Admin being mistreated by teachers

[Notagooddaynotagoodmonth]

No idea why I am coming here now to vent out my anger!!I work as a school admin. I am a graduate with a honours degree and worked in better paying jobs before. I have some strong personal reasons which made me take up this job, which is not equal to my qualification. But I always thought a job is a job and every one should be treated respectfully despite of their titles.

So my issue is, a couple of teachers in the school treats me like garbage. Majority are really sweet. But the ones on opposite side makes my days a reall struggle. They don't reply to your good mornings, don't smile at you , never ever says thank you for your endless helps, finds faults in your work etc while others appreciate me for my hardwork. This job is generally a draining one, because you are constantly dealing with students and parents issues. If they ask for a help, it needs to be ASAP even while i might be dealing with some other important stuff. So eventhough it is a small number of rude staffs, I feels demotivated.

They have lesser qualifications than me, but sometimes they behave like "oh you are just an admin who don't have much education!".(they dont know about my academic past and jobs) Its more like class hierarchy. My issue is I don't respond back when someone treats you bad. I try to stay positive as much as I can. But at the same time I have a feeling deep inside that tells me that I am more worthy than this. Some of the issues I can't mention here , as it could be too revealing. I used to think they are not doing that purposefully. But not anymore!!I am not British and is on a work visa here.

How to deal with this mental harrassment without hurting anyone and without losing my job?!!

Honestly?

I think this issue is twofold - some (not most by your own admission) teachers are rude, this is the minor issue.

Second and more major issue is that you think the job is beneath you and that's why you're so sensitive to the former.

So you've come across a few rude/difficult people at work, like I'd guess the majority of us have at some point.

The rest is completely irrelevant.

No-one cares about your previously higher paid jobs, your degree, the fact the job's not equal to your qualification, or whether they have 'lesser qualifications'.

Do you think they should? Because it sounds like that's what you're saying here?

Sorry if I sounded like an arrogant person. I never considered highly of me. The only reason I mentioned about my qualification was there were some instances those few treated me like an uneducated person . I mentioned eralier if I explain all those instances, it could be too revealing. My line manager never went to university- that doesn't make him inferior before me. He knows his job and that is the important thing. He treats me respectfully and I do the same to him. My point is you can have a school qualification or degree or post graduation etc, but never treat people badly just because their pay is lower or their qualification is not good enough.

May be they might change their perspective if I tell them I have so and so qualification. But I dont want that. I treat every single person I come across with respect and wanted to have the same in return. I hope it is not a crime:) Even if it is not majority , it can affect your mental health. I want this to be stopped. At the same time, I don't want to create an issue in the office.

Maybe you're just not suited to working in a school. It is a very different environment to an ordinary office (I was a secretary/PA before I was a teacher so have some experience). We had a school secretary once who was like this and resented things she was, politely, asked to do. I'm sure she would have been excellent working elsewhere.

The teachers don't know or care about your qualifications and there are always some people who will be rude to admin, grounds staff, cleaners as well as retail staff outside school etc. It's wrong but that's life unfortunately.

Some of what you have said could just be teachers been focused on what they are doing, (not saying good morning)

I am also not sure what you do that brings you into contact with so many teachers on an everyday, doing work for them basis.

I am a firm believer in treating everybody with respect, but your posts not only come across as being to good for the job but as being better than the teachers and this comes across in your dealings with them.

your qualification is not relevant to this role
yes they are rude
are they aware of your qualifications? perhaps they feel threatened.
otherwise learn to prioritise and dont get stressed by their demands.

I think its best not to second guess why someone is rude. It's normally about them and thier day or life not going great.

Unfortunately, some people are rude to people who they consider beneath them and job roles are one of the measures they use. But that's their loss not yours. You get a clear indicator of the not nice people and they miss out on getting to know you.

Aa an aside, I work in school admin and generally we are all very qualified so it would be fairly normal for admin to have a degree and a previous career.

I hear you op.

I've worked in several schools in non-teaching, yet vital roles. It's true that some teachers do look down their nose at you - and totally because you are 'lesser' than them - or at least your job role is lesser than theirs.

Yet without you, and your role, they couldn't do their job. Their resources wouldn't get prepared, their photocopying wouldn't be done, their students wouldn't be cared for, all hell would break out if not for the support staff.

If there are particular colleagues doing this I'd report it to my line manager, and make notes of times/dates etc. I guess it amounts to low-level bullying - the big guns would certainly be out if kids in their care were being ignored by their classmates.

Kill them with kindness. Go big - if they don't respond to a simple hello, go back, with their name, and 'i thought you were ignoring me' tinkly laugh.

This has zero baring on your qualifications, it's just rudeness on their part. Manners cost nothing.

I taught in secondary education for many years and worked closely with admin/support staff. In my experience, it worked both ways. Some of the teaching staff certainly did look down on the non-teaching staff and saw themselves as being superior, that’s just a fact and this attitude was more noticeable in relation to the leadership team but was evident at all levels.

However, some members of the non-
teaching staff could be awkward and in many cases held quite a lot of power, choosing to prioritise teachers they liked and being deliberately unhelpful to those they didn’t. Most were lovely and I don’t know how I would have coped without them tbh. Good support staff really can help to hold a school together in my experience.

If I were you I would be polite, positive and professional at all times but remind yourself that the teaching staff need you, and the job you do is important to them whether they like it or not. You need to prioritise your work and be clear when someone demands something from you that you will do it (if it’s part of your job description of course), but you already have some important tasks that you have to complete first. Be firm and resolute and most will learn to respect you and the job you do.

Welcome to the life of admin 😅 people don’t appreciate admin staff anywhere haha

I think they are rude op and they are doing it because they can. I think when you've had a higher level job, you don't see the flack that admin / hospitality / semi skilled staff have to put up with from colleagues and customers. You probably only ever experienced it when you were in minimum wage student jobs. Now coming back to that paygrade, the way people speak to you is a shock, whereas hierarchy dictated that in your previous job you were treated with respect. I've known too many well qualified women who have taken minimum wage type jobs, usually to work around family commitments, only to be bullied and spoken down to by staff, management and the general public. My mum went through in, some school gate friends went through it and it was destroying. At least you have the advantage of the skillset that should allow you to challenge rude behaviour, so start using it.

A lot of schools are like this. It's an insulated environment. I used to be in a book club and when I hosted one of the group asked me what school I went to! Honestly I'm a grandmother who cares? Yes she was a teacher.

May be they might change their perspective if I tell them I have so and so qualification

That makes little sense. If you have high qualifications and were employed accordingly in previous jobs at a high level, then you should have the associated skill set to manage this harassment smoothly and without losing your job.

I'm a teacher, I would never be rude to one of our admin or support staff, but their is a hierarchy at play, and has to be.

I'm answerable to the head, and deputy head, my support staff are answerable to me.

Qualifications don't come into it, I have a TA with a masters in archeology, I have a PhD in Physics and our head has a BA - He is still the headmaster, my boss.

The fact you have "better" paper qualifications than your colleagues does not matter, you are the admin clerk, they should not be rude to you, but they can give you instruction, ask you to do things, and criticise constructively if you mess up.

I'm confused as to why you think an honours degree trumps a teaching qualification? A PGCE is Level 7 and yours is Level 6. Can you expand?

I have been a teacher and also a school admin/exams officer and attendance officer. In every admin post interview I was asked how I would cope with staff possibly being rude etc- it's completely accepted that some teachers treat admins like shit. It's one of the main reasons why I no longer work in school offices.

I knew you would be flamed op as mumsnetters are always on the side of teachers, but having worked in even lower grade jobs in schools ( not the office ) I agree that some of them do have a very superior attitude and think they are special for having a degree. Of course many are fine, but I've come across many that could do with taking down a peg. Especially the managers.
Another one who no longer works in a school
Can be toxic.

This.

They have lesser qualifications than me

How many of the class teachers at your school have less than a degree?

I’m sorry you don’t have good working relationships with a couple of teachers though-they could be arses, sadly you get some of those everywhere.

Our admin staff are not only amazing at their jobs but completely lovely people who everyone thinks very highly of, so this luckily isn’t a problem in my school.

I think my wordings have gone wrong in my first post.My main point itself is , you have to treat everyone with respect irrespective of their qualification.

For those who comparing the qualifications: I have a post graduation in Data Science. I am not telling I'm superior to teachers in any way.There might be teachers even with a PHD. Teaching is a really hard job and I appreciate all of them for their efforts. I would be total failure in teaching. If I think I am superior than them I wouldn't have survived in that place. I do all my jobs as as per instructions. My line manager never had any concern about my performance.
I firmly believe in : If you signed up for a job, you have to do that.

My only issue is this hidden bullying I suffer from this particular staffs. They have hinted of me being not having university qualification.No idea what made them believe so. In a place like that, you don't have to worry about qualifications. The only important question is if you know your job. I have great rapport with all of my admin staff and we appreciate each other. I wanted them to stop doing that, but I didn't want to create a scene!

May be you all are right- there will be rude people everywhere irrespective of your background. But those people who worked in school office might know the amount of pressure they handle day to day basis. May be I shouldn't even have moan about it.. sorry people!! It was one of those days! Thank you all for the replies.. I do appreciate it..

They have hinted of me being not having university qualification

Well, if someone says that to you, tell them you have got a university qualification!

Some people are just rude-no matter what their job/qualification/background.