I’m a teacher AMA

[boredsoscrollingonMNagain]

I started teaching 3 years ago . Did half a year ECT and almost had a breakdown . The pressure , alongside a very toxic school , was unreal.

Ive been in so many schools - amazing ones , awful ones. I’ve seen terrible things that make me lose faith in the system and I’ve also seen wonderful things that make me appreciate it .

EDITED TO ADD - AMA about primary - I have no experience of secondary

AMA

Do you agree with isolation booths? Do you hand out detentions for not having a green pen?

I’m primary so I don’t do detentions.

I think children do need to learn to be prepared so I agree with some form of consequence- but for repeated actions that are the child just not bothering ( secondary ) . I think consequences need to be productive - not for minor things .

Dont agree with isolation- unless it benefits the child. Again , this is all secondary though so no experience .

I’ll update the thread to say primary

Do you sometimes fancy the parents/notice them flirting with you?

Do well-behaved, capable children get less encouragement (points, stickers, praise for doing something good) than the challenging children?

In a dream world where money was no object, what size classes would be optimal for learning? 1-to-1 teaching for every kid, 5 in a class, 20 per class?

PS. respect to you and any other teachers - I'd be ripping my hair if I were in your shoes.

Never , ever noticed this . Have heard other teachers taking about “hot dads” .

Sadly , yes some more well behaved children get a bit lost. It depends on the teachers approach to behaviour management - I am very pro “ reward based , encourages positive behaviour “ meaning that if I see negative behaviour I will highlight the behaviour shown by the well behaved children - so “ xxx is sitting beautifully , xxx can have a sticker “ however - there is a lot of time that a child that’s disruptive will do something that some children just do naturally all the time , but the disruptive child will get recognition every time they do it whereas the child that always does it , doesn’t.

it is sad. It’s the teacher desperately trying to maintain a calm environment for the others

Hard question . Every child learns differently . Peer to peer learning is so beneficial and the children need to socialise so I wouldn’t say 1:1. I have been in a class with 20 children and a class with 32 ( both longish term ) . The 32 child class had no needs so was very productive but the 20 class had about 40% SEN/ behaviour so wasn’t.

I don’t think it’s about size . There needs to be more support for behaviour / SEN ( a lot of behaviour is undiagnosed needs ) . I think too that having sets , like they do in secondary , would help. Having a class of middle , low and high abilities and trying to teach 3 levels of work as well as SEN is what affects progress . I was in one school that went in to sets for English and maths and that was so much better .

Also - yes I am ripping my hair out !

Why have you moved to so many schools?

I worked in one school as my first job that almost gave me a breakdown and then I’ve been doing supply - I’ve done about 4 long terms ( ranging from 3 weeks to 6 months ) and then other than that I do day to day , with a lot of returning to the same schools

I'm sorry to hear you had such a tough time.

Sadly, it’s all too common 😔

What's your escape plan?

Sorry to hear you've had such a shit time OP. I've just completed my 30th year teaching in primary...I hear you!

I used to absolutely love my job...couldn't imagine (or wanted to be) doing anything else. Not so any more...I've just cut down to 3 days a week (I turned 60 and just couldn't keep on working 70+ hours a week!)

So now I get paid to teach 3 days...and have managed to reduce my actual working hours to around 50 (my payslip tells me I'm being paid for 19.5...which is frankly a joke!)

I hope you find your balance and a school who will appreciate you xx

When my dd was in reception/year 2 in a class of 30, she often complained about class being very noisy (it was a well behaved class in general). She was in full time nursery before so it was not because she wasn't used to it. When she moved to a different school it was much quieter and she really enjoyed that, even at 6 year old she used to say - finally I can learn. Is this level of noise normal and do you find the primary schools too noisy? With my youngest we went to see the selective primary and the difference was so huge - it was so calm and relaxed and much quieter during the lessons.

How much do you earn?

Hats off to you and all primary teachers - I am secondary (25 years in) and I couldn't deal with all the stuff you have to!

I agree that the job has changed beyond all recognition and is no longer as enjoyable - yes with the kids, but behaviour has deteriorated - but everything else makes the job just untenable

If somebody wanted to go into teaching, would you recommend it?

Why is it always the same children picked for everything?

Do you think there should be a restructure of teaching contracts and teaching hours? If so, what do you think would be fair to all parties?

What percentage of the problems you face in school are as a result of what happens outside of school?

Applying for more home based / hybrid roles as I’m struggling with family commitments … no real plan just looking at my transferable skills .

Would love to work more with supporting SEN children - helping with diagnosis etc but not too sure where to start !

What percent of children have SEN? How do you think their needs should be managed in mainstream?

Percentage , not certain , but quite a bit .

Attendance and lateness is a big one. Children miss interventions in the mornings and miss lessons that are part of a sequence and there is nothing in place to help catch up they just have to jump in where the rest of the class are.

It’s the days here and there that impact more as there are gaps . The children that have good attendance but have a term time holiday aren’t the ones that suffer , so the whole focus on holidays is silly. Really , there needs to be a focus on the issues for regular non attendance ( school refusal , parental attitude , sen children who miss time because they’re distressed and there isn’t anything to support them in school ) .

Behaviour also - a lot of negative attitudes to learning ? Or a negative attitude towards teachers - they aren’t your parent you don’t have to do what they say etc .

Also , one I’ve found is parents of children with very clear SEN but won’t hear of it and are in denial. Support isn’t there without diagnosis because there is no funding for it and a lot of parents just don’t want to face it. But schools can’t do anything without parents permission

Interesting - I'd love to do something with Send too. But case officer jobs seem on rotation.

And anything NHS requires different qualifications. I so with I'd done OT or retrained as an Ed psych earlier on!

And sad that most teachers I ask do have an escape plan, 😔

They need a diagnosis to get funding for a 1:1. The powers that be don’t want to diagnose . I see so many very clearly autistic children , or other SEN , who are just left to do nothing or have their work structured so heavily that they aren’t learning - just so it ticks boxes . Schools cannot provide a 1:1 without funding . So many children are being left without the support and so many undiagnosed SEN. I don’t think I’ve ever been in a class without at least 2.