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

You can’t love a job and be this miserable about it.

But that is your interpretation on what the OP has written.

IMO the OP is writing about being emotionally exhausted by what she has done today. Its not the same thing

My take from the OP was that they loved some/most aspects of their job but found it unbelievably stressful some/most/all of the time. It's possible for both things to be true. I'm sure lots of jobs have a similar love-hate relationship.

From what I read from teachers on MN they enjoy most actual teaching ....its other stuff that is sucking the joy out of it?

And probably lack of support for mental health, SEN, and other issues that seep into their role without any additional pay or time allowed...?

But stand to be corrected by people actually doing it!

I couldn't do it because of the sheer noise, so YANBU, it's not a job I'd be volunteering for, or even do for quite a lot of money!

Just leave if you don’t like it, it’s a job that you have chosen 🤷‍♀️

Depends where you live in the UK! Teaching is still relatively respected here and it’s almost impossible to get a place on a PGCE course.

We've had plenty of those posts. Also retail workers, hairdressers, tradesmen. Everyone is allowed to have a little grumble about their job or a bad day sometimes, and why not anonymously on here if you don't want to offload in rl.

Maybe op wanted a bit of sympathy or recognition, to let parents know that we don't work 9-3:30, to raise solidarity with other educators, some suggestions. Who knows. But it seems to me that teachers are pretty much the only people who face criticism when they have a moan - maybe because we're meant to love the pupils as much as their parents do and delight in spending time with them.

North East?

Of course a nurse could write in detail about why they are exhausted and why their job is hard. I’d imagine they’d get a lot of support if they did though. People seem to accept that other jobs are hard but get really angry about teachers finding their job hard which is weird

the fact that so many teachers are finding the job exhausting and stressful and leaving the role really doesn’t mean teachers are weak or haven’t looked into the job properly while at uni as one poster seemed to think 🙄 it’s because of what the job has become. Teaching is a tiny part of a being a teacher

some people claim to know about teaching because their parents were teachers. The curriculum and the school environment has changed drastically in the last ten years let alone the last 30. It’s not comparable

it alarms me how blasé so many people are, especially those with school aged children. Posters who say stop moaning and just quit, I’d rather my child wasn’t taught at all than be taught by an unhappy teacher, I hope they mean that. Because if things carry on the way they are with the huge retention and recruitment crisis, that will be the case. Your kids will be in huge classes of 40 plus, they won’t have a range of options for GCSE, there will be even less SEN provision than there is now, teaching will be done online with people supervising as opposed to active teaching or you’ll just have to homeschool to get your kid educated

the fault lies with the government but so many people like to jump on the teachers and label them as oversensitive, whiny and weak instead of listening to what they’re saying. Teachers are concerned for the future of education and what this means for your children but no one is listening. When teachers explain the situation they’re in, they get insulted. This doesn’t seem to happen to other professions. I bet if a nurse did post about how hard their job is, everybody (including teachers) would (quite rightly) sympathise with them and berate the government for the lack of NHS funding.

Maybe some posters on here should get their children to ask their subject teachers which subject they actually specialise in (in a non confrontational way). You maybe saddened by the results. Ask your children how many cover teachers they have had in the last month? If Primary, ask if a TA has taken their class recently?

I really respect teachers and think it seems like a very difficult job… however, lots of jobs are difficult. What is the point of this post? Shall we get a nurse along to write in detail everything they have done today to compare? Or a barrister? Most people in professional roles work hard and work long hours, that’s life.

Firstly, threads about stuff you're finding hard in life make up really quite a lot of the threads on MN. Lots of people come here to have a justified whinge about a variety of things. They probably mostly just hope for a bit of sympathy and maybe some solidarity from posters going through similar. Rather than responses which say 'What is the point of this thread?'

Secondly, it's very clear from many posts on threads about teaching that many parents do not fully understand the situation in which their own children's schools may be finding themselves with regard to staffing. So continuing to raise awareness of these issues is a good thing imo.

This

@ttcat37 be careful what you wish for. Many schools are dropping subjects as they don’t have teachers to take them. Many schools are having to rely on adults in the room who are not qualified to the level they should be. Is this really what you want for our children in this country?

Yes I absolutely recognise that. I believe I am paid fairly.

My understanding is that about 60% of state schools had deficit budgets going forward. So even if there were teachers available they can’t afford to pay them! Parents need to take note, education is in dire straits.

On the surface your child’s school may look rosy but schools very rarely tell parents the true picture.

Oh and my username is very apt too. No budget to fix school buildings either!

I don't believe any sane person would rather have their child not have a teacher at all than be taught by someone who hates their job (or probably just some aspects of it) but is probably hiding their feelings and doing a pretty good job anyway. That would be stupid.

Your point about the retention and recruitment crisis is frankly ridiculous. If there aren't enough people in the country who are willing to either go into teaching or stay in teaching, then there's no point in saying it's their expectations that are at fault. Do you think there are loads of people out there with realistic expectations of the job, who are going to take their place? No. That's why there's a recruitment crisis There are clearly things about the job which just aren't manageable for very many people. Until that changes, there will continue not to be enough teachers.

NI

It depends which subjects they’re dropping to be honest.

Prior to becoming a teacher I was a lawyer and worked in a challenging and stressful area of law. At one point, I managed a team and had substantial responsibility and authority. I always worked long hours.
Then I retrained as a teacher.
Teaching is by far the hardest thing I've ever done. I couldn't maintain it and became burnt out very quickly. I now work in a school but in a support role. Good teachers are underpaid and undervalued.

Among the lowest teacher recruitment levels in 2022/23 were: business studies (15.9%), physics (17.3%), music (27.3%), D&T (27%), modern foreign languages (34%) and computing (36%) so many of those will be dropped in schools

maths still has a shortage and is often taught by non specialists in a huge number of secondaries. It can’t be dropped because it’s a core subject but if they’re aren’t any maths teachers, what else can schools do

"Dealt with multiple crying children who don't want to leave my class next week."

This bit caught my eye. Nearing the end of the school year then? At least you can look forward to the end of term very soon and commencing some of the c.12 weeks annual leave you get every year. How many weeks will it be? 6 weeks? That's more than most workers get over an entire 12 month period.

Perhaps you need to frame the intensity of your job with the large periods of non-working when you have ample time to decompress.

@ttcat37 and this is about our children not you. You might not care if a subject is dropped or maths is taught by a PE teacher, but you child might, and it is your child's future that is being damaged not yours

To all the people making sarky comments about 'how you know teaching is the hardest thing in the world because people never stop going on about it'...please be aware of the current state of the school system. Teachers have left. Good teachers. Very good teachers. It's not that they are not up to the job or can't hack the pace of working. For many complex reasons it has become impossible to do the very thing they love - teach. As an ex teacher but also someone who has worked successfully in other industries in equally stressful jobs, I can categorically say teaching, (as brilliant as it is and as much as I loved it), had a detrimental effect on me. Simply, there is no work life balance in the current system. They are social workers, counsellors, admin staff, managers as well as educators. If all they did was to teach...Instead they often pick up the pieces of parenting we should have done. So please listen instead of condoning people for saying how hard it is. It is a broken record for the very fact the system is broken. I fear you will be the very people to moan 'when' there is no one to teach your LO's. Everyone is on the same page, we all want the best for the kids...let's not fight amongst ourselves. Teachers are voicing concerns to protect our children. If you want to moan about hearing it all before, moan about the politicians who have created this perfect educational storm... never has a profession be so undervalued by society.

Happy for her to have a teacher who is suited to the job. It’s not for everyone.

Teaching has its ups and downs but some of the posts on mumsnet about how it’s such a uniquely difficult job are pretty ridiculous. In reality many teachers would not get equivalent jobs with pay and conditions as good as teaching if they left.