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?

Yes, in theory there is 1265 hours of directed time spread over the 195 days in the year. Any additional duties are non -directed-as in they have to be done but in theory you can choose when and where to do them. So marking is rarely within directed time ( as directed time is principally face to face contact with children) so could in theory be done whenever you like. However, in primary schools, marking usually has to be completed before the next day so there is little option but to do it there and then! If assessments are completed in the last week of term, they will have to be marked before the beginning of the next term-so have to be done in the holidays but teachers can choose WHICH day in the holiday to do them!

So tell us non teachers about inset days...It’s not a days holiday so do you get paid?

Do you understand what Inset days are? We go in to school for the day, when there are no children to teach and we are trained. What have they got to do with holidays?

It's the teachers who say their job is so much worse than anyone else's and no one could possibly understand the stress and pressure teachers are under that are the debated point here.

But there are very few teachers who say this, just non-teachers saying that they do!

Nurses are 'angels', Firemen/women and Police are 'heroes' Teachers are 'workshy' 'lazy', 'long holidays'
This.
We’re not an emergency service but I’m pretty sure that most days of the week the work I do keeps children and families safe.

Spaniel. If you RTFT you’ll see posts saying just that.

Can you answer my question about the number of directed hours in schools each week as thought it was 32.5?

There aren't weekly directed hours.

It's the teachers who say their job is so much worse than anyone else's and no one could possibly understand the stress and pressure teachers are under that are the debated point here.

I don’t believe teachers do say this. So, debating this point is rather unnecessary as it’s not true.

@fedup21

I was responding to @Binkytheslug
Who said

The Thatcher government made teachers **give up 5 days holiday each year for compulsory training.

GIVE UP implies not remunerated

When they are - they paid days.

No it doesnt - it just implies what it is, that 5 days holiday were given up to INSET.

Are you naturally so obtuse or do you have to go for lessons?

Piggy. Thanks, so hours are calculated on a contract of 1,265 hours pa over 195 days (which I assume is where 32.5 hours per week comes from).

I hate not being able to talk about how stressed I feel without others saying ‘Oh you teachers always think you’ve got it worse’ when I said nothing of the sort, closely followed by a comment about holidays.

Yes, the 1265 hours of directed time are over the 195 days ( which averages out as 32.5 hours a week), everything else is completed in non directed time.

I do think this no one should ever complain attitude is actually prevalent in lots of jobs : perhaps it is a British thing. Even at work, teachers are basically told any valid query, argument, complaint or dissent is 'moaning' and head nodders get promoted to SLT to squash the moaners.

People have every right to air criticism , complaints and frustrations. Or do you. like, Boris Johnson , believe it's all so much humbug and we should all put up or shut up.

I have never complained about my job to non teachers. We vent at each other, sure. Who doesn't?

I can't actually remember the last person who I spoke to about either their or my work.

I do however, in my long holidays, watch Wanted Down Under, which is full of plumbers, builders, nurses, social workers and many many other people form all backgrounds, wanting to leave the UK because they are unhappy in their jobs. Perhaps they moan at family and friends at home, too.

MarinaPunta
The trick is not surrounding yourself with arseholes.
None of my friends would take anyone sounding off or being stressed as competition. They all understand that each job has highs and lows. Everyone in front line public services also appreciates how much nonsense fellow public sector workers get from clueless Joe public.

I've only ever seen this caricature of the moaning teachers on MN from people who have nothing to do with schools

I think threads Like this are useful.

People can read what those who say they are teachers say about their stress and jobs and form their own opinions.

The trick is not surrounding yourself with arseholes.None of my friends would take anyone sounding off or being stressed as competition.

Yes, good thinking. Maybe the OP’s teacher friends should cast their friend net further afield.

There is a really simple solution to all of this "this job is more stressful than that one, these people complain too much" malarkey: we work out which person in the UK has the hardest job (325 hours per week of contact time with service users, six hours per day additional paperwork, all products and services paid for out of their own pocket meaning they end up on negative wages, expected to work 482 days per year, permanently on call, responsible for all lives in a 60 mile radius, graded at the end of each week and if they don't exceed 175% of all targets they are put on the rack etc) and then nobody ever complains about anything ever again because they don't have it specifically as bad as Sandra, Hardest Worker and Most Noble of All.

Indeed silly it is helpful to read threads like this to determine who the GF are too.

@fedup21 @spanieleyes I'm just saying what the thread is about - maybe answer the OP?

And I've heard teachers say it as have many people commenting on this thread.

People can read what those who say they are teachers say about their stress and jobs and form their own opinions.
And seek the confirmation bias they so desperately crave: that teacher's must do nothing but moan...

...Whilst conveniently ignoring that the ONLY reason teachers have mentioned anything is because someone has started a goady thread.

It's like I said at the start of the thread:

1. an OP shoes up and starts one of these silly threads spouting nonsense and generalisations about a whole profession
2. Teachers challenge the generalisations and clarify misconceptions
3. People who are tragically wedded to the chip on the shoulder "eeeh don't teachers always moan" show up and take the fact teachers are challenging the goady ones that teachers do indeed thing their lives are worse

Again, just like pigeon chess. Do what you like because the idiots will think they've won anyway.

Lola. Well aren’t you a joy? Calling people idiots, goady and have chips on their shoulders.

Sounds very defensive and just lives up the line the stereotype on this thread.

Lola. Well aren’t you a joy? Calling people idiots, goady and have chips on their shoulders.

Sounds very defensive and just lives up the line the stereotype on this thread

@Dorset

This sums it up.

I think the only unpleasant personal comments have been made by teachers

I remember when my children were at school and teachers started a work to rule. They did everything but cancelled after school clubs that they ran, before and after school revision, holiday revision and school residential trips, so basically all the things that they did for free in their own time.

Omg, the fuss that some parents kicked up about it. The answer is that if we, as parents, value these things for.our children then we should demand that teachers are at least paid for them and that the time spent doing them is factored into their working hours. Why should we expect people to just give up their free time for nothing?

It si interesting that, in amongst everything else on this thread, the posters who have been pretty much ignored are those who say they have been both teachers and nurses/another job.

It doesn't suit the narrative when the say either a) teaching is indeed more thankless and/or stressful or b) both jobs are stressful in different ways.

It is as if their expert opinion matters not one jot!

This is a MN / Daily Mail comments issue. In real life nobody goes around worrying about what teachers think. Nobody waits outside a school in order to goad a random teacher.