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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU - Teachers

191 replies

LouBlue1507 · 14/12/2016 15:44

Hi everyone!

I am so fed up of reading all the teacher bashing threads lately! Most people have no idea the amount of word they have to do and the stress they are under! Angry

So please share positive stories/experiences of teachers!

Show the appreciation! Grin

OP posts:
noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 19:20

Play teacher training happens on days when the children are on holiday. The children are not losing teaching time, they get 190 days of education per year.

LRDtheFeministDragon · 14/12/2016 19:21

I am sure there are teacher-bashing threads, but recently, I was on a thread where people who are teachers were accused of teacher-bashing because we were discussing our own experiences. Hmm

bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 19:22

Lou, seriously, would you want to work in retail?

Would you honestly swap your oh-so-hard life teaching and two weeks off over Christmas, for a shift starting at 5 am in Next and ending at who knows what time, on Boxing Day?

And 'most workers, when their shift ends clock off and go home.'

After a fashion. The shop might shut at eight, nine, whatever, but you don't get to go home then. Likewise, my DH works in the NHS and tonight will finish at eight. I doubt he'll be home before half nine! It's just how it is. That's one thing for him, as he earns enough, but even the carers clock up a lot of unpaid time and they are minimum wage.

The way I see it, is that it's pointless making out teachers have it worse than others. In some ways, maybe they do, but not in every way, yet many teachers are determined to be as negative as possible so even lovely perks of the job get destroyed by moaning!

TiredMumToTwo · 14/12/2016 19:23

I couldn't be a teacher, literally don't have the patience, hats off to anyone who does the job. My children's school is amazing, have had the pleasure of knowing some amazing teachers and fantastic head all of whom know my children by name and really seem to care. My best friend is in a senior position in a large school in a challenging role and I am constantly amazed about how passionate she is about the kids in her care - I see it as a true vocation, one I'm totally not up to.

spanieleyes · 14/12/2016 19:24

I am expected to receive alarm calls in the middle of the night if the alarm rings, many teachers are key holders too! ( I always take my dog with me when the alarm goes off, he runs around the school barking his head off!!)

Original poster
LouBlue1507 · 14/12/2016 19:25

Haha funnily enough I worked in retail for 3 years and DP worked in next for 6 years! He started work at 4:30am every Boxing Day for 6 years. So yes I know exactly what retail is like and is a breeze compared to teaching, 100%!

OP posts:
BoneyBackJefferson · 14/12/2016 19:27

bloodymincepiez
But Boney, you are not on minimum wage, expected to work anti social hours (in terms of physically being in work) you have a pension, sick pay and maternity pay. Many retail workers do not.

And your point is?

I signed up for a job that I love, I worked hard to get to a place where I could afford to go through university without help.

I did this, I signed up for the job, yet fuckwits, dickheads and wankers are continually telling me that I do things that I don't do, that if I dare to say anything negative that I should leave and go into a different job.

Well you know what, that is what many teachers are doing, they are fucked off with being told that they are shit, that they can't be right for being wrong, that they should have stopped the changes, but they shouldn't moan because others have it worse.

Rant over.

wandaabout · 14/12/2016 19:28

My dd's teacher this year and last has been an absolute nightmare. I can't tell you the number of sleepless nights I've had as a result!

So no, some teachers are shit and really shouldn't teach!

That said, my older dcs have fab teachers, and bar the 2 I mentioned, we've generally had good experiences with teachers.

I find threads like this unhelpful, because whilst most teachers do a hard job well, there are some dreadful, abusive teachers too and actually parents post on here to get support in those situations - teachers shouldn't be taking offence but offering support to the parents. In fact the root of the problems at my dd's school has been teachers clubbing together to shield their colleagues when actually they should have been reporting them. Good teachers support kids over colleagues.

Boundaries · 14/12/2016 19:28

the real villains here are the people who queue up outside Next at the crack of dawn on BD

wandaabout · 14/12/2016 19:30

Or to put it another way, schools do not exist to provide cushy employment for teachers, they exist to educate kids. And teachers who cannot do that or couldn't care less about that or hate children should switch careers.

Idiotxit · 14/12/2016 19:31

Loads of professions get bashed for the things people outside their own profession perceive to be the case. Estate agents, lawyers, politicians, hairdressers... teachers are not the only ones.

As has been repeatedly said, there are good and bad. Some work really, really hard, others don't. Same as every other area of work.

People moaning about the long holidays teachers get and 'but we're more special 'cos we're teachers', is no different to lawyers being told they're fat cats, politicians being told they're dodgy, and whatever else. LIfe, in other words.

It's a job. It's harder than some, not as hard as others.

As I said upthread, there are loads of teachers in my family. My two best friends are teachers. They're the first to admit that they live in a bubble and think that no-one else 'gets it.'

MissDuke · 14/12/2016 19:31

fuckwits, dickheads and wankers
I cannot imagine why anyone would criticise you, you clearly are charming Hmm

Boundaries · 14/12/2016 19:33

Miss I think Boney is understandably extremely frustrated by the way "teachers" have been spoken about in the last few days.

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/12/2016 19:34

MissDuke

Thank you for proving my point.

BoneyBackJefferson · 14/12/2016 19:35

Boundaries

That is it exactly, I think that it is time for a sabbatical away from this thread :)

Mumzypopz · 14/12/2016 19:38

Piece of purple sky
Holidays are not unpaid!!!!! Teachers are paid a set amount of pay per year, which is quite handsome, and divided into 12 equal parts....so they are paid monthly amounts throughout the year...

amispartacus · 14/12/2016 19:39

Teachers are paid a set amount of pay per year, which is quite handsome

Professional money for a professional job.

needsahalo · 14/12/2016 19:43

Could you see other areas shutting down for a day for training?

When is it you propose teachers update their training? How do you envisage getting 100 members of staff through mandatory safe guarding training?

Not that it really matters because training takes place in teacher's time, not teaching time. But I suspect you already knew that.m

chosenone · 14/12/2016 19:45

The thing is, of course some teachers are shite! Just like any other profession. The cuts to public services are biting hard too. Remember many many schools are now Academies. This removed the need for teachers to even be...well... teachers. Some of the people 'teaching' your children will bot be qualified, will not have a degree or relevant qualifications and some will have little experience. But, they're cheap.

Similarly the working conditions have worsened in many schools, as highlighted in previous posts. Where once you would get hundreds applying to work in a good school, now they can struggle to get anyone. Particuarly in Maths and Science. You are simply nit going to get the 'best'. Just like the NHS teaching will become propped up by foreign staff, agency staff and it clearly affects output. I thank my lucky stars that i now work in an Outstanding school with a fair and decent Senior team. I have had experience in tough, deprived, failing schools and quite franky wouldn't work in the like again unless truly desperate!

chosenone · 14/12/2016 19:49

Also... parents evening this week, i jad back to back appoinyments every 5 minutes. A busy evebing for which I had all data needed to hand. 13 different parents pushed pass others, saw i had a minutes break and jumoed in with ' sorry ni appointment but...' . I can not imagune doing that with my dentist/doctor/solicitor/bank manager etc.

echt · 14/12/2016 19:58

Part of the problem is when people say "teachers do/say, etc". I can't think of a single other field of work that attracts such regular adverse generalisations on MN or any other media. Not one.

I've been on MN/TES/Guardian for years now, and teaching for thirty-eight years and only once have I encountered a teacher saying it was the hardest job going ( Guardian). I was mortified to read such an inane statement.

My observation of MN over the last few years is that there's a greater consciousness of just how many teachers are leaving. Just read the threads where someone asks whether or not they should teach and see the reaction from current and recently employed teachers. There are higher levels of appreciation of those that stay.

Naturally, this is interpreted by quite a few posters as "uncritical teacher worship" Hmm

amispartacus · 14/12/2016 19:59

The thing is, of course some teachers are shite

Of course. And being shite in front of 30 children for a whole day kind of exposes you. Not the easiest job to be shite in.

Boundaries · 14/12/2016 20:00

echt that is it, eloquently and exactly.

Idiotxit · 14/12/2016 20:04

I can't think of a single other field of work that attracts such regular adverse generalisations on MN or any other media

Really??

MN possibly - there are a high proportion of parents here, and therefore school and teaching probably gets discussed much more frequently than elsewhere, but I can think of plenty of other fields of work that attract repeated adverse generalisation in the general media!

echt · 14/12/2016 20:07

Really??

Yes, really.

Point me at the pages of generalised adverse comment on other jobs that appear year after year after year.