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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

308 replies

Enoughnowstop · 21/10/2020 06:54

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.

OP posts:
Mrsmedley · 21/10/2020 08:45

'WILL STILL BE WORKING AND TEACHING ONLINE'

lucky you. Ours did not because of 'safeguarding' concerns although somehow the private schools in the area managed to...

LaurieFairyCake · 21/10/2020 08:49

So it's area dependent 🤷‍♀️ - that's shit. Shouldn't happen.

All I know is my poor bastard of a husband gave up Easter holidays/May half term and 3 weeks of the summer holidays.

The first two were to supervise key worker children and manage the staff teaching online/take laptops around South East London to kids (deprived area)

And the summer 'holidays' - planning for going back changed 6 times because of the government!! So fucking useless are they.

teacherneedingaholiday · 21/10/2020 08:50

Was he in every day over Easter and may half term? We were open but on a rota.

PenguinIce · 21/10/2020 08:52

@Enoughnowstop

Resilience is a key learning for kids and I rather my kids had a teacher than can teach them resilience in these tough times than cramming academic learning

Presumably you want your kids to be able to pass their exams? And presumably you would take issue having your child in a school where academic learning is deemed inadequate by the powers that be?

My dc is in year 11 and of course I would love for them to pass their exams. However after worrying about it (which did not achieve anything) I have now decided that whatever happens happens. My dc will try their best; their teachers will try their best and I will try my best to get them to pass. If come next August they don’t get the grades they need they will retake. I know they are not getting the education that they would have 2 years ago but that is just the way life is at the moment and it can’t be changed.

My point is try not to worry about things that haven’t happened yet and take one day at a time 💐

WokesFromHome · 21/10/2020 08:56

I really resent comments about supermarket and retail staff. Most of the former are low paid and were not furloughed during lockdown, often having to pull extra shifts because their colleagues were shielding or off sick. They worked in supermarkets where hundreds traipsed through every day touching everything. I think it is pretty disrespectful to talk about them like this TBH.

I work in retail and I reckon I have to touch more things from customers from here there and everywhere than you have to touch with the DC.

I'm sure your life is hard right now, but you are not the only one. We are not all working from home in Sweaty Betty loungewear doing a couple of zooms from our sofas.

Monsterpage · 21/10/2020 08:57

@LaurieFairyCake

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

Like they were all through this !!!

Not in my kids school they were not.
Pinkyxx · 21/10/2020 08:57

The teaching profession isn't uniquely impacted by this pandemic.

I struggle to have massive sympathy given my child's school shut in March and provided nothing beyond a couple of a sheets of A4 (pulled from free internet sites). I was expected to educate my child, whilst working full time dealing with a global pandemic (my job has global scope). Yes I am expected to meet targets just like I was pre-covid - in fact a whole list of extra targets have been added to respond to the impacts of Covid. If I had not being doing my job, I sure as hell would not have been paid during that time. My child's teacher was able to completely abdicate their responsibility from March onwards - something I still can't fathom. I have medical conditions which put me at high risk, as do a number of my family members. We had deaths in the family, funerals which only a hand full could attend. We were unable to visit dying relatives. My grandmother is slipping away in a care home as we speak - they have shut their doors and no one can visit.

Everyone has suffered, some have rised to the situation and gritted their teeth and carried on. I fake it half the time, but I try to model resilience for my child as I cannot expect her to keep going if I choose to give up.

Teachers don't have the monopoly on 'difficult' right now. Its shit for them, it's shit for all of us - including the children who rely on teachers. I admire nurses, doctors, emergency services personnel etc - those who throw themselves into the firing line. They have it a lot harder than I do, along with many others in similar professions.

There's a lot to do said for being grateful for your lot at the moment, rather than complaining about how hard it is.

Branleuse · 21/10/2020 08:57

I feel conflicted because I want schools and hospitals open and running as close to normal as possible, but that doesnt mean I dont value teachers or somehow dont care if they get ill.
Like many (most) people in the world right now, they are facing added risks and stresses and having to go to work as essential workers.
I dont think anyone has got the answers here, but making children stay cooped up at home is massively damaging too for many.

herethereandeverywhere · 21/10/2020 08:58

Try to look forward to the next holiday - if you don't have one this month, you had one last month and you'll have one next month.

I work in an industry supporting the front line (pharma-related) we have staff off sick from stress in almost every country we operate in (50+) and work at about 20% over usual levels. They attend front line premises like hospitals. Our teams get 20 days holiday a year.

Many, many people are suffering and struggling. The work everyone is contributing is valued but it's a sh*t time for all.

squirrelpumpkin · 21/10/2020 09:02

What actions could schools, governing bodies and/or parents implement to mitigate the impact of the pressures that COVID brings to school staff wellbeing?

Quartz2208 · 21/10/2020 09:03

wokesfromhome working from home isnt that hot either.

Yes your risk of catching it is far less that retail and education that is a fact.

But at the same time this

the persistent disconnect with colleagues, the just getting by, the making do...it’s all too much some days

Is very real particularly the disconnect and working far more hours than you use to

Everyones life is hard, this is all awful and horrible and it shouldnt be a race to the bottom. It is all too much

LibrariesGiveUsPower45321 · 21/10/2020 09:03

Yes it’s rubbish. You’re doing a great job.

It is rubbish for the vast majority of the population right now. Many are loosing jobs and have no income. It’s rubbish and we need to pull together to get through this.

Oaktree55 · 21/10/2020 09:05

It’s actually criminal how teaching staff are expected to work at present, contravenes workplace H&S. I think studied will show kids are spreading this far more than currently realised in schools.

Curlybrunette · 21/10/2020 09:09

OP, I absolutely think your feelings are valid, we are in the craziest of times.....but....as a PP said above I think the word here is resilience. I feel like people just aren't resilient right now. Yes it's hard, but we're in the middle of a global pandemic, it's going to be hard.

I do feel for all the people who's work life is tough now (I am ICU/theatre staff) but don't we need to crack on right now and get through it?

ssd · 21/10/2020 09:12

I'm so disgusted at the way teachers are being treated.. I can't understand the disregard for their health and the way ppe, plastic screens and proper ventilation aren't required in a classroom. And it's not compatible with other jobs, especially supermarkets, where everyone wears masks, social distance and screens are up at tills. It's nowhere near being in a classroom for an hour with 30 kids. And I can't understand teacher bashing either. Who actually thinks this is OK?!?!

AriettyHomily · 21/10/2020 09:12

@LaurieFairyCake

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

Like they were all through this !!!

My husband is a teacher. He wasn't teaching on line at all. He did one day a week in school. That was it.

My children certainly didn't have any on line teaching.

There are lots of professions / industries / jobs where people are having a shit time at the moment. Teachers aren't a special case.

ssd · 21/10/2020 09:13

@Curlybrunette

OP, I absolutely think your feelings are valid, we are in the craziest of times.....but....as a PP said above I think the word here is resilience. I feel like people just aren't resilient right now. Yes it's hard, but we're in the middle of a global pandemic, it's going to be hard.

I do feel for all the people who's work life is tough now (I am ICU/theatre staff) but don't we need to crack on right now and get through it?

Most unhelpful post I've seen yet. Wonder if this poster stands in a class with kids all day???
Redburnett · 21/10/2020 09:14

Performance management and pay progression for teachers based on results should be abandoned. Teachers have enough to contend with right now without the added stress.

ssd · 21/10/2020 09:15

Ahh ICU/theatre staff you say?
So you have ppe and safety measures teachers don't have, yet you tell them to be more resilient? You should be ashamed of yourself.

Enoughnowstop · 21/10/2020 09:16

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

Yes, half term. Other people post all the time but no one asks them why they’re not at work? I love my job and don’t want to leave. And yes, I am forced to teach in the same way that nurses are forced to nurse or supermarket workers are forced to go into work: I have financial obligations like everyone else. But the whole point was to draw attention to the fact that many good teachers are leaving. Why do you think that doesn’t matter?

OP posts:
teacherneedingaholiday · 21/10/2020 09:17

Why do teachers always think supermarket workers have it so easy?

Minimum wage or just above, anti social hours and hundreds and hundreds of people in and out. It’s really insulting. Stop it.

ssd · 21/10/2020 09:18

@Enoughnowstop

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

Yes, half term. Other people post all the time but no one asks them why they’re not at work? I love my job and don’t want to leave. And yes, I am forced to teach in the same way that nurses are forced to nurse or supermarket workers are forced to go into work: I have financial obligations like everyone else. But the whole point was to draw attention to the fact that many good teachers are leaving. Why do you think that doesn’t matter?

Op, I'm sorry you have to even feel the need to explain yourself. I really wonder at some of the posters here.
Mrsmedley · 21/10/2020 09:21

'But the whole point was to draw attention to the fact that many good teachers are leaving. Why do you think that doesn’t matter?'

Are they actually leaving? Good luck to them then, with their future employment options in a pandemic.
And are they actually the good ones if they can't adapt the way the rest of us are adapting?

yorkie99 · 21/10/2020 09:22

@Enoughnowstop

Yeah, other people feel like shit too. I get it. Apparently that means we have to think of all those others before ourselves and manage your children’s education and manage our own fears and situations and not ever make mention of it for fear that someone else, somewhere has it worse. Great.
Couldn’t agree more with this. Seems like teachers just have to suck it up every time. Cannot understand why there is so much negativity to this profession. Totally demoralising.
BumbleFlump · 21/10/2020 09:22

Because teaching is often viewed as a ‘calling’ there seems to be a huge expectation that you’ll just keep giving and giving because it’s a passion and part of your identity.

Agree. Think schools like to recruit younger teachers not only because they’re cheap but also naive...teachers are totally exploited and the pressure put on them nowadays is unreal.

Teaching is absolutely nothing like working in a supermarket.

As for Covid, teachers are constantly bombarded by various viruses, Covid is just another one of these. I not teaching anymore but if I was, I’d be more bothered about the extra workload, catering for the students who are in as well as those working online at home. Preparing and delivering lessons as well as answering constant emails from those who are self-isolating etc. I presume in primary they’re also sending work home?....When we eventually come out of this and the dust settles there’ll be huge gaps in certain children’s learning and it’s the teachers who’ll be expected to pick up the pieces.

I’ve often wondered why union activity is so low...the government and their precious OFSTED need to be held to account! Teachers were always striking when I was a kid....it very rarely happens now days except the odd one day a year - what’s that going to achieve 🤷🏻‍♀️