To say there are so many of us now that feel like this

[Enoughnowstop]

www.tes.com/news/coronavirus-teacher-schools-i-love-my-job-i-cant-keep-going?fbclid=IwAR2PdWYSIoIHed0m_ljs-DvncLM1Pf0min7NaJxPvcj8klTgzPj_3Gftp_Q

I know there will be loads of teacher bashing as a result but it’s how so many of us feel. I don’t know what can be done as I want schools open and functioning but the fear that it will be at the expense of my health and/or that of my family. And at the same time, the persistent disconnect with colleagues, the just getting by, the making do...it’s all too much some days.

Thoughts are with my colleagues around the country today.

[JinglingHellsBells]

How have you time to post here if you are teaching?

Is it half term, you are part time or you are off sick?

If you don't love your job, leave, re-train and do something else.

No one is forcing you to teach.

[ImMoana]

The vote is currently 50:50 which is why this thread is largely pointless.

The profession is irrelevant. Most people will sympathise with anyone feeling this way. But most people will also have an experience of someone else who has it worse.

There are no winners at the moment. Everyone is doing what they can to survive this in one piece. Physically, mentally, financially, socially ...
We are all losing ourselves. Regardless of profession.

[sleepwouldbenice]

Hello
You have my sympathies. It really can’t be easy

Can I ask you what would help?

Are standards slipping in the school so SLT could clamp down more? Would maybe a small proportion of classes being taught remotely work ( our school was woeful during lockdown but I think most secondaries could support this but still stay on top of things education wise)
Should secondary school children wear masks in class except during group work or responding to questions? Is there any ppe for teachers that is effective?
Genuinely looking for solutions here
Thanks

[skelesheridan]

The op is not saying teachers have it worse than anyone else and no one else is struggling. She's just saying at the moment it's hard being a teacher. I don't understand why people are throwing up comparisons and trying to invalidate her worries by saying others have it worse off. Of course there are other who are worse off but that doesn't make her feeling wrong and it doesn't make the current situation in schools right.

[jakor]

Mumsnet really does hate teachers, doesn’t it?

Do they? I think teachers have a hard job, I respect them & recognise the impact of a good teacher. However as other posters have said I don't understand why there are so many of these threads. Other professions & individuals also have it hard.

[JinglingHellsBells]

I am a former teacher and the one thing I hated about my job was the moaning in the staff room and the low moral of people who hated teaching but couldn't be bothered to accept it wasn't for them (and get out and re-train.)

IMO it's a vocation and if you don't love it, can't suck up the pressure or whatever the job involves, it's not for you, and you ought to own that and move on. If you can't do that then learn to accept your life as it is and stop asking for sympathy. There are millions of people doing jobs they hate but need to, to keep food on the table.

[teacherneedingaholiday]

Our students wear masks and I have found it very difficult although I understand why.

I have struggled to learn names, I don’t know who is talking and for some it becomes a deliberately contentious thing.

Schools are just unpleasant right now. I understand why but they are, for everyone. Well ours is!

[lockdownconfused]

I understand that teachers are finding it hard it's not great knowing that you are in contact for 6 hours with kids that you have no idea what they are doing or who they are interacting with outside of school. All the poster saying it's alright for supermarket staff it really isn't we come into contact with thousands of people a day! The limited numbers are massive! In my store we allowed 270 people in at one time. Imagine that over the course of the day. So many people aren't wearing masks either and we are not allowed to challenge anyone on it. I wish I could say the majority follow social distancing but they don't! I'm in wales so the last 6 days have been mental with people panic buying and stocking up for the 2 week lockdown. I hate it I'm dreading that with all the non essential retail closed and people off work how busy we will be now. 😭

[GhostPenguin]

I don't get why "but other people have difficult jobs too" is a valid argument for why teachers should just shut up and get on with it. Unless you're at the very bottom of the pile you don't deserve any compassion. It's not about who's got the "worst" job, lots of jobs are hard atm, and teaching is one of them.

It's a difficult job at the best of times and really relies on camaraderie with your colleagues, something you're not allowed at the moment. My partner is a middle leader in a secondary and spends much of his time consoling young teachers who are in tears at breaktime, many of whom are in their first or second year of teaching and are in their early twenties. It must be really hard.

Parents really appreciate your hard work op, and so do students, even though it often doesn't feel like it! Keep going!

[jakor]

@skelesheridan But the letter would apply to millions of workers.

I work in a school, I feel safer working there then I would in a supermarket, warehouse or on a airplane.

[ReneeRol]

Teachers only think that way because they will continue on full pay when the schools are closed. If you had a massively reduced income or faced job/business loss like most people, your priority would be keeping the schools open.

Teachers aren't special. There's massive business closures and unemployment on the way, a lot of highly educated people will be happy to replace you if you're not happy in the classroom.

[Mrsmedley]

'Mumsnet really does hate teachers, doesn’t it?

There was a brief respite when everyone was homeschooling and suddenly realised how difficult it is, but the memory of that clearly wasn’t a prevailing one.'

No - we don't. But I personally am done with teachers complaining about how hard they have it as if the rest of the world wasn't suffering too.
And as for homeschooling - that was when I lost respect for our school who were one of the ones doing the minimum to support parents and home-learning.

There's a tone deafness to posts on here from teachers that I find odd. My NHS friends are barely talking about how hard it is for them at the moment, and there are really on the front line and exhausted.

Perhaps the place to garner sympathy for OP would be other teachers or on forums aimed at teachers.

[jakor]

@GhostPenguin because sometimes a little perspective is needed.

[JinglingHellsBells]

My partner is a middle leader in a secondary and spends much of his time consoling young teachers who are in tears at breaktime, many of whom are in their first or second year of teaching and are in their early twenties. It must be really hard.

IME there are too many people entering the profession who have no idea what teaching is like and aren't given the real truth about the job.

Also know that many come into teaching as they simply don't know what other career to choose after getting a degree, and sometimes that is coupled with poor careers advice.

I don't know the answer to this - it lies in the selection and training of teachers fundamentally- because you need physical and emotional stamina. Maybe it needs to be more of an apprenticeship so people can leave if they find it's not for them.

It's always been like that but obviously things are harder now.

[skelesheridan]

[quote jakor]@skelesheridan But the letter would apply to millions of workers.

I work in a school, I feel safer working there then I would in a supermarket, warehouse or on a airplane. [/quote]
Fair enough. It doesn't make her feelings invalid. Anyone would be entitled to write a letter about their work and their feelings would be valid.

I think pitting professions against each other means we miss the point that many jobs are unsafe and stressful at the moment and all of the people doing those jobs should be supported. My friend is a nurse. I can't imagine how stressful her job is at the moment. She has also said she feels my job must also be very stressful. We have empathy for each other, support each other and talk about ways we can forget about work for a bit.

[AntiHop]

You have every right to feel this way. I don't know why some pp are insisting on this race to the bottom attitude.

I am very grateful to my child's teacher, for what she's doing for my child, and for the risks she is forced to be in to do her job.

[JinglingHellsBells]

and yes, I think teachers lose sympathy as they are not furloughed, are not losing income like millions of other people who have lost their jobs or will.

[TheKeatingFive]

Teachers only think that way because they will continue on full pay when the schools are closed. If you had a massively reduced income or faced job/business loss like most people, your priority would be keeping the schools open.

There’s a lot of truth in this

[Mrsmedley]

'You have every right to feel this way. I don't know why some pp are insisting on this race to the bottom attitude.'

Is it a race to the bottom or is it just empathy fatigue with a profession who seem to be complaining on here constantly despite having vocational, secure employment ( paid in full even when their place of work is closed to most pupils) in the midst of a pandemic?

[Samster1815]

I work in a university. It’s a face to face course (can’t be run online as it’s practical) and I need to be around 5-10cm from someone’s face when I check their work. I had half of one of my class of last week with positive results, and over the last few weeks possibly around 100 positive cases in the students I teach. They’re constantly in and out with positive cases in their households.
I don’t disagree that it isn’t scary, I’m in the vulnerable group as well, but there isn’t much we can do.

[LaurieFairyCake]

If the schools are closed they WILL STILL BE WORKING AND TEACHING ONLINE

Like they were all through this !!!

[Mrsmedley]

And please don't start with the 'We weren't shut, we worked harder than ever argument' because in all the state schools in our area this blatantly was not true.

[Hopeisathingwithfeathers]

It's amazing how everyone was clamouring to get their children back to school but STILL don't actually value the people that do with whole groups what they struggled to do with their own one or two children. I'm so sorry you are feeling this way, OP. If I was a teacher, Mumsnet would be the last straw at the moment because this place is vile to teachers. You're working in the only non covid-secure workplace and you're not even supposed to mention it. Instead of wanting to fight for a safer and happier environment for children, people just want you to shut up.

[teacherneedingaholiday]

To be fair laurie provision varied massively. I don’t think our school was brilliant, tbh. But then it still isn’t even now we are back