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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Who else is sick of the teacher bashing threads on here?

88 replies

Iateallthecookies000 · 12/04/2020 20:48

I’m not even a school teacher and I’m sick and bored of it.

OP posts:
DeeCeeCherry · 12/04/2020 23:58

I just skim those threads. It's clear some people feel why don't teachers have to work from home, when others do, and have to be seen to - even if they have children. Seems to be the gist of all the threads. Presumably it's parents of school-aged children who are wondering. I don't know if I'd exactly call them teacher bashing, but seems even asking the question is frowned upon. In the scheme of things though there are loads of 'bashing' threads aren't there?Joggers, cyclists, neighbours and their antics etc everyone's getting slated. Round and round it goes, it will be the same for this thread.

janeskettle · 13/04/2020 00:05

It's an international sport.

I'm in AU and teachers can't win. There's too much work, there's not enough work, it's too online, it's too offline, they contact us too much, they don't contact us, and so on.

It's boring shite.

Designerenvy · 13/04/2020 00:06

I actually feel very sorry for the teachers. Yes, they are home on full pay , but they are working, like anyone else who is now WFH, who have not done so previously.

They have to find new ways to support students and engage with them. They also have to keep patents on side .
They also need to be mindful, that not every house is set up to deal with the work they send out.....be it due to social issues, parents working, illness within families, access to technology and wifi, stress etc.so many things to factor into their day, that previously wasnt as much of an obstacle, on such a big scale .

In my opinion , they're adjusting well and being accommodating, from my experience .
We are all learning, these are unprecedented times .
We need to support each other, not bash each other .

disorganisedsecretsquirrel · 13/04/2020 00:13

I'm sick of them OP. I'm not a teacher btw AND my daughter is missing her Alevels. Yet I do not believe she is 'missing' anything that anyone else is not also missing. Nor do I believe she will be adversely affected in her journey to University.

As for those who seem to think that after all this horror - teachers should give up their summer holidays.. words fail me.

Then again I will admit to a particular dislike of academically pushy parents and their need for kids to be 'focussing on their education' at every available moment. Hopefully one of the silver linings will be that kids will have a chance to focus on other stuff and develop their imagination away from the school treadmill.

Iwannabeadored20 · 13/04/2020 00:40

I think that sometimes some resources are sold to parents as essential for their child's success (how many children from a school got into Oxbridge, etc) and some parents then believe the marketing hype and its continual push - once that stops (as now) they haven't quite recognised that much of it is unnecessary and surplus to real learning and are panicking that their child - who was safely installed into the machinery of afterschool clubs, extra curricular activities and private tuition - will now be in freefall and it appears catastrophic. They've never hit the bottom and realise you bounce Grin at that age and much of the rest is keeping a sector in business, secondary to the job of teaching.

The only person to lash out is the teacher as they have to believe that schools are at fault rather than they have spent all that money and time on stuff that isn't as core as they thought.

DippyAvocado · 13/04/2020 01:41

teachers can't win. There's too much work, there's not enough work, it's too online, it's too offline, they contact us too much, they don't contact us, and so on.

Yep. The first two weeks after the schools were shut here there were loads of threads about schools setting too much work, parents not being able to keep up, wanting their kids to have a break, etc etc. Now it's actually the school holidays we get endless threads about not enough work and all the things parents think we should be doing even though they have no clue about what resources we have been provided with or what instructions we've been given by our school leaders.

And there's not one question about what the DfE, who are actually the ones in charge of decision making, are doing. In fact, the DfE have issued virtually no guidance because they know that schools and families are all in completely different situations and it has never been government policy for schools to have any kind of remote learning facility set up, let alone given the funding to do it. In fact, digital technology has been bottom of the list of importance for the DfE for many years. I'm still largely using the same technology at school that I used ten years ago, although then the infrastructure was at least new. Now it's just old and tired. I suggest some of the teacher bashers contact their MPs instead.

araiwa · 13/04/2020 03:22

I like the threads where someone cant get little johnny or suzie to sit down and do even 10 minutes of study a day that has been provided for them yet feels they can bash a teacher who has to prepare , teach and review work for 20- 30 kids at the same time and that the teacher is just bad but lil suzie is great

MsTSwift · 13/04/2020 06:25

It’s pretty obvious why there are teacher bashing threads — as parents we all interface with the profession so pretty much all have a view.

Often parents don’t - reasonably enough - fully understand why things are done a particular way and are only interested in their own child’s development and not the wider issues. It’s a perfect storm really. I haven’t been blown away by my children’s teachers response to this crisis tbh but in saying so I’m not damning every individual teacher to hell. Maybe there are reasons I am not aware of for the lame response.

myself2020 · 13/04/2020 06:33

Some teachers deserve s good bashing. some don’t. my son’s school has been amazing. many other schools have done nothing at all (not even send out an email
telling parents what they are planning).
if it doesn’t apply to you, ignore it. forums are always a reflection of negativity

MsTSwift · 13/04/2020 06:38

Remember a lecture about businesses - if a customer is happy they tell 1 or 2 others if unhappy they tell 10 or 12 others. Hence the teacher bashing think same applies. The people that aren’t happy are far more vocal so it skews the threads.

Mittens030869 · 13/04/2020 07:08

I agree that the generalisations about teachers on these threads are very tiresome. Especially posters who insist that teachers believe that they work harder than anyone else. I've actually never seen a teacher actually say that, they simply say that they don't only work between 9 and 3:30, which some posters do bizarrely seem to believe. And that they don't get to rest the whole of the school holidays, which is an accusation I've read on here.

Teachers understandably defend themselves against such accusations, and this always leads to someone accusing them of claiming that they work harder than anyone else.

Viviennemary · 13/04/2020 10:03

If I complain about a negligent builder or cleaner armies of them don't appear on MN saying what wonderful dedicated hard working people they all are. And that threads complaining about them should be removed by MN. It's a bit pathetic IMHO.

Iateallthecookies000 · 13/04/2020 10:12

Viviennemary What’s pathetic is a bunch of useless parents who aren’t capable or just too lazy to look after their own children who then take their frustrations out on teachers.

OP posts:
Iateallthecookies000 · 13/04/2020 10:13

And MN should delete the continuous threads slagging off schools and teachers. It’s bullying and it’s uncomfortable to see.

OP posts:
ChloeDecker · 13/04/2020 10:21

If I complain about a negligent builder or cleaner armies of them don't appear on MN saying what wonderful dedicated hard working people they all are. And that threads complaining about them should be removed by MN. It's a bit pathetic IMHO.

If you were to start a thread saying all builders are negligent and all cleaners are negligent, you would definitely (and quite rightly) get scores of posters in those professions defending themselves.
This is the point. Posters are not complaining about individual circumstances or individual staff, they are starting goading threads with statements like ‘all teachers are lazy”, “all teachers are like rats leaving a sinking ship”, “what do teachers do all day?” and so on.
It’s interesting that a lot of posters on this thread (and the other teacher basher thread in The Staffroom) arguing for the teacher threads being absolutely fine, are ones who have actually started unreasonable teacher threads in the first place...

Iwantacookie · 13/04/2020 10:28

I think it's a bit like every job where everyone has an opinion about what would work where. In these current times though I do think teachers are doing their best in this situation and having 30+ parents telling you your doing it wrong really cant be easy.

On the whole though teachers need more support, more funding and less box ticking exercises.
I'm hoping lots of parents are seeing it's not the teacher that is a problem but their little snowflake misbehaving. Im hoping this leads to a massive change of attitude towards teachers. They deserve to be respected and not be afraid in their job.

YgritteSnow · 13/04/2020 11:42

What’s pathetic is a bunch of useless parents who aren’t capable or just too lazy to look after their own children who then take their frustrations out on teachers.

This is a recurring theme - that or "you're just jelly of our holidays!" Hmm - I love having my child at home. I home educated one of my children as he has additional needs but my child who is in school is doing very well and has some fab teachers. But some teachers are better than others and like all professions there's some really bad ones out there. And the bad ones have a lot of power to make children and their parents stressed and miserable. It is just ridiculous to say this can never be discussed on a parenting site because it's just "teacher bashing". We can talk about what we want and teachers are not above criticism and neither are parents as evidenced by the discussions in The Staffroom.

Iateallthecookies000 · 13/04/2020 11:59

I’m not a School teacher merely an observer. I wouldn’t want their job even with the holidays as who would want to put up with parents like the ones that teacher bash on MN. It’s the sheer amount of these threads that are monotonous MN used to be fun now it’s just the same old.

OP posts:
FrippEnos · 13/04/2020 12:00

Viviennemary
If I complain about a negligent builder or cleaner armies of them don't appear on MN saying what wonderful dedicated hard working people they all are.

Not sure why you want to compare apples to oranges but

If you complained about a builder, they would tell you to F off and tell all the other builders in the local area what a pain you were to work for and you wouldn't get a builder to do any work for you.

SallyLovesCheese · 13/04/2020 12:42

If I complain about a negligent builder or cleaner armies of them don't appear on MN saying what wonderful dedicated hard working people they all are.

Complaining about a negligent builder or cleaner is completely different from making a generalisation like "Why are builders so negligent?" or "Why can't cleaners do their job properly?"

As I said before, generalisations about teachers are what makes us defensive.

MsTSwift · 13/04/2020 16:13

Also it’s worse for teaching as everyone has been to school so feels they know about it!

LavenderLilacTree · 13/04/2020 16:25

Me! I'm sick of them!
Can we not bash politicians and their £10,000 extra COVID cash instead?

PrivateD00r · 13/04/2020 17:01

Oakmaiden, you may have had a point had you not described children as 'grotty' Hmm Happy to say I don't use that term to describe any of the people I care for day in day out.....

I clap for all keyworkers, which obviously includes teachers who are going out to work. From my experience though that is relatively few, my children attend three different schools and it has been the same minority of teachers minding them each day. Their schools asked for volunteers and very few have volunteered. I am not aware of any other keyworkers who get to choose whether they go to work, yet remain on full pay.

I am incredibly grateful to those few teachers who have voluntarily put themselves out like this whilst their colleagues remain at home. I won't ever forget them Flowers

One particular teacher has been in school most days as well as posting daily messages through the school app, including little videos of her giving a wee positive message for the kids. I adore her, she is literally my hero!!!!

flumposie · 13/04/2020 17:22

Yanbu. Totally fed up with it.

Oakmaiden · 13/04/2020 18:22

Oakmaiden, you may have had a point had you not described children as 'grotty'

I have worked in many reception classes. The children are lovely, but many of them are grotty. Grotty faces, sticky hands, crusty noses.

Sorry. It is an appropriate word. I was enormously fond of the children, but they can be grotty.