To think a lot of people are jealous of teachers' holidays but...

[Pengggwn]

...too bitter about it to admit that they wouldn't be teachers themselves?

Just that really.

I have seen so many comments and threads aimed at dissecting teachers' pay and conditions to a forensic level, people complaining that teachers are available over the summer to answer their queries, people arguing that teachers should be working anyway or claim to be working even when they're not (I'm not, at least not for the next month).

And yet, we are in the middle of a teacher recruitment and retention crisis. We can't recruit and keep well-qualified teachers.

Where are all the volunteers??

I am
A science technician in a school and get loads of comments about it being a cushy job and all my holidays

I’ll happily admit I don’t want to be a teacher!
Far too much like hard work.

Oh God, this won't go well......

But yes, I agree with you. There is a teacher recruitment and retention crisis, but a distinct lack of people wanting to take advantage of the great holidays by becoming teachers themselves.

THANKYOU!
I’m just fed up with
People: “Hardly anyone else gets so much holiday a year”
Me: “hardly anyone else works from 7 am - midnight for less than 25k a year”

You’ll never hear that from me. I have nothing but admiration for teachers and could never do it myself. I don’t know anyone who begrudges them, to be honest!

THEY AREN’T GREAT HOLIDAYS THEY ARE ANNUALISED HOURS

TAs never get the same backlash though and we really don't have to do any work during the holidays. Probably due to how little we get paid but I reckon if you worked out how much extra teachers do out of school it would work out about the same amount.

I enjoy the annual irony of the weeks of moaning threads concerning all manner of teacher-blaming topics from June to July, followed by the endless "fed up with my own kids I chose to have" throughout August.

Is it too early for a mojito? I've got six weeks off work after all!

I'm definitely jealous of teacher's holidays and happy to admit it! Lots of family and friends are teachers and I always envy them when the summer rolls round and they have weeks off when I know I have to eke out 27 days.

But! I want to be better paid than teachers are, and I would find teaching the same material to largely indifferent kids over and over again pretty tedious. My job may be stressful and time consuming but it's always interesting and it pays very well. So I've made the right choice for me, and I have huge respect for teachers who keep going with passion and enthusiasm, and who don't get paid a wage commensurate with the importance of their job. Holidays seem like a fair balance, given that.

After teaching over 10 years I now can smile at these type of comments where as before it used to get my back up. I’ve regularly gone through the math for people to show how ‘over time’ and ‘time in lieu’ works. Or even to point out how cheap the child care rates are after all I’m sure some parents see it as childcare never mind an education.

Now I just a smile and send the link to apply to be a teacher with the usual comment ‘please come join me, it’s really easy and the holidays are fab!’

Thanks to everyone who is supportive or indeed just doesn’t moan. It’s getting old now 😉

My brother in law is a staunch believer in the "you only work from 9-3 every day, lazy teachers" mindset, despite the fact he often sees me marking late into the night when he and my sister in law come round for dinner

And yet, we are in the middle of a teacher recruitment and retention crisis. We can't recruit and keep well-qualified teachers

Because for many people holidays are only one aspect of the job. Unless you’re suggesting people only become teachers for the holiday allocation, which is worrying, no?

I think you’re right, Peng, and we don’t agree on much

I work in education in a support role. I have 12 weeks leave per year, but my wage is pro-rata to reflect this. I also can't find a tto nursery place, so I pay for full year childcare, even though I don't earn a full year's salary, it's great

Even with that in mind, I would much rather do my job than teach; my holidays are genuine holidays with no marking, no lesson planning and no cpd.

I know a few teachers who did so because of the holidays tbh.

Anyone who can be a teacher deserves all the holidays they get. Yes, they get more than most other professions but they earn it.

Thank you teachers, 99% of parents are very grateful for all of your hard work & dedication.

I work in a school. DH has an incredibly difficult and dangerous professional job and works as many (and often a lot more hours) than a lot of teachers.
He often can’t even take his holidays (he’s cancelled the days off he was meant to have this week as something dangerous at work has happened).
Many of our SLT have already gone abroad for 3-4 week breaks (and can afford it - they are paid a lot).
I don’t feel that sympathetic to them strangely.

Teachers don’t have the exclusivity of difficult jobs. That’s why people get annoyed.

I am in "holiday" and I will be spending most of the day working to prepare for September. I am leaving at Christmas and I can't bloody wait!!

I’m a FE teacher in a college so I generally finish early July and go back to work late August. Sick days are highly frowned upon and we could never take a term time holiday of any sort. The stress is unbearable at times, particularly around exam time. I teach up to eighty students a week, sometimes I have thirty 2500 word essays to mark and only a week to do so. It’s not an easy job and I bloody deserve that break. The holidays is part of the reason I took the job but purely because of my DC.

I work in a school all year through.

There isn’t enough money in the world you could pay me to be a teacher. They deserve and need every day of holiday they get.

Oh and worth noting, as we edge on mid August I will be planning for the following year. Well, I would usually but I’ll be on mat leave this year and it’s a relief .

I have no desire to be a teacher and don't resent their holidays at all. Apart from anything else, I like the freedom of being able to take my holidays when I want to (as long as it suits my employer) instead of being tied to set holidays.

I think teaching is a very hard job, and one that is not valued in our society as much as it should be.

However, I also think that some teachers do rub people up the wrong way because they fail to understand that other people also work unpaid overtime, also work under immense pressure etc. I find that a lot of people who are teachers come from families where they are also married to teachers, friends with teachers, have siblings who are teachers etc and it can become a bit of a bubble and they genuinely aren't all that aware of what goes on in other work places and they sound like some sort of idyll where people have no stress or long hours.

But, as I said, I wouldn't want to be a teacher myself and I would have no desire to see them have their long holidays shortened.

My sister has always had issues with all my long holidays. It’s weird because she is incredibly successful and earns good money and lives an amazing life. But it’s constant “wish I could just have 6 weeks off” comments. When she starts, I just agree. “Yep, 6 weeks off over summer is amazing! Love my job!”

Why are people bothered by comments about holidays? There are pros and cons to all jobs, why can’t we be happy about the pro of having lots of time off?

If I was younger I'd retrain,if I was starting again I'd definitely go into teaching.Most of my family are teachers ,better pay,better hours,easier childcare.Dont know what possessed me to become a nurse but it is not the job it was when I started.