To be mildly irritated by most tiring job ever?

[brasty]

A friend who is a teacher has been saying how exhausted she is, and that only other teachers would understand. She is not joking. AIBU to be mildly irritated by this? Yes teachers do a hard job, but there are other jobs that are also exhausting.

Bil is a primary teacher and we also couldn't understand his tiredness - he informed us of this after he'd been back to school for 1 week after the summer hols and came to stay with us (and pil) despite us saying all 3 of them would be too much. We had 3yo dd and 2 week old twins who had been in scbu (dd2 had to be resucitated) dh wasn't allowed early paternity leave due to twins being prem so was commuting 2 hours a day. I had had a C section but bil had a nap Saturday pm as he was tired. I don't doubt it's tiring but so are many professions.

Well quite rightly it doesn't pay as much as medicine! And actually the fY1s get paid £22.6k for their first years pay, for 235 days work rather than 195.

But no one is saying teachers shouldn't have a long holiday or decent pay. Just that they are a tad too inclined to over egg how tiring their job is, and that can be irksome. But moaning is not an attractive trait in anyone really.

And it probably isn't the most tiring job out there, but it is my some measure one of the most lambasted, misunderstood and misrepresented. Compare the goodwill and support which nurses and doctors have (e.g. during strikes).

Among my friends who are teachers I noticed that they moan a lot when they get together, but that's just to each other about things which they mutually understand. In my experience teachers only go on about how hard they work, what their hours actually are, etc., to others outside the profession when some idiot accuses them of rocking up at 9 and leaving at 3.30 every day. It's defensive, and understandably so.

Perhaps that is because the average teachers salary is £34.7k for 195 days work, compared to £34.2k for 235 days for nurses?

And maybe the pension contributions are a sore point too. Teachers contribute 8.6% on the average salary, whilst people on an agenda for change contract contribute 9.3%?

Is it any surprise the public are more supportive of a profession who work 8 weeks more a year for the same money?

I think it's a bit generous to assume the general public know all the ins and outs of the salary and pension figures. The vast majority of people are pretty dim. They just go on the "ooh, nurses are angels" cliche and judge teachers by their own experiences of going to school.

The most tiring thing about nursing and being a nursing assistant is the switch from night to days. That fucker is a killer. Working three nights back to back then switching to days messes with you.

It's why I do bank work now. I choose when I work but I still do my share of nights and they bugger me up for a while. On the other hand, when the shift is over, it's over. No working in your spare time.

It's all swings and roundabouts. I have definitely noticed teachers moaning about their jobs, more so than anyone in any other profession seems to. That FB post going around last Xmas about parents sitting at home drinking while teachers mark your children's work was laughable. I know my teacher relative doesn't work over the Xmas week.

I've certainly never been told I'm an angel. People are only interested in my job because it's v different to your usual kind of nursing. Certainly other professions are aware of how much nurses/teachers earn.

TAs are invaluable but to say they do the same job is just not true. They also do not have the repercussions of pupils do not teach their targets.
What you will get with teachers leaving in droves is TAs taking the classes ....

average teachers salary is £34.7k

I bet that's the mean not the median, skewed by high headteacher salaries. A lot of teachers never even break 30k because they quit before they reach it. Schools are full of cheap young teachers on a constant churn.

Should nurses and teachers earn the same? I don't have an answer, but just wondered if that was what people thought.

It's hard to compare two such different professions, but I think people don't make the same assumptions about nursing.

U2 one week in January I'm working Friday day, Sunday night, Wednesday day, Thursday night, Saturday Sunday day.

I bet that's the mean not the median, skewed by high headteacher salaries.

You mean like nurses salaries are skewered by nurse consultants pay?

Noble I think I was working a good few years before I broke the £30k mark ... and my salary has not increased with inflation now in many years

I don't know, fruit, if you think the figures are bollocks, why are you posting them?

Dad I think they are comparable in terms of responsibility and accountability. However I believe nurses should receive 40 days more salary as they work more hours. So based on a teachers average salary of £34.7k, nurses should be paid £41.8k.

I don't think they are bollocks, I think both professions have similar starting and top end salaries so the mean is comparable. It was another poster that queried it.

It's disgusting Fruit

One of the nurses where I work a lot has been told she has to work Xmas Eve, Xmas day and Boxing day.. all 12 hour shifts.

It puts me off doing nursing because I wouldn't want to be a bank nurse but those shift patterns would kill me. At the same time with short staff my role seems to be changing but the pay doesn't reflect that.

I'm working 07:00 - 20:30 25/26/27th December!

I would be so gutted to have to work those three days.

I think both professions have similar starting and top end salaries so the mean is comparable.

Bloody hell no. The standard deviations could be very different.