...do teachers really work that hard?

[User298895613]

I know the general idea on AIBU is that teachers work load is ridiculous, that they work extra hard and that they never never stop to the point that they r all seemingly leaving the profession.

But, AIBU to wonder if they are any different to anyone else? and actually might have it a bit easier? I mean, I also work myself into the ground, am exhausted, never stop etc... But I don't have summer holidays off to look after my kids, and I often work well into the small hours at night.

I'm not saying teachers don't work hard, but sometimes on munsnet I just feel like some teachers kind of spend a lot of time complaining about the workload, when maybe it's just the same as everyone elses, but with a nice long summer holiday?

(Sorry, I appreciate this will really inflame some posters, but it just had been annoying me lately)

teachers who prefer to collect their own children at a reasonable time rather than rely on extended childcare.

What does this mean? I can’t collect my kids from school when I’m at school so have to rely on childcare, and when they were at a childminder I was picking them up the same time as other working parents. It’s a perk I’m not picking them up at 8pm??

Holiday shopping - my comment was too general.

I my group of friends there are three teachers who regularly complain about their hours and working conditions, and colleagues, and pupils, and parents!!

No else really ever mentions their jobs. But they do. Every. Single. Time.

they don’t seem to understand that other people work hard too.

No, because we're really that thick. unlike the suggestions that tens of thousands of teachers all hold the same opinion.

teachers who prefer to collect their own children at a reasonable time rather than rely on extended childcare
What does this mean?

I said extended childcare - I have friends who are teachers and some of them prefer to collect their kids at 4/4.30pm and take work home with them, rather than stay at school until 5/6pm.

Amazing.

379 posts and @User298895613 hasn’t returned once.

Will this one be in the Daily Fail tomorrow?

I only mention it to wind people up.

Generally i ask people why they aren't teachers. It's because they're whinging about something and sink ask why they don't do the job if they could do it so much better.

After all, it's a 9-3, 13 weeks holiday easy least doss, innit?

Come join us. We need new cannon fodder enthusiastic career changers as so many teachers are leaving!

I work longer hours than my friends who are teachers - I often have to travel with work, up at 4am and not home till after 10pm depending on flights.

So do I. But I was also paid more than my mother, a head teacher, roughly a blink of an eye after completing my corporate graduate trainee scheme.

The worst of my professional worries are someone losing a few million if I screw up badly. The worst of my sister's worries are a child going through something horrible due to her not noticing.

Really, I do all of what you describe and I know I'm the one who's got the easier, better paid ride as far as careers go in my family.

As I said, my comment was too general!!!!!

Oh dear god. Time for a glass of wine

I am currently waiting for dd to finish using the laptop so that I can complete the admin I need to do and upload today's lesson on the VLE. My lessons on PowerPoint are usually prepared from scratch rather than recycled from another staff member or TES.

I definitely work harder now than when I was working as a member of support staff.

I have been teaching Primary for 30 years. I work in school only, from 7.30 to 5pm. I very rarely take work home and never work in the school holidays. I do a good job while I'm there, but refuse to let the job encroach onto my evenings and weekends. I suppose I'm lucky to work for a very considerate HT.

I think you have a point OP. I bear teachers complain that they are not able to be there to pick up their kids from school, that they have to work weekends to keep up, they don't get overtime etc. And I think yeah me too and most people.

However I then remind myself that I could never do a job that the general public seem to hate, where people you are trying to help can be violent towards you and you have to face them every day, where whatever you implement is rubbished by the parents who don't enforce punishments etc, where you spend more time doing paperwork to show what you're doing rather than actually doing it, and where you're scrutinised to death and where the whole system is set up at cross purposes to why you went into the job - it seems it's all about stats and passes rather than teaching. Every year funds are cut from schools so teachers have to put up with bigger class sizes, more children with SEN that are undiagnosed because waitinglists are so long or there isn't the funding allocated to them, and it's just getting worse.

I mostly enjoy my job. I have autonomy and can decide how my day goes. If anyone was aggressive or violent towards me they would be sacked or I'd be within my rights never to deal with them again. If I have to train people they at least pretend to be interested and grateful. I am judged on my results and within certain paramaters it's up to me how I get them. I do longer hours than I'm contracted to, sure, but I can also take a long lunchbreak if I want, go pick up my kids early if I need to, work from home if I need to, book holidays whenever I want (with a few exceptions) etc

I literally don't think you could pay me enough to be a teacher

So overall I think YABU sorry as you're not acknowledging all the other bad sides that don't apply to most other jobs

Not saying children with SEN make the job worse just harder if they are not given the support they should have!

I said extended childcare

I see, you made something up (‘extended’ childcare being past 4:30pm) to try and make it sound like teachers have a great deal when in fact they have to use childcare like normal people. When I worked in the private sector (in more than one company) core hours were till 4pm so I wouldn’t have had to use extended childcare there either.

Local childminders are open till 5.30, some after school clubs till 6. Costs the same whether you pick up at 4.30 or 5.30. Not sure where the kids of these people needing to be in an office till 7 go, but it’s not a regular childminder.

Only teachers can leave at 3.10pm

Ha, I'm a TA, even I am never out by 3.15 (when I stop being paid) because there is always a child that hasn't been collected, a parent who needs to talk to you, a lost jumper to track down and mess to tidy up, oh and conversations that need to be had with no children present. My class teacher is generally in an hour before me and leaves at least 2 hours after me, she often takes work home with her. I became a TA to build up experience before doing my PGCE but I'm actually not sure I want the stress.

I have frequently been hit, kicked, pinched, had things thrown at me, including once a child's soiled pants, thrown by the child's mother, she was a pleasant woman! I'm pretty sure most other jobs don't have to deal with that (apart from police, care workers and NHS obviously but we all know they have ridiculously hard jobs)

extended’ childcare being past 4:30pm

My thoughts exactly - that's why I carefully chose the word extended the first time I wrote it!

Clavinova I think only you consider extended childcare to be past 4:30, and only because it suits your purpose. Teachers need normal childcare, like normal workers.

Local childminders are open till 5.30, some after school clubs till 6. Costs the same whether you pick up at 4.30 or 5.30

Some of my teacher friends prefer to spend more time with their dc and pick up earlier.

Would it be fair to just say that most teachers work incredibly hard, in sometimes difficult circumstances - like many people in the workforce.

A benefit of teaching that many in the workforce don’t enjoy is the long holidays, but there are also negatives that many people don’t have to put up with.

No way would I teach without the long holidays.

Would it be fair to just say that most teachers work incredibly hard, in sometimes difficult circumstances - like many people in the workforce.

Absolutely. Teachers don’t generally say otherwise.

It would be great if people just didn’t say we were lazy part timers. I would never say that about another profession, and feel it’s unjustified to hear.

Some of my teacher friends prefer to spend more time with their dc and pick up earlier.

As do loads of workers, from what I could see when my DD was at nursery. What with flexible working.

I am not getting involved in to the who works hardest competition on this thread but I did want to offer some facts to counter the claims that teachers are the only people to suffer violence regularly in their job and be expected to tolerate it. For instance, housing officers are regularly abused and threatened and still expected to continue trying to help the perpetrators. Also, the idea that those in the private sector have a cosy office, a water cooler and get paid huge amounts of money is just funny. Bullying, targets, pressure, taking work home is endemic in lots of jobs, I don’t know anyone who doesn’t end up doing work on days off or at the weekend, even if it’s replying to emails.

Most teachers are under appreciated and I think they put up with a lot of stress and are doing a good job. The comments from some on this thread about the private sector do show that (like those critiquing teachers), some people don’t have a clue about the workload in other jobs.

worksmart.org.uk/health-advice/illnesses-and-injuries/violence-and-bullying/violence/which-jobs-carry-highest-risk

And..? I don’t get the picking dc up comment. Some of my colleagues use their flexi time to collect (or drop off) and some work condensed hours so they could have every other Friday off. How is this only something teachers do?

The only teachers I know who tutor are either retired, or are those who have quit as teachers due to stress / burn out

Nonsense! Many of the tutors (and full-time teachers) are young men and women in their 20s and 30s!