to think my job is easier than DPs?

[theirdaughter]

This is based on everyone telling me how hard I have it (head of English, secondary school.)

Teaching is tough but not THAT tough. DP works odd shifts at anti social times and they're split meaning if he finishes one at 11:30 the next doesn't start until 12 - meaning unpaid trapped time. Minimum wage.

Anyway we were strapped cash wise recently (car troubles) and I did some shifts to help out, my gosh I have NEVER. Worked so hard in my life for such little financial reward.

I've concluded a lot of teachers need to experience just how hard other jobs are.

YANBU

I totally agree teaching involves a lot of "hidden" hours and hard work but so do a lot of other professions /jobs. I have some good friends who are teachers and sometimes their attitude that no one has it as hard as them and no one else's jobs are worthwhile I'd more than a little annoying.

I'm not saying that's true of all teachers at all but I've definitely come across it.

I work pretty hard but I agree with the OP that its not as tough as others suggest. However, its not as easy as those claim we work part time, lots of holidays etc.

I suppose if we didn't have so much abuse thrown at us, we wouldn't spend so much time defending ourself and having to point out that we actually do a reasonably demanding job, definitely one that should be paid a fair wage. However, because of that, we come across as whiners and whingers

I think teacher is a pretty good deal as it does allow some flexibility which is useful if you have children. I would find life a lot tougher if I didn't have the school holidays free and if I didn't get home until 6.30 (like my DH). The downsides is I start working once they are in bed.

What is the point of this sort of goady thread exactly?

I've concluded a lot of teachers need to experience just how hard other jobs are.

I agree with the previous poster-this is very goady.

Totally depends on who you are teaching. Nice school with nice children and a supportive slt is very different to inner city PRU.

I teach somewhere like a PRU with little support. It's fucking tough, mentally and physically and nowhere near as hard as other jobs I've done (catering / kitchen work / cleaning / bar work / office work...)

OP - I get your point!
(Fellow English HoD high five)

Teaching (and particularly middle management teaching with a 20 hr p/w timetable like I had!) is an incredibly demanding job. Because of this, I feel sorry for people who have v demanding jobs that people don't realise are demanding!

So my DBro is a dr in A&E. Everyone knows this is v demanding and he is 'respected' for it. DSis works in retail management: longer hours, screaming stress, alarm calls...she loves it, but few people realise how demanding it is. I know you don't need sympathy/respect for your job, but still - hard at the Christmas dinner table when one is congrats red for managing to be there, and the other was tutted at the day before for having to answer their phone from work.

I think if you are non suited to a job, you will find it more stressful, whatever it is. Doesn't make it more demanding.

And to a pp: of COURSE it is possible to have a bad teacher! It's the bad teacher, not the challenging students, who keep me awake at 4am and are the most stressful part of my job...

However I don't think teaching is as hard as being a surgeon / fire fighter / a&e nurse etc.

Same here (with regard to bad teachers!)

And of COURSE the thread isn't goady - why would it be?

Teaching is hard work and most people recognise this because, as previously acknowledged, teachers tell us so.

It doesn't mean other jobs arent hard work - even harder, perhaps.

But even expressing this opinion has led to some thinking I'm being deliberately 'goady' and a couple concluding that because I'm not dead on my feet I am not putting the hours in. No wonder teaching is a profession riddled with problems!

I'm not sure why you are comparing jobs, surely jobs are demanding in different ways?

You seem to find being head of a core subject fairly easy then, I wonder how stressful the rest of your department feel? IME the heads of departments who feel little stress are the ones who delegate and micro manage. It's everyone else who feels the pressure then.

You're being quite goady.

I agree in the sense that a lot if people don't realise how bloody hard some shit jobs are.

So many people in higher earning jobs bang on about how they work bloody hard for their money.

Well I remember doing 12 hour shifts for min wage with no food or breaks and I'd say I worked extremely hard for that money. Probably harder than a lot of other people who earned more money.

And ofcourse some people are well suited to their jobs and therefore don't find then as difficult as others might.

I agree Iwant

Blink I'm comparing jobs because I suppose I find it interesting - when I compare what I do and what DP does I know who works harder, and really who has more stress and pressure. Yet society feels that is mine alone.

That isn't the same as saying teaching is 'easy' - I have said it is tough and there are days when I am tired and tearing my hair out of course!

But it's interesting because saying that while I find teaching hard on one level I don't find it that hard has led others straightaway to believe I am incompetent and lazy. I'm NOT - so now the assumptions are that I'm a micro managing bully. For saying some jobs are tougher than teaching?

Let's not be silly.

How come you were able to pitch up and work with vulnerable adults on a casual basis?

Hardest job I have ever done was waitressing. The rictus smile on my face when dealing with an arsehole customer, the organisation aspects - covering 8-10 tables and trying to make sure they all get drinks/meals/attention in the right order, interspersed with doing desserts, drinks refills, cleaning...oh my god it was hard work. It was relentless. And the pay was rubbish! I remember crawling into bed each night absolutely exhausted. My job now, although fairly senior is well paid, stressful at times but on the whole it's easier in terms of how I feel at the end of each day.

Lem - I obviously had an up to date DBS check and was with DP who is fully qualified. I did have to do a days training too but the DBS was the main thing.

I'd be a hopeless waitress.

WftsC has hit the nail on the head- if you are not suited to a particular job, it will feel a lot more stressful, whatever that job is.

OP- you are clearly suited to being a head of dept and don't find it too onerous. You aren't suited to your dp's job. Surely it's occurred to you that the reverse is probably true too. I guess if he would find teaching and running a dept a lot easier, he'd be doing it; after all, he'd earn a lot more money.
Totally pointless thread to try to compare one job with another because there are so many variables its like comparing apples and oranges. I suspect this is why many people think the thread is goady... Because it can't possibly lead to any informed discussion.

Ok- you find your dp's job harder than yours. No doubt many - perhaps the majority- of women and men would say the same about their partners. That's why they do their job and we do ours.

I don't think I am unsuited to DPs work; I enjoyed it and so does he.

But it isn't the work itself but the awful pay and lack of working conditions that wear him/us out. It really opened my eyes to what the rest of the world do and for little financial reward or public recognition I suppose.

So - I don't think it is a pointless thread at all to be honest!

theirdaughter I don't think you are being unreasonable or goady, just very honest.

I work in healthcare and always notice how hard some of the lower paid jobs such as cleaners do. As for the ward clerks on our unit, they definitely don't get paid enough for the amount of multi-tasking/phone answering/general hassle from the public etc. Some people do appreciate what they do, but as you say, many don't realise at all.

Well, thanks for clarifying that your dp enjoys his job. I find it a little surprising that you really had no idea that many NMW jobs can be relentless and also not have good working conditions. Particularly having a partner doing such a job. Thankfully not everyone needs to spend a day doing a job before they can accept that it's hard work. And anyone working in a large organisation- be it school, hospital, whatever, must surely be aware, whatever their own status, that they are surrounded by other workers supporting that organisation- cleaners, caretakers, receptionists, admin workers- who also work hard but are on low pay.

I agree that this is not a goady thread and think the point being made is a good one. There is a focus on certain jobs being "hard" because those who do them are articulate and have a platform to air their views. That includes, in my view, teaching (a heavily unionised profession, which helps with the platform) and the legal profession of which I am a part. My job involves long hours and lots of mental effort, but I don't find it nearly as hard as when I was on my feet all day in a lock-up bag shop on Oxford St which was tedious, lonely, terribly paid and soul-destroying. I have huge job satisfaction and intellectual challenge which makes up for a lot in terms of hours. And I am paid very well.

The business I run involves mainly split shift site work and paperwork during the day.
Split shifts can be difficult. I often get home when my son is asleep and then I am out the house in the early hours of the morning.

Lines there is a difference between knowing something in an academic sense and knowing something through direct experience, as doubtless any household with one busy WOTH parent and one SAH parent will know!

Yy to sounding platforms and to public perceptions. It isn't that DPs job is a round peg in a round hole for him, it's that he and I suspect others aren't regarded for what they do either in a monetary sense or from the views of the public.

Where are the teachers who say that teaching is the hardest job in the world, or that other jobs aren't hard?

Sounds like you're arguing against a straw man to me.

The public think teaching is hard (eg checkout assistant last week telling me she wouldn't do my job) not because of paperwork or working weekends or lack of flexible holidays or whatever. They think teaching is hard because they know children. Because they know having children around is fun but draining, and when it comes to teenagers they would rather pull their teeth out than be expected to control and inspire 30 15 year olds doing something they don't want to do on a Friday afternoon.

Where are the teachers who say that teaching is the hardest job in the world, or that other jobs aren't hard?

Exactly.

I've never heard a teacher say that. Generally, they are objecting to people throwing wild accusations around about them being part-timers who work 9-3 and don't live in the real world. Then teachers might say that they disagree and it's actually quite hard work. Then people jump in and moan that we're saying we have the hardest job in the world...