To feel the rage with “teacher tired” posts

[Rainbowsandglitterbullshit]

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.

I work as a field engineer and am outside regardless of weather for at least 8 hours a day.

Have you spent your whole career with other people, the government, the papers, social media etc etc telling you that you’re a lazy, work-shy part timer.

That is what teachers object to. They respond with, ‘actually we do work hard’, it’s depressing to find people saying things like

competitive misery seems to be the wheelhouse of teachers and the whinging is almost expected these days..

@SachaStark you're missing the point!! What I saying is the expectation of some people going into teaching is different to reality. Are you saying you knew the number of hours you'd be required to work before you went into teaching? If so why are you going on about it and why are you leaving?

@SachaStark I am in the same country. I live in Scotland which last time I checked is part of the uk!

Just piping up to add my voice to others: I've done a few different jobs over the years, and have now been teaching for 6 years. I haven't found anything else as draining as teaching! Say you teach a 7-period day: that means over the course of the day you'll be interacting with over 200 different kids, plus your tutor group, plus your colleagues. And some of those interactions can be quite, er, fraught sometimes. So each day, for me, takes a pretty heavy emotional toll, leaving aside all the planning, marking etc for the next day.

yeah I agree. The govt need to invest more into education. We need more teachers but they won't invest. It is competitive to get into teaching where I live and probably because there are very few posts.

Well there we are then.

The Scottish system is very different to the English system, in my experience of teaching in one and reading about the other.

@peardrops1 are you enjoying your teaching career?

@cherriesandoranges your expectations vs reality doesn't quite work.

Most people expect to work according to their contract,job description and rules and regulations.

When going into a school based job no one goes thinking sunshine,rainbows,6 hour days and playing with kids all day to find themselves into a "real" job and promptly get an attack of the vapours.

It's more like being told you're being paid to give presentations and all that it involved(planning,activities,risk assessment etc). All good... Except, you get there and while giving your presentation you also need to peel oranges, juggle 3 plates, no wait it's 6 and have a bowl too just to mix things up a bit, fill in this paperwork right here right now,but no don't stop your presentation and have shit (sometimes literally) flung at you somewhere from the audience. And God forbid you drop a plate or someone yawns or just ups and leaves. You're obviously shit at giving presentations.

@cherriesandoranges yes, I am. I love it!

The t&cs in Scotland are completely different to England, fwiw. I have Scottish colleagues who are shocked at how the English system works.

Are you saying you knew the number of hours you'd be required to work before you went into teaching? If so why are you going on about it and why are you leaving?

No, you are missing the point.

When I trained, I was fully aware of the hours. That was 20 years ago and the job is now unrecognisable compared to then. Not only are the paperwork, pupil targets, marking and planning expected virtually impossible to achieve, the curriculum is actually causing significant mental health problems to our kids let alone to our teachers.

Those of us who remember what it was like before, are cross and angry how it’s changed and know that not only are things massively different, they are significantly worse for the pupils.

But we are still not saying we are the most tired people in the world, remember. That was just the OP making things up and being a dick.

Most schools don't finish at 3 either. I generally do meetings or after school clubs until 4.30. I then head back to the classroom to start my work

@fedup21 "are cross and angry" Wow. I think you should reconsider your career for your own health and tbh for the pupils if you're in that state of mind. You don't have to do this job forever. Other people on this post are demonstrating they made the change. Hopefully it works out for you though.

@Cherriesandoranges

This was my day on Friday to give you some perspective.

In at 7 to set up class.
Teaching from 8.50 till 10. 20
Playtime duty till 10.40 and then spent till 12.10 teaching
Then spent lunch hour helping a colleague set up for sports day before teaching for 2 hrs again and then a meeting until 4.00

I did not eat or go to the loo all day.

There is a recruitment and retention crisis in Scotland.

@fedup21 "are cross and angry" Wow. I think you should reconsider your career for your own health and tbh for the pupils if you're in that state of mind. You don't have to do this job forever. Other people on this post are demonstrating they made the change. Hopefully it works out for you though.

Stop being so goady! You are talking to people about a career they once loved (and may still love - teaching), and many of them will be devastated to leave it. Being unable or unwilling to tolerate entirely unreasonable demands on your time and mental health isn’t a sign that you’re unsuited to a career - it is a sign that something is going wrong in a profession.

I don’t think many teachers go into teaching understanding exactly how many hours they’ll need to work. That’s why something like 40% leave within 5 years. I remember my PGCE year being a total shock to me; working till 1am most nights and then getting up at 5am to finish off. And that was on a 50% teaching timetable. That year I just thought it would get easier when I’d built up resources and got more efficient. Then my NQT year was the same, but I told myself the following year would be better once I got used to the school. Every year for 17 years I told myself it would get better, but it didn’t! I think most people assume teaching is: planning the lesson, physically teaching the lesson, marking the work. I’d estimate that was about half of my workload? Possibly less.

The school system in England is in crisis. Classes are being taught by, and jobs advertised for, unqualified staff. There’s a recruitment and retention crisis and I’m sincerely worried for my own kids education. So, no, I don’t mind teachers moaning about how tired they are. I’ll bet my house on the fact they’re dragging out every last bit of energy to teach my kids even if they moan about it on FB.

@hanvicteacher so a 9 hour day? Might sound a lot to you but that is normal in the private sector. Mine are 12, most people i work with 10-11. I haven't had s lunch break for weeks and we only get 25days holidays.......it's not s competition but this is exactly why teachers don't get sympathy!!!!

@Kolo I think you're right. That's exactly the point I was trying to make earlier.

@cherriesandoranges

Not a competition ? You could foul me.

Oh and the day doesn't end there.

I haven’t read the full thread and I’m not into teacher bashing but I feel tired before my annual leave even if it’s not been long since the last one - I think it’s psychological.

I dont have sympathy for people working 60 hour weeks and telling others that we should too.
You cant do a 12 hour day and have dc, I assume.

@Mistressiggi me either. That's why I don't moan about my hours and get annoyed when others work even less and moan about it, expecting sympathy lol.

Those long day with no loo breaks is also common in the private sector. Personally I have had maybe 2 lunch breaks since last September and some Saturdays I just lie in a dark room completely exhausted. I have not had a week long holidays since last August....

Another good point actually, @shellysheridan, my school doesn’t finish until 3:30, then we have meetings some nights until five, or I’m answering emails/inputting data until then.

So, the marking doesn’t start until 5 at the earliest. But that’s okay, because cherries still reckons that 120 divided by 107 is mathematically possible to complete my daily marking load.