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? :)

I have never known anyone paint their classroom - if painted at all, it is done in the holidays on a rolling programme.

Getting classrooms ready for a class of primary children - labels, equipment, displays - generally has to be done once the previous class had left (because until then, the existing 32 children need their existing books and labels and equipment) and obviously must be done before the new class arrives. There are therefore only a few options;

• Stay late on the last couple of days of term


• Stay VERY late on Inset days before the term starts


• Do it during the holiday

Most teachers do the 3rd.

A lot of parents have issues with their children picking up their own litter.

God knows what they would do if schools got their children to paint the classrooms.

We never painted ours, but the first week before school actually started and the kids came back..we had to go in and do all displays on the walls etc, have everything ready. Do teachers still do this?

I did not go in at all this holiday. I sorted my room in the last couple of weeks of term by staying later and the classroom displays will be a reflection of the children’s work when they start. I have known teachers to paint classrooms but this is usually a group effort to save money so that we can buy resources instead of spending an extortionate amount on a painter.

I used to be the kids of teacher that did this. Now I see how it sets a ridiculous precedent. Those people who work without pay are making it harder for the rest of us to have a reasonable work-life balance. They get held up as going 'above and beyond' because 'they care about the children'. I am an incredibly hard worker still but I try to draw the line where it becomes unreasonable (still sometimes fail)... not just for myself and my family, but because the profession as a whole needs this. I totally hear you.

God knows what they would do if schools got their children to paint the classrooms

I did when I was a sixth former. Got paid though. £6 an hour. Thought I was rolling in it! My parents were chuffed to bits for me... but yep the world has changed.

I organised for a group of volunteers from my old workplace to paint classrooms at my DD's school

I've done it once but I wouldn't do it again for the reasons you say. I do think teachers who routinely work for free are making life harder for others and contributing to the general decay but we all do it because we know otherwise the kids suffer.

There simply aren't enough qualified teachers in this country. It's not remotely money saving to have us doing jobs others can do around school because it means things only we can do are done poorly or not at all.

Former Home Ec teacher. I once did a one year maternity contract and spent 6 days of the summer holiday giving the room a deep clean. It was in the days when there was no technician help and I just couldn’t face the dirty cookers and mucky cupboards. Yes, the cleaners did the floors but that’s it. In my past teachers would get the pupils to have a bit of the clean during the
last week of school but nowadays there is no time for that, and teaching time is too pressured.
I cleaned all the 8 cookers and cupboards, inside and out. You could tell how neglected it was by the stash of decades old magazines in the bookcase. It may seem crazy but it made my life so much easier later on. I could ensure that as everything was clean and organised when I started the job, that I could maintain a clean and hygienic environment for every lesson and no one could complain that it was dirty before they started the lesson.

Hate to say it but I every case these have been women. I've never seen a male teacher do this.

I mentioned I've done it and I'm male. I think it's probably true that men are a bit more assertive on average but in my experience unreasonable expectations are the norm and most staff go along with them, regardless of sex.

Totally agree, there is a real work-load issue in schools and a real expectation that you will give your life for the job. I have had to put some firmer boundaries in place since having children - it has been really tricky to do. As long as there are martyrs working in schools, it will always be difficult to change the teaching environment and improve the retention issue. These martyrs always burn out eventually.

Did they pay for the paint as well?

I'm the School Business Manager and I assure you that the absolute last thing I want is a bunch of Tik Tokers standing on chairs amateur painting, when I want a professional job. I also don't want them leaving shit about after an expensive deep clean that requires additional cleaning. Nor do I want to have to spend money painting over a lairy colour wall.

Most of our teachers have been in for a day getting their classrooms organised for Day 1. Consensus seems to be that that's to ensure Day 1 is dedicated to teaching and learning rather than labelling trays, pegs and such. If they choose not to that's their call, it's not directed, they will have a half day of the Inset day to prep.

Displays are to demonstrate work done as part of the curriculum no? So if the curriculum hadn't been taught yet what on Earth can you put up in the summer holiday.

I also understand from my SL colleagues that classroom displays are moving away from the crazy wall displays and washing lines of work to a calmer learning environment that benefits kids with sensory issues. Thus this summer our classrooms have all been pared right back to reduce clutter and visual noise.

Oooh I know, why don’t the people who think putting fancy displays up in the holidays actually read the evidence that shows that those same displays actually do little to enhance pupil’s learning. Or if they believe they’re important, give staff time to change the displays in their directed time before the end of the school year? No need for display pixies then.

Displays are to demonstrate work done as part of the curriculum no? So if the curriculum hadn't been taught yet what on Earth can you put up in the summer holiday.

I also understand from my SL colleagues that classroom displays are moving away from the crazy wall displays and washing lines of work to a calmer learning environment that benefits kids with sensory issues. Thus this summer our classrooms have all been pared right back to reduce clutter and visual noise.

You're right in your second point here but that's also why your first point is no longer the case. Displays that are used just for 'displaying' children's work have little value educationally. That's why they are more about key vocabulary, worked examples, essential concepts for learning etc. which are things that can be done ahead of time. Backing paper, borders, covers etc. will also need doing. All of this could be done when the kids are in but it means either intentionally ignoring your class when you should be actively teaching them or staying later after school to do it.

I’m male. I did this sort of thing pre-retirement.

I take one posters point - taking work from decorators. Fair point but…….. If I/others/my Head didn’t do this it wouldn’t have got done.

In our department - technology - we had no technician. We all had end or year clear outs of one sort or another. Some packed up teaching a few days before the end and used pupils to help tidy up. Others used days in the holidays to do this. At the time my DW wasn’t a teacher and it was pre our own children so I had the time.

Klaxon Alert! - office workers everywhere now required to paint their workspaces in their own time and Painters Unions now up in Arms.

Obviously I just made that up - for a start most Commercial Painters are self-employed and don't belong to a Worker's Union.

So some teachers in random places have chosen to paint their classrooms in their own time and posted it online. Whatever rocks their boat, most teachers spend their 'off-duty' time in other ways.

Jesus. There's no way in hell I would go in during my holidays to paint a classroom and anyone expecting it could fewk off.

Are you a teacher @Cloggyy ?

Maybe let people use their time and money as they want and don’t judge. I was allowed to paint my room so I did when teaching and it made me happy. Why do you get to dictate?

The voice of reason!
Fed up of the whingefest of people on here unwilling to go above and beyond. "Jobs worths".

“The voice of reason!
Fed up of the whingefest of people on here unwilling to go above and beyond. "Jobs worths".”

How ironic. Calling for people to go ‘above and beyond’ which implies unpaid overtime for a profession already suffering from the poorest well-being levels and a retention crisis and you think that’s the voice of reason. You clearly have no respect for the teaching profession and quality of education.

I totally agree but at the same time I'm not given any time specifically to sort out my room. Imo it should be built into directed time. I don't mean painting per se, that should be the estate team, but general sorting / displays etc.

Most primary teachers do go in for a day or two in the summer to sort their classroom out (or in all the schools I’ve worked in). A splash of colour probably doesn’t take longer than putting a display up, which so many teachers do.

the reasons in the op