull their weight and more pay for teachers!"

"Teachers are not able to honestly tell students/parents how their child is under performing and parents are often unaware until their child fails year 12. Many parents refuse to allow their child to repeat a year, thus disadvantaging the child's future."

"I thoroughly love my job in teaching and feel very privileged to work with both staff and students every day! Having an impact on student learning and outcomes is a highlight!"

"I love teaching and the impact I have on my students. When I no longer enjoy it, I will find another profession. I believe the teaching colleges and courses are not teaching teachers what they need to know in real life. How can you study to be a teacher online??? Are you kidding? There should only be teaching degrees, 4 years with rounds in each of those 4 years. This is how I studied at Victoria College Rusden."

"Let teachers teach and relax on the paper work - you need a permission form to sneeze."

"Parents need to be required to support teachers rather than criticise them and blame the teachers for the faults in their children. Parents of problem children (i.e. disruptive or poorly behaved) should have to attend compulsory parenting classes to learn appropriate parenting skills."

"I've had a wonderful time as a teacher. I have observed children become more knowledgeable and savvy with the assistance of new technology in the classroom and in their daily life. Sadly I have also witnessed the breakup of family life and it's impact on young children their happiness and well being."

"Fewer teachers on contracts, scrap all this bull**** about performance pay - as if one teacher in one year is the cause of students doing well/not well. Absolutely absurd. More money for essential things like fixing the holes in our roof."

"Ironically, I am too busy writing reports to spend the time answering this question!"

"I would like to be able to just TEACH without all the extra administrative duties. Naplan has placed incredible pressure on schools and teachers to perform. Teachers are not recognised for the extra time given to the job - report writing, a week on camp and being available 24 hrs a day for the camp week. Parents seem to just assume that it's OK. Overtime is not recognised - hours back at school for parent teacher nights, school concerts etc."

"Teach parents to respect teachers' fair and professional decisions. Have the media WRITE MORE POSITIVE REAL TEACHER STORIES!!!!"

"I teach because I love helping children learn. I believe more time needs to be spent learning how our English language works so that children can read, write and spell more effectively."

"It is much harder then I thought it would be, emotionally taxing and too many out-of-hours work. Stress is a high factor. I'm planning to change professions and work in a library - much less stressful."

"It is a great career and we all should encourage more and more capable people to also take up the challenge."

"Better support from parents, improved parenting skills so can come to kinder/school better prepared to learn and progress."

"In the last five years the number of children presenting with eye problems and sleep issues has increased dramatically due to social media and technology addictions. ALL my colleagues want to return to basics in the classroom, but we have to comply with curriculum that is focused on emulating poor performing countries such as America. When are we going to wake up this reality? WE WANT to teach the 3 Rs. WE WANT to write personal, meaningful comments on your children's reports, but are prevented from doing so. Thank you for the opportunity to voice our opinion Herald Sun. About time."

"It is a privilege and a pleasure to be a teacher. Every day is a new beginning and evokes laughter, tears, joy and sadness - a bit like Melbourne's weather and I wouldn't miss it for the world."

"The profession needs to be valued and given the respect it deserves. The idea of "failing" needs to be added back into the system and students need to understand that they need to complete the work at their level to progress through the school; rather than being allowed to do virtually nothing and advancing all the way to Yr 11."

"There needs to be more discipline and students must learn to be more respectful and cooperative of their teachers and a development of a community spirit with a greater involvement of parents in their children's education."

"We are getting tied up with paperwork and administration and not teaching the kids!"

"I love teaching but it is becoming an increasingly difficult job in a society that does not respect nor value teachers or education. The media plays a significant role in the opinions that many people have of teachers as lazy, unproductive and ungrateful. I also believe that more parents need to step up and parent their children and also take responsibility for their child's actions and behaviours. I am sick of hearing that bad behaviour and poor performance are the fault of teachers."

"It is a fantastic profession and if the state government would value state education more highly it would be even a better job."

"Exhausted, too much pressure and stress, lack of respect of profession by parents, lack of respect by kids, lack of discipline and control of kids by parents, enormous workload."

"The biggest problem is not money, it is administration. I would never encourage any high-performing student to become a teacher as it would be wasting your career."

"There needs to be a greater expectation for people to be responsible for their own behaviour. People need to develop self-respect, respect for others and respect for authority. Too many people make excuses for not being responsible citizens and/or parents. Many people have lost their values and no longer value their lives or the opportunities living in Australia offers; they have forgotten the sacrifices made by past generations and too many people have materialistic outlooks, condoning any means in pursuit of the almighty dollar."

"Would be great if policy makers came & worked in a school for a week to see what it's really like! Unfortunately some of the fun has been lost."

"I love being a teacher. I get great enjoyment despite the long hours, stress and admin duties. Schools are not businesses thus government should stop expecting schools to perform to targets. Our clients (students) are varied and we cannot "dump" so called low achieving, faulty, wired differently, homeless, abused, challenged etc students away."

"To be more effective, less time needs to be applied to sport, drug education, bike education, values learning, discipline and every other aspect of social education that parents no longer accept the responsibility of teaching their children. Too much is required of teachers to create civilised human beings who follow conventional values. Parents need to accept responsibility for their role in this aspect of their children's education and allow teachers more time to teach the essentials."

"Education for parents. Parental responsibility for their child's actions."

"Allow schools to expel students who are highly disruptive and violent. More responsibility placed on parents to socialise their children. Greater discipline, reports that actually say something. Less risk aversion placed on schools not to offend parents whose children are uncontrollable."

"Early intervention for students with behavioural or learning issues. As an experienced Prep teacher I knew after one week, children with major issues. These children are now in Grade Six with the same issues!!! Pay teachers more to survive the jungle of northern suburban schools. Some years teaching Prep my achievement was they could now blow their nose, relate to others in positive manner, sit down for more than five minutes and these were enormous achievements but wouldn't get me a bonus based on results."

"Being a teacher is a rewarding career. However I am frustrated with colleagues who are lazy, ignorant and quite often selfish in the way they conduct themselves. Many staff do not dress or act professionally, yet we call ourselves a 'profession' - it's a joke. In summary, teacher quality needs to be improved. Its about culture, not teacher training. No amount of PD's will improve staff culture, or the culture of the profession. It needs to be a systematic approach to all schools."

"Being a teacher is a marvellous profession if only we were able to concentrate on teaching the children. Too much paperwork to keep principals and others in higher authorities are strangling teachers and taking away from the valuable learning and teaching time we have with students."

"I do like parts of it. Society has changed and so has the nature of our jobs. I still believe fundamentally that my classroom is still my domain and when students enter it they become responsible for their own learning. I will help them in many ways, but I will not do it all for them. Resilience, patience and mutual respect/courtesy with a can do attitude to life is my goal for all of my students."

"Strip back all the extras and stick to the basics. Parents expect that school will do everything!!!"

"Re-introduce corporal punishment. No computers until High School. Get rid of puberty education. Ability to keep underperforming students in the same year instead of automatic promotion. Compulsory to contact VicPol over any violent incidents at school. Get rid of the greedy Teachers Union, who continue to anger parents, and disrupt children's learning, by regularly striking for better pay. WE GET ENOUGH MONEY ALREADY!"

* This is an edited snapshot of responses from 862 primary and secondary educators across all sectors, conducted by the Herald Sun in December last year and analysed by Galaxy Research