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

In our school no one organises a group gift.
I really wish they would. It would be a job off my list . I probably always end up spending more than a tenner by the time I've wrapped and bagged the thing.
I'm a bit shocked at the amount of people who think teachers shouldn't be allowed accept anything. Seems so mean spirited. Give one if you want or don't buy it's not fair to dictate to others what to do .

Absolutely. I’m more than happy to tip other people at Christmas who regularly go above and beyond doing their job-window cleaner, postman, hairdresser etc, are we going to ban that as well?!

I doubt private schools will ever ban gift giving, so don’t think any other schools should either.

£5 x multiple children adds up to a fair sum of money for a family.

Then they don’t have to do it, that is perfectly fine.

I’m not sure the teacher would agree though. Surely a good amount on a voucher would be more use than lots of little trinkets. Not sure why “the point” of gift giving should be something meaningful but ultimately useless.
Children can still write a heartfelt card.

Frankly your attitude to the amount raised makes you sound a bit petty and jealous.

I think most people do tip the refuse collectors nowadays too, actually.

A gift for a teacher isn’t mandatory. I fail to see how it can be “galling” to be asked if you’d like to participate or not.

A box of pencils is worse, surely , as the Govt should be paying for provisions not parents!

You don't live somewhere which has had a three month bin strike do you?

I don't think they'll be getting much of a tip there...

Give it to the food bank

As a teacher, we don’t expect gifts

however, my class has often done a group voucher for us .

I actually thought the other day that potentially it would be a really cheap way to give , for example if everyone put in £1 for the teacher and £1 for the ta , they would have a lovely £30 gift card, and very cheap for the parents

I understand that in reality it doesn’t work out like that , people doing their own thing ect .

personally I would be very surprised if the la got involved, mainly due to their inability to organise a piss up in a brewery.

That’s up to you but they still took your refuse the other 9 months and will continue to do so.
Strike action is taken against the employer not the end user.

Yeah maybe pro rata it?

😂 get them a box of 12 beers to share but take out 3

Op how do you think it feels for a parent on low income to see a collection they cant affird to contribute to...? It feels horrible and i hate the idea of a present from two thirds of the kids with the poorer ones left out

I loathe the whole thing

Ive seen collections thst ended with teachers getting 100 quid or more in vouchers. Thst is just so wrong in my view when parents would often be nowhere near getting thst level and would never have thst sort of gift themselves

The fact you think it is ok to give a gift just leaving out any poor children whose parents cant afford to chip in shows you dont get it

Thankfully, someone has seen sense. It divides people and causes stress.
What's wrong with a card of thanks, simple just send a card if you want.

I have 2 kids and the parent on one of the groups are well organised and do a collection at end of the year. Both times contributes £10 which is fine, collection went to around £250 as I cluded a combined group and they got vouchers and flowers. For Christmas we normally bring a basket of pastries for the staff room, this year we just did sweets as both my kids have 2-3 teachers, the day we made the sweetie jars a parent asked if we wanted to contribute to the collection for the 2 teachers. I was. ABIT embarrassed to say no, we went other way but genuinely didn't know they were doing this for Christmas as it was left to the last few days....I mean if it's a tenner per teacher that tunes I to £40 Christmas and £40 end of year...we already have a huge family and have to buy far too many presents. Nothing against teachers, I think they deserve it but shouldn't be expected. In my line of work (private sector) we are not allowed any gifts from customers ( even when we don't really have any input on decision making )...

I don't think that necessarily means that you shouldn't do it though. I am not a high earner and there are lots of things I would like to be able to do/buy for my kids and myself but just have to accept that it's not within my budget and get on with it!

A box of pencils is worse, surely , as the Govt should be paying for provisions not parents!

There are loads of teachers on MN who post about how they use their own money to fund additional classroom supplies.

Contributing to the classroom is far more sensible.

There is no need to tip teachers. It is ludicrous. They get paid like every other state employee and they are pad as much if not more than many.

I cannot fathom why this is even a thing.

Tip the cleaner or the teaching assistants if you feel the need to tip.

I think class collections are a bit rubbish, partly because they don't involve the child, partly because of the pressure to contribute via the WhatsApp group messages, partly because the resulting voucher can't be shared amongst all staff.
For those saying they just put "from all children in year x" well what's the point of a gift if you don't know who it's from ?
Seems better for me to get the child to either make or write a card, or choose a small present, something small and cheap is fine, a £2 choc bar or pack of biscuits etc. It's more personal and those types of gifts are easy to share with the cleaners etc if need be or pass onto food bank.

Not a teacher but I'm in another role where people give gifts at Christmas. I've been given all sorts over the years from leather handbags and huge bouquets to individual serving wine bottles and cheap bath bubbles. (Mostly boxes of biscuits and chocolates though!) It really is the thought that counts. Someone who is very poor who has gone to the trouble to buy a £2 gift has given proportionately much more than someone rich who chucks £20 into a collection organised by someone else. A handwritten card is the best reward of all.

This

My DM taught for 40 years.

She used to love presents from her class and she'd always save them under the Christmas tree and let me open them on Boxing Day.

She never worked in an affluent area but received all manner of things... mainly matchmakers, Maltesers and cheap wine, occasionally a nice candle or scarf. This was well before class WhatsApp groups and joint presents.

But imagine if every child, every Christmas and summer, had given her some sort of trinket. That'd be 2,400 wax melt burners/mugs/jewellery stands/cute wall hangings over the course of a career!

She maintains that the most meaningful things were nice notes and cards from the children or parents.

But the class collection, especially when done openly and sympathetically is a godsend!

LA’s don’t have any control over academy trusts.

We aren’t allowed to accept monetary gifts in the nhs so why would it be allowed in other caring or public sector jobs . I understand why it’s to stop bribery or special treatment .

The only reason I can think of it being reasonable to not allow gifts over a certain level is where there could be bribery.

I'd think it's less likely to fall into that description if it's a group gift and it's lovely for a teacher to get something useful rather than lots of small and probably very similar items.

I can see this system occasionally getting out of hand but the nature of schools means that will pass. Next year there will be a new set of children and a new set of parents.

i think they should be banned. My children go to a school with lots of parents who earn decent incomes but a significant amount are low income parents. I think it can put pressure on families who don’t have it to give towards the collection. I’ve always worked for government bodies or non profits and it has never been allowed for staff to receive presents from clients or suppliers.