Teachers I need solidarity before I leave the profession

Tough one op, you clearly felt motivated by doing something extra. I’m not aware we’ve had any trips for a small group, they’ve always been for everyone

Also all emails go to a list eg attendance / office etc maybe you’d be better off that way

I don't disagree, but it's a shame that we can't have competitions without parents complaining.

Why does there have to be competition so often for little kids? Can’t it be a pumpkin exhibition instead of competition? Or baking without selecting a winner - everyone can taste other kids stuff etc…these are just examples but I would love more this kind of thinking vs always making it a competition.

Oh god this gives me the absolute rage!!
Class full of kids, many who are perfectly well behaved and don't do a thing wrong. But who is star of the week? Oh it's little Jackson again, because this week he only shouted at people, pushed them over and broke their pencil, but yay he didn't punch anyone in the face!

Drawing names out the hat was definitely the fairest way, and as others have said, it could have led to future opportunities and another 5 being allowed to go.

A baking competition is ridiculous and less objective in my view. Who would judge it? You then have the risk of the teacher being accused of favourites, it not being fair because Sophie's mum is a cake maker, Jonny being disadvanged because he can't afford the same ingredients as everyone else... The list of potential problems is endless. The PTA did a pumpkin carving competition at our school and this was bad enough, some kids clearly had a lot of 'help' while others were allowed to do their own. It was a real issue for the teachers who were asked to judge the winners as what do you go for? The ones that look amazing (because parents did it), or the ones where you know the children did it but don't look as good (so as soon as you say they won, the other parents complain as theirs looked better). This would be the same issue with a baking competition.

If the poster does go ahead and take the 5 children to the bakery then I assume it's unlikely they will be giving up their time, for free, to do this again.

I'm not a teacher anymore, I left 4 years ago. One of the reasons was all the unpaid extra work I was doing.

One example, I ran 2 recorder clubs after school. I had limited spaces due to only having 30 recorders, so did the names out of a hat thing in front of my class. Parents moaned (but no one offered to buy their child a recorder.) Another parent who's son did get a place moaned that I hadn't started the club that same day. (I needed to send letters home first to inform parents!)

I arranged for them all to play one morning as the rest of the school were walking into, and then out of assembly. The main assembly was led by a colleague and wasn't about the music. A group of parents complained that I hadn't let them come and watch.

So I arranged another assembly where the main event was the recorder groups playing, and invited parents. One complained that they were at work so couldn't come.

So the following year I didn't run the clubs. Parents moaned of course but I had just been pushed too far.

Ha ha ha you have outed yourself as one of ‘those’ parents.

OP should have had a baking competition, that is absolutely nuts! And if parents want to remove their children from the nativity, tough tits their kids are disappointed. Get them to join a theatre group if they are that bothered.

Parents like you are the ones that are making teaching a nightmare so that fantastic teachers leave the profession.

To clarify. They have been about six kids of the team joining the matches, not everyone joins. Then maybe three gets a prize. They are 6 yos. At that age I think it would be reasonable to reward everyone just for joining the matches at least sometimes. Obviously I tell my child the important thing is to have fun and he’ll get a prize eventually.

Sounds draining. I work in the NHS so know what a slog these careers can be at times. Constant giving so much of ourselves.

I emailed school recently to ask them to let the science teacher and English teacher know that they are having a positive impact on my child. People forget teachers need some merits too. A pat on the back can go a long way. As parents we should do this more. We need to lift one another.

In sport not everyone wins

Maybe instead of asking the team to give everyone a turning up prize (after all it can't be a kid of the match prize if it is given out to everyone in turn) why not say to your child 'it's OK to be disappointed but if you really want something you try hard, train hard and show your coach how much you want it and one day you will get it"

I really would not complain to the coach. Likelihood is they are volunteers who are doing something nice for children. Maybe they will decide not to bother.

I find this attitude so hard to get my head round. Had this been my school, my daughter would definitely have wanted to go, and definitely been disappointed she didn’t get picked. That’s ok! It’s part of life, she’s disappointed sometimes; there are also a huge number of things she does get to experience. If no one goes, then my daughter still doesn’t get the experience- but neither does anyone else, it seems so pointless!

Our school recently diverted all emails to the office rather than teachers directly. I’m presuming this is why.

I really appreciate everything teachers do for our kids every day and so far have never complained about a thing. But to be honest. I would not appreciate it if 5 kids of the group got to do a fun activity while others who also wanted to join got left out. It’s good the activity wasn’t on a school day, so not as obvious to the ones who didn’t get to go. As a parent, I don’t think I would have even mentioned the chance of the activity to my child unless they had actually won the chance to go, though.

Said I’ve never complained but am now contemplating emailing DS soccer team about the way to give out prizes after matches. My DS has eagerly attended all three matches since he joined the team, but hasn’t yet received the prize, which is given to like half the kids. They have so far given it to the same kids each time. They’re six for gods sake and everyone who joins should get a prize in turns. I hope not all feedback from parents is seen as unreasonable complaining. Sometimes the practices are less than fair.

No, they wouldn’t. Nearly every teacher that I know is sick and tired of the barrage of aggression that they face.

The exceptions are those that have moved to schools in the islands of Scotland - and one particular school in the Highlands.

Sure, but teachers arent some kind of unwitting victims of bad policy. Throughout the 20th and 21st centuries, teachers and their unions have generally leaned politically left and supported "progressive" education policy -- reductions in punishment, sympathy for badly behaved children, misguided inclusion policies, etc. A lot of what we are seeing now is just the chickens coming home to roost.

if a government passed a (sesible) policy that kids who repeatedly committed violence should be permanently excluded and if their parents ere unable to care for them or find a new school then tough luck, then teachers (+unions) would be among those clutching their pearls the hardest.

Shhhh. The powers that be will be adding that to the remit before you know it.

In the course of my teaching career, I was kicked, faced with a knife and punched in the stomach whilst pregnant. (The teenage boy who
punched me wasn’t even one of my pupils - he ran into my room after another pupil during break. For the only time in my teaching career I was trying to keep out of the aggressor’s way.)

I wonder how many other professionals are required to combine their work with crowd control and security work? We didn’t sign up to be policewomen.

There was a great deal of joy in teaching, but overbearing parents and entitled pupils latterly sucked out much of the joy.

Clockwatching? If we had all stuck to our contracts, the system would have collapsed.

You should arrange a trip that accommodates all the children. It sounds unfair to only take 5.

We got this when trying to put children through their English exams (Scotland): “He doesn’t like reading and writing.”

We had a girl who quit work experience because she was required to wear tan tights (supplied by the shop where she was supposed to be working).

Oh my fuck. That parent is batshit.

Thank you for caring so well for allergic children. Really appreciate someone doing it right.

You offer it because it’s good if some of these children get the opportunity.

The site manager knocks on the car windows and send them packing. They end up having to park the furthest away. The bus refuses to open the doors until the bus is in the bus bay.

Then the kids with money, resources and interested parents get to go and get he poor kids miss out.

Out of a hat is fair. Gives everyone an even chance.