Being a Teacher with ADHD: The Challenges and Strengths

“How did you manage to be a teacher if you have ADHD?”

It’s a question I’ve been asked a few times, and I can understand why people ask it. Teaching involves a lot of organisation, planning, deadlines, paperwork, managing interruptions, and keeping track of what feels like 20 things at once.

Those are all areas that can be difficult when you have ADHD, but there are also parts of teaching that can suit an ADHD brain really well.

For me, teaching had plenty of challenges, but there were also many things I genuinely enjoyed about it.

Can teaching suit someone with ADHD?

I actually think there are parts of teaching that can work really well for someone with ADHD.

I enjoyed the variety; no two lessons were exactly the same, and there was always something happening! I enjoyed being around people, solving problems, thinking creatively, and having the opportunity to make a difference to someone’s day.

That variety was something I really valued as there was rarely a chance to become bored doing exactly the same thing all day, and I enjoyed having to think on my feet when something unexpected happened.

Being able to become completely absorbed in something I was interested in could also be an advantage, as when I was really engaged with a subject or a particular lesson, I could put a huge amount of energy into it.

Of course, that doesn’t mean teaching was always easy - far from it.

What can be difficult about being a teacher with ADHD?

Teaching involves far more than standing in front of a class and delivering a lesson.

There are lesson plans to prepare, marking to complete, emails to reply to, meetings to attend, paperwork to deal with, and countless small things that need remembering and sorting out throughout the day.

For someone with ADHD, keeping track of all of those different demands can be difficult.

I developed systems to help me remember things, and found ways of working that played to my strengths - but I will admit to plenty of last-minute panics too!

There were mornings when I’d arrive at work and suddenly realise I’d forgotten to print the worksheets I needed - I’d then be rushing to the printer before the lesson started to get everything together.

There were also occasions when I’d forgotten to lesson plan earlier in the day, and ended up staying up until 2am doing it. Thankfully, I was still able to perform well the following day, even without much sleep - these are the sorts of things that people might not necessarily see.

Looking organised doesn’t mean ADHD isn’t affecting you

From the outside, I probably looked like I had everything under control; I was doing my job, teaching my classes and getting through the day. But that didn’t mean ADHD wasn’t affecting me.

There were plenty of things that took much more effort than people realised, such as keeping on top of marking, remembering to reply to emails, and constantly switching between different demands, which could all be exhausting.

This is something I think is often misunderstood about ADHD - being successful in your career doesn’t mean ADHD isn’t affecting you. You can be good at your job, enjoy your work, and have developed strategies that help you manage, while still finding certain aspects considerably harder than other people might realise.

Someone can appear organised while putting a huge amount of effort into staying that way.

The strengths of ADHD in the workplace

It can be easy to focus on the difficulties that ADHD can cause, particularly when talking about work, however there are also strengths that can come with ADHD, and teaching gave me plenty of opportunities to use some of mine.

I’ve always been a good problem solver, and teaching regularly required me to think creatively and find solutions when things didn’t go according to plan.

I also enjoyed the people side of the job; I had some fantastic colleagues and some truly great students - and being able to incorporate fun into their learning made it more exciting for both them and me.

That doesn’t mean everyone with ADHD will find teaching a good fit, because ADHD affects people differently, and what works well for one person might be much harder for someone else.

For me though, teaching gave me the opportunity to use some of the things my brain naturally does well, while also requiring me to find ways of managing the things I found more difficult.

What I’ve learned from being a teacher with ADHD

One of the most useful things I have learned since being diagnosed is that ADHD doesn’t simply determine what you can or cannot do. Having ADHD does not mean you can’t have a successful career or work in a demanding profession.

Sometimes it is about finding environments and ways of working that suit the way your own brain works, while recognising the areas where you may need additional strategies or support.

Looking back, I can see that some of the things I thought were simply personal quirks or weaknesses were actually connected to my ADHD.

Understanding that has given me a very different perspective on my own experiences, and it is one of the reasons I now enjoy helping other adults understand how their ADHD affects them at work and in everyday life.

Being a teacher with ADHD certainly wasn’t always easy, but it also taught me that having ADHD doesn’t have to define what you are capable of achieving, and that is something we all should remember.