Do you appreciate teachers more, or less now than in normal times?

[Bluewavescrashing]

Genuine question. I'm a full time infant school teacher. Our school is offering more than most in terms of online education, personalised learning, 1:1 zoom sessions etc. But I wonder how parents feel. Has lockdown showed you how much teachers give to your children through planning lessons, making resources, delivering lessons to cater for all levels of attainment? Do you find it easy to teach your child? When lockdown ends would you carry on with home learning and deregister as they have made more progress 1:1 with you or are you looking forward to sending them back to school?

Nb I have a large group of key worker children, up to 25 each day whom I teach in person in school - this is aimed at parents accessing home learning rather than key worker / vulnerable provision in school.

Just searched for ‘tough shit’ on the thread and no results 🤷‍♀️

And you were told they weren’t a teacher.

More. Mine are going above and beyond and teaching a group of 4-7 year olds must present more challenges than they’d ever though possible yet ours are doing a magnificent job keeping the control from beyond a screen.
But I’ve always had huge respect for teachers. I come from a country where teaching is as respected as any other professional, doctor, accountant etc. I’ve always found it strange in this country that there’s a slightly scathing underlying tone towards teachers. Evidence in tabloids and the Fail with pics of Tyler and his blade 2 or Chantelle and her leggings and their mothers saying they should be allowed to express themselves at school.
When I was at school the teachers word always went. If I came home complaining about X teacher, my mother would tell me that I must have done something to deserve whatever punishment that had been meted out and more than likely would have dolled out a further punishment.
Slight digression TL;DR mine have done an amazing job.

@noblegiraffe - when do you actually teach? You seem to spend all your time on here shouting about ".teacher bashing". Most of the teachers I know are pretty busy most of the time and don't have time to be titting around on MN, particularly in the middle of the working day.

noble you’re doing exactly what I said I was upset about on that thread - gaslighting.

I was concerned that my foster children’s teachers would not respond to emails and it felt like gaslighting to be told all schools were open and all teachers were working. It was a very difficult situation because they’d just come into our care and we needed contact.

That quote was then lifted and placed in a mocking teacher-bashing-bingo thread.

I asked for it to be removed. Was told no.
You told me it was my fault for posting about my foster children.

Someone else told me ‘tough shit.’
I had to go to admins and complain. Something I don’t think I’ve done on MN for years and years. If the quote had not been used or removed, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation.

when do you actually teach?

You want my timetable to see if it’s acceptable to you? . Currently homeschooling my DD actually but she’s watching a short video.
I’ve got time to do this now because I was recording lessons at midnight last night.

@noblegiraffe

when do you actually teach?

You want my timetable to see if it’s acceptable to you? . Currently homeschooling my DD actually but she’s watching a short video.
I’ve got time to do this now because I was recording lessons at midnight last night.

I find it amazing that someone who teaches part time is SO vocal about schools never going back because they're "not safe", which is really all I ever see from your posts. It's tragic.

I find it amazing that someone who teaches part time is SO vocal about schools never going back because they're "not safe”

Lie.

@HelloMissus - I remember that thread. There were some pretty disgraceful attacks on you just for raising completely reasonable issues about your foster children's education. Those responsible should be ashamed. There absolutely was the silly teacher bingo and gaslighting of you in response to your concerns.

@noblegiraffe - apologies for not coming back to you sooner on the glitch you and some others are experiencing. I'm working full time and home schooling my children so don't have much spare time.

I never said I didn't believe you, I said that I have not had that experience and I use teams daily. Another poster agreed with me so not everyone is having this issue.

My opinion of my son's school remains the same - the individual staff members are awesome. Any initiative or instruction that comes from DfE is a sack of shit...

@FrippEnos

PotDaffodil

Let’s face it, it’s a certain type of person who enjoys the idea of being the only adult in a room with a group of children,

Wow, would you like to expand on this?

If you like, although I expect you won’t. My experience is of primary teachers: I also should confess that I moved to an area that’s a bit local, judgemental and insular anyway which is not helping.

There’s always been an element of extrovertism among teachers. I think this is increasing, along with the increased push for and emphasis on social relationships in Britain generally. Quieter types are automatically looked down on as is the knowledge they gain. Teachers, weirdly, at least where I am, are bad for this. Quieter teachers are pulling out or being pushed. In common with that, there are tendencies to be judgemental generally, very sensitive to perceived slights on their status, and not very interested in substance over style.

Put ‘positively’, they are independent and strong minded people who need to command attention. Put less positively there are large tendencies to attention seeking and a need to be in charge. Put less positively still there are tendencies to think they know better than everyone else about everything and to be very domineering. Another word that comes to mind is narcissistic. These are just the bad side of the traits they believe are needed.

I also find them very insular, possibly because of the area I’m in, but many go into teaching from school and know nothing else. The all-consuming nature of schools work against looking for other experiences

Pressed post too soon, but that’s probably enough to be going on with. And yes, the standards of spelling or of maths aren’t universally high.

In any other sector, staff would be given 3 days' paid training on teams or zoom with a cushy lunch.

My employer must have missed that memo, I’ve been delivering live training for professionals (including teachers) online since August and very much been left to get on with it - it’s not beyond my skill set to amend face to face training for online delivery and I don’t have time to attend 3 days training. I don’t need a medal - it’s my job.

In terms of appreciating teachers, I value the teachers who teach my children, who clearly care for them and value them. Their school is brilliant and that’s down to an incredibly skilled staff who are vocal about their love of the job.

As a profession on the whole, I think the current situation has shown some in a very bad light, and I’m not sure the profession will recover easily.

many go into teaching from school and know nothing else.

Many?? I’ve worked in 4 different schools and still haven’t met a single teacher who hasn’t also previously had a job outside of teaching.
You can’t just go into teaching ‘from school’. A few but not many study education and then have to do a PGCE on top of that - but that still takes 4 years, so hardly fresh out of school. Most study something completely unrelated to teaching, work, then do a PGCE and some retrain after years of working in other sectors and are able to access a faster route into teaching.
I can’t comment on the rest of your post because it doesn’t make much sense.

I’ve worked in 4 different schools and still haven’t met a single teacher who hasn’t also previously had a job outside of teaching.

Not one? Out of the teachers I know personally and professionally (a good number) there’s a good mix of folk who went from school to uni into teaching and folk for whom teaching is a second (or third) career. Much the same as most other professions.

"Much the same as most other professions."

Are those who went straight into those professions from school sneered at in the same way, I wonder?

I’ve seen social workers who went into the profession straight from school sneered at, some people would argue they shouldn’t be allowed to train straight from school. So yes, in my experience they do.

Christ, Pot, what a pile of wank.

I've always respected teachers - especially after I join them on a school trip - ma-an, I always come back with a banging migraine. The people i know who don't respect teachers in general are - ime - not very bright.

I respect them now also and especially Noblegiraffe.

No change. I always respected them as professionals doing a challenging job that I would be rubbish at.

@PotDaffodil what is your occupation?

I definitely appreciate the teachers' ability to persuade my children to do some work. Just how long can one child spend rolling around on the floor whinging before they do the ten minutes of work required of them?

I find it hard to teach my children as I’m not a qualified teacher. Similarly teachers would find my job difficult.

@Jellycatspyjamas just my experience, I’ve yet to meet someone who’s done that - I’m obviously not saying it saying it doesn’t happen as you can do that. I was just objecting to the pp poster declaration of ‘many’ - it really isn’t many. When I did my PGCE I also knew no one who was fresh out of uni, everyone had worked at least a year elsewhere if not more.

@noblegiraffe

I find it amazing that someone who teaches part time is SO vocal about schools never going back because they're "not safe”

Lie.

Really? That's not your entire agenda on here at the moment - to keep schools, particularly secondary schools shut down until we reach zero Covid? I'm sorry if I've totally misunderstood - I must have misread, or misunderstood literally every post I have ever seen by you. My apologies. I will go back and reread and see if I reach a different conclusion.

I assumed you were a massively active member of the NEU to be honest such is the way your posts read.