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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To wonder how much longer it will be before all teachers quit?

459 replies

FunionsRFun · 06/03/2024 15:09

Been called a bitch and screamed at today. Kids are making no progress because 90% of the leason is dedicated to bad behaviour.
My detentions have been taken off the system to make behaviour look better.
Why would anyone do this job?

OP posts:
HelloMiss · 06/03/2024 18:27

@twistyizzy HelloMiss
Teachers seem So dramatic.... I mean who doesn't moan about their jobs?

Where will you go to work which will be moaning - free?

Would you work somewhere you were sworn at or physically assaulted?

I suppose I'm desensitised, I already do!

OutOfTheHouse · 06/03/2024 18:27

Gotsomedebt · 06/03/2024 17:13

I'm a TA and all the teachers I know work from 8am - 6pm. 3:30 is laughable.

I'm supposed to finish at 3:30 but don't finish until 4 most days and I'm just a TA.

Never ‘just’ a TA.

Hermione101 · 06/03/2024 18:30

Meadowfinch · 06/03/2024 15:41

Change school? They aren't all like that.

My dsis was attacked by a parent, grabbed by the throat, took 5 other teachers to get him off, so I do sympathise. It can be awful.

I hope you find somewhere/ something better.

Edited

That is disgusting. I hope he was charged with assault and your sister sued him. Utter trash.

I hope your sister was ok.

HulaChick · 06/03/2024 18:30

Parents need to parent properly and teachers should be allowed to teach. Failure of Society in general & noone respects authority anymore. Such missed opportunities; a good, inspiring teacher stays,with you forever, just a,shame these complete misbehaved, selfish arseholes don't give anyone else the chance to experience that.

MasterGland · 06/03/2024 18:30

The government have been moving the system over to a sausage machine model for a good few years now. As long as they have fresh meat coming in, retention is not something they particularly care about. They will just ride this out now until the lower birth rate years start to filter through. Labour will be no different, they have pretty much confirmed that they will also be pursuing a winding down of public services.

Perfect28 · 06/03/2024 18:31

@HelloMiss just out of interest where do you work? Staff definitely get assaulted in retail and the NHS but they can be banned from entry. The only other place I can think of is the prison service and police and what does that say about the state of our education system.

HelloMiss · 06/03/2024 18:34

@Perfect28 banned from entry ... but that doesn't stop them returning anyway...and doesn't prevent the initial attack either!

OutOfTheHouse · 06/03/2024 18:35

HelloMiss · 06/03/2024 18:34

@Perfect28 banned from entry ... but that doesn't stop them returning anyway...and doesn't prevent the initial attack either!

This is true. But teachers are getting attacked to see the child who did it walk in the next day with no consequences. Then they have to spend all day in a classroom with them.

DancefloorAcrobatics · 06/03/2024 18:37

Well, my first thought is, if you as a teacher can't capture the attention of a classroom full of children/ teenagers then maybe you are in the wrong profession...

I am saying this as a parent with 2 DC at secondary school. And I must admit, sometimes the attitude of the teacher does reflect the attitude of an obnoxious teenager.
I've had it all, disengaged to the point where they don't respond to DC emails- this is for A level subject to arrange a tutorial.

Been told DC isn't bright enough and will fail anyway- so back of classroom is the perfect place. Teachers not being available on parents evening and then not responding to requests about a meeting/ chat to discuss GCSE choice for their subject.

And then there is the endless string of supply teachers.

I agree, schools are a shambles, we are in need of a new system as the old one is broken on all 3 sides! (Teacher, Pupil & Parent)

Trulyme · 06/03/2024 18:40

OutOfTheHouse · 06/03/2024 18:25

I know I shouldn’t rise to the troll but:

I get in at 8am, and I’m one of the last in. I have just got home now, at 6 o’clock. I’m only 10 minutes away.

If you want all the holidays, £40k, and bank holidays (only one of which isn’t already in the holidays so I don’t know why you mention them) then do retrain.

I always find it hilarious that people will say how cushy teaching is and list all of the apparent benefits - yet don’t become teachers themselves.

Surely if it’s such an easy job, finishing at 3:30, getting all of the holidays off and good pay; then why wouldn’t they do it themselves.

It says everything you need to know about teaching when someone is claiming it’s a very cushy job but still won’t do it themselves.

LAlady · 06/03/2024 18:40

I worked within the private sector for many years. The last 5 years in schools. Both my children are graduates/graduating this year and I have already told them never become a teacher. My niece did 2 years and quit for a marketing role outside of education - so much happier.

Kudos to teachers. In my view it's a very tough profession - if you have never worked in a school you have absolutely no idea of what they have to deal with.

Fallenangelofthenorth · 06/03/2024 18:41

MasterGland · 06/03/2024 18:30

The government have been moving the system over to a sausage machine model for a good few years now. As long as they have fresh meat coming in, retention is not something they particularly care about. They will just ride this out now until the lower birth rate years start to filter through. Labour will be no different, they have pretty much confirmed that they will also be pursuing a winding down of public services.

I agree with you. I don't think anyone really cares. I can see it going more and more online. My daughter is in her final year of school and she already does a lot of her homework online using various apps - which is a fantastic resource and I'm not knocking it - but you can see how this could be expanded to cover more lessons, with students being taught in much bigger classes as has been mentioned upthread. It's not what I want personally, but it's a lot cheaper and machines don't demand pay rises or pensions.

Fallenangelofthenorth · 06/03/2024 18:43

Perfect28 · 06/03/2024 18:31

@HelloMiss just out of interest where do you work? Staff definitely get assaulted in retail and the NHS but they can be banned from entry. The only other place I can think of is the prison service and police and what does that say about the state of our education system.

Finance too. Or maybe that's just my place of work...

DinnaeFashYersel · 06/03/2024 18:45

If MN existed 30 or 40 years ago this thread would be the same.

Teachers always complain about the same things.

I remember listening to friends of my parents who were teachers saying the same things.

GrumpyPanda · 06/03/2024 18:45

peakygold · 06/03/2024 16:50

Why would anyone do that job? For £40k+ a year, 14 weeks holiday, every Bank Holiday, weekend and Christmas off guaranteed. Occasional days, INSET days and half days, not to mention the ridiculous 'snow days'. Working day starts at 0830hrs and finishes easily by 1530hrs. If you cannot control a class, there is probably a training course for that.

You're off your rocker if you think teaching hours equal actual work hours. Unless you'd rather your own kids were taught without assignments graded or lesson prep?

I don't know any teacher who doesn't work evenings and weekends.

StaunchMomma · 06/03/2024 18:49

Maybe the children are picking up on your negative vibes and not engaging fully with you because of it.

😂😂😂😂😂😂

Yes, it's totally the teacher's fault that so many kids are happy to call you a cunt to your face.

Bushmillsbabe · 06/03/2024 18:49

WhatsTheUseOfWorrying · 06/03/2024 15:57

The difficulty with raising issues of attitude and conduct of pupils on MN is that crowds of posters will descend to justify the behaviour of children without knowing anything of the circumstances.

I strongly believe that the widespread malaise in the English school system is a function of discipline and behavioural expectation - and the absence of effective sanction - rather than money.

I’m convinced we’d have hundreds of thousands of good, committed teachers and aspiring teachers in all subjects if they weren’t subject to the routine abuse and aggression that’s prevalent in schools.

This. My daughters are in a lovely village school, with smallish classes, great facilities, fantastic teachers. But a child in my oldest class hit her or smashed her head into a table most days of year 2. And the teachers couldn't do anything as the child had SEN, and 'couldn't control her behaviour'. Outside a school this would be assault, and my daughter had to sit in a room every day knowing she would likely be attacked. Imagine the damage that does, the level of fear she was carrying, holding onto.

Until enough was enough, and I removed her and kept her home until this child was moved. But not every parent could do that, i used my annual leave. But teachers are working in a system where they can't do their job for fear of being labelled 'discriminatory'. Where children are being failed by a system where a few disruptive children are allowed to damage the learning of, and hurt the rest of their class, in the name of "inclusion'.

And before anyone comes for me, this is not an attack on the rights of children with SEN. But my daughter also has rights, the right to learn effectively. The right to feel safe in her classroom. The right to not come home bruised and crying. The teachers also have the right to be respected, rather than attacked.

I work in the NHS but the principle is the same. My pay is decent, my workload is ok, my colleagues are great, I love my profession. But the utter contempt with which some patients treat me just destroys you. And it's my family who suffer when I come home sad, angry, frustrates at another day of people treating me like sh*t.

OutOfTheHouse · 06/03/2024 18:49

DinnaeFashYersel · 06/03/2024 18:45

If MN existed 30 or 40 years ago this thread would be the same.

Teachers always complain about the same things.

I remember listening to friends of my parents who were teachers saying the same things.

Some of us have been teaching a long time. It’s only in the last 5 years I’ve been called a cunt by a 5 year old while they are throwing chairs at me. In the last 10 years our budgets have been cut to the bone. I’m on my own with a class that has 3 children with ASD. No support, no TA. Nothing. Yet I’m expected to get all these children to the expected level with no one to take them out for any extra intervention.

Sweetpeasaremadeforbees · 06/03/2024 18:49

I think the “general public” and their offspring just became a lot more rude, entitled and aggressive. There should be long term consequences for terrible behaviour in schools, GP surgeries etc etc - criminal records, benefit cuts, huge fines for those who can afford it. People need to start valuing public services or have them cancelled for themselves. There is no deterrent to behave in a civil way if such people feel it is their entitlement. No sorry, the basics have to be met. Children in developing countries are not like this because they appreciate and value the opportunity to get an education.

This^

If MN existed 30 or 40 years ago this thread would be the same.

Teachers always complain about the same things.

I remember listening to friends of my parents who were teachers saying the same things.

Where the hell did you grow up, I was at a bog standard comp 30-40 years ago and none of what people are describing here ever happened?

StaunchMomma · 06/03/2024 18:49

DinnaeFashYersel · 06/03/2024 18:45

If MN existed 30 or 40 years ago this thread would be the same.

Teachers always complain about the same things.

I remember listening to friends of my parents who were teachers saying the same things.

Problem solved then.

Nobody should do it.

TheFancyPoet · 06/03/2024 18:50

I absolutely understand.

JamSandle · 06/03/2024 18:55

I agree with you OP. I cant understand why anyone would want to be a teacher today. At my secondary school a few teachers went off sick with breakdowns because they were treated so relentlessly cruelly by the kids.

One student gave birth control pills to one of our teachers disguised as sweets.

One made up stories about her dad being a rapist.

A girl was strangled with a scarf by another girl.

Drugs in pencil cases.

Just awful horrible behaviour for both the teachers and the kids who truly wanted to learn.

I wouldn't be a teacher - or a pupil again in that environment - if I was paid a small fortune, let alone the pittance teachers are paid.

Smartiepants79 · 06/03/2024 18:55

@peakygold i hope you’re either being sarcastic or deliberately irritating.
i get into work at 8am and leave at 5 if I’m lucky. I worked through my break and my lunch.
I’ve got at least an hours work to do tonight as a bare minimum.
The pay is ok. The holidays good. That’s it for perks!

FrippEnos · 06/03/2024 19:07

Fallenangelofthenorth · 06/03/2024 17:09

But 48000 joined?

Won't demand start to decline anyway with the falling birth rate? I know where I iive, a lot of the smaller schools are closing or merging. I'm not saying it's not a shit job - I certainly wouldn't want to do it - but numbers of teachers seems to be growing not falling?

Loads of jobs are shit unfortunately. NHS don't seem happy. I'm not either but I work in neither sector. I'm not sure where you'd go once you left that's not also shit but just in a different way?

Isn't that (too be more correct) started training.

I can't remember the exact number/percentage for the drop out rate from training but on my course and the other courses that were running at the same time it was 50% + of the cohort.

Then there are those that drop out on the first two years, so never fully qualify under the new 2 year ECT regs and then the next drop out was 5 yrs.

Now you have experienced teachers either leaving or being forced out. How ever you look at it, its a shit show.

Then you have Trolls like peakygold and the "don't like it leave" crew, It isn't worth the effort.

And a quick question for those stating the Scottish issue.
Why if its so hard to get a permanent position in Scotland why don't the teachers move to England?
I could answer for you, But I'm not going to.

Dominoeffecter · 06/03/2024 19:08

Sk8erboi · 06/03/2024 15:17

I know people only post/speak about negatives but I do worry that I see so many threads on here of teachers slagging their job off.
Maybe the children are picking up on your negative vibes and not engaging fully with you because of it.
My child is year 8 and some of the teachers sound like they don't want to be at work at all going on what I'm told at the end of the day. Some of them sound fantastic and there seems to be a correlation between behaviour and progress and the teachers.

I dont doubt it's a hard and thankless job but there must be some positives surely

🙄

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