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??

On reflection after a PP said it, social workers also get a fair bit of stick as well. I had a quick search.

People have written literally thousands of posts complaining about teachers not doing what they want them to do - whether that is to answer an email, to mark in a specific way, to set homework differently etc. - and a great many of those people have moaned about teachers' T&Cs.
I think that's the case.
Lots of complaining about teachers and then if the replies don't go their way, attack T&C or being generally GFs.

I would love to be a teacher!! I just can't afford to. We are struggling enough as it is without me taking a pay cut to train and then, once qualified, hardly be earning what I am now!
Also, I like being able to take my messily 4 weeks holiday throughout the year whenever I like. Can I please pick and choose the elements of teaching I like and ignore the bits I don't?

SharronNeedles

I'm really sorry, Sharron: no. If you want to be a teacher you have to take the rough with the smooth!

I would agree to that extent @maisypops here are some professions that I think get loads of stick because it’s easy to, it doesn’t make any of it right:

Social work
Police workers
Politicians
Traffic wardens
Bailiffs
Prison guards
Estate agents
And
Teachers

We need all of them, leave them alone!

2ndSopranos

I do. I value my summer holiday and I know I am privileged in that respect. I still feel, overall, that there are too many people moaning about it whilst not being prepared to roll their sleeves up and jump in. We need them, and the need was never greater. Where are they?

My DH is a teaching assistant and he gets that off people until he points out he does not get paid for the holidays.

I don’t know where the poster up thread gets the idea that the armed forces get the Summer off. They most certainly don’t. DH can, to a point, decide when to take his leave but we always have it hanging over our heads that anything booked might get cancelled.

DS1 has 3 weeks of block Summer leave starting next week however that is taken out of his leave allowance and they do it in the school holidays so children can spend maximum time with their parents. DS1 has not long since come back from 3 months abroad so his friends haven’t seen their kids.

Teaching isn’t the only profession suffering a recruitment and retention crisis. The NHS is, the armed forces is, social work is. Almost every public sector department is. If I was well and could work I’d love to work as a teacher.

I’m a teacher and get 9 weeks off in the summer holidays . I don’t do any school work whatsoever until our baker days begin in August .
Fulltime teaching is tough but not any tougher than lots of other jobs . I don’t think I’m poorly paid for what I do.

Teaching isn’t the only profession suffering a recruitment and retention crisis. The NHS is, the armed forces is, social work is. Almost every public sector department is. If I was well and could work I’d love to work as a teacher.

I agree. And would I write long posts about how soldiers or nurses have it easy and need to join the real world? Would I write long posts about their pay and conditions, arguing with squaddies about every penny they receive from the government and the hours I think they should be doing? No, I wouldn't. Why? Because I respect them and know we need them.

Ex-primary teacher here. I remember having just two weeks in the summer when I could properly recharge my batteries. The rest of the summer break was spent preparing resources, in school and at home, and organising the classroom for the following year. I also made various medical, dentist, opticians appointments that I hadn't had time for during term time. And I was always down with a cold at the start of the holiday.

I never met a teacher that ran out of school along with their class at 3.15 at the end of the summer term, and strolled back in with them at 9.15 on the first day of the autumn term, after having had the whole summer holiday off . No wonder there is a recruitment crisis when teachers are taken to pieces for having a so-called cushy job and then daring to complain about the stresses.

I now teach adults during term-time and don't get paid in the summer holidays.

It’s great that you respect the armed forces Pengggwyn but there’s hundreds and hundreds of posts on here from people who don’t. You just have to be here around Remembrance Day to see that. The same can be said for people who don’t respect nurses and doctors receptionists get it in the neck too.

Teachers might get talked about more because most people on here are parents.

I would love to have school holidays off. However I also love not having to take my work home with me, being able to work compressed hours, and choosing when to take my annual leave. I could never be a teacher and I’d never want to, but my dad was a teacher so I do understand some of the downsides like never being able to take term time holidays, huge amounts of work at home etc he also basically had three jobs to make ends meet (full time teacher, exam marking, private tuition)

TheFairyCaravan

I have never seen anyone say anything negative about a soldier on here.

I agree doctors' receptionists tend to attract undue criticism as well. Again, this isn't about them. I am simply saying, if teaching is that easy/well-paid/great perks, please, please come and do it! We are an open and inclusive profession. Most graduates are eligible. Age is irrelevant. Previous professional background matters not at all. Roll up, roll up!

Scottish teachers get 40 days paid holiday a year. The rest of the school holidays are designated as unpaid school closure days.

I don't think 40 days is THAT much more than most employees in the UK. DH works for a private company and gets 30. The advantage he has is that he take them when it suits him.

As has been said, everyone (mostly) went to school, so equates that with knowing what teaching is like. They don’t.

I don’t see the same type of criticism of police, armed forces the health services.

There are plenty of jobs that have perks- supermarket discount cards, retail discounts, bonuses, paid overtime. They don’t get criticised. We’re a couple of days into the holiday for most and already there are threads about what to do with the children in the holidays or how they are moaning and arguing with one another.

You only need to glance at some of the teacher fora, to see how demoralised many are. Teaching used to be a profession that people entered and expected to stay for their working life. Most are burned out or so fed up, five years is now a long time to stay.

I quite fancy the holidays but the low pay well outweighs it.

My job comes in for quite a lot of stick (lawyer) especially if someone asks if they should become one. I actually love my job and have found an excellent family friendly solution (although I do only get 25 days holiday a year).

I have never seen anyone say anything negative about a soldier on here.

I was told by one poster my husband would be more likely to rape her if he came across her on a night out than help her. We’re constantly told that our loved ones are trained killers and another gem is that members of the armed forces shouldn’t have children.

I was told by one poster my husband would be more likely to rape her if he came across her on a night out than help her. We’re constantly told that our loved ones are trained killers and another gem is that members of the armed forces shouldn’t have children.

Wow. Well, I won't deny there are some nutters out there. I maintain that criticism of teachers far, far outweighs that of people in any other public service role.

There are disadvantages to them too...

1. The inflexibility of them
2. All your Annual Leave is in expensive times for holidays. I don't have kids so have the advantage that I can take holidays June/early July or September when holidays are cheaper and resorts aren't overrun with children!

stargirl 24 days is pretty standard in a lot of professional jobs.

God no!!! Looking after all those kids for 39 weeks a year my god do teachers deserve the holiday. But let's me honest, any rational person knows full well these teachers don't get all these days off as a chance to sit back and do nothing. They usually have their own kids, and or a tonne of work to do, lessons to prepare, classrooms to prepare etc.

In all honesty I would love to be a teacher but I'm old and vastly underqualified and very much doubt it's something I could ever do now at the late stage in my life.

Rachel cat whisperer - I understand what you are saying but £35k for an office job is way too high. I’m a qualified accountant and get £35k. Office staff in my organisation get around £25k max.

You say you work 70 hours every week for 38 weeks. That’s 10 hours 7 days a week.......?

newsofas who are you to say anyone’s pay is too high? How rude.

I think newsofas is proving to us all exactly the type of attitudes some people have.
Clearly there are lots of people in this world who feel entitled to weigh in on other people's pay and conditions.