Why is do parents not "thank" a teacher?

[Dcteacher]

I took 11 children to Borneo. For 2 weeks.

We did a lot.
Suba dived in the South China Sea.
Trekked the foothills of Mount Kinabalu.
Stayed in the jungle and learned jungle craft.
Spent to day on a tropical island.

On return. Not one single parent thanked me for the trip of a lifetime for their child.

I had spent the previous 2 years helping with fundraising, answering questions doing the paperwork, taking time out of my holiday. This is not in my job description. I don't have to do this.

Not one.

Why?

People do realise the idea of these trips is that the students fundraise the money to go, not parents paying for them?

that appears to be being overlooked (ignored) by some.

Are they? None of my DC or the other pupils were expected too fundraise for their school trips - if there had been fundraisers then more pupils would have been able to go. Instead it was the same children who went abroad each while the children from the less well off families stayed behind - but hey, better to teach them about life not being fair and all from an early age.

Otoh, the Scout trips ours went on did have fundraisers which they worked really hard on for well over a year. That meant that all the Scouts who wanted to attend did get to go.

@SirChenjins if you read the original post, that's exactly what the children had to do for this trip. Same as the one my daughter has just been on.

Personally think it’s preferable if young people visit these places when they are older under their own steam with money they have earned themselves. They appreciate it more.

Remember meeting a clients son from a public school v wealthy family who had done so much before he was 21 there was no excitement in him!

@whatsuplittle unbelievable attitude to have! It’s an unpaid ‘busman’s holiday’. Looking after teens whatever the location is hard bloody work. There is one nightmare story a year where someone goes on one of these trips and gets sick and dies, the teacher has the responsibility for all of these kid’s to come back in one piece. Teens also try to sneak off and do stupid things, met boy/girls and drink etc.

You couldn’t pay me enough to go on one of those trips.

@Dcteacher there are so many of the entitled types similar to the parents of the children from your trip. Don’t bother to organise or go on anymore of these trips, the parents seem to think they are doing you the favour 😵‍💫

But notwithstanding your disapproval of such trips, if you gave permission and paid for your child to go, you’d thank those who made it possible, wouldn’t you? Or are you so lacking in manners that you’d take out your disapproval on the teachers, who volunteer their time?

If the 'kids' are 18 - they're basically adults - and can say thank you?

If you feel hard done by that no one says thank you - then don't martyr yourself to go to Borneo which you've already said you won't do. Problem solved.

Either it's part of your job in which case I wouldn't expect thanks, or it's not, in which case I wouldn't bother organising such things.

As a former teacher (in an underprivileged school so trips were not to Borneo), I organised a few trips and didn't expect a thank you. I did it because I thought it'd be one of the only chances for the children to go away.

As a parent of DC in a state school in a middle class area, I can't say I am highly excited about school trips - it feels like so much work for the teachers, it's a pain for parents to get emails, fill in forms, take part in or contribute to fundraising events; when all kids in the school get similar if not better opportunities outside school. If anything I'd warmly thank the school and the teachers if they didn't organise anything.

As a lay person I'd assume this is part of your job and you're being paid. Not excusing the lack of thank yous, but could this be how most parents think?

'Fundraising' is just another way of saying that parents/relatives bung the kids money indirectly, via tasks that no one wants or needs.

What a lot of teachers are ignoring is that these trips aren't universally welcomed by parents

Not ignoring anything. Universally welcomed - no. Welcomed by the majority, and expected by quite a lot? In my experience over 30 years of teaching - yes.

Re geography and language teachers having to do these trips as part of their curriculum , presumably this wasn't a secret that you only discovered when you went to work. Lots of jobs have travel as standard, with no extra payment because these are salaried roles, not paid by the hour!

I doubt jobs that involve international travel usually involve the delegate booking their own flights, doing enormous amounts of admin, risk assessments, DBS checks and being responsible for teenagers 24/7, but no, it's not a secret. That's why we're not saying 'I shouldn't have to do this'! We're saying that a brief thank you would be nice. Is that really too much to expect? Surely it's standard manners?

For this type of trip, as stated by the OP it is how it is supposed to work.
There are similar ones to other countries and also for charities (sky diving etc.)

Most teachers don't do them because they are even more of a pain to organise than normal trips.

Why come at me Yellow I am a total teacher thanker basically my whole family are teachers 🙄🙄🙄. I just think young people get more out of these trips when they are abit
older and go under their own steam so
my teens would not be on this trip in the first place. I am first at the coach drop off with a bottle of wine for staff for school trips.

Yes, most of us book our own flights, need to do our rusk assessments, etc before travel for work. And then when we get there, we are properly at work - as in meetings, presentations, full-on 9-5 work. As well as networking in the evenings. So yes, a lot more actual work than watching out for a few 16-18 year olds. This is really not unusual, I'm not sure why teachers think it is - most of us go on work trips and do our job while there!

Did the teens not thank you?

I must say, I did thank the people who took my son to Kenya from college, many times in fact, but I wonder if the parents just thought their kids had been well mannered enough to thank you.

"Watching out for a few
16-18 year-olds?!"
Jesus, you have NO idea.

Do you at least accept that the rest of us on work trips are engaging in work, and so understand that teachers are not somehow unusual in going on trips and working? Some teachers here are making out that supervising students is really exceptional, and the rest of us couldn't possibly understand what work is...but we do in fact fully work while on work trips.

Anyone who is looking after my kids for a week, paid or unpaid with get a hefty thanks from me.

All those of you who aren’t thanked for your work - perhaps you should be.

The next time you take an unpaid full-time work trip abroad in your holiday time where you need to organise travel and accommodation for eleven people - you have my thanks.

Probably because claim to be a teacher yet can't write.

Assume your trip was completely paid for?

Except there are times when you are not at work and can do what you like. This is not the case with teachers on trips.

Do you expect the teacher to pay to look after your children?