32% of Educators Say Gen Z is Difficult to Work With

Educators aren’t happy with Gen Z.

A recent survey by Intelligent finds that 32% of educators find that Gen Z is more difficult to work with than pervious generations. 21% say Gen Z is easier to work with, while 45% say working with Gen Z is about the same as previous generations. Additionally, 50% of educators say their Gen Z students have complained that their classes are too hard.

Respondents who viewed Gen Z as difficult to work with included comments such as:

“Covid didn’t do them any favors. Some of them have immature coping skills, but they will persevere.”

“Rude and no ambition.”

“Little drive or motivation or awareness of reality.”

31% SAY GEN Z IS NOT READY FOR THE WORKFORCE

Thirty-one percent of educators surveyed say their Gen Z students are ‘not very’ (25%) or ‘not at all ready’ (6%) for the workforce, while 46% say their students are ‘somewhat ready’ and 23% say their students are ‘very ready.’

“Many professors and employers feel that Gen Z is not ready for the workplace, but there’s a lot of nuance to those feelings,” Diane Gayeski, a professor and higher education advisor, says.  “Students who lost a few years of high school or college to COVID missed out on some important skill and confidence-building activities such as internships, travel, and club participation.”

Gayeski adds that the pandemic has changed the attitudes of most people– not just Gen Z– towards work with widespred resignations of front-line workers in retail, hospitality, teaching, and healthcare.

“Gen Z is idealistic, and they are not afraid of hard work – they just don’t want to spend their time and energy supporting causes that are not aligned with their values or on tasks that they feel are just ‘busy work,’” Gayeski says. “They have been told to guard their physical and mental health, and they are doing so.”

METHODOLOGY

The survey, commissioned by Intelligent.com and conducted online by the survey platform Pollfish, polled 228 respondents.

To qualify for the survey, participants needed to be 25 years of age or older, hold employment in the education sector with a workplace employing at least 11 individuals, maintain a minimum annual household income of $25,000, and possess a university degree or higher.

Additionally, participants were screened to include only teachers and professors who work with students at the high school, undergraduate, or graduate level and have been teaching for at least one year.

Sources: Intelligent, Intelligent