Teacher gifts - ungrateful shit!

[Hufflemuff]

More of a rant than a question to be fair!

I was listening to Heart radio this morning and they had a teacher on called "Mc Grammer" (a rapping teacher - cringe) who was discussing teacher gifts and "what not to buy"...

He said one of the worse gifts he ever got from a student was a Rock - because the pupil said "he rocked" (aww) and some Doritos because that was the pupils favourite crisps (bless). He also said mugs were mostly an unwanted present "there's only so many cups of tea you can drink" apparently.

He said in the past he's gotten an Arsenal shirt, Nando's gift sets and gift cards... He said you should get to know the teacher to find out what they like and buy them something personal to them.

AIBU to be totally pissed off by this mans arrogance. It was totally tone deaf during the middle of a cost of living crisis to suggest parents buy gift cards (the minimum of which is usually £10) and other expensive presents in order for it to be considered a worthwhile gift. The fact he poo-pooed that boys rock as "one of the worse" gifts, which admittedly you wouldn't put on your mantel piece but the sentiment was there. He didn't consider that the boys parents might not have the money to buy a 'real' gift but he still wanted to give him something.

Ah!!! I was so very cross. It was the expectation to get something as a certainty and even then, he might not have been satisfied with it.

I have teachers in the family and they are always happy to get anything at all, no matter what it is. I think he was a really bad representation of all those caring teachers and Heart did the profession a real disservice by having him on.

Rant over! Gah!

Me too, I doubt the teachers want any of this rubbish so just save your money.

I’m a teacher at secondary so don’t get as many gifts but I appreciate all of them (especially wine!). I agree that the cards are best though. I was sorting through some papers the other day and found a card from a student I taught for GSCE and A level and she wrote such lovely things. I will keep it forever. I too think the rock example is lovely! I will get dd to make a card/ picture for her reception teacher this weekend!

hes lucky to get anything we didnt it was thanks miss cya

When did buying gifts for teachers become a thing anyway? We never did. Generally buy a bottle of wine or chocolates as DS feels he needs to deliver something, I just find the whole notion bizarre tbh. There’s not many jobs where there’s an expectation of gift giving

I cannot imagine him as a teacher- I've been one for 25 years and the BEST present is a properly heartfelt card with a lovely message in- i still have some form the start of my career
Every colleague I have ever had has said the same- also a lovely email with the head copied in is cool (used to be parent letters)

Just don't buy your teacher any tat like this - seriously. How many walls do parents think teachers have? And do they think they really want this on their wall?

Wine. Nice candle. Chocs. Blu tack. Glue sticks. All amazing.

The best - a card actually written in by the child.

I have kept one teacher mug I received though. Lovely child. He'd handwritten on the mug - 'Your the best techer'

Clearly I'm not!

(think that rapper guy was just tongue in cheek though?)

there's not many jobs where a person can have so much influence on your child, as a primary teacher or nursery worker.

The problem is that there are so many teachers! When I was in school we had one class teacher. My son is in a private nursery in the morning (6 members of staff) and pre school in the afternoon (5 nursery teachers). That's 11 to buy for in total! Hence, the quality of gifts will definitely suffer!

I heard this on the school run this morning with my 9 year old.
We both went "Awwww" when the teacher said a child gave him a rock because he rocked.

Tub of sweets/tin of biscuits to share is the answer here

I work in FE and have had some really random gifts over the years including a coffin plaque with in loving memory and 5 of the lads names for me to put on the wall where they sat, a radiator with their names on it and football shirt with a ridiculous acronym we used to revise a topic on the back 😂 have I got any use for the items? No but I kept every one along with all the cards because I genuinely appreciate every thanks I get, even though a simple thank you at the end of year is more than enough. There shouldn’t be any pressure to buy gifts for teachers.

I saw these in Aldi at the weekend

https://www.aldi.co.uk/thank-you-teacher-love-hearts-toy/p/727035737664500

My immediate thought is some poor teachers are going to end up with multiples and multiple parents are going to waste a fiver on it.

Seriously, everyone just stop doing it! It's ridiculous and too much pressure.

People fretting about how much they can afford to give and pressure from other parents with more money. It's competitive and damaging. If the kids want to give something, they can make it or draw a picture.

I think schools should take control and stop it. No money gifts and absolute max value £5 for a token present.Even that's £150 per class and then you have the TA too.

It's lunacy.

I thought everybody was doing class gifts? Ours is usually an Amazon/John Lewis gift card + a card signed by all pupils. Plus some flowers.

Actually £5 is still too much x30 and still creates an expectation.

Yes this is what I did at Xmas, a tub of chocolates for each nursery and a card for all the staff thanking them and wishing them a Merry Christmas. It's a shame though because I do appreciate his teachers and would like to get them a nice gift but there are just far too many to buy for!

My mother taught from mid 60s to end 90s and she got gifts.

Ex teacher here. I still treasure and use a lovely homemade bookmark given to me in the 90s by one of my Reception pupils.

I don’t understand why people do this? I don’t buy teachers gifts and I don’t feel that I need to, my daughter wanted to buy something for her teacher when she left school so I gave her a budget and she picked the gift herself otherwise what’s the point?

This,
my mum and dad were teachers in late 1960s to 1990s. I remember my mum occasionally getting a card from a grateful pupil or parent. I remember her being gifted something very occasionally by, I guess, pupils she’d had an impact from . I don’t remember my dad ever being given anything🤷🏼‍♀️🤣. As pupils in 1960-1980s none of us siblings ever took presents to teachers, nor did my mates. I got my private maths tutor a very big bunch of flowers for helping me pass on A grade maths A level because she as bloody brilliant .

I started to see this happening when my own kids started primary school in small amounts- late 1990-early 2000, but it was still usual and certainly not something we mums at school run discussed

this has grown and grown, in line with the growth of Halloween, decorations at Easter, Xmas eve boxes, and is amount nothing more than commercialisation of increasing numbers of “events” by card/gift companies. They need to drive up sales as their old traditional peak of Xmas is not enough to keep share holders happy - they need to keep showing growth. Particularly in USA, where many of these trends start. The only way to “grow” your business in gifting/cards is either to take market share from someone else (limited in this area) or invent new festivals and events that public should buy stuff for- then market unmercilessly to make people feel bad that they don’t buy this shit on these occasional

we are being taken as mugs- excuse the pun 🤷🏼‍♀️🙄🤣

That teacher doesn't represent most teachers! I've been teaching 10 years now and I still have every single card and note from students, presents are lovely but not needed. Even if you can't afford a card, a piece of paper with a handwritten note from a student honestly means so much. Even then this is not expected.

This sort of opinion (by the teacher on the radio) just riles people up about teachers, we really don't need that at the moment when trying to get better conditions for schools students and staff

Still unusual, not usual

A few years ago, I met a guy via online dating and went on a date with him. He was a primary school teacher and seemed really sweet. After a few drinks, he went on a rant about getting 30 'Worlds best teacher' mugs and a load of cuddly toys every year. He said he took great delight in throwing each one out of his car window on the way home.

Maybe he thought he was being funny. I just thought he was a twat and declined a 2nd date.

When I was young we rarely gave gifts to teachers and my DM who was a teacher sometimes got gifts and sometimes not.

I hate to say but this man comes across as entitled and detailing to ask what he’d like is appalling!

Actually in my private convent school one year we got our form teacher who was Anglo Indian a special glitzy sari with gold thread in it, we all contributed but the teacher was a bit embarrassed when we gave it to her and said it was too much as it wasn’t cheap! I did get the feeling one of the pupils was trying to show how much money they had and what they could afford and was thinking less of the teacher, who would’ve preferred if anything a box of chocolates! In our school there were a few rich girls and they did get expensive gifts for teachers or do donations to the convent (which I’m sure they didn’t refuse). Can’t recall if teachers said yes or no or what protocol was but if it was eg a Hermes key fob (as one pupil got a form teacher) it was just accepted without question. The pupil sometimes made a big thing of the gift though which was a bit cringe. I’m sure sometimes they were bribes to ensure their DD wasn’t held back a year if they should’ve been.