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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask teachers what your pet peeves are?

531 replies

Collettegirl · 04/03/2018 08:45

Personally mine are wet playtimes, and children who don't have a pen/pencil.

OP posts:
MsHarry · 04/03/2018 11:30

This thread is DM fodder. Beware!

BlueLegume · 04/03/2018 11:34

I’d be very interested to know what teachers feel about what they can do to sanction bad behaviour and if they think everything is far tomuch erring on the rights of parents and children. My DC used to get really frustrated that poor classroom behaviour wasn’t really dealt with as the sanctions were so flimsy. In other words the idiots knew they could get away with disruption in lessons - not only to the teacher but to kids who actually wanted to learn - and despite policies existing there were no real punishments that encouraged them to change their poor behaviour.

WilburIsSomePig · 04/03/2018 11:38

@BlueLegume, you're absolutely spot on. There are no real repercussions for poor behaviour. The ones who behave so poorly that they disrupt the learning of others really don't give a shit about warnings, monitoring cards, detentions or isolation. They absolutely know that teachers have very little power. Parents who 'forbid' their precious little Jimmy from being in detention for whacking another kid really don't help.

ShawshanksRedemption · 04/03/2018 11:39

Kids who like to waste time as a way of avoiding work. I spend time having to get them out of the loos (I'm not actually in the loos but giving them a count of five to get back in class or lose playtime) where they've congregated showing off fidget toys that they shouldn't have. They have then come into lesson late and missed part of the instruction so then struggle when settling to do the actual work. Said fidget toys are confiscated and given to the office so the child's parent has to come and retrieve it at pick-up time, and we go through it all again the next day.

I would much rather sit and support those kids that are struggling with the work due to SN (diagnosed/undiagnosed of which there are a third in my class) than have to do this.

pigeondujour · 04/03/2018 11:42

People who still think 'little Johnny' is good patter...

juddyrockingcloggs · 04/03/2018 11:43

have a look on the Clarks website, you'll struggle to find school shoes that are not velcros! It takes a special effort to send a reception school to school with laces.

My year 1 child cannot do laces yet, despite many an aggravating hour trying to teach him! However, he's a size 2.5 foot and the Clarke's near us do not stock his size with Velcro fastening! Same as school trousers - he struggled with buttons/fasteners in reception and so I wanted some pull up school trousers - almost impossible to find trousers that fit his leg length without buttons!

Original poster
Collettegirl · 04/03/2018 11:44

Shawshanks.

Easy to solve that, don't let them go to the loo.

OP posts:
Killybashangel · 04/03/2018 11:44

These threads always make me chuck loads of spare pens in dc's bag and order a bunch of stationery!

Original poster
Collettegirl · 04/03/2018 11:45

Killy
Smile

OP posts:
cliffdiver · 04/03/2018 11:45

Another one.

Parents who don't think that the finishing time applies to them and are late every single day.

wrenika · 04/03/2018 11:48

My parents were both teachers and every teatime conversation was usually the rundown of the days stupidities, like:

  • kids who turn up without a pencil/pen
  • parents who always want to speak to the teacher...pfb. (parents shouldn't get as far as the teacher unless they really, really need to.)
  • parents who want the school to accommodate their own stupidity...like the parent who wanted the school to stop reading Harry Potter to the kids because magic is the devil. Same parent wanted school to ban halloween.
  • mobile phones.
  • the attitude that kids should stay in school all the way through when they're not capable.
  • TAs (my dad hated TAs in his classroom.)
noblegiraffe · 04/03/2018 11:49

Finding out the latest massive change to education policy from some smug politician on BBC Breakfast, instead of things being carefully thought out and professionally implemented.

"We're going to make GCSEs harder to pass!"
"We're going to bring back grammar schools!"
"Kids who fail their SATs will have to resit them in Y7!"

When these things are then dropped, it's surreptitiously (4s becoming a pass was announced the evening of the Article 50 notification, grammar schools didn't appear in the Queen's speech and Y7 SATs resits just disappeared)

It's all about politics when it should be about education.

ourkidmolly · 04/03/2018 11:50

@anxious2017

We weren't allowed to call our teachers Miss when I was in school either. It was Mrs/Miss Surname or Ma'am.

You called your teachers Ma'am? How peculiar, was your teacher the Queen?
Unheard of convention in any UK school I know of, private or state.

LloydColeandtheCoconuts · 04/03/2018 11:50

I used to teach in an SEBD boy’s School and taught very small classes. We would always start English with a literary game. Once the game was over the same student would always announce he needed the toilet.
Me: Why didn’t you go before?
You all know what his response was.
Even when I reminded him to go to the toilet at the start of the lesson he never needed it then! Only when it was time to start the work! Used to drive me mad! Grin

EllieMe · 04/03/2018 11:51

If not in their contract, TAs cannot be forced to change nappies but the school has an obligation to do it.

Difficult with no spare teachers or TAs. The children have to wear pull ups and sort themselves out as best they can in some schools.

Parents who don't think that the finishing time applies to them and are late every single day.

One head I worked with used to collect children who remained uncollected at the gate and take them to the furthest away classroom in the school so the parents had to trail all the way there to fetch them. That concentrated their minds for the future.

mammamiamore · 04/03/2018 11:51

Gatehouse yes! yes yes!! poor children seem baffled most of the time, not surprisingly and are too afraid to ask what a word means or to say they don't understand what is going on...

Sukistjames · 04/03/2018 11:54

Parents who moan we haven't changed reading books (no evidence in diary it's been read) and say 'oh yes, I couldn't sign it because I haven't got a pen/pencil at home' Hmm

mammamiamore · 04/03/2018 11:54

KS2 so:
hours spent sharpening pencils just as the lesson starts
bluetack
slime
gluesticks - how much flipping glue do you need?!!

I do not mind children going to the loo during lessons at all; rather that than a mop... we are aware of those that are taking the mick tho!

Original poster
Collettegirl · 04/03/2018 12:00

Mammamiamore.

I give them 5 minutes at the start of lesson to sharpen pencil.

I would expect ks2 to be fine with no loo in lessons. I don't let my yr 2 class go.

OP posts:
Aragog · 04/03/2018 12:00

Swing of things - I try not to for the same reason. Sometimes it has to be done though - esp those who have really long laces! I have a sink nearby normally fortunately and have anti-bac too. Urgh!! Wear Velcro til you can do it yourself! Besides my arthritis makes it really painful some days but if you say no the child looks at you as if you're horrid!

wildbhoysmama · 04/03/2018 12:02

pengynnn Grin

chocolateworshipper · 04/03/2018 12:03

I can't believe that in my previous post I forgot to mention the biggest peeve:

SATS

(and don't get me started on the fact that they're not officially called SATS, but we all call them that)

Cauliflowersqueeze · 04/03/2018 12:04

My pet peeve is how some parents manage to get their kids pupil premium when they are fiddling their finances. We have a girl whose parents are separated but have enough for multiple exotic holidays and huge amounts of designer gear, flash new expensive cars and clothes etc, all really shown off. And somehow she is pupil premium. While there are others who are barely coping who fall under the threshold.

I also hate parents who ask if you have any children, as if you are incapable of properly understanding a child or judging their behaviour unless you do. A tutor at my school recently had this comment. It’s so offensive. The one time I was asked this many years ago when I was head of Year was to respond “yes, I have 270 13-year-olds, how many have you got?”

Other pet peeves - “I don’t want to say, I’m not a snitch”. This comes from parents as well.

Special deals with trips
“I know it says coach there and back but it would be more convenient if I could meet you there with him and then his uncle’s friend could collect him early and take him home and while the others have lunch he could sit with my husband who has offices nearby and then can you take off the money for the coach and the lunch.”

“What I wanted was for my son to ride his bike to the bus station and then get the bus and the train and then not go to the museum but go to the cinema with some friends and then because he’s 15 and I give my permission he was going to have a meal in the pub with some friends”

Then when the answer comes back “sorry- no” he is “ill for the day”.

Shannaratiger · 04/03/2018 12:07

As a dinner lady:

I don't mind cutting up your child's lunch, even in yr 2.
I don't mind helping your child zip up their coat - they are so proud when they finally manage it themselves it makes me feel really happy.

I do mind being ordered by the parent, via the class teacher, to make their child eat their veg. We encourage them to but i'd rather they were outside getting fresh air and excercise.
I hate seeing kids shivering with cold because they haven't even been sent in with a warm winter coat, or gloves.