Teacher Fears: What Teachers Say They’re Really Afraid Of
Teacher fears run well past first-day nerves. In one teacher's informal social-media thread, respondents named job loss, contract non-renewal, abuse from students and parents, medical episodes without breaks, and a retirement they can't afford. Those replies are an unrepresentative sample, not a survey. This is her account of them.
This piece explores what's really ruminating in the hearts and minds of the people in this profession. This exploration will consider the things that teachers are often hesitant to discuss or write about for fear of rocking the boat. I guess I should be concerned, too. Instead, I find myself more concerned for my peers and colleagues. I posted a simple question on social media to get some responses about the things that weigh most heavily on the minds of teachers. What I got in return was a much more complicated answer than I'd ever imagined I'd receive….
Mama Knows Best But Maybe Not As Much Now That You're An Adult
My daughter lives in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
It is a region of vast natural beauty and feels like it's a million miles from anywhere. In this season's icy, snowy weather, the drive can take forEVER. This time, 20 hours.
"Fly," you say? Ch'a. A round trip ticket can range somewhere between a car payment and a mortgage payment. On short notice, it can be a car, house, AND boat payment.
Weather played a role in decision-making between flying and driving.
Who wants to suck up their ticket prices, travel time, and absorb stress when Old Man Winter may make driving a thriftier ticket both time-wise and price-wise?
I'm afraid of delay. It makes me so…late.
Oh, and I was worried that the government would shut down again and no air traffic controllers would be in the towers to safely land my flight on the tarmac of the frozen tundra.
Anyway, it was one of those rare instances that we mothers of adult children crave: my daughter called me and told me she NEEDED me.
She NEEDED me to be at her house to support her during a specific life event.
Are ya kidding me?? Heck yeah I'll be there!!
It isn't often that my kids need me anymore…and so I decided to put aside my fear of driving in snow and ice, load up the SUV, put my husband at the helm, and head North to the frozen forests frosted by weather only a Michigan Yooper can love.
It's not so much a fear as it is an "I've lived in that mess for 49 years, and now that I don't live there, I'm pretty much over it."
Sunshine, please. Seventy-degree temps, please.
Now I live in Tornado Alley. As the name implies, life here, especially in warmer months, has the ability to elicit true fear in many.
Me? Nah.
I'm a Teacher. There isn't much that scares me anymore.
Well, maybe the thought of a delayed paycheck, but that's really about it.
It means I SHOULD be afraid enough to be mindful of all safety precautions when bad rainstorms and tornadoes are all around me.
It means a healthy sense of fear should reign so that I have preparations made for where to and how to safely ride out a storm; have some stored food, water, and First Aid provisions; have cash on-hand; keep my gas tank above half; have chargers for laptops and cell phones; and have clothes.
But Honesty Is the Best Policy
If I'm being honest, what IS a fear for me is that someone else will be going too fast on the snowy, icy roads and cause issues for ME. Kicking up the slushy, ice/snow/rain blend that pelts windows like bullets against metal does nothing to make my soul happy.
But mostly, I don't want to think my kids will stop needing me altogether…even if it is just for the occasional question, recipe, or small piece of wisdom.
For some people, the fear is paralyzing. For others, maddening. For me, it makes me want to curl up and take a nap.
But if I'm going to see and support my daughter, I must keep fear in check.
I must remove the power that disdain and fear of Winter hold for me.
Fear: The Other White Meat
Fear.
Oddly enough, fear has a place in our lives.
Healthy fear really is A Thing.
I see a bear. Fear causes me to respond.
If one drinks before they drive, fear causes them to call a cab or a rideshare service.
A toddler is too close to a stove top full of boiling pots. Fear causes the parent to respond.
If I see a snake, I run (because I am a big scardy cat).
If my bank account gets below a certain dollar amount, I feel a sense of discomfort and fear that if something goes wrong, I won't be able to cover the expense.
It's hard for me to admit that I really do have a laundry list of fears, but it doesn't seem they're so unreasonable, nor do I live my life in worry that these things will happen.
Who wants their hot water tank to die or their furnace to be on the fritz?
Who is saying, "Oh, yay!! The whole HVAC unit needs replaced! Goodie! I get to spend $9,000!!" Uh, no one.
Anxious for your car to poop out? Can't wait to need to be rushed by ambulance to the hospital?
Want to step into a hole and break your ankle? Need a date to join you for signing insurance papers because your house burned down?
Get my drift?
Fear Makes Us Smarter
My very dear friend has a son with significant special needs. Charlie will never live independently. As a non-verbal ‘tween-ager' with Cerebral Palsy and Autistic tendencies, Charlie's parents were smart enough to sit down with an attorney who specializes in Special Needs Trusts.
For Charlie's parents, fear for his future care needs drove them to learn as much as they could. In doing so, they developed an actionable plan which, hopefully, alleviated some of their concerns.
Charlie's mom, a college friend of mine named Samantha, was told she is Diabetic. Cardiac issues, neuropathy, vision issues, and feeling "gross" made Sam afraid she would die very young so preparing for Charlie's future made sense to her.
Samantha shared that after Charlie's birth, his diagnoses, and the realities of life helped Sam begin to find comfort in the one thing she believed she could control: food.
In food, there were no disappointments about anything-only the simple, sugary, savory, happy simplicity while she was enjoying her food.
Nothing else mattered. Her world became, for a few minutes, a world of peace, calm, and happiness.
Eventually, however, her blissful reverie would be jolted out from under her, and she would be sucked back into a world full of unknowns. The unknowns were too painful.
After a few years of her life with Charlie, things began to find their ebb and flow.
She read, she learned, she inquired, she became informed.
Samantha felt like she was becoming an expert on all things Charlie and in short order, recognized she needed to be around for him for as long as possible.
The fear she felt about NOT being with Charlie caused her to take stock in her life and in her choices. Fear-and determination-drove her to lose 100 pounds.
Did I mention that Samantha is also a Teacher?
Fears at school. Fears at home.
When You Think You Can Count On Others But You Really Can't
A former colleague used to come ask me if she could do what she liked to call an "idiot check." She would explain a situation, share what her response was, then ask if that seemed reasonable. Generally, these "idiot checks" were done to make sure her responses were reasonable and to be sure she wasn't being, well, an idiot.
The proviso in being her Idiot Check Buddy was that the buddy had to agree to not pass judgment if her response/reaction was unreasonable.
My proviso to her was that I would not pass judgment, but if her reaction seemed ridiculous, she had to be willing to consider ALL of my feedback before she did anything.
We also agreed that what was said between us would remain between US.
You know…kept in confidence. Everyone has to have a person with whom they can speak and share without worrying they'll hear about it from another party later on.
What was said in our offices remained in our offices.
For us, it always worked well.
Application Of a Strategy: Sometimes It Works, and Sometimes It Burns
In the years after we both moved on from our shared work environment, I continued to use her strategy.
It would take me time to suss out just the RIGHT person to be my partner in this effort. It takes time to get to know new colleagues and their personalities.
But then one day, I got hauled into the Principal's office. He'd "heard" that I was discussing a particular topic, and it was his opinion that I had no business doing so.
While he was talking, in my brain, all I could think of was, "Oh, great! Now do I not only know that I'll be thrown under the bus by someone I thought I could trust, but now I also have nowhere to really discuss/vet/vent. FANTASTIC!! I feel the wheels of the bus rolling over me because I've been thrown under it!"
The Principal went on and on sharing his viewpoint about why I was wrong for, essentially, even having an opinion in the first place.
He went on about how it wasn't my responsibility as a classroom Teacher to worry about the Math program being purchased for our building.
Uh, okay. But I was, at the time, the Intervention Team Leader. I felt like my opinion did matter, but because it hadn't been solicited, I was going to simply share it with a colleague-who was also on the team.
I wanted to get it out of my system, and it felt good to say the words to someone I thought I could trust.
When I shared my thoughts with her, she had indicated her agreement with my position-and that would be the end of that.
Sold out.
I'd been SOLD OUT by a confidante.
All I'd wanted to do was vent my opinion and drop the matter.
Burned.
My Principal was right; clearly my opinion did not matter.
It wasn't going to stop me from having opinions. It was also not going to stop me from wanting to find like-minded colleagues in my midst whose true goal and passion were to better educate the children in our care.
What I learned from that unintentional Idiot Check session with my Administrator was that I would ONLY offer my opinion if it was asked for.
If it was solicited, I was going to wrap it up in Eduspeak.
But I was FOR SURE going to offer my opinion.
It would go a little something like this: "Okay Mary, we've heard all the information about topic x. What do you think?"
"Are you asking for my opinion?"
"Well, yes."
"Okay, my perspective is that we have done _______. We have seen _________ results. Will doing it the way being presented create improvement, or will it cause us to remain status quo? Or, maybe even make the situation worse?"
That formula works. It works EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
As an added bonus, here's another formula I've developed over time for when I need something and can't seem to get through all the proverbial red tape for which Education is so famous…ready? It's a real mind-bender:
"Hello, ___________. I have a problem, and I need your help to solve it."
No lie. It also works every time. EVERY. TIME.
It doesn't matter what the situation may be. People want to help. Well, most people.
But what I have also come to learn is that people are so fearful of getting invested in the business of supporting others, they are either too afraid to help or they are so scarred from the injuries they've sustained while helping others in our profession that they will either sell you out or maybe…MAYBE…they will support you but you're so skittish from all the burn marks you've accrued that you're too hesitant to trust again.
Why Fear?
After posing that very simple question on a Teacher forum on social media, there were over 60 responses within the first 20 minutes. By day's end, several hundred.
Teachers have a metric crap ton of fears, and I had definitely asked the right question at the right time.
It was also clear in the responses that not only do they have fears, but they are fearful about sharing their fears with workmates for reasons too many to enumerate.
Another fascinating fact: in reading through the screen names, it appeared as though all respondents were females.
As I read through the comments, tears filled my eyes. We are a profession laden with reasonable, rational, recognizable realities which elicit concerns so deep in our gut that we are SHAKING IN OUR SHOES.
We're concerned for our safety. For the safety of our students. We worry about our finances, our futures, our abilities. We are good people who want to do our best but can't seem to isolate the one barrier which, if removed, would allow us to simply TEACH.
We also struggle to find a confidante.
We live in a world of the Mean Girl.
What are we all to do with these burdens?
Here are some of the responses I got when I posted the question:
- Fear of job loss.
- Abuse/harassment from staff/bullying/lying.
- Abuse/harassment by administration.
- Fear of peers harming students.
- Abuse from kids.
- Verbal abuse/physical abuse from parents.
- Fear of failure.
- Fear of personal life attack/being outed for sexuality.
- Fear of not being able to recover from illness/surgery appropriately.
- Fear of a medical episode.
- Fear of a school attack/assault.
- Fear of not being able to pay off student loans.
- Fear of parents/society losing respect for the field.
- Fear of no contract renewal.
- Fear of administration taking parents' side to avoid legal ramifications.
- Fear of low assessment scores.
- Fear of physical implications of the job stress.
- Fear of not doing paperwork correctly and losing job.
- Fear of not meeting IEP goals/objectives because of lack of resources/time.
- Fear of screwing up record keeping.
- Fear of missing something relevant and required.
- Fear of missing out on my own child's events and activities because of my work's expectations.
- Fear of quality of life in retirement years due to cuts in pay/retirement benefits.
- Fear of kidney/bladder disease because of limited/no breaks.
- Fear of not being able to meet the financial needs of their own family.
- Fear of theft of classroom supplies purchased from their own money.
- Fear of no support from administration.
- Fear of sharing relevant information with administration, then being treated like a troublemaker.
- Fear of not having friends at work.
- Fear of the fact I shut my door and do my job to avoid the drama and then paying the price for that decision in my evaluation.
I promise you, there were so many more…
If you recognized yourself anywhere in that list, you are in a lot of company.
Frequently Asked Questions
What do teachers say they are most afraid of?
The teacher fears named in this informal social-media thread clustered around job security and money rather than classroom nerves. Respondents named job loss, non-renewal of a contract, unpaid student loans, and cuts to pay and retirement benefits. Safety came up repeatedly too, for themselves and for their students. Several also raised not meeting a student's IEP goals when resources or time run short, which is a worry about working conditions rather than a claim about what any one teacher is legally obliged to deliver. None of this tells you how common any of these fears are, because a self-selected thread cannot measure that.
Is it normal to still feel fear after years in the classroom?
The author is a veteran teacher and says plainly that she carries a laundry list of fears. Some of the concerns in this thread read as the worries of people with time in the job, like wondering how a closed classroom door will look in an evaluation. The thread does not record how long any respondent had been teaching, so that is an impression rather than a finding.
Why is it hard for teachers to talk about this at school?
Two reasons show up in these replies. Some respondents said they expect to be treated as a troublemaker for raising a concern with administration. Others described being burned by a colleague who did not keep a confidence, which is exactly what happened to the author when an opinion she shared privately reached her principal.
Can fear ever be useful for a teacher?
That is the argument this piece makes. Fear about a storm produces stored water and a charged phone. Fear about a child's future produces a special needs trust and an attorney who knows how to write one. The distinction drawn here is between fear that prompts a plan and fear that only produces dread.
Are there limits on keeping a colleague's confidence?
Yes, and this matters before you agree to be anyone's sounding board. Teachers and other school employees are mandated reporters in most states, so a promise of confidentiality cannot cover suspected child abuse or neglect, and depending on state law and district policy, it may not cover harassment, discrimination, or threats to student safety either. In most states, telling your principal or counselor does not by itself satisfy the reporting duty. The categories, timelines, and the agency you report to all vary, so check your own state statute and your district policy rather than a colleague's understanding of them. Venting about a math curriculum is one thing. A disclosure that triggers a reporting obligation is another.
- What respondents named was material - this thread's replies centered on job loss, contract non-renewal, student loans, and cuts to pay and retirement, not stage fright.
- An informal thread is not a measurement - the replies show what these particular teachers said, and nothing about how widespread any of it is.
- Fear can produce a plan - the same instinct that stocks a storm kit is what sent one family to an attorney who writes special needs trusts.
- A confidante is not guaranteed - a single betrayed confidence changed how the author has shared a professional opinion ever since.
- Confidentiality has legal limits - school employees are mandated reporters in most states, and a private agreement between colleagues cannot override a reporting duty.
Some of what's on that list has a credential answer and some of it doesn't. The sponsored programs on this page include online and hybrid MEd and specialist options built for teachers already carrying a full teaching load. Whether any given degree adds an endorsement, opens a different role, or moves you on a salary schedule depends on your state's educator-licensing rules and your district's contract, so confirm a program meets your state's requirements before you enroll.
- The Pros and Cons of Being a Principal: An Honest Look - July 29, 2021
- Special Needs Prom: How One Student Led His School’s Grand March - April 20, 2021
- Behavior Management Training for Teachers: What to Ask For - October 9, 2020
