The Hard Truth Being a Preschool Teacher

Working as a preschool teacher for 4 years, sharing some hard truths about being one.

1) A lot of us are burnt out & want out, but due to our “niche” qualification, it is hard for us to find a job elsewhere. We are jack of all trades. We do the admin stuff, plan events, timeline and arrange logistics. We are customer facing and we also act as liaison for stakeholders like parents and community.

But truth is, employers dont look or value these skills as transferable to roles than industrial experiences, even in slightly more relatable industries/roles e.g. customer service, admin and events.

2) There are few parents that preschool teachers would go extra mile for, ended up reporting the slightest matter to the principal, which really disappoints us preschool teachers a lot. It is those parents with child that’s more challenging, has the least trust on us. Little do these parents know, our attention is placed on their child the most. Yet they trust us the least when the slightest incident/miscommunication happens.

3) Since the rise of abuse case in preschools, cctv has been made mandatory. as a human being, we feel being watched all the time, which is mentally draining. There will be people who will say “If you’re not guilty you won’t be scared. Think about it, as humans we don’t perform 100% all the time. But for us, when incidents happen, even that slightest moment we are caught in daze, we will be in trouble. Honestly, is there not a moment you caught yourself away from work after hours of looking at the screen?

4) When the children got injured under our care, preschool teachers are to blame. Even if they fall down themselves at times, parents would demand our explanation on how it happened (sometimes we don’t even see it? because it was too sudden) When we got hurt from the children e.g. from too much carrying, toys dropped onto our toes, head bumped to chin when the child is sitting on our lap, child hitting and kicking us etc, parents are not even aware of anything?

5) Non supportive principal to staff could be principals that expect preschool teachers to fork out their own money to buy materials for lessons, events or feel bad to claim OT = bad mental well-being of the teachers. yet parents won’t be aware of this as the principal could serve and attend the parents very well. yet we preschool teachers have to swallow all these & perform our duties well.

6) there will be ads or post on news platforms that features inspirational preschool teachers, but not all are real in reality. I have an ex colleague who had been featured on straits time but his part of speech were all said just because these interviews are being supervised by the principal or management, so preschool teachers being interviewed could only say good things.

Any preschool teachers here on lemon8 can relate? really kudos to those teachers who have worked more than 10 years and above!!!

Nevertheless, there are happy moments as a preschool teacher that i’ve experienced, which i’ll like to share and leave it for next time 😊