“Miss” and “Sir” in schools

[MyCleverGrayBear]

Been to lots of secondary school open days recently. At the state secondaries the children showing parents around etc called the teachers “Sir” and “Miss”. Is that normal? I haven’t heard this IRL ever.

(To be clear, “Miss, this parent wants to know about languages at school” vs “Mrs Jones, this parent would like to see the sports centre”. But also in a couple of classrooms there were children constantly saying “Miss, look at this, Miss, I’ve out the sign up, Miss, shall I stand here” etc and it was incredibly grating.)

And why are female teachers “Miss” and make teachers “Sir”? I felt like I was in a bad 80’s Grange Hill episode and Benny Hill was about to run in and chase me 🫣

It's not just teachers - it's all adults in a school. Large secondary schools have probably 100+ teachers, LSAs, admin staff, school nurses, pastoral staff, site staff, canteen staff etc not to mention all the visitors who come on and off site all the time. No child could possibly know everyone's name -the terms Sir and Miss are used as a sign of respect. I appreciate it's a bit annoying (Miss, has some derogatory connotations I agree), but I have worked in school management for years and always been referred to as 'Miss'. I've got used to it :)

Honestly I get sick and tired of people getting offended over every darn thing. These are school kids, let them say Miss and Sir if they want to for heavens sake.

To Sir with Love just wouldn’t have sounded the same as To Mr Thackery with Love.

Madam sounds silly, too stiff.

At mine the options are Miss, Sir and Doc (both female and male). Your SIL would be Doc.

Our students do this for all staff, teachers or support staff.

I much prefer Miss than “Mrs x”. Not least because Mrs X makes me think of MIL, doesn’t really feel like me. Wish there was an option for me to use for the students - hard to remember all their names as not a teacher.

Students use the teacher's first names in the school I work in (based in the NE).

But other than that, I've never come across anyone who hasn't at some point referred to their teachers as Miss and Sir.

I've also just asked my mam and she also called all her teachers Miss and Sir. She's mid 60s.

Because it's easier than remembering their names.

its this

@Applemayjune that went right over your head clearly.

Totally normal in my 90s comp

I work now with a cohort of people from deprived backgrounds. I can always tell the men who’ve been in prison as they call me “Miss” too - it’s how female prison officers get addressed.

I away called teachers Miss & sir - nothing unusual. My DC did too

Staff do it to each other too

Snap! My school did this and so did DC schools

The system that means the honorific for a woman denotes marital status (whether sir/miss or mr/miss/mrs) is pretty sexist, yes. Given that that exists, the usage of it in actual society isn’t intentionally so.

Very normal, I did this at secondary in the 00s and DS did at school too.

OP - seriously????

Have you been living in Narnia for your entire life or something?

This is entirely normal, and has been going on for several decades throughout the country. It'd be far more unusual to find a secondary school where teachers weren't called Sir or Miss.

Also weirdly staff tend to call each other miss and sir infront of the kids too. Bit like calling your partner ‘dad’ infront of the kids I guess.

helpful for me as I work in a large school and can’t always remember peoples names!

Yes very normal, I knew all my teachers names but it was much quicker to just say Miss or Sir. My children do the same.
I work in a SEN school and the children address us using our first names.

Ah, great film

As is Bunny Lake is Missing, which starts in a school!

I'm called 'miss' daily

Prison culture

We are all a miss or a gov!

I left school 18 years ago and we said Miss and Sir. My DC sometimes say Mrs X and sometimes say Miss, but they’re primary school.

I started high school in the early 00s and we all called the teachers sir and miss back then. This was at a normal high school that was rated outstanding by Ofsted at the time, not that the Ofsted rating really adds much to the context :D

I am interested in the fact that you heard this at open evenings and seem to be very judgemental about it. Are you literally judging school choice on this?

You went to a school where students were participating after hours, helping teachers out (who may not be their actual teacher), engaging in the school community and - by the sounds of it - being polite. And instead of being impressed, you pass judgement. Right- o.

Are your own children primary age, then? It's maybe less commonplace at primary.

This thread is a bit depressing - it’s fine because it was always like that.

there is no problem with giving a man an elevated honorific and and woman the prefix of a young girl.

anyone who suggests there is a problem is just being woke, extreme and overthinking it.

And we wonder why studies show time and time again that men are more respected than women in the workplace.

Normal. Sounds odd if you aren't used to it. One of my secondary schools did this and it was very odd to have to adjust to Mr/Ms/Mrs/Miss/Dr Surname when I moved schools!

I've been a teacher for 30 years. It's been the norm in almost all the schools I've worked in, with a couple of exceptions - notably one of the private schools. The grammar school I currently work in had apparently always insisted on Mr/Mrs/Miss + surname, but has gradually shifted to mostly Miss and Sir, to the disgust of some of the longer-standing staff. The rest of the teachers are used to it from other schools.

I prefer names, but tbh I'm too used to Miss and Sir to be that bothered about it. I totally disagree that it's disrespect orll laziness on the part of the kids though. Of course they know their teachers' names! And it wouldn't remotely occur to them that Miss/Sir was anything other than respectful. They use it because that's what is the norm and/or what's expected in their school! I think respect is about intent. My students don't respect me less than they respect the male teachers.

My very strict state school (secondary sector) used Sir and Ma'am. In the Grange Hill era!