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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:
bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 20:48

If it's all the same to you, giraffe, I will continue saying it because I do think it's how we come across to the public at large. Also, it's a discussion, on AIBU which generally is considered to be discussion based.

noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 20:53

Well then don't moan when you are seen as just another teacher-basher who can't even be arsed to read posts properly before jumping in to have a pop.

bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 20:54

Thing is giraffe, I am a teacher, and I don't think people do bash teachers.

So shock horror, someone disagrees with you.

You aren't the mouthpiece for every teacher in England and Wales, you know.

chosenone · 14/12/2016 20:55

Also... non teachers are moaners.

another bloody inset day, why can't they do it in the holidays
why didn't my child get a gold award/certificate/main part/captain of team
that jumper/trainers/bag/pencil case cost a fortune YOU need to find it

noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 21:00

I don't think people do bash teachers.

Amazing. You think teachers post that it is the hardest job ever, and you don't think that people bash teachers, even though a thread started in order to collect good posts about teachers is full of negatives?

echt · 14/12/2016 21:02

That's not really something I can do, is it, since there are literally thousands of them. I take it you're a teacher? If you are then it makes sense that you might well notice the adverse coverage of the teaching profession more than the coverage of lawyers, politicians, police officers, firefighters, and so on, and so on, and so on.

Yes I am, but I still stand by what I said about the relentless bashing, year after year that teachers get, is not the same or as frequent as other jobs, with the possible exception of politicians. And they don't leave their jobs in droves, do they?

Firefighters???????

bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 21:02

It's also full of positives.

As with most things, we see what we want to see, don't we? Xmas Smile

echt · 14/12/2016 21:04

Amazing. You think teachers post that it is the hardest job ever, and you don't think that people bash teachers, even though a thread started in order to collect good posts about teachers is full of negatives?

This made me laugh, in good way.

Recently there was a thread in Staffroom, where teachers were talking about how this part of the year was trying. A non- teacher popped in to have a go at them. Hmm FFS.

noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 21:09

The other thread, the one about 'professions that are panned'? That one's full of positives. This one has some postives, and then some of the same old shit. It's like some posters see the word 'teacher' and can't resist popping in to bang on about INSET days.

echt · 14/12/2016 21:09

As with most things, we see what we want to see, don't we?

Well you certainly do, that's for sure.

noblegiraffe was making the point that the thread was inviting positive views yet had so many negative ones, therefore it was teacher bashing.

bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 21:10

No, I meant this thread! It has a lot of positives in it, in fact. It's like some posters see one negative thing about teachers and can't resist popping in to bang on about teacher bashers Xmas Wink

Boundaries · 14/12/2016 21:10

Traffic Wardens
MPs
Corporate people

All less contentious when praised than teachers.

noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 21:14

It has a lot of positives in it

It was supposed to be all positives, to counter the other threads with loads of negatives in.

But let's not have a single thread where a teacher could sit and read some nice stuff without once again having to explain INSET days or holiday pay or that yes we do know that other jobs are hard too. Or being called a bunch of moaners.

bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 21:16

But, you don't need me to tell you that ANY thread on MN will get some discerning voices, giraffe

It is a discussion based board. Some people will disagree. Maybe it would have been different elsewhere on the board but AIBU hasn't once to my knowledge had a total majority view!

noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 21:18

Except that other thread on panned professions managed it. No one came on and said 'actually, I disagree, traffic wardens are a bunch of sadistic ticketing bastards'. So it absolutely can be done.

amispartacus · 14/12/2016 21:20

and read some nice stuff without once again having to explain INSET days or holiday pay

You could do a teacher bingo card when it comes to teacher threads.

  1. You could do a list of regular complaints about schools and teachers. Fair enough but very predictable

  2. A bingo card of the things like inset days, 9-3, long holidays.

EvilTwins · 14/12/2016 21:20

I've been teaching for nearly 20 years and at my present school for 12. I'm tired, but then so is DH, who is not a teacher.

I love most of the job. If I moan, it's mostly just to DH, and is always about management (very specific issues at school)

It's emotionally exhausting in a way that working in a shop is not. Last Friday, for example, the mother of one of my students died very suddenly. On Monday, he came in to school for an hour to see me. It's heartbreaking. He's 6th form so torn between being a man and being a child who just wants his mum. His friends are devastated. This afternoon, after a full day of teaching and a school show rehearsal (unpaid, in my own time, but so SO worth the effort for the 70 kids involved) I stayed and chatted to the 6th formers about how things were, about when the funeral is, about whether it would be OK for them to go, about what you wear to a funeral when you've never been to one before.

It's a wonderful job, but it is exhausting in lots of ways.

As are lots of other jobs

But don't bash teachers. I am very touched that this boy wanted to come in and talk to me on Monday, that he felt that he needed my support, that he trusts me to that extent and that I can help his friends to come to terms with this.

I'm leaving teaching at the end of this year though.

Boundaries · 14/12/2016 21:21

Giraffe makes a good point.

TooStressyForMyOwnGood · 14/12/2016 21:22

Have RTFT. To answer the OP, my DD's teachers have all been brilliant (admittedly she's only in Y1). Her school is fab and and I can't think of a member of staff in school who hasn't been enthusiastic and supportive. (Same goes for my DD2's nursery staff and my current uni lecturer, in a similar vein).

I'm not a teacher but I do teach adults sometimes. I wouldn't be a teacher in a million years and have massive admiration for what they have to do.

bloodymincepiez · 14/12/2016 21:22

I think giraffe-, had it been exclusively about traffic wardens or estate agents or whatever many people would have come on to share a story about the time they did X and Y happened because of a bad estate agent or traffic warden.

But I don't think we are going to agree so in the spirit of the thread and Christmas - have a good one Wine

noblegiraffe · 14/12/2016 21:30

Traffic wardens don't need their own nice thread because they don't have their own crap threads.

Here's to the end of term, mincepiez Wine

PlayOnWurtz · 14/12/2016 22:03

I think people are getting tired at the special snowflake status that teachers and nurses seem to have taken on for themselves. It's a job, a hard one, but ultimately one you chose to do and one you entered knowing full well what it entailed.

Ohyesiam · 14/12/2016 22:14

cupofteatime
Thanks fit your praise of nurses, however I am a nurse, and my oh is a teacher, and we both get paid to do 35 hour weeks, but he actually works 55 to 60 hours. And I never have to bring work home.

Boundaries · 14/12/2016 22:18

Wow, play.

Special snowflakes

ollieplimsoles · 14/12/2016 22:22

Perfect thread for me to express my total change of opinion on this..

Read through my posting history, you will see that every time a teacher thread comes up, I respond with derision towards teachers and teaching staff. My favourite contribution was "I'm so glad we are home schooling"

For years we planned to home educate, even getting jobs which meant we could facilitate home ed. I always said I didn't want one or two nasty teachers getting inside my dd's head and ruining her confidence like what happened to me.

But in the last few weeks ive realised- home ed isn't right for my child. I tried to push it away because its what we always wanted. But its not right for her, I just know.

I know now after much soul searching just how rude and dismissive my mum was about teachers, we had no respect for them and my mum (although she was great and loved us dearly) just treated us more like her friends at home than her children. As a result we got away with murder, made life difficult for some teachers and believed they were to blame.

I know now this isn't the case and I was on a fast track to ending up like my mum, instead if letting dd be herself and have her own experiences and attitude.

Talking and listening to lots of teachers on here has made me realise how important it is to support teachers, better for the children, now and in their future.

I'll think before I snub a teacher again.