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?

@Dorset I'm trying to explain that hours are not necessarily relevant, but you are refusing to listen. Your experience is that some teachers you know don't work long hours. I'm telling you, in my experience, that doesn't mean they aren't stressed.

My comment stands, if teachers have posted on here that they don’t work long hours do you not believe them because it’s not your experience?
I've experienced both, but I'm also not of the view that my opinion of any job negates what people tell me about their hours.

If a nursing friend tells me they've moved sideways to a different post because the shift issues and pressures in their hospital were a certain way, I'd believe them. They're now in a community setting and much happier. I believe them.

What I wouldn't do is decide that "nurses..." which is what has been done repeatedly.

Id take what any friend says at face value, whilst being aware that for a range of reasons (on any topic) people can downplay elements that they feel will attract negative judgement.

It is very sad that haud has been subjected to violence. Or that anyone is in any job.

We all knew when we signed up that we might face tough times. That's why a bit of solidarity would be good.

I'd go out on strike/march/sign a petition for the NHS, social care etc I'd like to think haud would do the same for us.

The thing is @HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend that a lot of teachers are currently having to put up with violence and threats, with no police involvement, just constant suggestions from management about what they should be doing differently. It is a massive issue, not in all schools but in far too many.

I agree, one of our senior schools teachers were assaulted by a pupil in front of the head, teacher called the police, (they broke a rib) head didn’t want police intervention

Another primary school teacher was assaulted, head called the police, parents kicked off, teacher was knocked out cold.

(Both of these were a few years apart, there needs to be a clear no violence policy, however I don’t blame the teachers trying their best, I blame the government, you can’t do X,Y and Z with children, you must try X,Y and Z with children, you can’t do that as you may hurt their feels or emotionally distress the child, all the while the teacher/social worker has been knocked out unconscious and the parents laughing

(^^that was recently)

There needs to be a clear, simple, consistent message that all types of abuse will not be tolerated and that appropriate punishment will be enforceable no matter the circumstances.

Lola. And yet your experience of teaching seems to negate anything that I might confirm has been my experience of what teachers I know well have told me.

Lind. The point is that I wasn’t talking about stress, just hours as that’s what I had been discussing with the teachers I know. I never said that only long hours creates stress. But you’re not listening.

The OP wasn't posting about wanting empathy. She asked a question, was teaching more stressful than any other profession, as this "the vibe" she got from her friends.

Had the OP done a two-minute Google she'd have found this research and not needed to start yet another goady thread about teachers. :

hrnews.co.uk/revealed-the-most-and-least-stressful-jobs/

I’ve been and a teacher in a secondary school, been a middle leader too. I’ve also not been a teacher and done other jobs, in fact after 12yrs I’m now doing a different job because I got ill and could no longer teach.

I’ll tell you now, that teaching is hard in comparison to your average office job. I still work in education but no longer on the front line and I get to sit down, have a coffee and use the loo whenever I like. It’s a whole new world.

The issue with teaching- as I think others have mentioned- is the fact that it never ends. There’s always more that you could be doing and you’re obliged to take it home. You work like a dog all day, often on a very full timetable, and then go home with 2, 3, 4+ hours worth of work to do. It’s also wholly inflexible. The holidays are great but I’ve never worked in a school that didn’t expect you in by 8am and for most parents that’s a nightmare dash from some kind of childcare. There’s also no scope to go and see your own kids plays etc.

It’s also physically hard going with hours of standing and there’s an element of physical danger to the job unless you work in an amazing school where no teenager has ever gone batshit and tried to throw something at you.

It’s not the worst job in the world and there are benefits to it, but it’s bloody hard going.

I am afraid for my ex-profession, because I really think the workload and pressures have become unsustainable for far too many teachers. It used to be a job for life, but in the last few years I came across lots of teachers desperate to get out. So excuse me if I have stuck to talking about what I know, but I really feel parents should be taking the issue of teacher stress much more seriously. Rather than call teachers 'moaners' think about what they could be doing to make a positive difference. Otherwise, it will only get worse and there will be no such thing as an 'experienced' teacher.

And I will comment about my posts as some schoolgirl bullying tactics posters, have commented on.

As previously said before, I am currently holidaying in Spain, I don’t have any of my visual aids with me, so cannot completely see on my iPhone what I’m posting as A, it’s on a white background, and B, autocorrect hates me. and I’m currently on my second glass of wine, as my family have went to bed, as they are shattered

Lola. And yet your experience of teaching seems to negate anything that I might confirm has been my experience of what teachers I know well have told me

Yes, it does actually. Your experience is second hand. Your perspective on their perspective, reported here through the very obvious lens you have.

Lola’s experience of being a teacher is first hand reporting.

So yup, she’s more likely to know how it actually works.

Dorset
It doesn't negate it at all, because I've said first hand I've worked excessively long hours (as reported on this thread) and currently have a good, reasonable balance (as reported on this thread).

What I have issue with is people who aren't teachers deciding that because they happen to know someone who does X, that anyone who does Y needs to prioritise their workload, it can't be that bad etc.

What I have issue with is people who aren't teachers deciding that because they happen to know someone who does X, that anyone who does Y needs to prioritise their workload, it can't be that bad etc

I disagree with this, as I said to another poster that she’s making her son out to be a martyr, as he was doing 60 hour weeks, working throughout the night plus weekends etc...

She ASKED what he should do to manage his workloads, I gave suggestions and also suggested he speak to his senior management as his workload is clearly unmanageable in which he has no work/life balance.

noblegiraffe

silly returns and haud goes. Like a tag team. hmm

Mmmm

Such arrogance on here 😂

So my dsis tells me about her experience of being a teacher, I post that on here as an example of someone who experiences the job differently to you and because it doesn’t suit your argument, it’s therefore not valid because I’m not the teacher.

Smiles. Funnily enough nobody on here ‘knows how it works’ better than I do when it comes my dsis because, err...you don’t know her 😂

But you havent done that, have you? You have posted quite frankly a frightening number of times questioning everything from salaries to disciplinary procedures. You have aggressively questioned, doubted and corrected people.

About an industry that they are in, and you arent.

No one has said your friends are lying. What they have done is illustrated why the job is difficult. But you and a select number of other posters have been relentless in what can only be verging on an interrogation.

I just cannot imagine this ever happening on a thread about a different profession.

@noblegiraffe

Out of interest, do English teachers read posts and mentally mark posters on their grammar?

Asking for a friend...

Surely not...😯

Yes, you know your sister. Absolutely.

You hear what she says through your sisterly ears.

That information sits in your brain for a while.

Then it comes out through your mouth.

See? It’s been filtered. It has precisely bugger all to do with what it feels like to actually be a teacher. You don’t know. You know what your sister tells you.

@Dorsetdays your dsis is one person, so while her experience is valid it is only hers. I am a teacher so have first hand experience and have spoken to many, many other teachers about their own experiences. That isn't arrogant, it's fact.

Surely not...😯

I mentally correct everything

HaudYerWheeshtYaWeeBellend
It's not about being a martyr though. Those sorts of hours, for example, were precisely the reason why I nearly left the profession.
It's easy to say speak to senior leadership but the bottom line was (at least where I worked) they didn't care and considered it a badge of honour. They'd comment that people who'd left couldn't hack it as if it was a failing on their part.

The year I left over a dozen teaching staff left openly. Some (like me) had promotions, others moved sideways, others went into different fields like SEND/PRUs, others left the profession altogether. That year others disappeared through the year, never to be heard from or spoken of unless you were friends with them out of work.

Now, I could ask for a nicer environment or leadership team to work with.

The thing is it's not that I needed to speak to management in the first situation, or that I'm somehow better at managing my work now, fundamentally the cultures are very different between the two places.

Having seen that first hand, I'd be even more reluctant to decide that other people's school lives arent accurate.

Dorset
It's not arrogance to say that first hand experience is more reliable than second hand experience told by someone with a particular agenda.

I just cannot imagine this ever happening on a thread about a different profession

I've been on MN for years and threads about teachers, though rarely running to 1000 posts as this one might, come up two/three times a year. Every year.

Teachers, nurses, police etc all have very very hard jobs for very little money in return.

**Now, I couldn't ask for a nicer environment or leadership team to work with.

Never. Nope, try reading the thread.

I didn’t question salaries, just pointed out that the salary someone quoted for NQT’s was wrong.

I haven’t questioned disciplinaries, just asked why so few teachers take their employers to ET when bullying and managing people out is so rife.

Not been aggressive at all. If you feel backed into a corner, maybe that’s your issue not mine. I haven’t been rude once yet teachers on here have called posters idiots, told them to F off and mocked someone’s spelling and grammar who has dyslexia, without apology.

And if you think someone posting on a forum is “frightening” you might be in the wrong place.

Lind. It is arrogant to tell me that your 30 years of teaching means you’re in a better position than I am to know if what my dsis tells me is the truth.