Teachers who paint their classrooms themselves in school holidays

[Cloggyy]

I’m against.
I can see the young ones think this is a really great, but will soon regret it when they realise that this means budgets are adapted so that everybody is expected to do it. Also when they have preschool school-age children and can’t just go and work in time when they’re supposed to be resting. My main point is that although they feel it’s their holiday to do what they want in, it actually has a knock on effect with other colleagues

What do you all think? am I a moaning curmudgeon? :)

A family member of mine gets roped in to do it all the time, in more than one school.

Shouldn't have to, but does, no budget, so they get roped in. Has done it free for many years, in a few different schools.
Really nice chap, not employed by the school, I should add

I did it over 30 years ago. My 'new' classroom was actually an old lab that'd had stuff ripped off the walls etc in order for it to be used as an ordinary classroom for the coming year (but not then decorated). It was really dark, with barely any natural light. I couldn't bear the thought of working in it, so I, my DH and a kind colleague came in during the holiday to paint it so that it was bearable.

I wouldn't do that now.

Are some of them doing this so they are not at home for six weeks straight?

Teacher tiktok is bloody mental at the moment - I thought teacher pinterest was bad but this is another league of it. There's the stationery haul vids (fair enough - most teachers are stationery addicts and I like a good pen vid), then the whole classroom setups which are absolutely so busy and massively overwhelming to any kid with sensory issues that I do cringe. Then the ones trying to make a career out of being a teacher influencer who have pivoted from being mildly amusing to now just being really annoying.

I can forgive the young and keen ones - but someone is going to do themselves a mischief having set up their phone carefully to film a "get my classroom ready with me" vid and then combining all the balancing on chairs and tables to back display boards that no, we're not meant to do, but no one can be fucked to go find the proper authorised step ladders or kick stool... and making sure they're in camera view with the optimal angle to get it uploaded on social media.

Teachers who do this and buy their own resources are mugs.

Mugs who your kids really benefit from

We painted our common room as sixth formers. In the 90s.

And would struggle without.

Still mugs.

I have no idea why so many teachers are martyrs to the cause. Why on earth would you spend your own money on shit like pens and pencils. Why on Earth would you paint a room that could easily be taken off you at the drop of a hat at any point in the year 🤯

I have to say I agree to some extent with Dmitri

I buy fairly cheap pens because I hate the argument about pens, but I'm not spending hours of my holiday decorating or putting up displays. It's not my classroom. If the head so decides, I could be moved at the drop of a hat (and it has happened).

I hate "loud" classrooms anyway, but my time is much better spent being a subject expert than making pretty borders.

Grumpy old teacher here- sod that! I won’t put the room back in my own time either when it’s been supposedly deep cleaned. If those higher up the food chain aren’t expected to do it then neither do I.

I’d rather my child had a scruffy classroom and a teacher with a shred of sanity left personally.

I’ve only ever seen it on American social media, in a very OTT way (along with a lot of nonsense I’m grateful not to have here about “school supplies”) and I can’t see it happening at my child’s school. They do get volunteers from local businesses, groups of parents etc to do some things like making a sensory garden, but it’s done using proper materials and with proper oversight. I think the HT would go nuts if someone just started slapping dulux around their room! You can’t actually see much wall anyway once the boards are up.

I know our teachers at DS's school have decorated their classrooms this summer. They do each half-term depending on what they are focussing on.
It's lovely to see the classrooms done up but it does make me feel quite sad that teachers are often doing this out of their own pocket and in their own time. I always decorate my office for Christmas and do it during my working day so I get paid for it. I wouldn't do it for free.

If that is expectations around holiday time in your school you're working in the wrong one.

I have never worked in a school where these things cannot get some during term time!

Holidays are for holidaying.

But doing it during term time either means doing it after school (in your own time anyway) or doing it during the time that you're supposed to be teaching (and working with) the kids.

See, the pens thing I also don't get. I always just tell my HoD I need pens, and they provide them. My school knows that the kids are lacking pens etc, so we just get told to give them one. So it is not my pocket paying for them if that is the instruction I am given from above.

My hod buys the worst pens known to man. They're scratchy and horrible to read. I have bad eyesight so the investment in a few pens doesn't bother me.
I'm not buying expensive posters/craft materials/stickers etc or painting and decorating. Not my job.

Absolutely this. We are not decorators, and painting the classroom is not one of our duties. I completely agree with OP; some teachers, including some new teachers, do far too much and end up burnt out by Easter. Summer holidays are not paid, they are our unpaid rest time, we shouldn’t be pressured into these extra duties.

In my early days of teaching, I did paint my classroom one year. It was this horrendous shade of yellow which was tired and worn and I'd already spent a year staring at it. I painted it white and it looked amazing. Please bear in mind, most teachers spend a lot of time in their classrooms, it does become your second home and so you want it to look nice. It wasn't for anyone else but the kids (and my sanity!). It did actually spark a whole school re-paint from the head so every class had a white classroom so the focus could be on displays.

However.. now with a kid, I certainly won't be spending the same amount of time on my classroom but I have still been in for a week to make sure my classroom looks the way I want it. For me, my classroom is a reflection of my teaching and my personality. It also teaches the children to take pride in their environment which reflects in their learning and the way they treat the classroom.

No one should have to do this.
However I remember in the 90's painting our classroom with teachers as a dc. And decorating it. But we had a wonderful community school and everybody knew everybody and was just sort of normal.

I agree OP. It's hard when you're teaching with a young family and suddenly don't have time in the holidays to do things. I also absolutely won't fund things out of my own pocket. But some of the comments about not doing displays I think are coming from secondary teachers. In primaries there are normally quite high expectations written into display policies about what needs to be up and changed. Primary teachers already work longer hours than secondary - I simply don't have the time or energy during term and after school club is held in my classroom every day anyway which makes it even harder. Primary teachers are unlikely to be swapped classrooms though.

Who else has to decorate their work place? Everyone who is self-employed or works from home. Unless they pay someone else to do it.

Teacher TikTok is bananas. All these teacher "set up my classroom with me " videos.. classrooms with themes and furniture they have purchased themselves.
I would never paint my own classroom. That is not my role in the school.

A classroom is a learning environment. It should be calm tidy and reflect what the children are learning (eg maths rules)and show what they have completed(art and project work). It also should be inclusive and sensitive to neuro divergent students who could not cope with pompoms hanging from the ceiling or feckin rainbows on every surface.

Sorry but this is a bit of a bug bear for me especially as it implies teachers with perfectly functional classrooms are not as "good" as the all singing all dancing ones.

Nobody absolutely nobody should have to go into school during holiday time

I'm with you on the painting classrooms thing but this isn't realistic. At least not for Secondary. What about results day? Transition? We also have a day where kids with SEND can come in during the last week to re-familiarise themselves with the school environment, look at their new timetables, see their new form room etc and I think that's really important.

I must admit - I have painted my own classroom once. I inherited a classroom that was bright orange. I hated it so much, I offered to repaint it myself over the summer. The cost of the paint and brushes was reimbursed!
I painted it sky blue. It was before the times of sharing on social media.
Orange? Who signed that off?!