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.

I meant in an ideal world you could prevent the time wasters and vandals leaving the room and let those with genuine a need go to the toilet. It isn't possible to be flexible like this without complaints but as many others have said - ask for a toilet pass.

Boringcookingquestion

Letting them go to the toilet would make my lessons a lot easier. However, these kids have been known to disrupt other lessons, destroy the toilets and even run out either in to the playground or exit the school itself, all causing work for other people.

Or I can keep them in my lesson making my lesson harder and only disrupting learning of 20 - 30 kids with (hopefully) minimal property damage.

I meant in an ideal world you could prevent the time wasters and vandals leaving the room and let those with genuine a need go to the toilet. It isn't possible to be flexible like this without complaints but as many others have said - ask for a toilet pass.

Well of course in an ideal world it wouldn't happen.

There are no toilet passes at her school.

I wasn't complaining about the situation, but telling another poster who was concerned about her own daughter what I'd told mine. That's the solution we've come up with for the situation at my child's school because what I'm not prepared to do is complain that she isn't allowed to go to the toilet because there isn't a solution.

Some of the posters on this thread remind me of my mum thinking she'd solved immigration policy when she said the government "just shouldn't let in anyone who wants to harm people".

I’ll never go back to teaching, it messed with my mental health and I still suffer with anxiety and depression 5 years after leaving. And I taught in pretty nice schools compared to some!
I worry about DC starting secondary school and whether or not they will be taught by teachers with the right specialism or just an endless stream of supplies. We can’t afford private school. It’s very worrying.

I am a teacher and head of Science. Last year, I very nearly left teaching altogether after 11 years. The school I was in was constantly short staffed, I spent day after day organising cover, shuffling timetables to try to give every class at least some lessons with a permanent teacher. I took on extra lessons to try to cover the shortfall in my department.

I had no support from my line manager with anything at all. In 7 months, she met with me twice!

Ridiculous demands from those above me to do all sorts of random extra jobs and ridiculous paperwork. Plus I had, on a typical day, 80 emails a day to try to wade through - most of which were people wanting us to do something else.

Behaviour across the school was poor so as HoDs, we were also on duty before school/break/lunch/after school every single day.

Three after school meetings of 2 hours + a week as well.

In between all of the above, I was teaching a heavy timetable, trying to guide my team and ultimately responsible for the GCSE and A-level outcomes of my department.

How I didn't have a breakdown, I will never know.

I changed school in September and I am far happier- sensible workload and very well supported by the head and deputy. I feel like I actually have time to focus on teaching and curriculum leadership now! Sadly, schools like mine are few and far between.

I'm not sure some people realise just how challenging things are in schools at the moment. There is so much to deal with beyond actual teaching and if the systems aren't in place to support staff, it's horrendous. I have seen so many good teachers leave and it's sad 😔

Surely one can tell who the bad people are by just looking at them?

I think that was the point.

Well really its not that hard to spot a wrong un.

The poster who mentioned this was in relation to immigrants (her mother said it) not school kids. Its not very practical to stand at the Border spotting wrong 'uns.

Of course it is. What else are border force doing?

The toilet thing does my head in. I had a class of 15-16 year olds (y11 - GCSE). Came in from lunch 3 boys all asked to use the toilet. I said no as they had had lunch but apparently they were in detention at lunch so I let them go , separately with our pass system. (Toilets are also monitored by staff). One of them took 15 minutes, 2 others 5 each , so that is 3 disruptions in the first 25 minutes. 2 of the same boys then tried to go between the next 2 lessons and again in their next lesson (happened to be on the corridor to see it.) These are not the only ones doing this , meeting friends on the corridor, vaping, generally not learning. Parents response - if he needs the toilet he needs the toilet. I have advised them to seek a GP appointment...

This too. We have had so many positions that we can't fill. No applicants for many of the positions. Supply teachers aren't generally qualified teachers around by us any more, they are cover supervisors. This is fine for day to day cover but when we have more than 20 staff off for various reasons quite often kids won't see a qualified teacher all day.

Yes it's on its knees.
I've been teaching 11 years and I'm looking for a way out this year. I'm fed up.

When it comes to various passes, including early movement and toilet passes, people who don't teach vastly underestimate the amount of disruption caused to lessons.

I had a lesson yesterday where my teaching was interrupted about a dozen times for different reasons.
A few late arrivals. Two toilet passes. Two knocks on my door for letters to be handed to students I happened to teach at the time. One child being sent for to get vaccinated. Two children being sent for to go to extra tuition. A student with an early movement pass. A safeguarding officer needing a student. An email with an urgent work request for a student who had been put into isolation.

It was honestly impossible to teach the lesson properly. Every time the students were settled there was another knock on the door. It seemed that every time students were being set off to work silently and independently, someone else interrupted this. How the kids got anything of value out of the lesson, I don't know. They did the work but it wasn't to my standard.

This is not unusual, especially in a school where (as another poster suggested above) parents just need to ring up for a toilet/ movement/ time out pass rather than actual medical evidence being provided.

@ThrallsWife it's so frustrating isn't it 😫 my last school was like this and I found it quite bizarre. People would just come in and interrupt the lesson, often for things that could wait e.g. a note/letter for a pupil - could have been given in form time!

Worst was other staff, including SLT, who would wander in to hand me a piece of paper that needed a signature (I had an office - why not just leave it on my desk), tell me about something that had occurred in a lesson being taken by a supply - fine letting me know but why when I am teaching?

Thankfully, at my new school, this doesn't seem to be as big a problem. There is the odd toilet pass but they are given out for genuine need. Wherever possible, if parents need to collect or drop off during the day, they are asked to either come at break/lunch or lesson changeover- in fairness, most are brilliant and do this.

As teachers, SLT included, we are very careful not to interrupt each others lessons. Only if it is absolutely urgent would we disturb a lesson.

I've been teaching for well over a decade. I am was a good teacher. Consistently good/outstanding. The last few years, especially post covid, have destroyed me. I regularly spend weekends in bed in tears. I'm on antidepressants and having counselling. Teaching has made me suicidal. I keep going because I know I'm good at it and I did love it.

My top 4 reasons it has become a shitshow in recent years:
Lack of support for SEN (70% of my current class of 34)
Behaviour
Parents defending shitty behaviour
Parents complaining about literally anything that makes their child feel they are not the only important person in existence

Mum?

Your mum is very wise.

She’s actually completely unhinged and an alcoholic but OK.

@Chickenly this is it in a nutshell.

parents with experience of their dearly beloved 1 or 2 children, seem to think they know more and can do a better job than those having experience of 1000s of children 🤷🏻‍♀️

i am leaving this year after 25 years. Sunak can whistle!

As a Teaching Assistant in a secondary school I often move with the same classes between English, Maths, Science lessons etc throughout the day. And observe the same pupils asking to go to the toilet in every lesson 🙄

I only survived 4 years, it was so hard. Mentally and physically.