Teacher gift collection

[Purpleturtle45]

Every year I organise a collection at Christmas and Summer for my kids teachers and usually buy vouchers for somewhere nice. I always make it very clear that any amount is welcome and of course only donate if you want to. Some parents might want to do their own thing, or nothing which is their decision.

Most parents are very grateful for this as it gives them one less thing to do and they probably get away with donating less for a joint present than they would trying buy something themselves for £5-£10.

It has come to my attention though that some local authorities are banning this due to cost of living and parents potentially feeling under pressure do donate. Wondering people's thoughts on this? I think people should be allowed to make their own choices on this and think a ban would be very unreasonable.

YANBU- Collections are fine as long as there is no pressure/set amount

YABU- Collections should be banned

I worked at an independent school for my last 8 years and the best gift was one parent bought an industrial bean to cup coffee machine for the staff room these parents had 3 DC at the school and lived overseas. It was wonderful. Gifts I generally got given were about 6 bottles of wine at Xmas, 3 or 4 boxes of chocolates, bouquet of flowers, Amazon vouchers usually £20 ones from maybe 3 students. All gifts had to be declared in a book. It was embarrassing because you could see what other teachers had received when you wrote yours in. You could see some teachers got few gifts and others got lots.

The mere existence of a collection makes some parents (mostly mums I imagine) find it hard to say no.

I don't necessarily think they should be 'banned' but I agree with a school policy which perhaps strongly advises against this sort of thing.

This is going to be one of those where everyone is never going to agree. Personally, collections are one of the best inventions - I want to give something to the teachers but have a budget of £10/15. There are so many staff members that have input towards my child that the money really wont get more than a few biscuits for the staff room. I do not want to go down the road of gifting tat that a teacher will inevitably end up giving to a charity shop. A class collection allows us to buy a far more significant staff room gift (we usually get breakfast or lunch delivered on a school day) plus a voucher for the class teacher.

I strongly disagree with any pressure to give/minimum contributions/exclusionary behaviour towards families who do not gift. In my experience, the individual who has collected has done so with discretion and no pressure, cards are signed from Year 1 rather than names of children. It is just a big shame that all parents are unable to behave similarly

Agree it should to banned.
Can we also ban the WhatsApp groups? All the smug “I’ve just donated” replies. Or “re-posting the link just in case it was buried” passive aggressive reminders. It’s too much.

I don’t like the idea of state interference in something that I see as a personal gesture between families and individuals at their schools. Legislation banning parents from thanking teachers with vouchers is completely inconsistent in a society where people are expected to tip waiters, hairdressers etc for two hours of service. If school staff can’t be thanked for going above and beyond then school management, government and parents need to stop expecting them to go above and beyond as standard.

All that said though, my school doesn’t allow staff to accept cash or anything with a value above £20 and there is still plenty of opportunity for for parents to show appreciation if they want to.

No one is under pressure at my daughters school. We put a tenner in and about half the class contribute , those that don’t get their own presents, I don’t think anyone gets nothing. It’s an amazing school and the teachers deserve a fab present! I was in the classroom at the end of summer and for two teachers and two tas there was an absolutely massive pile of gifts!

Surely that's an issue with the parent organisers if people feel pressured, not the gift itself or the teacher.

I love class collections. As much as I love malteasers, I wouldn't want 30 boxes. And my budget for all I want to thank wouldn't stretch for more than a box of malteasers each. A joint gift voucher makes more sense.

And most importantly, usually means support staff actually get decent recognition. If buying individual gifts, TAs get less because at least half will only buy for the teacher. With collections (as long as the parent organiser is decent) the TA(s) gets a proportion.

nrft isn’t there already a set amount under bribery and corruption laws that state the value of gifts you can accept? I would stop teacher gifts anyway- it’s all getting out of hand, but then I never got sucked into it anyway!

Fwiw I'm a primary teacher and maltesers are one of my favourite things to get for Christmas! I also had a child give me a penguin biscuit in an envelope which was just the sweetest thing ever and something I'll never forget.

I've got two kids in primary school. The eldest child is in a class where another parent self appointed herself as the class collection organiser. Which was fine in itself, but she made sure that only children of the parents who donated got their names in the card which left a bit of a bad taste in my mouth as it penalised children whose parents couldn't afford to donate or simply didn't want to.

The other child is in a class where the self appointed organiser did it the same way as the OP. No pressure, no set amount, and card signed as "from parents and pupils in class X".

So when the collector in the eldest's class left I took over and did it the same as in the youngest class. Only about half of parents donated but I would never disclose who did and who didn't. It's horrible pressure to put people under.

Anyway, our school is now discussing banning all gifts outright because they are looking at reducing financial pressures on families. Some teachers have highlighted as part of these discussions that some kids really like giving gifts. It's tricky!

We do collections and it’s so much easier. We each put in £10 per teacher and then get them a lovely Fortnum and Mason hamper. Considering a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates would be more than a tenner, it’s a much cheaper and easier way of doing things.

I do understand there is a cost of living crisis but teachers work incredibly hard for very little pay and a small gesture of appreciation goes a long way.

I think they should be banned tbh too.

Very few other workplaces are allowed to accept undeclared gifts. If teachers genuinely like them as keepsakes, a card is more than sufficient.

Oh god, you’re that parent.

I would hate it if this was organised in my kid’s class. Chocs, bottle of fizz, bath stuff, homemade gift, card with a nice message = all lovely. My husband works in schools, some of his most treasured gifts have been a simple card or letter a child has written. He would feel awkward receiving a big voucher from parents, knowing most of them are lower income.

Chocs/biscuits can be bought from poundland or easily re-gifted to teaching staff. Homemade cards and letters are free. A monetary collection is too much pressure, and ruins what’s meant to a sweet innocent expression of thanks, in my opinion. What five year old says “mummy I’d really love to give Miss Smith £10 towards an air fryer”?

Money collections are for one-off things - retirement, etc. Not for end of every term. And I was getting “reminders” to give money in a whatsapp I’d be pissed off.

This isn't new surely? Lots of professions have to disclose gifts etc or cannot accept them.

Perhaps it’s a disparity between schools in high income vs low income and normal areas.

A malteasers sharing box or a tub of celebrations is £3. It’s certainly not cheaper or easier to give £10, especially since some families have 3/4 children - £30/£40 right before Christmas? No.

I never give to them, if my kids want to give a gift I help them choose something appropriate and wrap it and write a nice message in a card, usually biscuits or sweets they can leave in the staff room/donate to the food bank if they don’t want them. I think it’s a bit pointless if the kids don’t have anything to do with the actual gift.

It has come to my attention though that some local authorities are banning this

Can you link to anywhere suggesting this, other than the Daily Mail?

I find this very difficult to believe. Local Authorities only have any sort of control over LA schools, so academies and free schools could do what they wanted. As could private schools, whose teachers often get given very expensive presents!

Our school policy is staff can't accept gifts over £100 from an individual and can't accept cash which I think is reasonable.

Quite often collections go over £100 but as that's from multiple people it's allowed

Well, clearly you don’t understand there’s a cost of living crisis. £10 is a lot of money for many people. It’s more than I would spend on a present to a family member. Teachers do work hard but not for “very little pay”. All teachers I know earn a lot more than I do and considerably more than the national average.

That "personal gesture" could be seen as a conflict of interest though.

In a state school you have students from both wealthy and poor backgrounds. If a wealthy student started buying expensive gifts for their teacher, particularly GCSE and A Level, it may be seen that the teacher would think more favourably of them and spend more time helping that child consciously or subconsciously.

Pupils can become 'favourites' often without a teacher really realising.

It's funny how a gift can change an opinion.

I teach in a secondary school and I got the most wonderful gift this Christmas. It was a Christmas card from someone who I taught for GCSE last year who was a pain in the bottom! The card acknowledged how challenging their behaviour was, and thanked me for never giving up on them. It made me think quite differently about them (they don't take my subject for A Level so no conflict of interest here!).

They say ' thanks for organising the collection ' like having to keep an extra tenner for yourself is and they've done you a favour

I don’t think they should be banned at all! I think collections are so much easier and straightforward for parents - so long as everyone involved is aware that participation is optional and you can put in what you can afford.

It’s easier to contribute just a few quid to a pot and be included if that’s all you can afford than to try to get a card and present together for the same few quid. And then potentially feel self conscious as it would be more obvious to a teacher if they got lots of gifts of wildly differing value (not that I think the teachers would care or judge for one moment but just that it would be obvious to them if you’re struggling to afford a gift)

In addition, it’s much more environmentally friendly to give one big present than end up with 30+ boxes of chocolates and worlds best teacher mugs.

In my case one of our classes has shared 3 teachers and 2 TAs, so actually £10 into a pot is much cheaper than buying 5 presents. They are all getting very generous gifts as a result of the collection.

35 years for me, private and state, two different countries of the U.K. and I’ve never had to. Are you in an Academy Trust? They may have rules. It’s not standard though.
Like a PPit’s a bit academic as I rarely get anything (secondary)

That's always been the case. Many get gifts over the stated value but no one enforced the rule.

I do think group collections are problematic for lots of reasons.

One is the risk of a parent being dishonest. Another is parents having pressure put on them by other parents to contribute.
Another is fallings out over what has been bought.

Then the school end up having to deal with the fall out.

And this is without the legal taxation ramifications (technically you should declare large gifts to HMRC)

But I do know they are popular because it means people don't have to worry about the effort themselves and the teachers potentially get 'nicer gifts'.

I think it depends on whether it's felt to be causing too many problems though.