To sue Gove for ruining my back

[teacherinpain]

3 prolapsed discs

This is down to the crippling weight of paper work and marking I've had to lug round with me all day every day since Gove came to power. ( The hospital confirms this)

This will never heal

What if every single teacher who has been physically or mentally damaged by this mad man sued him personally for the results of his insanity.

[Happyringo]

Unfortunately on MN there are a few teachers who come on saying they work 150hr a week and are in school 16 hours a day and never take a day off even in the holidays, no one knows how they have the worst job in the whole world blah blah blah...it gets really dull and pretty irritating.

My point is that most jobs are stressful in their own right, not just teaching.

No job is worth sacrificing your health for.

[ComposHat]

Dismissing the op as moaning about carrying around the books I marked is EXACTLY what I am talking about. I could point out that it is not just about the books, more about the huge amount of repetitious paperwork, sixty or so textbooks, all the resources you need to teach six different lessons and the fact that you have six seconds to get from a to b - but if I did so you would just write me off as whining, so I won't bother

I am not saying that it isn't a problem, but it sure as fuck isn't Gove's fault, it is the fault of the school's management team for not providing lockers or planning timetables to minimise movement. As I have already said, raise with the union, head or governors. Carrying books and other sundry material required to conduct a lesson isn't a new thing, it is part and parcel of a teacher's lot, it is like a plumber moaning that he is expected to carry spanners around.

What the op did was turn what is a specific problem due to the layout/policy of a specific school and turned it into how all teachers are hard done to and everything is Gove's fault.

[ComposHat]

Unfortunately on MN there are a few teachers who come on saying they work 150hr a week and are in school 16 hours a day and never take a day off even in the holidays, no one knows how they have the worst job in the whole world blah blah blah...it gets really dull and pretty irritating.

Yet somehow they seem to have plenty of time to tell us all about it on mumsnet.

[SpottieDottie]

I do think you are being YABU as it's a part of the job, you need to look at ways of carrying the stuff so it doesn't damage your back so much, a backpack? Make two or three trips to your car?

Sue Gove, though, well it's unrealistic but as I loath the man I would raise a smile if you did but I doubt it'd help the cause.

[HumphreyCobbler]

I don't know how I dare show my face given my cock up further up the thread

but I need to point out how I have the time to talk about it on mumsnet. It is because it is all so vile I have left! Hurrah for me. Lucky I can afford it really.

I believe I also made that point about Gove earlier in the thread.

[AKeyFox]

Why are teachers lugging material between classes at all ?

Sounds rather bizarre.

Isn't it better to have students moving and teaching materials in cupboards ?

YANBU, schools should be organised so that there is little if any requirement to transfer loads as you describe.

[Nomama]

AKeyFox.... that would be too sensible, require too many classrooms and would prevent us whining, whinging teachers from having anything to do all day, sorry, morning

[sonlypuppyfat]

Is Sue Gove his wife?

[echt]

HappyRingo, in more than 30 years of teaching, having read quite a number posts/letters about teaching, there's invariably someone who makes the claim that some teachers say they the worst job in the world, yet I've never read or heard a teacher say this.

composhat, the problem of lugging books around is not necessarily down to the individual school but a consequence of fewer teachers having their own room to keep materials in, and the fact that UK schools provide the books for pupils, though they often cannot let them go home as they must be shared.

My life has been changed for the better since teaching In Australia, where school do not provide any books for students, and I can decide myself if my students work on paper, so I don't have to lug 30+ exercise books around with me every lesson. We also don't have Gove, inspections, observations, or mind- numbingly minutely detailed lesson plans to write.

[echt]

Which is nice.

[AKeyFox]

Nomama, why should it need any more classrooms ?

[shockinglybadteacher]

I'd say it's a hell of a lot easier having an office job than teaching.

I come in at 9, half an hour's lunch break but can wander around any time, go and speak to my mates, get a cup of coffee and a bite to eat. If it's a stressful day I can walk outside for a bit (my workplace encourages this for good mental health). I like the people I work with and we all get on well. I'm regarded as an OK performer so my reviews and discussions with management are relaxed.

I'm a union rep so I do personal cases, that's probably the most stressful part of my work. Sometimes people are crying - they're talking to the union because there are problems, obviously. Sometimes you go in and there's a dismissal, that shakes up even the hardest of reps. But everyone is understanding to you as well and if I say "A personal case upset me" nobody would mind if I took a walk, or even if I had to go home early. Honestly, I love my job and the difference in stress and difficulty between it in teaching is miles apart. I leave at 5 - I might spend some time at home looking over personal cases and I might meet other reps afterwards over a pint to discuss a case or the union in general, but it's not like being a teacher.

This is why I do have sympathy for them, they are doing a very hard job and an increasingly thankless one. Gove accuses them of being everything but children of God, and here in Scotland the pace of educational change is super fast. In England and Wales, it seems sometimes from press coverage that teachers are the new demon figures. Any decision they make is wrong and evil and driven by "PC gorn mad" and "elf and safe tea" and in the worst cases expect mums sadfacing outside the school gates and hate campaigns. Honestly I don't think I could deal with that and so I respect them for still going ahead with it and helping kids.

[Stopmithering]

Think I might move to Australia.

[ForalltheSaints]

I hope that the spat today gives David Cameron a reason to sack him. It would gain the Tories a lot of votes.

[Feenie]

Every cloud.....

[echt]

It is an improvement, Stopmithering, though to be fair, there are those around who'd love to imitate the worst aspects of the UK educational system.

And Tony Abbott is hell-bent on destroying every last vestige of welfare in a way that rivals the present Uk government

[Stopmithering]

I always thought Australian schools were like Heartbreak High

[Geraldthegiraffe]

I think as a teacher I'd probably rather work in Australia, but as a parent I'm glad my children will be educated in England!

[AElfgifu]

sonlypuppyfat, just a few points, I have worked in care, in research, in retail, and in 4 different countries, so plenty of real life! I chose teaching as a permanent career because I love young people, and I love my subject, and I was under the mistaken impression that it was compatible with family life. I started work today at 7am. Since then I have worked constantly until 2am, excepting one 15 minute break waiting for a meeting to start, 1 hour travelling home, and one hour cooking and eating with the family. I'm relaxing a bit now , then will sleep until 5.30, when the alarm goes off. Not a short day! it isn't always this heavy, it is like this mid April/May/ end of June, when I have approx 200 btec students trying to organise/complete/ improve/catch up on work for their Btec portfolios. Yes, this includes Easter holiday, and half term.

I love teaching. Unfortunately the conditions in which we are working are unreasonable to the point of being insane and inhumane.

I have just quickly added up in my mind the colleagues who have worked in my department with me over the last 3 years. 18 people, not one has survived the last three years with their career, health and family intact. Everyone who hasn't left teaching , or gone part time to concentrate on other work, has had long term physical or mental health problems, caused by teaching, or family breakdown, or both.

It is insane. I'm not saying it doesn't happen to anyone else, or we get it worst. Its insane whoever is put into a position like this, what ever their career.

The answer has to be legally enforceable limits to working hours, in what ever sphere you are in.

[ilovesooty]

There's no point in trying to explain anything to posters like sonlypuppyfat

She has a low opinion of teachers and never misses an opportunity to say so.

I also don't understand why she persists in her assertion that "most people" only get four weeks holiday. The legal entitlement in the UK is more than that.

[Happyringo]

Not much more though to be fair - all full time employees are entitled to 28 days paid leave, this includes bank holidays. So, it's 4 weeks of holiday plus 8 days bank holiday.

[ilovesooty]

Fair enough but of course nearly all bank holidays fall within the school holidays as well.

[sonlypuppyfat]

You cant compare one day here and there with the endless weeks schools have off.

[ilovesooty]

And, according to you, the short days they work. It's serial teacher bashers like you who move teachers to defend themselves so much. Of course there are teachers who, like other workers, moan for the sake of it. Of course there are some teachers who lack awareness of the demands in other employment. However your comments are just straight from the ignorant "short days / long holidays/easy job/" Daily Mail readers comments mould.

[sonlypuppyfat]

Haven't you got marking to do?