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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To feel the rage with “teacher tired” posts

999 replies

Rainbowsandglitterbullshit · 28/06/2019 18:26

The season of teachers posting SM messages “no one knows tired like an end of term teacher/TA/dinner lady” is almost upon us.

I want to scream, what about the fuckers who work stupid hours all week and don’t get 6 weeks off in the summer, half term, two weeks Easter, two weeks at Christmas.

I wouldn’t be a teacher for all the tea in China but these people chose their career.

Grrr, actually don’t care if I’m BU.

OP posts:
Thread gallery
9
ilovesooty · 28/06/2019 23:55

Teachers don't expect to be put on a pedestal. They quite understandably become defensive about the criticism they get.

SachaStark · 28/06/2019 23:56

Not to forget all of our own money we spend on resources to stock our classrooms that new equipment is no longer funded for, @echt. I’m sure that creates a great saving for them.

I have spent over £200 of my own money on stationery and craft stuff this year.

Just do me a favour, and make sure you check that your teenagers bring at least a fucking biro to school every day.

Myothercarisalsoshit · 28/06/2019 23:59

Teaching: the only job where you steal stuff from your own kids to give to someone else's.

LA115 · 29/06/2019 00:01

Yanbu

Chanteuse · 29/06/2019 00:02

Please, let them take away the 6 week holidays! Your kids will be cranky and irritable (and miss out on lovely summer experiences) and us lazy teachers will actually have to work for those holidays were so generously paid for. Grin we'd be much better off!

ashmts · 29/06/2019 00:02

PavlovaFaith

It's a different kind of tired. It's dealing with 30 complex and unique little egocentrics all day, every day. It's mentally exhausting. Nothing like coal mining or running up and down hospital corridors all day.

Are you for real? You don't think working in a hospital would be mentally exhausting? People don't 'run up and down hospital corridors', they make tough decisions based on years of training and huge amounts of knowledge. Deal with bereaved families. I'm not saying teaching isn't also difficult and tiring but it's those comments that make people in other professions lose any sympathy.

SilverNewMoon · 29/06/2019 00:07

If I could go back in time, I would have trained to be a teacher. Loads of holidays, a stable career (as things go) , and more money than the industry I've ended up in. The teachers who complain about tiredness, say it's time for a holiday etc, have clearly never worked in a job where they only get 4 weeks holiday!

Myothercarisalsoshit · 29/06/2019 00:10

SilverNewMoon Ha Ha Ha.
Loads of holidays that we don't actually get paid for.
A stable career no not really
And the pay is not up to much either.
But feel free to retrain and join us!

SunshineP · 29/06/2019 00:11

If I could have a life throughput the year rather than just a few weeks here and there I’d give up the holidays. It’s not worth it. But I love the kids and I bloody love the job. I just find this last term an absolute nightmare. Mostly because the kids are tired, hot and need a break.
I’ve got my own kids in the holidays, loads of friends kids at various times who have to work and my sisters kids. So it’s not exactly relaxing.
There is also this feeling of worry about some of the kids you teach and if they will be ok over the summer. The ones who don’t have the greatest parents or who you know will do nothing all summer because there is no money.
OP I find people like you really dull and boring. Your probably unhappy with what you do for a job. I’m bloody tired but I look forward to going to work and I’m ecstatic about the progress almost all the kids have made this year. They make me laugh and I just think it’s a privilege to get to spend so much time with them.

SilverNewMoon · 29/06/2019 00:15

@Myothercarisalsoshit I hear you... I guess we all see negatives in our jobs whatever we do. But the pay is great compared to my industry (with only statutory holidays) so it's all relative I guess!

ashmts · 29/06/2019 00:15

Myothercarisalsoshit

Oh come on, the pay is excellent compared to other public sector jobs requiring equivalent qualifications. Especially with the recent pay rise. You might not get paid for the holidays but it is still a very good salary.

SilverNewMoon · 29/06/2019 00:19

Also what I mean by stable career is there are always teaching jobs available, and always will be. You can move to almost any area, and many teachers stay in posts for decades. That's rare in other industries

Andromeida59 · 29/06/2019 00:28

Why is it seen as acceptable for parents to post on SM about how they're relieved that their DC are returning to school but it's unforgivable for a teacher to post about the end of term when they have 30 DC to deal with?

Myothercarisalsoshit · 29/06/2019 00:29

SilverNewMoon
Sorry. In actual fact I worked for many years in the rail industry. Shift work with 4 weeks holiday a year so I do know what it's like. I retrained as a teacher after I had my son and qualified when he was 3. Whilst teaching is a great profession for working parents as we don't have the complicated childcare issues that other working parents do it's not brilliant for family life (it wasn't 20 years ago and it's even less so now).
Teaching is also stressful as we are observed and checked up on constantly. You are only ever one poor set of results or bad observation away from capabilty and the loss of your career. Increasingly teaching is a job for about 5 years or until you burn out or until your leadership team think you're too old and expensive.
I'm sure that his is similar to other professions. I only know about teaching.

managedmis · 29/06/2019 00:53

Paying for what? It would cost money to keep the school buildings open to have the teachers in working

^^

Paying for teachers salaries whilst they are not actually teaching.

noblegiraffe · 29/06/2019 00:59

Especially with the recent pay rise.

The below inflation one for most teachers? The pay rise that a lot of schools couldn’t even pay teachers?

echt · 29/06/2019 01:08

Paying for teachers salaries whilst they are not actually teaching

Teachers are not paid for the holidays, it's an administrative convenience to split it up monthly.

Ihatehashtags · 29/06/2019 01:30

Yes undoubtedly they are tired but they also get a hell of a lot more holidays than most people who work full time. Yes sure some of their holidays are spent marking and planning etc but still the holidays far outweigh anyone else’s. They also talk about how they have to take work home from school, like it’s something special. Most people I know do that! I for one am sick of the teachers whinging for more money. Although I do agree they need more assistance to deal with children with additional needs.

LidoDeck · 29/06/2019 01:34

I'll keep reminding people of this until I'm blue in the face - teachers do not get 6 weeks of actual holiday. At least 4 of those weeks are filled with planning, planning and more planning (and the pile of other paperwork) for the year to come. Planning time/PPA is impossible to be an adequate amount of time to do all the work you have to do. Also, not many other jobs require you take work home with you and work unpaid at home in the evenings/weekends/"holidays" and put your own money/resources into the job, because the school doesn't have the funding (or kindness, depending on the management!) to provide you with paperclips or display borders or whatever else. So yes, there is such a thing as 'teacher tired'. It's physical and mental exhaustion - that's without the fact you're dealing with 30+ kids and their parents all day every day and there's no such thing as a proper lunch break or a bit of peace and quiet. It's an insanely intense job, and getting worse, hence the growing number of teacher suicides.

Pieceofpurplesky · 29/06/2019 01:44

@ashmts what pay rise? The majority of teachers didn't get one.

echt · 29/06/2019 01:55

They also talk about how they have to take work home from school, like it’s something special

It is, as is any job where the employee can only get the job done by working for nothing.

MyBlueMoonbeam · 29/06/2019 02:53

Yanbu - this is from a pre school teacher - we are all tired these days no matter what our job SAHM included 😱

Decormad38 · 29/06/2019 03:31

I can vouch op ( as DH a teacher ) that they are not shirkers.
My DH spends many nights up till 2 am then gets up again at 6.30. With the best will in the world I bet you do not work 16 hour days do you? And if you did then you would sure as hell be grateful of summer hols wouldn't you?

herculepoirot2 · 29/06/2019 05:25

If I could go back in time, I would have trained to be a teacher. Loads of holidays, a stable career (as things go) , and more money than the industry I've ended up in. The teachers who complain about tiredness, say it's time for a holiday etc, have clearly never worked in a job where they only get 4 weeks holiday!

I have indeed worked in a job where I got 4 weeks holiday. And been a teacher. I loved my holidays as a teacher. I was still more tired as a teacher.

herculepoirot2 · 29/06/2019 05:32

I think people dislike teachers because they see the education provided for their children as burdensome. It’s very sad.

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