Teaching

[Sallydimebar]

Am I being unreasonable to think teaching is on its knees . It’s a job soon enough no-one will want .
Was having a conversation with SIl , her best friend has decided to quit this year she’s had enough . Teachers are leaving Ds secondary school in doves it seems .
There seems to be a endless stream of supply teachers and just heard his favourite English teacher is leaving a Easter .

Seen today some parents protesting outside a school as it was stopping pupils using toilets during lesson time , it’s a story I see time & time again esp about toilet use and i just have to ask do parents know that kids meet up in toilets to vape, Snapchat ect so unfortunately can’t have a endless pass on toilet use as classes would be half empty and seniors would just be going round all day getting them back to lessons .

The point I’m making is being a teacher in today’s society is a really tough job and parents just don’t give enough support in getting behind Childs school . I would love those 50 parents there today to maybe go and spend a day in the school and see why toilet passes are needed and how hard it is at best of times to engage a class of 30 12-14 yr olds or 15/16 yr olds .

Listening to Sil friend who’s a really good teacher feel so deflated and unhappy is sad .
Also the teacher who committed suicide this week the day before she was due in court for catching pupils hair while confiscating phone, leaving a husband and 2 daughters devastated as well as many colleges.

Rightio then.

If they can't provide basic human rights. Schools often do more harm than good, lots of people don't even realise

I do hope you home school.

Very true.
I have bladder issues. Teacher for more than 30years.
Medical professionals have told me bladder problems are very common in teachers (and nurses) as we can't go to the toilet when we need to so we hold on too long and / or restrict our fluid intake. It's inhumane.

Denying access to the toilets violates their human rights.

Teachers are human too. Oddly enough, we manage to get through lessons without going to the toilet (including those of us with health issues and very heavy periods). Perhaps you're right. Schools are inhumane and they should all be shut down. Distance learning and home schooling are clearly the way forward. Then everyone can go to the toilet whenever they want.

Funnily enough though, distance learning didn't seem to be very popular and parents were desperate to get their children back into these schools that 'do more harm than good'.

Our school focusses on student welfare

Oh and fwiw I was definitely more capable of waiting to go to the loo as a 14yo girl than I was as either a pregnant 35yo or than I am as a perimemopausal 51yo. Little children need to be able to go when they want. Older kids with a bladder problem or period problems need to be issued with a toilet pass.

The other issue is that kids don't want to waste their break time going to the toilet, so they deliberately wait (because they can!) until lesson time.

Our school focusses on student welfare

So do all of the many schools I've worked at. Schools have to focus on student welfare. And a lot of other things. Sometimes focussing on a particular aspect of what one or some students consider beneficial to their welfare will be detrimental to the welfare and education of other students.

Which one? Which human right is violated by refusing access to a toilet for up to one hour with prior notice of doing so except in emergency circumstances or where a student has relevant exceptional needs? I’ll wait.

Something else I have noticed is that parents often like their children being taught by young, recently qualified teachers

Yep. In the mistaken belief that young = energetic, full of new ideas, keen, enthusiastic. These are qualities all teachers are able to bring to the teaching table. What young teachers don't bring is experience, understanding, empathy, and an understanding of the complexities of life. It takes time to be well-rounded with an eye on the ever-changing bigger picture.

As a seasoned examiner, I can say with some certainty that the lack of curriculum experience is showing more and more each year - poor interpretation of exam specs and in some cases outright not understanding meaning marks are lost. Again, experience is essential in getting candidates to write what examiners need to see to award marks.

We are now in a position where experience, guidance and support is lacking in most schools reliant on new teachers to fill the classrooms. I am aware of situations where RQTs are leading departments.

Denying access to the toilets violates their human rights

That also goes for teachers then, right? So I can leave the classroom to go to the loo? In which case, if anything happens to your child happenscwhilst the class is unsupervised you'll accept that as unlucky? Or is it only children who have human rights?

Actually distant learning really worked for my Dd. Not my DS though. She excelled cause she wasn’t being bullied. Story for another day.

Sorry wanted to add don’t think it’s right teachers can’t go. My new teacher friend said it’s not uncommon for training teachers to get recurring UTIs😱

I trained myself not to need the toilet during lessons, mostly due to teaching in classrooms remote from the main building, with no facilities.
At the end of my career my DH would ask me ( usually around 6pm) if I’d had a wee since I left home in the morning. If not he’d suggest I went!😂
I can fly half way round the world on one wee!
Fortunately, I have no health issues.

Teachers should be managing the curriculum, By all means get someone trained to manage the money and expenditure side of it.

But keep politicians and the bloody educational "experts" that have never taught in an actual school (not SEND but also the book writing money makers) out of the system.
And I have no issues with super heads and their teams being parachuted in to help in schools where its needed.

But education needs to be left allow long enough to find out if the changes actually work, and that in some cases is 11 years.

But what about the other children that just get up and walk out 'because she did it and didn't get told off'. It should be possible to be flexible but toilets get vandalised during lesson time so then nobody can use them.

I'm saying she will get told off.

I don't understand the rest of your post. It isn't possible to be flexible.

All this about toilets is the exact reason do supply.

all the way up to the results dropping in August then its the teacher's fault.

There was a 25% drop in the number of applicants to undergraduate teacher training courses for courses starting in 2023 compared to 2022.

@FrippEnos I agree.

Sorry wanted to add don’t think it’s right teachers can’t go.

Well the alternative is that teachers leave their class unattended while they go to the toilet. We aren't allowed to do that. With some classes that would be a very bad idea indeed.

Actually distant learning really worked for my Dd.

Oh for both my dc too. They loved it. They got through the work in triple fast time because of not having to go at the pace of everyone else and because there were no students disrupting learning. But most parents didn't like it, for obvious reasons.

Which one? Which human right is violated by refusing access to a toilet for up to one hour with prior notice of doing so except in emergency circumstances or where a student has relevant exceptional needs? I’ll wait.

I think you'll be waiting a while!

YANBU in general. I know a few teachers who have left in recent years because conditions and expectations are awful.

YABU about toilets though. I still remember the panic of flooding on my period and not being allowed to go to the toilet. Young girls who are still getting used to periods shouldn’t be prevented from going to the bathroom… even if it makes teachers lives more difficult.

Young girls who are still getting used to periods shouldn’t be prevented from going to the bathroom… even if it makes teachers lives more difficult.

It's not just about making teachers' lives more difficult though. It's also about the behaviour that goes on when students are allowed out of lessons. Behaviour that has an impact on other students, some of them vulnerable.

It doesn't make my life difficult. It's probably easier letting them go than not. So they go and the bad/sad/bored ones will vandalise them and then the kid who's bursting or flooding isn't able to use them anyway as there's water all over the floor or the pans are blocked

Young girls who are still getting used to periods shouldn’t be prevented from going to the bathroom

Toilet pass.

Sorted.

Hi singleandproud,
Can I ask what your new role is? Desperate to leave supply teaching but need something with flexibility!