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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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:
ilovesooty · 02/09/2016 22:12

Oh well. If teachers in the family are posting this there's nothing to stop you feeding your annoyance back to them.

pieceofpurplesky · 02/09/2016 22:12

have no doubt that you work hard and earn your holidays.

So do I.

Max - you know then that teachers aren't paid for theirs.

TheFallenMadonna · 02/09/2016 22:12

Well, I am not a crap teacher. I am an excellent teacher. I work very hard indeed during term time, and I don't work (any more) during the holidays. I no longer have additional responsibilities. I don't need to.

Original poster
maxpower · 02/09/2016 22:12

Sooty that's just the thing. I value teachers absolutely. I know what it takes to do one of the most important jobs there is. That's not what this is about.

OP posts:
Beardsareweird · 02/09/2016 22:13

Good thread! Very entertaining! Only the crap teachers take 6 weeks holiday (well, 5 weeks & 3 days this year)

I must be an utterly shit teacher then because I did fuck all in the holidays.

TheFallenMadonna · 02/09/2016 22:14

Solidarity...

totalrecall1 · 02/09/2016 22:14

Teachers work hard. So do lots of other people. The long holiday is a perk of the job. I wish I had 6 weeks off, but I don't want to be a teacher. If I were I would enjoy every minute of it.

rollonthesummer · 02/09/2016 22:16

ex teacher here. I think there's a huge difference in age taught, primary workload is far less than secondary

Which do you teach?

cardibach · 02/09/2016 22:18

So what is it about Max?
Teachers work hard and earn their holidays you say. Why are you angry/upset when they are sad the holidays are ending then?

cardibach · 02/09/2016 22:20

total exactly! That's exactly the point. The Jordan's are great. But they are part of a whole package which is probably no better or worse than many others.

Liiinoo · 02/09/2016 22:20

It says a lot that the OP left education to go to a massively over stretched, under resourced, high pressure role and yet chooses to stay there rather than return to teaching.

MagicMojito · 02/09/2016 22:23

Op has not once said that she thinks teaching is easy and that they sit around all summer hols chugging cocktails in the sun. She's stated more than once that teachers do a valuable and important job that can be immensely stressful. I'm really struggling to see the "teacher bashing-ness" of this thread Confused

It seems to me that OP is a bit put out by other people (regardless of their profession, for arguments sake!) implying that we should be sat here giving a thought for them and how hard they have it because we clearly don't know how lucky we are.

Most people have very stressfull jobs/lives in the outside world of teaching too. I really don't feel any more sorry for teachers than any other poor bugger that's struggling.

Mosschopz · 02/09/2016 22:27

Not big on the empathy, are you?

Most teachers I know have worked for at least 2 weeks of the SIX week holiday, and if you add that to the average 50-60 hour working term-time weeks you'll realise it's not really a holiday at all, just a redistribution of hours.

And by the way, you're definitely That parent...

wannabestressfree · 02/09/2016 22:30

Ah teacher bashing..... It's been a while.... You can almost set your watch by it though.
I have written several lengthy replies justifying my vocation and explaining why you are so wrong but..... Cba.

voxnihili · 02/09/2016 22:31

I'm a teacher and I've sat around most of the holidays chugging cocktails in the sun :). I work my butt off during term time so that I get the holidays to myself. I've also been teaching for over a decade so don't need to spend so much time in the holidays doing stuff anymore.

I've posted a couple of those things in my time at the end of the holidays. I don't want anyone to feel sorry for me going back to work but I've had to put up with 6 weeks of having to read comments from friends moaning about having to entertain their children during the holidays.

I also like to put a reminder up to my non teacher friends that I've just enjoyed 6 blissful weeks off :)

SuburbanRhonda · 02/09/2016 22:32

Wasn't there a thread exactly like this a year ago?

Someone whinging about comments on their own FB feed about teachers feeling sad about going back to school?

Original poster
maxpower · 02/09/2016 22:33

Cardibach I get that few people back flip with delight at the thought of going back to work. In fairness the post I saw today tipped me over the edge. It was along the lines of 'while you are sat around watching tv, somewhere there's a teacher writing a lesson plan during their school holiday when they are not supposed to be working just so your child can learn'

I'm not sat around watching tv - I've been at work all week and done unpaid overtime which I could have spent at home with my children. I've brought work home that I'll have to do this weekend. I think we'd agree that's no differeNT to many teachers during the school year.

This is on a background of reading/hearing multiple references to how sad it is that teachers are having to go back to work.

I share in the joy of my teacher friends when they start their holidays. Of course they need/want a break. But don't expect me to be sad that after 6 weeks they have to go back to work.

OP posts:
ilovesooty · 02/09/2016 22:34

A downside to the holidays is their inflexibility anyway. I rather like being able to plan time off around my own needs these days.

Catsize · 02/09/2016 22:36

I have distanced myself from a teacher friend who moaned all the time about how stressful her job was as a drama teacher in a private school. The moment I showed any empathy as I might have had a hard day too, she'd get uber competitive about how her job was far more stressful than mine.

I am a criminal barrister, have worked three days this week in far-flung locations for £0 ( thanks to the errors of others), tend to work every evening and weekend and don't get paid holiday/maternity/sick leave etc. But I chose it!

After a while, my teacher friend's constant moaning started to grate and we no longer speak.

For all the 'I work all the time in school holidays', she posts a lot of photos of her not working in the 'holidays'.

For all the problems in my job, there are a zillion worse options and I feel very fortunate to do what I do.

Original poster
maxpower · 02/09/2016 22:36

Thanks Magic.

Moss - can you define 'That parent' ? Not sure I know what you're suggesting.

OP posts:
Boundaries · 02/09/2016 22:36

I think that is a problem with your friend/relation max. S/he sounds like a wanker.

I haven't had anything like that on FB from any family member or colleague. Who are largely teachers.

Munstermonchgirl · 02/09/2016 22:38

So you're in a high pressure job with less holiday than in your previous life as a teacher.... Yet you still chose to get out of teaching.

That says it all OP

Original poster
maxpower · 02/09/2016 22:43

I don't think teaching is better or worse than my job, it's just different. Other posters on this thread have said how tough teaching is and they do the job anyway. I do my job because I like it. I'm sure there are some people on this thread (teachers or not) who wouldn't want to do my job because it's challenging. I've never said I wouldn't teach again.

OP posts:
charliethebear · 02/09/2016 22:44

But the posts aren't expecting you to be sad? Their not expecting you to sit there crying for people going back to work. 99% of my friends write a sad post about going back to work. Most people are just writing their feelings about being mildly sad. It doesn't mean that they want longer holidays, or dont appreciate the 6 weeks, or think that they have it so much worse than everyone else. Their not ranting about the injustice of having to work, its just a minor sad feeling that everyone gets when going back to work after a long holiday or weekend. If you really cant handle teachers on fb, unfriend them or dont go on fb at this time of year.

GiddyOnZackHunt · 02/09/2016 22:44

There'll be posts next week from all sorts of people bemoaning being back to the school run. Don't read those, you'll implode.