To feel sorry for all the teachers who are about to be inundated with shite gifts

[Butterflyfluff]

My Facebook feed is full of utterly shit teacher gifts - mugs, glasses, baubles, sweet jars all with ‘Greatest Teacher’ on them.

Surely the vast majority of these end up in the bin - no one needs up to 30 odd of these every year?

What’s wrong with clubbing together for vouchers that would actually get used?

You don't need this tat to show gratitude. Made a teachers day years ago by having a 1:1 chat to thank her personally for all the help she gave during a difficult time. I wouldn't have progressed the issue without her.
No amount of tat would have come close to it, it would have felt a bit of a lazy cop out to be honest.

Charity shops are full of the best teacher mugs, coasters etc. Parents don’t realise that teachers have mugs at home.

As with wine. My friend is a teacher and she gets the bloody awful Myton Hill (Morrisons), Wild Valley and Penguin Sands (Sainsbury’s) cheap wine. Just spend another £1.50 and get Barefoot, Hardys, McGuigan etc. It’s only £1.50 more PER YEAR!

Teachers swap the wine - a couple don’t drink red for example. Any wine left over, bottles go towards the tombola/raffle that the village Xmas craft fair has third weekend of November.

Our primary school asked parents to buy books from their Amazon wishlists, it's the only time I've bought a 'gift', usually my kids do a handmade card. DD1 has just left secondary and made cards for some of her favourite teachers, her English teacher got a picture of Mr Soap in Da Forest, both mnenomics for GCSE English, which he has framed and put on his classroom wall sothat obviously went down well.

Love this book idea, it’s one I’ve suggested a lot because I know many teachers buy books for their classroom otherwise out of their own money and they really don’t get paid enough for that . A paperback or Picture book costs about £8 now. Yes ideally schools should get more funding but they don’t and libraries are closing down left right and centre so more books are so necessary in many schools.

It also gets parents into the habits of buying books. I have two childhood friends who marvelled at where i got the diverse range of books that I sent to their children from.

It was literally just Amazon and my local bookshop - no mystery. Found it sad that they had 3 kids each and still weren’t into the habit of buying books.

The handmade cards and gifts are a nice touch. That means that all kids get to show their appreciation even if their parents can’t or won’t buy a gift.

That's the thing with gifts. Nobody gets to dictate what's given to them. None of us know other people's finances or their circumstances.

Gifts (especially from children) should be accepted in good grace. They're probably really excited to give the present, even if in the teacher's eyes the gift is just "tat".

If it's all ending up in landfill, a better option would be to stop the practice altogether, so there's no undue pressure on struggling families to give more than they can afford.

If it's all ending up in landfill, a better option would be to stop the practice altogether

You can try, but I doubt it would work.

A lot of teachers have already replied saying they don't want gifts, and they've been saying the same thing for decades. It's not being pushed by the teachers or school staff. Every year there are posts on MN saying please don't buy gifts, and if you feel like you have to give something then a handmade card or email would be amazing. I've even worked in schools that have tried to ban end of year gifts or instead suggest donations to foodbanks, but parents still send them.

We give one gift. Everyone donates to s pot../Usually a voucher

I think YANBU, showing gratitude is amazing but you also need to do it in a way that it wouldn't be a burden. Many people don't get presents at their jobs, but I don't think a useless gift is somehow better than no gift at all. Heck, I don't get any gifts and I'm fine with it and would prefer it over a useless stuff any time. A handwritten card or a cute smartshow 3d video with photos is one thing, it's sentimental and nice, but an umpteenth mug is another. Yes, people should be grateful but that doesn't mean being grateful for something they see no purpose in obtaining.

It's out of control at my sons school.

His teachers get holiday vouchers, F&M gift baskets, one got a complete new wardrobe of clothes one year, often they get hundreds of pounds in restaurant vouchers. This year the WhatsApp parents group was full of nonsense about a theatre trip to London for his two year teachers.

I said I'd stump up for a bunch of flowers and we'll do our own card.

Ah sorry. Didn't come through for me!

A relief though 😂

Every year I receive the gift of a child in the third world being fed at school, in my name and I absolutely LOVE it. I actually weep when I open it.
I think that the parents have passed it down through the years that this is what I’d love and that makes it even more special.

I love getting these gifts - the children's excited faces, knowing the family went to the trouble of finding something, feeling appreciated.

I spend a lot on each child through the year - snacks and treats, a little gift at Xmas and Easter, and end of year gift, prizes for games and competitions, decorations for the classroom. Last week I bought a beanbag and some cushions for the reading area and some board games for the wet play area. I don't know what it adds up to, and I don't do it because I expect reciprocation, but it's nice to think that someone noticed and appreciated it.

@RatintheCat our class is similar to the poster you tagged

Think around £280 was raised for our teacher. Split between her and ta's

Guessing most people put in £10 like I did

Remember the year where it was up to 40 degrees in the SE? I gave individual handheld paper fans to each teacher / TA which I hoped was liked plus handwritten cards

I feel more sorry for the poor parents, maybe having to scrape together a few quid to reward a person who is paid to do the job. Make a card, say thank you, the end.

As a secondary teacher it might be a bit different but the absolute best thing is a lovely note or card. I have ones in a scrapbook on torn paper from kids that really struggled and felt seen. Gifts at secondary aren't expected and are always gratefully received because you feel like they're coming from the child themselves who's felt particularly supported, but nothing beats a note. I've had a couple of children get me a voucher and it was always wholly unexpected. It's a nice thought from you but especially at primary I imagine that puts financial pressure on parents which is the opposite of what I'd want, esp having worked in some really deprived areas.

Edit: just to clarify not saying gifts are expected at primary either! All I have to go on is my own experience, we always hand made something for our teacher at the end of the year and I'd like to continue that tradition.

Having home schooled my DDs until 8 & 9, when they decided they’d like to try mainstream school I was delighted. I over-gifted those teachers like a Rockefeller! 😂

My , who was a teacher, would never let us tale gifts for teachers and I hated feeling like the only one with nothing to give.

I always sent my DC with cheap handcream. A token. so they had something to give and consumable, so hopefully not quite as wasteful as the trinkets and mugs.

My daughters class, we have a class rep, and in the last 5 years she's been at school, we've been asked to contribute £10 each to buy gifts for the teachers. The nominated person will then buy vouchers and other gifts for the teachers and TA's. One year, I did contribute, but bought a small personal gift and a card and wrote a personal message fir my daughters teacher and support teacher, who had worked so hard with her, and really instilled confidence in her. Both were very appreciative.
But yes, I can imagine a lot of what teachers get bought, they've already had hundreds of before, that muchnif it must get rehomed.

I was a teacher. I loved every gift I was given.

As a teacher this is such a nice thought and idea. We don’t get bonuses or paid overtime ( and we do alot) so end of year gifts like this are really lovely and appreciated but never expected.

I feel sorry for people going out and doing thankless tasks - the emergency services assaulted doing their jobs, trying to protect people and saves lives, seeing horrible unimaginable things. I feel sorry for those in the NHS who are slaving away on low pay doing long hours and getting a lot of abuse from the public for something out of their control. I feel sorry for people having to work 2-3 jobs just to keep their head above water in a cost of living crisis. So no I don’t feel sorry for teachers getting cheap and tacky gifts, they are given from a place of gratitude and thanks

A lot of employees don't get bonuses, or paid overtime, and don't get gifts either!!

It sounds like the poster was just saying it’s a lovely gesture -not that they’re entitled to it- as it’s one of the few “financial” perks (if you can call a teachers mug that 😆) of the job.

Well compared to some other roles eg. I used to get at least £20 a night in tips waitressing for a few hours at events and I wasn't even very good at it 😂
A friend of mine paid off a chunk of her first car loan, using the enormous amount of tips she got from bar work. And I got overtime working in call centres, and retail - lots of free meals & Prosecco when I worked for a PR company and then there’s bankers etc of course who get huge bonuses.

I don’t get gifts, tips, bonuses or overtime in my current job 😆 but OTOH I’m never expected to work overtime , or if I do I can claim it back as flexi, and also I don’t end up buying resources to do my job like many teachers do.

Bit off topic but I really hope they start funding schools better because teachers shouldn’t need to buy class books and stationary etc., they’re saving the government a fortune.

👏

I believe we could accept gifts under a certain amount tax-wise and I don't think we ever had to declare the vouchers given to us by the Class Reps...

And I'd equally have to declare a £5 box of chocolates as much as a £5 John Lewis voucher, surely?

I don't think clubbing together is necessary and I like hand-made gifts from the kids more.

My favourite was a decorated jar with my favourite sweets in from a Y9. Could I eat 30 jars of sweets? Probably. And better than tat. But £5 vouchers are much appreciated...