Being a primary school teacher is INCREDIBLY HARD or AIBU 🫠

[BoneTiredandWired]

Today alone as a teacher I have: Intervened in three fights. Had multiple restorative conversations. Given up both my break and lunchtime to sort out arising issues. Unexpected fire alarm chaos. Taught music and German and had a real laugh with my class. Saw real positive developments of my kids abilities. Shortly later spoken seriously and told off my class.
Dealt with multiple crying children who don't want to leave my class next week. Sang and coordinated our summer concert songs.
Written the last of 28 individually written reports for all my kids.
Tidied up and emptied my entire classroom.
Had a 2 hour after school meeting.
Cried on the way home out of sheer emotional exhaustion and having to be strong carrying the emotions of so many throughout the day.

I ❤️ my kids so so much, but teaching is HARD and so so much more than people think it is

Teachers work so bloody hard...

Even the Government were going to look at the workload for teachers although I don’t think that got very far and won’t do now there is an election

Yes, robot teachers, that's the answer.

How many jobs in the private sector do you think get overtime? It’s not a thing in most industries once you’re earning over probably £40k.
I have worked countless hours without claiming overtime over the years. I do get paid overtime, but sometimes I don’t claim for it.

an awful parent and then an 11 year old called me a fucking bitch

@LadyFeatheringt0n It’s not simply getting emotional though, because in most jobs, people aren’t treated like this.

Somehow, it’s become socially acceptable to treat teachers, nurses, paramedics, and others in education and healthcare, like dirt. How has this happened? Why are children and adults allowed to do this? It’s madness.

You do get paid overtime. There we go then. If teachers are working 10 hour days and only being paid for 8 hour days then they’re also working overtime (unpaid). But you seem to think they ought to do another few days on top of that during their (unpaid) holidays. What a strange outlook to have.

Yes I’m glad that they’re leaving to do something that makes them happy.
I don’t think 2.5 days to train the future workforce is unreasonable when you get 4 months off a year. I’m sure your union could try to negotiate payment for these days.

“When you’re earning over 40k” is probably the key difference, then.

Not really a strange outlook is it- I started my career happy with the pay and conditions. It isn’t a surprise that teachers work overtime. It was the same when I was at school in the 90s and 00s. I’d say that training for a job that you know has an expectation of unpaid overtime, then being upset about it, is a strange outlook.

@ttcat37 Ah so one key difference between your job and that of a teacher is that you get paid overtime.
Nice.

I think it’s completely ok to voice an opinion that part of our job is not right. I don’t think it’s ok for anyone to be working a substantial amount of unpaid overtime as standard. My mum taught for 15 years before I trained - I was very aware of what it would be like and I accept it as part of the job alongside the perks. It’s also ok to say that it’s something about the job that I feel is not ideal, like I would if it was any other job. It’s not moaning, or being workshy, or unrealistic.

But it is not 2.5 days to train the future workforce. It's 2.5 days of unpaid training (which is largely pointless) during term time in order to do all the extra unpaid hours (including an unpaid hour meeting per week on top of all the admin and lesson feedback) that are involved in training the future workforce when you are already working 50-60 hours a week.

A lot of teachers do not have the capacity to add in those extra hours.

You clearly have no idea what is involved in training new teachers, perhaps you should listen to those who do.

Where do you get 4 months off from?

You have missed the point. Again.

No one is upset about the unpaid overtime. Everyone knows teachers cannot do their jobs unless they work overtime. Overtime on top of overtime is obviously something else. Well it’s obvious to most people anyway.

you seem to have a lot of opinions on teachers and teaching. But sadly an enormous lack of awareness of the huge changes in schools and working conditions over the last decade. Certainly, since I qualified 20 years ago, the job has changed massively. It is not the same job I trained for and vastly different from the 90s in many ways.

You seem to enjoy arguing with teachers about their own experiences of their own jobs. Even when it’s increasingly obvious with every post you write that you have no idea what you are talking about.

Quick glance at pay scales, it only takes 5 years to be earning over £40k, is that not correct? That’s faster to reach £40k than most public sector workers that have to climb pay scales.

Most of the extra work teachers are doing is not actually teaching.

If you are an accountant would you expect to do 10 hours a week unpaid overtime to be a social worker, another 10 hours being a mental health expert. Would you be expecting to pay for resources that your office need out of your own pocket. Would you also expect to feed some of your clients out of your own pocket because they don’t have any food. And repeat this week after week. Would you expect your firm to have to offer counselling for some of the safeguarding issues you have to deal with? None of this is actually teaching, the job you trained to do

Maybe it’s just an outsider’s point of view? All I see on mumsnet from teachers is moaning about various aspects of their job. If anyone doesn’t agree you get all defensive- I’m only replying to people quoting me so if I’m arguing then so are you. If you only want people to agree with you about how bad you’ve got it, have a chat in the staff room!

I agree. All the teachers seem to hate it

What ten hours of specialist mental health expert work do teachers do each week?

I don't care what the answer is I care about OP's mental health. This job isn't right for her.

Correcting someone’s misguided views isn’t being defensive. You aren’t a teacher. You don’t know what the job entails. (Teaching is a tiny tiny part of it). So when you say what teachers should and shouldn’t do or feel about their own jobs with absolutely no experience of that job, then yeah, teachers will reply to that.

No one’s expecting you to agree with how ‘bad we have it’. How can you agree or disagree? How can you possibly know?

I have no idea. I genuinely don't. Personally I think it should be an arrestable offence

@ttcat37 No, that is most definitely not correct.

Teachers have to look after students mental health issues because pupils are on CAMHS waiting lists for months if not years. If teachers/support staff aren’t looking after them who are?

No one.

Shit isn't it