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?

I am a qualified teacher with 15 years' experience. I'm now earning far, far less than half of my earning potential working as a full-time SEN HLTA. I love it. I get to a actually give quality time to the kids I work with an also to my own. I work very hard but I am still able to have a good work-life balance.

Financially it's really tough but nothing is worth more than my mental health. I never want to return to feeling so under pressure and unwell.

I am making more of a difference that I was ever able to as a classroom teacher, especially from a pastoral pov. I love what I do and it makes me happy.

Forgive the typos - new phone!

I'm a teacher DH is a nurse, we have equal bug different stress. I'm very jealous that when he walks out the door he can't do anymore, the reduction in accountability that he has in comparison to me and the fact that actually despite long shifts he has a lot of flexibility and gets to go to school events for our children.
He can if he wants to increase his earnings by working more, the more I work the less I earn per hour.
He is jealous of the easier career progression (though I do t want it) and the holidays.

I'm a teacher DH is a nurse, we have equal bug different stress. I'm very jealous that when he walks out the door he can't do anymore, the reduction in accountability that he has in comparison to me and the fact that actually despite long shifts he has a lot of flexibility and gets to go to school events for our children. He also has days to himself and often 4 days off.
On his days at work that's all he does as he has to leave so early and returns so late, where as I'm getting the kids ready and dropped off, picked up fed and bathed and asleep before then starting work again.
He can if he wants to increase his earnings by working more, the more I work the less I earn per hour. I work longer days very often

He is jealous of the easier career progression (though I don't want it) the holidays, and the satisfaction and gratitude I often get from students as opposed to the patients he deals with.

What I wouldn’t give for three months off every year ... and only 30 kids and a few end of term KPIs to think about.

The answer to that is that you wouldn't "give anything" vecause

1 you would already be teaching

and

2 you would have to give up bitching about teachers on goady threads

As a teacher of 5 and 6 year olds, I would say it is a rewarding but tiring job. It’s very hard to compare to other jobs if you haven’t done them. I’m sure nursing can be stressful too. It’s a shame there has to be a competition between who’s job is most stressful.

Oh this is boring. I’m a teacher and I completely understand that other people work hard too. In fact, I have worked harder, elsewhere, for less money.

Doesn’t mean that I’m not currently exhausted by my workload or the emotional stress.

Any time a non teacher questions me about my career choice, I breezily and enthusiastically tell them how much I enjoy my job and all the holidays. I save my vitriolic moaning for when I’m with my colleagues.

If posters are so bored with these threads you do know you don’t have to read them? Or actually take the time to post on them? 🥴

I’ve just quit teacher training. It’s really, really fucking awful. They work 14 hour days all term time days and full days most of the holidays. For just over £20k a year. My husband works shorter hours (60 hrs per wk) as a builder for twice the salary. They don’t need to give teachers a pay rise, they need to double their numbers and halve their hours.

I’m afraid a lot of it is cultural too. I did not come across one head who wasn’t a basket case on the verge of a breakdown who kicked down at their staff.

Nurses are at least appreciated.

Dorsetdays

The problem with not responding to threads like these is that even more people will believe that it is the truth and not the sanctimonious bullshit that it really is.

Tbh I’m surprised that many of the teachers on here have time to keep posting based on the amount of work they all have to do at the weekend. In the precious few hours I’d have off each week, my priority wouldn’t be posting on here.

My sister is a teacher and never stops moaning at how stressed she is, other than when she’s busy at the various clubs she attends in the evenings or when she’s instead moaning about being bored during the long holidays when everyone else she knows outside of teaching is working 🤔

I’m at the start of my teaching career but have worked in education for 9 years. I finally work somewhere where the staff aren’t all negative about the workload, they kind of get that it’s much of a muchness in this type of job and it’s made such a positive difference to my outlook.

@Dorsetdays you must have an abundance of free time then if you do have time to post bitterly on here? Once again why does it have to be a competition? Who cares enough about what other people do for a living or if they complain or not. Life is too short for this crap.

Ah teacher bashing. One of the reasons your little darlings are being taught physics by a PE specialist. And maths by a history one. Because a lot of the profession have gone and left. Because they are fed up of the long holidays, short days and wonderfully supportive parents. Oh wait, I might have got that wrong .....
Anyway I'm off to the pub.

Witch, well obviously I do as I’m not a teacher 😉

Not bitter either., I’m perfectly happy in my job.

I have a number of teacher friends. They all consistently tell me they have no idea how I do my job, love it, and remain positive. They couldn't do it or have the level of responsibility I have etc etc. I feel much the same about them though. I couldn't deal with 35 of my own child let alone a mix of abilities, behaviours etc.

*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.*

I'd be interested to know when you left nursing. It's pretty standard to do 4 x 12 hr shifts a week or 3 x 14 hr shifts a week now. When I was on a ward (acute admissions psych) I did 4 x 12.5 hr shifts without a break (they fed us two meals but we ate with service users). I got paid for all those hours and it was fine for me but it's a lot.

I am now a band 7/8 (in private practice so not accurate on the AFC scales but to give an idea of responsibility) I am in charge of the care of 17 high risk complex young women who have very few restrictions (open setting). I take work home every day and am doing my MSc.

I think all nurses take work home in the sense of emotional load though. We all carry a lot for our patients, hope and sadness and optimism when they can't. It can be emotionally exhausting and can be very difficult not to take home. A lot don't have much support for it either in their workplace or home.

Even if teachers spent one week out of every school holiday block at school preparing, they still get far more holidays than any other profession known to man.

You can't compare teaching to performing a clinical procedure- the analogy makes no sense

It kind of does though, because the expectation is that I provide work that is differentiated for the needs of all the children in my class. I have to teach them all at once, whilst catering for differing abilities, behavioural needs, SEN, coming in after absence and a multitude of other individual needs.
So really, whilst each child needs a “clinical procedure teaching experience” I can’t really do that because there are also 29 others happening at the same time.

*Teaching is almost a perfect storm - it is stressful, it's long hours and low pay and people don't appreciate it or respect it.

I can't really think of another profession that suffers from all of that.*

Just on a direct comparison, NQT get a longer NQ time period than nurses preceptorship. Many are paid to train (shortage subjects). They are paid more as NQ professionals. Nurses no longer have a bursary and have an estimated £53k debt on average at the end of their degree. They do 2300 hrs on the job training (for free) and the same again in academics. Nurses work a 24/7/365 schedule.

Nursing managers are very often "on call" everyday. Does that apply to headteachers? I honestly don't know.

The people who piss on, punch, scream at, abuse and god knows what else to nurses don't respect them either. Or the ones who scream "I pay your wages" at them. We have equal non levels of respect from the government.

I wouldn't teach for the world, I love being a nurse but people who monopolise the "my job is more stressful/less respected/shit" than yours are always gonna lose out because they are so busy arguing amongst each other they miss the point.

Our jobs shouldn't be this stressful. It shouldn't be as horrific as it can be. The problem is not who has it worse but who has made it this way. It certainly wasn't nurses and teachers.

*You can't compare teaching to performing a clinical procedure- the analogy makes no sense

It kind of does though, because the expectation is that I provide work that is differentiated for the needs of all the children in my class. I have to teach them all at once, whilst catering for differing abilities, behavioural needs, SEN, coming in after absence and a multitude of other individual needs. So really, whilst each child needs a “clinical procedure teaching experience” I can’t really do that because there are also 29 others happening at the same time*.

Who dies when teachers get it wrong?

Nurses aren't usually thinking about one person at once either 😉

Genuine question - how many 14 hour shifts does a full time nurse do per week.

My daughter does 3x 12.5 hour shifts most weeks, and 4 some weeks. Those shifts are almost always 13.5 though, as she can rarely leave on time.

Nurses are at least appreciated

LMAO

Who dies when teachers get it wrong?

That’s not really how analogies work.

Genuine question - how many 14 hour shifts does a full time nurse do per week.

I did 3 one week and 4 the next in a ward position as a senior staff nurse. Two weeks of days two of nights.