To get a tattoo that's very visible as a teacher?

[LifeLong13]

I've been teaching for over a decade. I have several tattoos and only one is visible and it's on my foot.

I'm debating a tattoo of a lotus flower on my lower arm.

As a parent how would you feel if your child's teacher was tattooed? If you employ teachers how would you feel?

I hate tattoos. Never employed anyone with visible tattoos when I used to recruit. You'll be fine in your current job, but may come across a knob like me if you ever want to move on.

I just don't get it. Wear a bracelet or something if you want to adorn your arm.

I'm a GP, and I see a huge range of people - all ages, faiths, classes, varied interests etc. The one thing they all need to do is trust me, otherwise I can't do my job. And in order to trust me they have to be able to relate to me.

If I make a big statement with my appearance (tattoo, power suit, skinhead haircut, skin tight mini dress) there is a danger they may put me in a category that they can't relate to, and then they may not feel able to confide in me.

For that reason I try to make myself a fairly bank canvass at work. I wear plain smart-ish clothes, small amount of understated jewellery, tiny bit of make-up. That way I can be anyone, and therefore people in all walks of life can open up to me, which is - after all - the whole point of my job.

I see teachers in a similar way. I don't want to know too much about what they might be like when they're not at work. And in my opinion a tattoo says more about someone than I want to know, if they are my child's teacher.

OP you said yourself that you liked your midwife all the more because she had tattoos, which goes to show that we all make judgements on appearance, be they positive or negative. I think in some jobs people should try and inspire as little judgement as possible.

That's my view anyway, for those who were curious.

As a parent of autistic children all my energy in dealing with DS1's teacher (he's just started school) has been put into making sure she understands his needs. Something as petty as what she looked like just doesn't get a look in.

Then again, I just don't understand all this bizarre and completely arbitrary obsession with what's 'smart' or not. I'm also autistic and have huge sensory problems with certain clothing and forcing people to wear or not wear certain things (unless there's a safety or hygiene aspect when working with machinery or preparing food or something) baffles me.

I work with a lot of teachers who have tattoos and it is hard for some of them in summer to have to wear long sleeves on hot days, as the dress code states 'no visible tattoos'.

user147

You're obviously judging me - and that's your prerogative

If you want to have a proper discussion, I'd be genuinely interested to know whether it's the (tiny, 2mm diameter) piercing itself that you find distasteful, or what you think I'm trying to convey to the world?

(For my part, I think it's a bit one-track that you picked out of my considered, based-on-OP's-situation post - which was long even for me! - the relevant fact that I have one non-earlobe body mod - but each to their own.)

A teacher colleague of mine has Euler's Identity (a cool bit of maths) tattooed on her ankle, it is a source of great interest and discussion amongst the pupils.

I loathe tattoos but if you were a good teacher, I wouldn't give a monkeys. If you weren't a good teacher, your tattoos wouldn't be my beef either.

OTOH I do think it could cause issues if you wanted to move schools. Some heads are particularly hot on the tattoos thing.

mintychoc1 I really like the "blank canvas" approach, and it isn't something I've ever considered before - good, solid argument for keeping a close check on your appearance in your line of work.

Do you think that children need the same sort of tabula rasa? They probably don't yet have such a clear idea of the sociodemographic signifiers... But happy to be corrected

I'm a teacher with a visible wrist tattoo, I'm by no means the only one in my school (in fact we all use the same tattoo artist) and SLT are tattooed too. It is mainstream and our parents know that it has no baring on our ability to teach. Mine is partially covered by my Fitbit or long sleeves in the winter but I don't go out of my way to cover it. The tattoo has a very special meaning and something my pupils are fascinated by as they know how special the theme of the tattoo is to me.

Eurgh ignore typos, my phone hates me this morning.

I don't want my DC to have tattoos and tell them so. I would not like a teacher to have one because they will say, " Well Ms Lifelong has one and no one at the school minds".

Urrrgh, "sociodemographic signifiers" - I sound like a twat!

But you know what I'm driving at.

(I hope)

Would it be small enough to put a bracelet over it which is what staff at my school do.

Public service type jobs like teaching and nursing will get away with tattoos to a point, though, insofar as generally speaking the lower the socioeconomic area is the more tattooed teachers you will find (speaking as a general rule of course.)

You probably wouldn't find many, if any, visible tattoos in the private sector.

I personally don't like tattoos much, so I would prefer if you covered it up. However as long as it isn't offensive, obviously it has no impact on your ability to teach, as long as you are doing a good job teaching that is the most important thing.

You should bear in mind that a small minority of very traditional schools (e.g. independent public schools) may judge you on a tattoo and you may miss out on opportunities. However, perhaps you would not want to teach in such a school, in which case that wouldn't matter.

Jessica that's nonsense. I worked for a very prestigious law firm in a few earner capacity. With visible tattoos and piercings. They couldn't care less.

In fact apart from a stint in a state school after uni I have always been private sector

I hate tattoos but l would be more interested in your work. My dd got a new teacher In Secondary who had piercings and tattoos. In lreland in a private very conservative school. I was a bit taken aback the first time but his attitude was very professional and his teaching was fantastic so l soon totally forgot. But l wonder if he had just been mediocre would l have suddenly focused on those things? Did l need him to be excellent to convince me he wasn't " unsuitable? "

It's not 'nonsense'; it just doesn't tally with your direct experience :) which is absolutely fine.

However, your anecdote is limited to one firm and one element of the private sector. in a more general sense though, the more you have things like visible tattoos and piercings the more barriers you place in way of your employment.

A teacher wanting to spend her life working in schools in poor socioeconomic areas probably won't struggle, a city banker or politician might have slightly more problems.

I'm not anti tattoos and have two myself but both are well hidden.

Lots of teachers have them at my kids school and my husband teaches has one too. Never been an issue. They are mostly covered up in interviews I imagine (on legs and upper arms)

jessica not at all. Various sectors now. I refrained following having a child.

Interestingly I have done two professional networking things recently (one a lunch, one a conference) and there were countless people with visible tattoos.

In fact I made an awesome contact on the back of chat about our respective tats

I don't want my DC to have tattoos and tell them so. I would not like a teacher to have one because they will say, " Well Ms Lifelong has one and no one at the school minds".

I do not ever want my children to ride a motorbike. I know teachers who ride motorbikes to school. But it will be for me to explain the reasons behind why I don't like motorbikes, and hopefully inform their decision. I wouldn't expect every teacher to be banned from riding one to school.

So based on that, you don't feel that having a tattoo in a visible place would ever potentially be a problem? It certainly would be in my husbands line of work and it would be at my current school. That hasn't stopped either of us having tattoos, just that we have had them somewhere not visible during working hours.

I know there is a school of thought that almost encourages people to challenge the perception of tattoos and if people feel they absolutlely must then fine. But it's misleading to then state it will have no bearing on future prospects, even in a minor way.

Teachers at my DD's school have to adhere to a code of conduct which includes several appearance related rules, one of which is no (visible) tattoos. So obviously I don't have to have an opinion as to my DD's teachers and their tattoos!