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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To have deceided after 20+ years in the private sector and 18 mths in a school..

79 replies

hmmmmmmmmm · 18/03/2012 21:04

that teachers really do have a pretty easy life.

I know it's controversial and for years I believed my teaching friends and relatives who said that teachers needed all those holidays because it's such a tough job. It's true there are some teachers who really shouldn't be teaching and for them it's an impossible job no matter how hard they work, but that's true in any profession, if you're not suited to it it's incredibly hard.

For the rest, compared to the the jobs I've done in the private sector, they have loads of breaks and PPA time (most of which is spent taking things pretty easy IMO) and all (my?) school staff seem to spend huge amounts of time chatting - that was really rare in most of my other jobs. Even when in front of a class, provided they have control (again, if they're up to the job) they spend a lot of time sitting quietly while the class get on with stuff/watch TV

I've seen people working under pressure and none of the teachers I work with are under anything like the pressure I've seen and experienced in the past. I've never had it so easy, although I'm not teaching, really very little is expected from me for the money compared to my experiences in a "proper" job.

I do have huge respect for those who are good at it and it definitely wouldn't be for me, but for those who are in the right job it really isn't hard work, certainly not harder than jobs others have to do 48/46 weeks per year.

OP posts:

noblegiraffe · 18/03/2012 21:37

although I'm not teaching

And there you have it.

Nanny0gg · 18/03/2012 21:41

@ Voidka

stargirl1701 · 18/03/2012 21:43

Wow! You're not very good at teaching are you? You really shouldn't be showing TV all day to your students. Pretty appalling. When were you last inspected? Does your SMT know you do this? Do the parents? It's teachers like you that give us all a bad name. I'm glad you're leaving the profession.

I guess teaching is like every job. It's as hard as you choose to make it. Most teachers have a sense of duty towards the students that makes them work long and hard to provide excellent learning experiences. There is always a minority, like you, who don't. Maybe it's the private sector worker in you. Do you need 'rewards' like bonuses to keep you motivated? I am a public servant you see. I don't need extra money to do my job to the best of my ability.

As you leave the profession (hmmm...why would that be?) please remember to explain to folks that you were unable to do the job as well as your pithy comments about the rest of us.

Have a nice life.

lambethlil · 18/03/2012 21:45

You're experience is pretty irrelevant op. If you'd posted you'd worked in sales pitching for 80% of the working day, combined with responsibility for outcomes over hours, days, weeks and years, for which you'd be constantly monitored and assessed, with variable support you'd have more idea of what teaching entails.

What you see in the classroom is a tiny part of what teaching entails.

tethersend · 18/03/2012 21:47

Actually, I feel affronted.

I work my fingers to the bone systematically destroying children's education and/or lives, and this is all the thanks I get.

It's almost enough to make you question your vocation, it really is.

callmemrs · 18/03/2012 21:48

Well I couldn't teach- I think it's an incredibly tough job and have utmost respect, particularly for secondary teachers.

You say you don't teach, but work in a school and seem to have intimate knowledge of which teachers have firm control, which put on videos and which stand around at the front of the class.

Don't believe a word of it.

ArielNonBio · 18/03/2012 21:52

Good lord.

I used to be a teacher. I gave it up and started my own business which is doing ok.

Guess which one was harder by a country mile.

glamourousgranny42 · 18/03/2012 21:53

Hmmm you're not a teacher but you have an easy job in a school where you can observe those who are teachers! Looks like the school could do without you and put the money to better use!!! Maybe you should lidten to the chatting that goes on cos 99%of it is about the kids we teach! Oh and the last 1% is about how the non teaching teaching staff haven't got a fucking clue about education!!!!

McHappyPants2012 · 18/03/2012 21:55

i am a fully qualified nursery nurse spent 3 years in collage and i could not handle working with children, so now i am an cleaner and earn more part time than i did working full time at a school being aTA

OutragedAtThePriceOfFreddos · 18/03/2012 21:59

As a TA and therefore privy to what teachers of primary children talk about during their day, I am compelled to point out that we are generally talking about the children. Parents seem to want us to share information about their children so that all the adults involved in their care and education can know them as well as possible. Oddly enough.

I know it's a bollocks OP, but still.

ballstoit · 18/03/2012 22:02

These threads always make me think of Cilit Bang....'Bang, and the op is gone'

UnderwaterBasketWeaving · 18/03/2012 22:03

Is the OP Michael Gove?

Seems about as clued up as Govey is.

mercibucket · 18/03/2012 22:09

Hilarious op
What you mean is
My teaching assistant (or volunteer class reader?) Job is not as hard as my last job and I get long periods off that I'm not actually paid for
Well done you

Alltheseboys · 18/03/2012 22:12

I work in a behaviour unit! Come & do my job for a day- most new teachers walk out within a week. Don't make such generalisations. It's gone past ten, I've still got to sort out my kids for tmw THEN do my planning for school. Which half the kids will refuse to do whilst calling me every name under the sun! I deserve my holidays, even if it's just simply to catch up on sleep. If you think it's that easy come & work with me!

Coconutty · 18/03/2012 22:13

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

ravenAK · 18/03/2012 22:19

Could be a cover supervisor.

We have two excellent ones & two who are, erm, less respected by the students.

If any teacher is out of school or being covered for a meeting etc, it's SOP to find out who is likely to be deployed to do your cover - if it's Gonzo or Fozzy, you make damn sure you leave a video or an idiot proof piece of written work, so's to have a fighting chance of not having had your classroom levelled to its foundations & distress flares sent to SLG.

If the OP's an incompetent CS (Disclaimer: the other two we have are fantastic & no disrespect is intended to CSs generally...) then she may well have formed the opinion that it's all about the videos & death by worksheet...

Starwisher · 18/03/2012 22:21

I once worked as a ta for 3 weeks

During the time I got called a cunt, had sexually inappropriate comments made, and the final straw was a book being thrown at my head

Such a walk in the park.

NonnoMum · 18/03/2012 22:24

Are you in a village school with 5 delightful farmer's children to tend to all day?

And, if you don't teach, what is it you DO do?

schobe · 18/03/2012 22:26

This is just basically nonsense ime.

The OP has perhaps happened upon the worst school in the country, or this is made up.

I moved from teaching - pretty good, if bog standard comps - to the world of offices. I simply could not BELIEVE how long people spent fannying around chatting in their 'proper jobs'. I literally felt breathless from standing still waiting for people to stop chatting as I was so used to tearing around with a stack of things to do when I was teaching.

Imo if you are finding teaching easy, you are not doing it right. In all professions however, there are those who creep under the radar and allow the slack they leave to be taken up by those who are competent. Teaching is no different, except that it is children those people are letting down.

mercibucket · 18/03/2012 22:33

Op doesn't teach
Despite misleading first post
perhaps op has just been watching too much tv and is getting confused

jinsei · 18/03/2012 22:36

OP, have a

letseatgrandma · 18/03/2012 22:37

although I'm not teaching

That says it all really though, doesn't it.

wherearemysocka · 18/03/2012 22:38

Actually, as a teacher I feel the OP is actually right. I tend to rock up to school at about 11am and then sit around chatting to my mates whilst the children bring us tea and biscuits. I then shove them in front of a video all afternoon whilst I piss about on Mumsnet and Facebook, before we all go home at 2pm.

Oh, and I only do that for about 8 weeks of the year because the rest of the time I have training days, am on holiday or I'm on strike because I hate children and their parents and want to destroy their lives.

Sometimes I sit and home thinking of ways to pick on children because I hate them so much. Also I'm really thick and couldn't get a job in the real world, as well as the fact that all problems in society are caused by me. I think that's everything.

TheFallenMadonna · 18/03/2012 22:39

What do you do OP? My money's on a less than effective TA...

stargirl1701 · 18/03/2012 22:40

wherearemysocka

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