Teacher rage

[Mozismyhero]

AIBU to think that as a teacher I should be allowed a holiday and not be sat here, on a sunny Saturday working while my children have fun with Daddy in the park? Or that I shouldn't have had to stay up until midnight every night last week working? Yes, I get 6 weeks off but I want to actually have them off, not spend half the time working and planning for next year. I love the kids I work with but the volume of work I do at home is draining me.

I take three weeks proper time off where I don't look at emails, don't do any planning or any work whatsoever. Then I work about four hours a day for the remaining three weeks.

Would that work better for you?

I predict lots of posts telling you to get a different job (in the "real" world) if it's that bad, that you must be working really inefficiently and that teachers get way too much holiday (the lazy sods!) and that YABU to even slightly moan about anything at all to do with your job as a result.

Anyway, YANBU. Hope you get through it all soon.

I am trying to get it all done now so
I can have some real time off, yes. It just really bothers me that I have to spend so much time, all year round, working at home. I've taught for about 13 years now and it has got worse year on year.

I don't know if you worked in other fields before teaching (outside of teenage weekend jobs etc) but loads require you to work on days off.

I'm working right now. Well I'm not I'm avoiding it and mumsnet ting. But I should be working!

Most people get 5 weeks annual leave a year. Assign yourself 2 or 3 in summer and do not work then and the remaining 2 weeks spread over Christmas or easter.

But choose to properly not work. And relax then.

Yes you have lots of work to do in your 'holidays' and noone appreciates it. Noone appreciates my job either and I don't appreciate my neighbor's

YANBU

You couldn't pay me enough to be a teacher in the UK.

I was chatting to the teacher at the end of the (school) year and I asked her if she would get a good break over the summer before starting again (she is lovely, brilliant with the kids & parents and puts SO much effort & enthusiasm in all year) , or if she'd have work a lot of it. She said she had two weeks booked in a lovely remote villa in Spain, but other than that it would be pretty much 'working from home' albeit with shorter days & the odd glass of wine!

It's not on. It's really not. Teachers need a GOOD break in the summer to be refreshed and ready to start all ver again. Both for their own health, sanity & happiness, but also for the next class. Pushing them to brink (and beyond) helps no one.

I've no idea what the new Minister of Education is like, but I hope she's one hell of a lot better.

Then you're doing something wrong - you're definitely working hard but you cannot be working smart if you're working that volume. Go to the park.

You picked the wrong forum to elicit sympathy for being a teacher. Mumsnet hates teachers.

Yeah, the reason I do it the other way round is
a) I am close to cracking up by may July so I need the break NOW!
b) I have had bad experiences where I have had to redo stuff because priorities/direction change close to the start of term so it makes more sense to just do it the once, nearer to September.
c) The closer I get to going back, the more tempted I would be to dip my toe into work, so I genuinely get more of a break this way round.

Nanu sounds wise. I would treat it as 5 weeks annual leave too, and plan in childcare accordingly. Treat weeks 'off' as time to do flexible working from home and then have other weeks as proper leave, then your time off will meet your expectations.

It sounds tough but it is the way it is for many.

My instinct is to snappily say that my DH (and in the past I) works 12+ hours a day, 5 days a week, 337 days a year for less than £17,000 salary. However I think people massively underestimate teachers, constantly moaning about their "9-3" work day and having so many holidays and not taking into account the fact that 9-3 you have x amount of children with you and therefore all of your marking and planning and training is all done out with that time. So no, I don't think YABU, you should try and do what others have suggested and at least get a couple of weeks proper holiday.

What do you teach? Im primary andiI went in one day last week and i am doing another day next week but other than that I'm forgetting about it until the last 2 weeks. This is the first time I have properly switched off from my job for the whole year including xmas and Easter where I had the biggest mountain of shite hanging over my head that I just couldn't forget about it.

Yes, you should be with your children in the park. But I do think going by what you've said although you might be working a lot, you're not working 'smart'.

Yes poor you the government are awful I worked ninety hours last week is that all I did two hundred yabu.

I'm surprised there are any bloody teachers left.

Yeah I think the problem is Evans is that teachers never make out that they work 'harder' than anyone else. It's just they have to constantly defend themselves against accusations of being lazy, having a cushy job or not being in touch with the real world, so it just seems like they are always saying that no one works as hard as them!

YANBU I don't teach in England. I have 9 weeks hols and do a course for one week then I prepare for one week. I'm a good teacher and my children do well. I go back to school refreshed and ready for the year ahead.

I worked most of last week but only because I am moving classroom and school is shut for cleaning and decorating next week.

Why can't September's planning wait? I personally take a break and then go back to things to avoid burnout.

Good luck!

Teachers are away from school for say 12 (?) weeks a year. Does it help if you view it in terms of only say 5 of these being actual holiday (ie probably what most people get in other jobs) and the other 7 weeks you're not at school but still working?

Don't get me wrong, I'm not belittling what teachers do and how much work they have to do on an evening/weekend. But lots of other jobs are the same and you have the advantage of not having to worry about childcare during school holidays.

YANBU.

I don't know how teachers do it.

Mind you, my 'part-time' job is currently 40-50 hrs/week with regular evening/weekend hours being put in. 'Tis crap and yes, the Powers That Be are taking the piss

Only 15 years to go to retirement….

I'm a head of department and head of year. I will spend two weeks maximum working 4-5 hours a day planning, marking and getting ready. I would suggest you need to look at your workload and work out why you are doing so much. I'm a single person department so all planning and schemes of work fall to me. I've eased the load by joining and online forum and networking. There are three of us who run the same GCSE course and we decide the labour. I've had two weeks off. I'll start working next week and then have 10 days or so at the end where I do nothing. October half term I will do one weekend. Christmas holidays I'll do 1 or 2 days maximum. Feb half term I tend to do a weekend and one week of the Easter holidays. In June, nothing at all as the GCSE is finished. My dh is a primary school teacher and he works in a similar way. We have the best job in the world, but your work life balance is important too.

Divide^

Teachers are away from school for say 12 (?) weeks a year. Does it help if you view it in terms of only say 5 of these being actual holiday (ie probably what most people get in other jobs) and the other 7 weeks you're not at school but still working?

I once calculated how much unpaid overtime I do over the course of a year. It didn't even come close to the number of hours I get over 13 weeks (of which only 4 are paid) holiday.

I think very few people work as hard or for as many hours as GOOD teachers do.

I think very few people are under the pressure that GOOD teachers are under.

I think very few people are as answerable to so many different people as teachers are (children, parents, other teachers, head staff etc etc)

I think very few people have their work held up for inspection as much or as often as teachers do.

I think very few people have any idea of what is required of a GOOD teacher.

I think very few people could handle being a teacher, let alone a good one.

I think it's UTTER TWATTERY to ask if a teacher has ever had a job 'in the real world'.

LISTEN to what EX teachers have to say. EX teachers working in a whole variety of different jobs now, Every Single One of them that I've spoken to or listened to on the radio etc have ALL said that their quality of life is MUCH better since leaving teaching and that they don't have to work as long or as hard to be successful in their careers now.

But lots of other jobs are the same and you have the advantage of not having to worry about childcare during school holidays.

Surely that's not true if, per your suggestion, you work seven weeks of the holiday? The SAHPs here are all pretty adamant that childcare is a full job in and of itself...

MargaretCavendish has hit the nail on the head. The point about childcare made no sense in the context of what's being said on this thread