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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Okay, about teachers...

999 replies

KitKat1985 · 28/09/2019 13:21

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?

OP posts:
Coolaschmoola · 28/09/2019 16:05

"My cousin is in the army and has been in war zones, he has made comments about how stressful his job is but only when he's there, he doesn't bring the bloody Helmand Provence back when he's got his time off to tackle it." really SailorCherries?

I'm a teacher separated from my husband largely due to the PTSD he brought home from Helmand... What a ridiculous, ignorant and offensive comparison.

I'd sooner have my workload (FE so less money, less holidays, more behaviour issues) than hypervigilance, screaming nightmares, inability to be in crowds and memories of being blown up and picking your friends brains from off your uniform...

Seriously, educate yourself.

MaryBerrysBomberJacket · 28/09/2019 16:05

OP, if you are still here, I've just been on the phone to my closest friend, a paramedic, and we spoke about this thread at length. I am a secondary science teacher.

  1. Most teachers don't moan like you day. Some do, but I also know wankers in other jobs. Please don't bunch us all together. We honestly don't want to race to the bottom.
  2. We both have very stressful jobs and we acknowledge that they are different. People don't tend to die on me, but I do still have quite a bit of responsibility and emotional toil from mine too.
  3. The hours. I work more in a week, but we still both have long weeks, like many other professions. My issue this week has been my 7-6 in work Mon-Thurs, and then at least another 2 hours a night at home. I was even up at 6 today and did 7-1.30ish and still have some A level papers and a class set of BTEC coursework to mark this weekend, let alone some planning for next week.
  4. We all need paying more. I get paid for 6 hours a day. 30 a week. As you can see, I work a lot more than 6 hours a day. My friend is paid for overtime.
  5. The holidays. Of course it is a park, but we work. I was physically in school for 11 days this summer setting up a new course and sorting out after results; and I don't have any TLR or responsibility for this. My friend can also choose to take holidays when she needs them. If I need a holiday in work until I break and get signed off. It has happened before.
  6. Types of pressure. Both jobs are highly, night pressured but they are different. My paramedic friend has obvious pressure that everyone understands. Mine... I don't know where to begin. My biggest issue atm is money in school. On Friday some of my ceiling tiles fell during a lesson due to the rain and they won't be fixed. I spent over £70 A few weeks ago on stationary. If I do a dissection... I buy it. And I know money is a problem because I am on UPS3, the highest 'normal' teacher and I know I am being hunted. All UPS3 teachers have terrible timetables, are observed more frequently and are being scrutinised over ever piece of data we submit. They want us out and are waiting for us to slip up, and that is agony. I actually teach in 7 different classrooms and I was berated for the mess last week. In the room I had just entered for the first time that day. It is relentless.

We all feel pressure. All of our jobs can be shit. But people do not accept that teaching is as it is because they don't see it. The government ignores it. The media denies it.

MaryBerrysBomberJacket · 28/09/2019 16:09

Oh and let me add one thing. I you d out this week that my 22 year old trainee in school for 35 hours a week (I'm in my 40s having taught for over 15 years) brings home £2390 a month, tax free. I see £2100 a month after 15 plus years of teaching.

Not going to lie, that stings.

sailorcherries · 28/09/2019 16:10

really SailorCherries?
I'm a teacher separated from my husband largely due to the PTSD he brought home from Helmand... What a ridiculous, ignorant and offensive comparison.

I didn't make the comparison. My cousin did. Those were his words.
I'd take my job over his any day of the week but that was his viewpoint, which he is entitled to.

It was after we spoke towards the end of summer and I was up after the kids fell asleep, prepping upcoming resources and that is what he said to me.
I thought it was interesting that someone in a job I'd consider much more stressful and horrific had that opinion.

teachermam · 28/09/2019 16:13

I think I've read the exact same post at start of summer

GiraffeWithSwag · 28/09/2019 16:14

Competitive stress. Can’t be arsed with it....it’s everywhere. Negative, draining and boring.

sailorcherries · 28/09/2019 16:15

That was a bold fail in response to coolaschmoola

fedup21 · 28/09/2019 16:17

FE so less money, less holidays, more behaviour issues

Are there really more behaviour issues in FE than in secondary? I’m KS1 so have no idea. I’d have thought y9/10 would have been the worst?

C0untDucku1a · 28/09/2019 16:18

I agree with you op! It’s not like there are not also weekly posts slagging off nurses!!!!

Oh wait...

Hmm
fedup21 · 28/09/2019 16:19

my 22 year old trainee in school for 35 hours a week (I'm in my 40s having taught for over 15 years) brings home £2390 a month, tax free. I see £2100 a month after 15 plus years of teaching.

Do you mean someone on a GTP or something? Won’t their salary drop when they qualify and earn M1?

Jenala · 28/09/2019 16:20

I agree with you. What I often hear is some of the same arguments pp have said - about teachers taking work home, working longer hours. I'm a social worker and I guarantee you both those things happen to us in spades, with the added constant stress you'll make the wrong decision and fuck up someone's life/a child will be hurt or worse. I got a 1% pay raise last year, and yet several teacher friends posted about how their several % pay rise (I want to say 8.5%? Or maybe 6%?) was actually really shit. Teachers can complain because they're an easy cause to get behind. No one ever says oh I hate teachers, or nurses for that matter. Plenty of people say it about social workers and police - which means we can't really complain the same way.

fedup21 · 28/09/2019 16:25

yet several teacher friends posted about how their several % pay rise (I want to say 8.5%? Or maybe 6%?) was actually really shit.

You could say those things but it doesn’t make it true Confused.

Some teachers got a 3.5% pay rise last year (not quite the figures you just plucked out of thin air!). Many didn’t get anything because it was not actually properly funded by the government. Many didn’t get anything because it only applied to some people.

Still, why let facts get in the way of a good story?

Mintysmoons · 28/09/2019 16:26

I’m a teacher in a large secondary school.
I don’t hear anyone moaning about the job really, anymore than any other person might say they’re looking forward to the weekend, etc.

When I worked in a Harris school, people moaned all the time about the workload and the senior management. It was an awful, toxic environment.

So, it depends on the place of work.

I will say though, most of my teacher friends don’t complain too much. They will however, respond to goady people who constantly say teachers are lazy and entitled.

On the whole, we are a profession just trying to do their best by your children.

SunshineCake · 28/09/2019 16:26

I think doctors, nurses, paramedics, firemen and women, police men and women have a much more stressful job than teachers do . Generally teaching children doesn't mean potentially having to save a life.

WaterSheep · 28/09/2019 16:28

No one ever says oh I hate teachers, or nurses

Trust me, they do.

Underbeneathsies · 28/09/2019 16:31

I agree, teachers have it easy imo.
I work 75 hours a week in the same field as you Jenala, (child protection, voluntary sector) and thankfully I’m not making clinical decisions, but if I fuck up, my clinical staff won’t have any resources at all.

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.

LolaSmiles · 28/09/2019 16:31

Mintysmoons
You know now you mention it, I don't think I've ever heard anyone I trust say anything nice about working in a Harris academy.

Wannabegreenfingers · 28/09/2019 16:32

I have teacher friends who jobs take over their life and I have teacher friends who have plenty of spare time. I think it's more down to the school they work in and how they manage their time. It's not a job I'd personally do and I take my hat off to those that do.....

testing987654321 · 28/09/2019 16:34

Why do you work 75 hours a week? That's 2 full-time jobs not one.

WaterSheep · 28/09/2019 16:35

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.

Genuine question but why not give it a try? I'm not trying to be goady but there are plenty of ways to get into teaching, and a lot of vacancies when you qualify.

AllTheUserNamesAreTaken · 28/09/2019 16:36

My sister and friend are teachers and they both have moments where they’ve made our their job is the most stressful and others have it easier. They’ve assumed everyone else gets paid for working overtime or can claim flexi time etc. Or that most people work 9-5 only.

I know my sister works very hard as a teacher and is passionate and dedicated. She does work some of the holidays but I don’t recognise what teachers on here describe of working a very long day at school and then all evening. My sister works 730 to 5pm which I agree is a long day. She does have a lunch break. She manages to do her hobby three times per week in the evening but does a bit of work at home.
There are times of the year when she is ridiculously stressed.

I think my son’s school teachers have all been fantastic, work hard, care, and I have a lot of respect for them. But the staff car park has only a few cars in it at 815am and is pretty much empty by 430pm. I’m not in any way suggesting they should be there for longer hours but it just contradicts what is always said on here about every teacher having long days in school.

fedup21 · 28/09/2019 16:37

I agree, teachers have it easy imo.I work 75 hours a week in the same field as you Jenala, (child protection, voluntary sector) and thankfully I’m not making clinical decisions, but if I fuck up, my clinical staff won’t have any resources at all.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.

If you genuinely think teaching is easy and not at all stressful (only 30 kids and a few end of year KPIs to think about) and you would give anything for their holidays, why don’t you retrain?

flowerycurtain · 28/09/2019 16:39

Try being friends with farmers.

"Oh I had such a busy week last week. Clocked up at least 70 hours"

"Only 70 hours. I consider that part time. Show me a timesheet with 100 and then we're talking"

Holidays? Two days away in December after drilling but before flea beetle and in beteeen lambing/calving. And that's if your lucky!

Yes teachers have t hard but so do loads of other professions

MaryBerrysBomberJacket · 28/09/2019 16:39

Do you mean someone on a GTP or something? Won’t their salary drop when they qualify and earn M1?

She is on Schools Direct and attracts a big bursary as she is a physics specialist. I'm quite sure she won't be a teacher for long. Only 1 from the 4 we had last year became a teacher and obviously don't pay it back.

And yep, this year it is £30k tax free, next year £24k NOT tax free. She actual brings home more than the heads of non-core departments in my school. It is ridiculous....

NotGreenNotKeen · 28/09/2019 16:43

Its because they are the most bashed profession...they are taken for granted. Usually in my experience they're only defensive if they feel they're being bashed or judged.