Educational Statistics

 

Difficulties Faced by Elementary School Teachers

in Responding to Parents:

From the School Education Survey

 

 

 

Author: Kum, Jong-Ye (Research Fellow, KEDI)

 

 

 

This issue of ‘Education Statistics’ examines the difficulties that elementary school teachers experience in responding to parents, based on the findings of the KEDI School Education Monitoring Survey (KEMS). Conducted by the Korean Educational Development Institute, KEMS was launched in 2023 with elementary schools and subsequently expanded to middle schools in 2024 and high schools in 2025 to investigate experiences and perceptions related to school education. The teacher survey includes a section on difficulties encountered in teachers’ job performance. This article presents the results for five items related to interactions with parents, comparing responses by school level and years of teaching experience, and also examines teachers’ job satisfaction.

 

 

 

[Figure 1] presents responses from elementary school teachers (2023) and middle school teachers (2024) to the same survey items regarding ‘difficulties in responding to parents.’ Overall, elementary school teachers reported relatively high levels of difficulty across multiple aspects of interactions with parents.

 

In particular, 68.9% of elementary school teachers agreed that ‘(2) they worry about complaints or reports filed by parents,’ representing the highest level of agreement among the five items. In addition, 49.4% agreed that ‘(3) they feel powerless in their relationships with parents,’ 53.4% reported ‘(4) feeling emotionally pressured in their relationship with parents,’ and 51.6% agreed that ‘(5) conflicts with parents often have a negative impact on their work.’ Among elementary school teachers, the proportion of positive responses (“Agree” or “Strongly agree”) exceeded that of negative responses for all five items. In contrast, among middle school teachers, negative responses accounted for approximately 40% for four of the five items, with the exception of ‘(2) concerns about complaints or reports,’ exceeding the proportion of positive responses. These findings suggest that elementary school teachers perceive greater difficulties in responding to parents than do middle school teachers.

 

 

■ Difficulties in Responding to Parents by Years of Teaching Experience

 

 

[Figure 2] presents elementary school teachers’ perceptions of difficulties in responding to parents by years of teaching experience. Teachers were classified into four groups: 5 years or less, 6-10 years, 11-15 years, and 16 years or more. Overall, all experience groups reported relatively high levels of agreement regarding difficulties in responding to parents. For some survey items, teachers with mid-career experience reported even greater levels of burden than those with fewer years of experience.

 

In particular, the item ‘(2) I worry about complaints or reports filed by parents’ received high levels of agreement across all experience groups. More than 70% of teachers with 5 years or less, 6-10 years, and 11-15 years of experience agreed with this statement, while 61.6% of teachers with 16 years or more of experience also agreed. In contrast, for the item ‘(1) I do not know how to respond to parents’ demands and expectations,’ teachers with 16 years or more of experience showed a higher proportion of negative than positive responses, suggesting that approaches to interacting with parents may differ to some extent according to teaching experience. For items such as ‘(3) I feel powerless in my relationships with parents,’ ‘(4) I feel emotionally pressured in my relationships with parents,’ and ‘(5) Conflicts with parents often have a negative impact on my work,’ relatively higher levels of agreement were observed among teachers with 6-10 years or 11-15 years of teaching experience. Nevertheless, across all experience groups, positive responses remained substantially higher than negative responses.

 

These findings suggest that difficulties in responding to parents are not limited to novice teachers who are still gaining experience or adjusting to the profession. Rather, they represent a common challenge shared by teachers across a wide range of career stages.

 

 

 

■ Difficulties in Responding to Parents and Elementary School Teachers’ Job Satisfaction

 

 

 

 

The difficulties experienced in responding to parents may also be associated with elementary school teachers’ job satisfaction. To explore this relationship, job satisfaction was examined among teachers who reported particularly high levels of burden in their interaction with parents.

 

Among all respondents, 1,752 teachers (31.4%) agreed (“Agree” or “Strongly agree”) with all five survey items related to interactions with parents, indicating that they experienced a high level of burden. Among all respondents, the proportion expressing job satisfaction (39.1%) exceeded the proportion expressing job dissatisfaction (30.6%). However, among teachers who reported a high level of burden in responding to parents, 50.2% indicated that they were dissatisfied with the teaching profession. In addition, the average job satisfaction score among teachers experiencing a high level of burden was 1.5, lower than the overall average of 2.0.

 

These findings suggest that difficulties in responding to parents may be associated with elementary school teachers’ job satisfaction. Accordingly, continued efforts are needed to continuously improve and strengthen practical support measures that teachers can experience directly in their day-to-day work.