Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to be annoyed about the end of the scool holidays?

253 replies

maxpower · 02/09/2016 21:03

Only because I'm so sick of listening to and reading fb posts about all the poor teachers who are having to go back to work after 6 weeks off. There are many workers who don't get 6 weeks holiday for a whole a year never mind in one go. I've just read some drivel on fb about how - while I'm 'watching tv' - some self sacrificing teacher is writing a lesson plan to benefit my child. This the post stressed is unpaid. Oh woe is s/he. How about the 5+ unpaid hours I worked this week over and above the full time job I do? Oh and just to clarify, when I got home from work I spent an hour coaching my daughter for school entrance exams, when I discovered that all the amazing teachers she's had have not taught her about calculations involving 'parts' or indeed how to work out the area of a triangle.

So forgive me if I don't lament over how tough it is to have to go back to work (where the rest of us have been all summer long).

OP posts:
DakotaFanny · 04/09/2016 18:10

I think 90% of teachers would say it's not the actual teaching they dislike.

I am going into my 19th year-in a tough secondary school, where only about 1/10 kids have professional parents and fewer than that even dream of university. They swear too much, they don't often know boundaries or manners, their 'worlds' are narrow and, often, incredibly depressing. And do you know what? They're great! They are rough diamonds, pleased to see a welcoming face, funny, warm, entertaining. In my classroom I am as happy as I was when I was a fresh faced NQT. I laugh every day and I am honoured to work with these kids.

In the staffroom however, or more importantly in staff meetings, I want to weep every time SLT tell us we're not doing a good enough job because the targets are ever higher, or how we need to re-write the whole curriculum because of governmental changes. Throw in the ever present tick box exercises, the 3 layer data analysis, the increased duties and meetings, the constant fear of OFSTED, the marking scrutinies, the observations....

They're the things that make me- and I would guess most moaning teachers- whinge.

I thought about quitting last year but I'm not foolish enough to think that I could get an 'easier' job. The pressures on ALL working people now are higher, but I do think that the willingness to bash teachers is ridiculously high. Most of us do this job, and continue to do it, because your children are important to us and their futures might be improved by our presence.

mumsneedwine · 04/09/2016 18:54

DakotaFanny I think you are me ! I'll keep at it as I love the classroom and the funny, witty, questioning students. I know more than I should about some of their home lives and have often taken washing home as some don't have one. Or food. Or anyone home who cares. So me and my colleagues try to be there. It is draining and sometimes I want to cry (& sometimes I do). But when they get it, & when they laugh and give me a hug ( yes I know I shouldn't but I don't care), then I know it's worth it. I wish you could all meet my bottom set year 11. They were hard work and I was sworn at and had a few stools chucked about. But we laughed and I will miss them terribly. And they achieved and have futures I hope.

mumsneedwine · 04/09/2016 19:25

Forgot how much this means to me (just saw it on another thread). I do try and think before I chastise.

Cause I ain’t got a pencil
By Joshua T. Dickerson

I woke myself up
Because we ain’t got an alarm clock
Dug in the dirty clothes basket,
Cause ain’t nobody washed my uniform
Brushed my hair and teeth in the dark,
Cause the lights ain’t on
Even got my baby sister ready
Cause my mama wasn’t home.
Got us both to school on time,
To eat us a good breakfast.
Then when I got to class the teacher fussed
Cause I ain’t got a pencil.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page