“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 🫣

I think if female teachers were all up in arms over it then that would be different, but most of them don’t seem to give a toss so why the OP is stressed I don’t know.

The UK is obsessed with overthinking too many things, including trying to put everyone into little class boxes, tip toeing around trying not to hurt anyones feelings. It’s a minefield on social media, and feeding the uncertainties of many. I never gave a hoot about what someone called me, but I would correct those who might think a woman couldn’t do the same job as a man. This was in an era when there were few police”women”, few women in managerial/directorship roles. The wise didn’t obsess about what is basically surface trivia, they got out there and out performed their male colleagues in school, at work, at sport, in taking awards. Titles of any kind are given, but what really counts is getting out there, performing, being a role model, earning the respect. I never gave a male colleague respect, they like everyone else had to earn it. It’s the quality of the human being that counts, not the cock, balls, tits or whatever.

Is this really allowed on mumsnet???? Seriously get a grip. Its standard practice in schools to say this. Omg snowflakes need to grow up

Very normal in the UK, both when I attending them and now working as a teacher. Even in primary school children outside of my class often call me by Miss as they don't always know my name. What would the female equivalent of sir be?

I hate to break it to you, but some of us have to deal with 4,000 kids. Some, only 1,000.
Suggestions what to call male and female children individually? "Year seven" etc works en masse but if you don't like "Miss" I guess "poppet" isn't going to impress you. "Boy" or "girl" is incredibly rude and would be way to escalate a situation.

Kids can know the names but it’s very normal for children to say Miss, almost instinctive. I would say that kids who feel comfortable with that teacher are more likely to call them Miss so I’d take it as a compliment if anything.

Normal in my daughter's private school

We never used Sir and Miss at my schools, we always used full names: Mr X, Mrs Y etc. But I think most schools did and do use Sir and Miss. I've certainly been Miss for my whole teaching career. Teachers even call each other Sir and Miss.

When I was at school we called the male teachers sir and the female teachers madam. Madam just seemed weird to me. As a teacher myself, the pupils sometimes call me Miss or sometimes Miss Surname and the male teachers sir or Mr Surname. I don’t really mind being called Miss. It’s better than b, which I have been called many times over my career!

I'm actually addressed in many different ways because I teach 3 languages. So I'm variously Mme/Frau/Señora AllProperTeaIsTheft in lesons (and sometimes out of lessons) and otherwise Mrs AllProperTeaIsTheft or just Miss on its own. My students speak to me respectfully, whichever they use. That's much more important than quibbling over the convention.

Everyone here uses Miss/Sir and Miss X/Mr Y (never Mrs!) - Highlands.

This is totally normal at schools around here. DD just started College and the Tutors made a point to say "Call me Bob" rather than Sir or Miss.

I am now facebook friends with my old RE teacher from the 80's and still call him Sir if I see him .

It has been like this for years. My DD has just started secondary and I have to say I was quite surprised the terms were still used. I expected the teachers to be know by their name as in Mr Smith, Mrs Brown etc but Sir is just bizarre to still be a term that is used. I guess it's very deeply entrenched in our school culture.

It’s not just the prefix of a young girl.
It’s short for ‘Mistress’ which, yes, can be a young girl, or an unmarried woman of any age or - crucially - the woman in charge, as in Headmistress etc.

Totally. I can’t even believe this is an issue and I’ll say that much maligned MN command, some people need to give their head a wobble!

I think a kid calling you Miss is rather sweet. When I volunteered to do reading at a school it made me feel accepted when the kids called me Miss 😊

I went to school 4 different schools in the 70s and 80s (all in the UK), and we always called our teachers by their names (Mr or Mrs or Miss whatever). I'd never come across calling teachers 'Sir' or 'Miss' until my kids went to secondary school! But I know most do, I don't know why we didn't!

I'm a teacher. This is normal.

At my DS's school, it's "Sir" and "Ma'am". He will even refer to them as such when in conversation with me, telling me something about his day - which is confusing, because I don't know which teacher he is referring to!

Does it bother you being called Miss? Or not really?

Schools have also got much larger and staff are more transient/loads of cover, so the probability of needing to attract the attention of an adult whose name you don't know has increased.

Don't know anyone in the armed forces do you?

They aren't equal titles though. The fact that the children are unaware of this doesn't make it better.

It was always Miss and Sir when I was in high school. Never Mrs surname, Miss surname or Mr surname.

This was in Yorkshire in the 90s.

Did you go to a fairly posh school?

I don't mind being called Miss but I do expect students to email Dear Mrs X if they are aware that's my salutation. It's polite.

Its just a tradition in the profession, same as calling your GP doctor, despite the fact they don't have a doctorate, as Batchelor of Surgery Batchelor of Medicine is a mouthful!
we mustn't banish all our traditions. In the teaching profession, by in large it is seen as very proper and respectful.