Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think it's not normal for over 35% of teachers to have cried at work this term?

597 replies

Postapocalypticcowgirl · 21/10/2022 18:27

Whenever we talk about teacher working conditions, teacher strikes etc on here people always point out that lots of others have really stressful jobs. But this can't be normal in any job, surely? It's not even people who've cried about work- just people who've cried at work.

I think this is really indicative of the stress a lot of teachers are under, and the real reason a strike is on the cards. But it's hard to strike about workload/stress/behaviour/parental and SLT expectations- whereas striking over pay is legally straightforward.

To think it's not normal for over 35% of teachers to have cried at work this term?
OP posts:
herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:17

@Pumperthepumper "Why don’t you do it and get the holidays then?"

Because teaching isn't for me. Like I said in my OP, it attracts a type. I'm not that type. It does attract people who struggle with stresses that other professions manage with far less time off though. 🤷🏼‍♀️

alittlelifex · 21/10/2022 23:19

Apparently you’re the type to post shitty comments to strangers at 11pm on a Friday night.

An enviable life!

I didn’t go into a job where I have to work 100 hours a week because fuck that. Honestly I have a decent work life balance. Life is far too short to work that amount.

Shockmeafter · 21/10/2022 23:20

I think a lot of teachers go into straight from uni and they don’t have resilience that being a bit older does. I have a LOT of teacher friends and their job really doesn’t sound any harder than those of us who have gone into the private sector but there’s a bit of a culture of ‘poor teacher’ in society that makes them feel shitty.

KalvinPhillipsBoots · 21/10/2022 23:20

Teachers need to toughen up ffs, perhaps you need a career change if it is getting to you this much.

Pumperthepumper · 21/10/2022 23:21

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:17

@Pumperthepumper "Why don’t you do it and get the holidays then?"

Because teaching isn't for me. Like I said in my OP, it attracts a type. I'm not that type. It does attract people who struggle with stresses that other professions manage with far less time off though. 🤷🏼‍♀️

But think what you could do with that time off! Think how safe you’d be with the pension! Obviously you’d need further qualifications but there’s literally zero downside. You’d love it!

Icecreamandapplepie · 21/10/2022 23:21

I was a year six teacher for 13 years.

It's like trying to do a full time job on top of a full time job.

Kids go home at 3.15pm, then you may have 90 sets of books to mark, a meeting to go to that lasts 1-2 hours, data to analyse, parents to talk to, displays to put up, lessons to prep for the next day, letters to write for school trips, an after school class to take, lesson onservations to prepare for, or go in to receive feedback, sen wanting a meetig about little jonny etc etc. The school closes at 6.

I didn't cry at school because basically I ran everwhere, and did my marking while eating lunch, and refused to take work home.

Those who marked until 1am, stressed about dotting every i, had breakdowns or left.

The money is only slightly higher than minimum wage when you work the hours out.

And you get shat on. It's like the bowels of Westminster with those higher up the ranks than yourself ready to claim any success as theirs.

I left when I had kids as I wasn't prepared to put my kids behind that load of crap.

Shame, because the kids were a joy.

Sherrystrull · 21/10/2022 23:21

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:17

@Pumperthepumper "Why don’t you do it and get the holidays then?"

Because teaching isn't for me. Like I said in my OP, it attracts a type. I'm not that type. It does attract people who struggle with stresses that other professions manage with far less time off though. 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think teaching does attract a type. You couldn't hack it. You clearly have no empathy or compassion for others.

Bobbybobbins · 21/10/2022 23:23

Now all the trolls are piling on. @alittlelifex you are right!

Itstarts · 21/10/2022 23:23

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:17

@Pumperthepumper "Why don’t you do it and get the holidays then?"

Because teaching isn't for me. Like I said in my OP, it attracts a type. I'm not that type. It does attract people who struggle with stresses that other professions manage with far less time off though. 🤷🏼‍♀️

Ha ha!

If you can't cope with stress and don't have a thick skin, you don't even make it through ITT! There is no way anyone can pass ITT or at least ECT without being resilient to stress.

Icecreamandapplepie · 21/10/2022 23:24

@herefortheparty

Get on with it then! Enjoy your lack of holidays and feel good that you weren't the right type of person for teaching...

Good job there are some prepared to stick it, hey?

alittlelifex · 21/10/2022 23:24

Bobbybobbins · 21/10/2022 23:23

Now all the trolls are piling on. @alittlelifex you are right!

Exactly. Just ignore it. I don’t need this right before my luxurious half term holiday!

Shockmeafter · 21/10/2022 23:28

i didn't cry at school because basically I ran everwhere, and did my marking while eating lunch, and refused to take work home

so the stress was marking whilst eating lunch and going home at 5? Office life can be a lot tougher than this.

my teacher friends that are older - mid 40s - genuinely don’t find the job that hard. They don’t work particularly late or weekends and say they love the job. Of course it’s busy and sometimes stressful but most jobs are sometimes. I just think it’s hard for a 22-23 year old to hack that sometimes, understandably.

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:30

@Sherrystrull "You clearly have no empathy or compassion for others."

Oh I have plenty of compassion and empathy - I also like to reflect upon the stresses and strains experienced by nurses, doctors, social workers and care workers (as referenced in my OP) - who do far more hours and arguably experience more distressing matters than teachers do. There never seems to be the same culture of 'I work so hard and I'm so stressed' from them.

Remember the thread is about crying at work. It's my opinion that teachers are prone to do so.

HereBeFuckery · 21/10/2022 23:31

@Pumperthepumper

"I’d say you need to grow a thicker skin then. It’s unrealistic to expect people to fawn over any profession. And it makes absolutely no difference to your job anyway."

Asking people not to tell lies and perpetuate lies about our working patterns during Covid lockdowns is not the same thing as asking people to fawn over us.

Teachers (most) worked during lockdown. The teachers who worked (again, most of us), worked harder than we normally do, for no extra money. We delivered lessons to classes split between some kids in our classrooms and some online, at the same time, while wearing masks, while keeping a 2m distance from said children and keeping them apart from one another, while also listening to children sob about dead friends and relations, whilst also phoning home every two or three days for multiple students to check their well-being, while organising and delivering food parcels to families in need while having to show evidence of good teaching and sufficient progress, all the while being told we were lazy bastards. Not liking that is NOT THE SAME THING as asking people to throw us a ticker-tape parade.

We now have classes of students where some will have missed two full years of school, and some will have worked through all the home learning set and even be ahead. We are now expected to bring all those students up to the same standard. I defy you to teach a y11 class where 30% of the class have not read a single word of a set text (because it was set as home learning during lockdown) while simultaneously challenging and extending students who not only know the entire text, have memorised quotes, who understand the context, who are now engaged in nuanced evaluation of this text using a feminist reading. If you are up for it, there's a million open vacancies. Go for it.

Itstarts · 21/10/2022 23:32

Shockmeafter · 21/10/2022 23:28

i didn't cry at school because basically I ran everwhere, and did my marking while eating lunch, and refused to take work home

so the stress was marking whilst eating lunch and going home at 5? Office life can be a lot tougher than this.

my teacher friends that are older - mid 40s - genuinely don’t find the job that hard. They don’t work particularly late or weekends and say they love the job. Of course it’s busy and sometimes stressful but most jobs are sometimes. I just think it’s hard for a 22-23 year old to hack that sometimes, understandably.

It's probably more that there are very few decent schools left that provide a decent work/life balance and I'd assume your friends in their mid-40s have found and settled in one of these rarities.

Big chain academies the only staff over 30 are SLT.

Florenz · 21/10/2022 23:32

I do think teachers moan too much. They might not like the job but the pay, holidays and pension is too good for them to quit. I can't think of any other job where so many people doing it hate it so much. If teachers put their money where their mouth is and resigned en masse, moved to other professions and didn't go back, pay and conditions for teachers would have to increase.

Pumperthepumper · 21/10/2022 23:33

@HereBeFuckery I’m a teacher.

Itstarts · 21/10/2022 23:34

Florenz · 21/10/2022 23:32

I do think teachers moan too much. They might not like the job but the pay, holidays and pension is too good for them to quit. I can't think of any other job where so many people doing it hate it so much. If teachers put their money where their mouth is and resigned en masse, moved to other professions and didn't go back, pay and conditions for teachers would have to increase.

Ummmm.....

Sherrystrull · 21/10/2022 23:34

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:30

@Sherrystrull "You clearly have no empathy or compassion for others."

Oh I have plenty of compassion and empathy - I also like to reflect upon the stresses and strains experienced by nurses, doctors, social workers and care workers (as referenced in my OP) - who do far more hours and arguably experience more distressing matters than teachers do. There never seems to be the same culture of 'I work so hard and I'm so stressed' from them.

Remember the thread is about crying at work. It's my opinion that teachers are prone to do so.

Ah I see. You have compassion for others but not for teachers. Lovely.

The op was solely about teachers crying at work so I'm not sure why you're talking about other professions anyway.

Pumperthepumper · 21/10/2022 23:34

Florenz · 21/10/2022 23:32

I do think teachers moan too much. They might not like the job but the pay, holidays and pension is too good for them to quit. I can't think of any other job where so many people doing it hate it so much. If teachers put their money where their mouth is and resigned en masse, moved to other professions and didn't go back, pay and conditions for teachers would have to increase.

And I agree with this. It’s why I hope the strike goes ahead. Education needs reformed and it won’t happen with people crying at their desk.

Hariborrrrr · 21/10/2022 23:42

Why do people insist on coming on threads like this to insist they have it worse?! Can we not just allow teachers to have a discussion as to how shit it is?
It is not a race to the bottom!!
I don't want the people educating my children to be crying in the stationary cupboard between lessons, or worse during a lesson (which actually happened at my daughters school last week and the school is considered a 'nice' school)
It is not ok!
This is about the people paid to educate our children!
I am not a teacher, I'm a nurse and have cried in the store room 😬 but it's not a competition to see which profession cries more or who has it worse.

ChocFrog · 21/10/2022 23:43

38% have cried at work in the last few weeks? That is messed up. 😭

And I’ve had some shitty jobs in the past but I have never cried at work.

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:43

@Hariborrrrr
Perspective?

Hariborrrrr · 21/10/2022 23:45

herefortheparty · 21/10/2022 23:43

@Hariborrrrr
Perspective?

??

VerinMathwin · 21/10/2022 23:45

HereBeFuckery · 21/10/2022 23:31

@Pumperthepumper

"I’d say you need to grow a thicker skin then. It’s unrealistic to expect people to fawn over any profession. And it makes absolutely no difference to your job anyway."

Asking people not to tell lies and perpetuate lies about our working patterns during Covid lockdowns is not the same thing as asking people to fawn over us.

Teachers (most) worked during lockdown. The teachers who worked (again, most of us), worked harder than we normally do, for no extra money. We delivered lessons to classes split between some kids in our classrooms and some online, at the same time, while wearing masks, while keeping a 2m distance from said children and keeping them apart from one another, while also listening to children sob about dead friends and relations, whilst also phoning home every two or three days for multiple students to check their well-being, while organising and delivering food parcels to families in need while having to show evidence of good teaching and sufficient progress, all the while being told we were lazy bastards. Not liking that is NOT THE SAME THING as asking people to throw us a ticker-tape parade.

We now have classes of students where some will have missed two full years of school, and some will have worked through all the home learning set and even be ahead. We are now expected to bring all those students up to the same standard. I defy you to teach a y11 class where 30% of the class have not read a single word of a set text (because it was set as home learning during lockdown) while simultaneously challenging and extending students who not only know the entire text, have memorised quotes, who understand the context, who are now engaged in nuanced evaluation of this text using a feminist reading. If you are up for it, there's a million open vacancies. Go for it.

Sobbing about dead friends? There were about a dozen deaths from COVID in school age children across the whole of the UK. You must have had a very unfortunate class.