Okay, about teachers...

[KitKat1985]

Okay I'm being brave here. I know a few people who happen to be teachers. Whenever they talk about their jobs, there's a real 'no other profession has to work as hard as us' vibe to their speech. I am fully aware and in agreement that it's a stressful job with long hours and ridiculous amount of pressure if you don't count the long holidays but it's hardly the only profession that has these issues. I myself am a nurse, and 14 hour shifts on an under-staffed ward with no breaks and several severely ill / abusive patient to look after are hardly a picnic either. But whenever I discuss work with teacher friends there's a definite 'if you want to talk about stress you should try being a teacher' element to the conversation, and it's starting to really get on my nerves. Lots of jobs are stressful, teaching isn't the only one! And it's only teachers I know that seem to have this general attitude about their profession. AIBU? Is it really more stressful than any other profession out there?

Agreed

Sounds like your friends are just shit don’t blame all teachers

I would never suggest teaching is more stressful than nursing, I would say they are on a par and nursing can be more stressful depending on various factors.

However a big part of the stress of teaching is people who think they know all about it. Parents who want to have their two pence worth, members of the public all have an opinion on teachers holidays etc.

I agree with you.

As it's so relaxing and unstressful you should definitely train as a teacher! There are loads of fantastic opportunities all over the country! And the holidays!!!!!

I think it is because of peoples attitudes.
You yourself just had to mention the long holidays didnt you? Everyone acknowledges how hard nursing/firefighting/anyotherjob is, but have a slightly sneery attitude to teachers, because they finish at 3:30 and have shitloads of holidays. No wonder they get their backs up🙄

I have never been a teacher, so no axe to grind. But I do know a young teacher who has just had a breakdown from being in school at 8am, getting home at 5pm, having a meal then spending the evening lesson planning/marking until bedtime.
One weekend day is spent preparing for the following week. A two week 'holiday' is, in reality for her, one.

Lots of jobs are stressful, it is our attitudes to those working in them that needs to be moderated.

Kindergarten I have said in my OP "I am fully aware and in agreement that it's a stressful job with long hours and ridiculous amount of pressure". I'm merely saying it's not the only profession with these issues.

I am a teacher. I would say nursing is far more stressful. If I mess it up one day, it's not the end of the world. If a nurse messing it up, someone could die.

Many jobs are stressful in different ways. People react differently to pressure. Workplaces vary, some schools are more full on than others.

I've been a teacher and a hca, so I don't know what its like to be a nurse. However, the most stressful thing about teaching for me was all the work you have to take home. That it can expand to fill whatever time available, so you feel like you could and should be working all the time. That and the fact that you multiply it by 30 for each class or about 150 for each kid you teach in a year. Exerting your will over 30 disparate pupils, projecting your voice, keeping their attention but not getting them too excited is physically tiring, over and above the long hours.

So there are a few things which make teaching far worse for me, but I get everyone's experience might be different and it's not nice to hear if you just want a bit of a moan.

There are plenty of threads about teachers leaving the profession. A huge proportion don't last 5 years.

Do nurses quit after 5 years?

Ha! yep agreeOP-its like they wear the martyrdom as their badge of validation..had3mates i went to school with end up teaching in secondary schools in our small town-drove me up the wall with their self pitying drivel-one in particular who bores everyone with varying themes along the'so overworked&underpaid/disrespected' lines whilst bringing home whopping paychecks&cushdy long hols abroad 2-3times a year,nice new convertible..yep my hearts breaking😂

OK I'm being brave here

Substitute goady for brave. Otherwise you wouldn't have brought up the holidays. It might be news to you but a strike through doesn't mean you didn't say something.

I don't know what you expect to be said that hasn't been said in loads of previous threads.

@CheeseChipsMayo with an attitude like that I'm not surprised you had mates.

I’m a teacher and have done various other jobs prior to retraining. I wouldn’t claim that it’s more stressful than nursing etc necessarily, but it can be really difficult to switch off and I think that’s part of what makes it so stressful.

For example I work as late as I can, pick up kids from nursery/after school club, sort tea and bed and then have to start marking and planning again in the evening.

Apart from the middle 2 weeks of the summer holidays, there’s always a nagging reminders of things that you need to do/could do better.

It’s easier to go into work than phone in sick (requires dragging self out of bed at 5am to set all the cover work that won’t be completed as per instructions), and in term time you don’t have time for anything at all outside of work, really.

At least with a lot (not all) of other “stressful” jobs, you can arrange it so that your time is largely your own when you get home. Not sure nursing the best comparison there, as I appreciate they have considerable paperwork to complete.

I think perhaps the reason teachers sometimes lay it on thick about the stress element is as a defence mechanism to all the tiresome comments about how wonderful our holidays are ...

I have been a nurse and am now a teacher. I am still in contact with my friends who are still nursing.
Both are stressful and both need cash injections to help us do the job better. However none of my nursing friends take work home with them. They work longer hours when at their place of work. I work a lot when I get home as there are not enough hours in the day to do what I need to do to get the job done.
I don't think you can compare jobs as each job is so different. I am not far from retirement and without the holidays I would have given up. It isn't the children I teach that makes it hardbut the adults I encounter daily.
I am a much better teacher than I ever was a nurse.
I don't bleat to others about how hard my job is as I know other people have jobs that are just as stressful and they only get less than 30 days a year holidays.

I think teachers and nurses are underpaid and undervalued however i have much more involvement with teachers at this stage of my life so i generally see the pressures of their job more.

Just to reiterate, I 100% agree it's a stressful job, and I'm not taking that away from it. But for example I have another friend who is a solicitor who regularly does 70-80 hour weeks and works until late at night, and has a lot of stress in her job, but yet she doesn't feel the need to highlight how stressful her job is compared to everyone else's all the time. And yet in teaching it just seems to be a culture of teachers all saying 'no-one else works as hard as us'.

YANBU, there are many stressful professions. Personally I don’t feel teaching is lore stressful than nursing.

More not lore

I completely agree. Teachers I know definitely have the ‘no other job is as stressful as teaching’ vibe. I think teachers would get a lot more support if they acknowledged other jobs such as healthcare are also very stressful and that they are not the only ones to experience stress from work

I think nursing quite likely is on a par in terms of pressure, sheer hard work and pay that doesn't really reflect what it takes to do that job. They just don't tend to get people making sneery comments about going home at 3.30 (I don't know any teachers that do) or long holidays (for which they aren't paid).

Yanbu. Although I know many teachers in real life and they aren't like this. The teachers on here on the other hand...

I was a nurse, my son is a teacher so I'd say that I can see it from both sides.

Of course nursing is very stressful. On the up side it was 12 hours a day for 3 days a week. Once I was home my work finished.

My son however gets into school for 6.30 am and leaves at 6pm and then does marking and lesson planning every evening and at weekends too. Plus there are parents evenings, awards evenings, school trips and a club that he runs one night a week so on a day to day basis the hours are longer.

There's also the performance management side of it that links pay progression to results which adds another level of stress. My son this year has a target of 100% of students to get positive value added - does any other job expect 100% greater than expected performance?

@BringOnTheScience the drop out rates are similar. 1 in 4 nursing students drop out before finishing their training, and a similar proportion of nurses drop out within 5 years after qualifying.

www.theguardian.com/society/2018/sep/03/quarter-of-uk-student-nurses-drop-out-before-graduation-study-finds

Oh, and the other thing is that when I was a teacher, none of the other teachers actually batted an eyelid at 12 hour days or any of the bad behavior so I kind of felt like it was just me that found it hard and there was something wrong with me.

So that goes against the grain, I guess, of everyone saying all teachers do is whine. Maybe I'd have done better if I'd have known more whiney teachers!