AIBU to not want to teach because it would mean working with other teachers?

[cakeoclock]

Ok, my hard hat is on and I'm ready for the onslaught, but here goes! I had a great career before my DCs came along, I loved working and was good at my job. I worked in a great environment, had really good people working with me and we all got on in and out of work. Fast forward 4 years I have been and will be for the forseeable future a SAHM, I love it and will stay home until my lo goes to school at least. Afterwards I could stay home if I want to but lately I have been thinking about future careers. I wouldn't want to go back to my old role as I would never see my kids! So here's my problem, lots of people have suggested teaching and I would love to make a difference to kids, I think I have a lot to give and I am willing to put in the hard work, but there is one big problem, other teachers! First I should say my DH is a Deputy Head and I have lots of good friends who are teachers and when I tell them my worries they tend to agree! My oh worked abroad so we were in close quarters with the school and I have done voluntary work in a few schools and I have never come across such moaning, b&tchy people in any other setting. On their own all lovely people, get two together it's a nightmare. Seriously teachers talk about work on nights out, at people's parties, in the park, probably bed if they are married. My OH wouldn't but knows not to on pain of death! I know teachers take the p out of kids, parents and anyone else they feel like. Most have never worked out of a school setting so have no idea what the rest of the world are up to. So AIBU to not want to teach because I don't like teachers or should I bite the bullet and hide in the loos at lunchtime?

Oh no, not fat fingers as well

How would you operate the interactive whiteboard?

I still think you are too spiky and misanthropic to survive teacher training, cakeoclock, but I also find you rather likeable, in a safely-behind-the-computer-screen sort of way

marriedinwhite On consideration I would question whether, even in the private system one is truly a customer. Your taxes paid still don't change this, no matter what the rhetoric of successive governments has claimed.

A customer buys a service/object. It's two-way. You buy the fridge, you plug it in. You read the manual.

In education it's at least three-way, child/parent; teacher/child;teacher/school. etc. Also, paying for this particular service does not guarantee a result, even in the private sector, though I understand from a number of teachers in that sector that the teachers ARE treated as bought by some deluded parents who fail to understand that they have purchased the means to an education, not the thing itself.

Perhaps this is what you mean.

Also, if you heard teachers moaning when you were helping in the state sector, possibly you were being treated as a member of staff, and therefore in confidence.

I say that cake as you seem to lack empathy, which is very important in teaching, plus the ability to put together a coherent argument.

You also seem aggressive and lacking in social skills.

It's really not for you.

If the children were the customers they would be sifting through the prospectuses from the age of four, popping along to visit the HT, and making the ultimate decision about which school they wanted to attend. Admittedly at 9, 11 and 13 ours were given quite a lot of opportunity to influence us but ultimately the parents decide where to send their children and whether the establishment is effective enough to continue to send them there. Insofar as schools at various stages have failed to adequately educate or keep my children safe and they have become, as a result of that failure very unhappy you are quite right they have been unhappy pupil customers. On their behalf I have tried to broker improvement and when one school was unable to differentiate adequately for a gifted and talented child to ensure he fulfilled his potential his parents sent him to a school that could. Likewise when it became apparent that our daughter was scared to go to school because some pupils were allowed to behave abysmally and disrupt evey lesson she became an unhappy pupil customer. On her behalf I tried to broker improvement and was so unimpressed with the top down communication throughout the school, I removed her. Neither school adequately valued their customer base to make things better for my child; therefore in each case they lost a high performing, well behaved pupil with parents who donated generously at every request. I expect high standards for my children and if state schools and those who work in them are not prepared to provide them I shall seek them elsewhere. I expect my children to say please and thank you. I also expect school secretaries and head teachers to say it and to act with a little grace and dignity.

The reason I think you should steer clear of the education system is that frankly if you're considering teaching (a) to fit in with having children (b) 'purely to make a difference' - and in none of this have you mentioned the idea of enjoying teaching, enjoying working with kids or what you'd teach...well, that doesn't spell 'the person I want teaching my children', frankly. The teachers I rate are the ones who get a lot from teaching and are committed to teaching and probably do grumble madly but haven't just opted for it because they see it as a bountiful extension of their own fabulousness to my daughters.

I think a lot of teachers are very cynical and the attitude can be endemic in many staff rooms.

It shocked me when I first started teaching.

I tell you what, we may be a massive bunch of cunts, but we're cunts who use paragraphs...

Like journalists

pshaw at all the teachers who have picked up on the lack of paragraphs but who failed to spot the split infinitive in the thread title

no wonder all the children is illiterate

Having read your later post Echt, I don't expect the school to ensure the results; I expect the school to provide the opportunities for the child to learn. Our children are encouraged to work hard and provided with rest, fun, comfort, good food and love to support them to do so. Our g&t child is the lazy one - had he pulled his finger out for the three subjects he hated he would have got 12 A*s rather than his measly 9!!! Our top average child works like stink and in an environment when she is able to learn will probably pull down some very good results. My point is that the state schools were not interested in providing the opportunity for either child to fulfil their potential. It is interesting that at the state primary I had to visit the school two or three times on behalf of DS, for DD never. At DD's state comprehensive in two years, I had to contact the school on at least 7 occasions. At DS's indy, where he has been for 8 years, I have had one occasion to raise a concern; it is early days this term for DD but so far I am confident that the school has my child's best interests at heart. What I want ultimately are happy children who are able to do their best in establishments where it is possible to develop mutually respectful relationships with all of the school community. That was present at the state primary actually, sadly it was not at what is a flagship London comprehensive for DD.

I expect high standards for my children and if state schools and those who work in them are not prepared to provide them I shall seek them elsewhere. I expect my children to say please and thank you. I also expect school secretaries and head teachers to say it and to act with a little grace and dignity.

It would seem that in your experience, state schools and their teachers have not provided high standards, But you are as guilty of making daft sweeping generalisations as the OP if you truly believe this is replicated across the entire independent and state sectors.

I know of schools, including my own, with extremely high standards of attainment, manners and behaviour - I also know of an independent school where I worked as a consultant with absolutely appalling reading teaching and some snooty, lazy teachers, but I wouldn't dream of assuming that this must be the case country-wide.

what the rest of the world IS up to

You could do supply work in very tough areas, then you'd be making a difference at the chalkface but not have to bother getting on with the other teachers.
You could be exciting and dynamic and wow and then leave to sprinkle the magic fairy dust somewhere else, and you could choose whether to be there for a day or a week. All you need is a parrot-headed umbrella and you could be the Mary Poppins of teaching.

Why can none of the teacher haters do paragraphs?

Coz, like, grammar and punctuation and syntax crush your individuality and they are a tool of The Man to Oppress the Masses.
You is all just bitches.

I haven't read whole thread but had to come on to say hahahahahahahahaha at your post of 9.17am

Oh and YABU.

innit?

OP I don't believe (although I'm not reading reams of non paragraphs) you've answered my question of a few hours back.

Why do all these people think you'd be good at teaching? Who are they? What qualities do they (and you, because you sure aren't short in the ego department) think you would bring to the profession?

Please do go into education. I'd love to see your posts on here moaning about how intense the PGCE is.

All the best bitching/moaning is done by us TA's. I thought everyone knew that? The photocopier in my school is literally dripping with the bile that we spit

But you are so clearly not thinking fully about a demanding role! You have clearly stated that you do not like teachers - full stop. This info is based on the 2 schools you worked in (did you say they were abroad? Systems vary vastly from country to country) and also on the 'friends' you socialise with, whom you clearly find boring as hell and bitchy to boot. Come on, you can't have it both ways.

You began the thread saying you had your hard-hat on, so you knew you were going to wind people up. But I also think you thought it would be split very much more 50/50, with a load more posters saying 'yes teachers are unprofessional wassocks who moan the whole time'. This hasn't been the case, and not all posters have been teachers by any stretch, and you've made a bit of a tit of yourself.

If you'd spoken as you have found and said something like 'are all teachers as boring as my dh's friends?' then people might have replied to you in a completely different way in an attempt to tell you their p.o.v.

And I kind of think - yes, Motherinferior is probably right... I can't see you will get very far in education at all unless you do a fuckload bit more research and, if you still want to spread your joy to the nation's children, approach your places of training and your subsequent workplace as a whole institution, where the colleagues you work alongside are absolutely crucial in creating a safe, stimulating environment for young people. I really can't see how a refusal to even acknowledge other people's skills, motivation and personalities will help you in your aim to work with children. Relationships are everything in education.

tethersend That might just about have been the post of the day week!!

LMAO

Not really clear, OP, why you are even considering teaching. Liking children is a good start, but you need rather more than that to be a good teacher - you have to have an ability in and passion for the subject/s you will be teaching, and the commitment and people skills (yes, with your colleagues as well as your pupils - it's essential that teachers work together to share info on students, classes, etc; often classes are shared) to carry out the teaching sucessfully in practice. Students won't always be angels; colleagues will be human, some excellent, some rubbish, most somewhere in the middle.

I think you need to go back to the drawing board and start again - there are many, many jobs that involve working with kids and don't require you to deal with your irrational dislike of teachers.

Youth worker, nursery teacher, childminder, tutor, run after-school club, social worker, sppech and language therapist etc etc etc - why not look at one of these instead, or refer to google for more ideas?

What was your previous job?

For your dreams I didn't realise it was an interview. The head at school in England I help out in asked me if I would be interested in doing school based training with them and he would back my application all the way. I said not right now but who knows in the future.

So OP, I presume you made it clear at this interview that you're very grateful for all your Head's support but actually all teachers are boring thickos?

What a lovely person you must be!