“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 🫣

@EmmyPankhurst how would you have got the attention of or responded to a teacher whose name you didn't know?

Actually in my DC school the female teachers are Madam Surname. I love that. There's also a female Dr Surname and a male Dr Surname. This is a rough, white w/c school. I think it's so good they are putting female teachers on a par with males.

At my DS1s school it was Sir and Miss (no surname) and it drove me a bit mad. Neither were private schools.

Normal.

As a (married) teacher, I truly don't care. Sometimes they call me Miss, sometimes they say MrsLatte. They're not calling me swear words so I take it as a win.

Fortunately I have no intention of ever being a teacher.
But if I was I would find being addressed as "Miss" to be demeaning and disrespectful. The female equivalent of "Sir" is "Ma'am". I would also accept Dr (surname).

Like that every school I’ve worked in

I don’t want to be a Ma’am. It’s weird and makes me feel old.

I agree that it could seem disrespectful to use Sir or Miss when talking about a teacher but sometimes I genuinely can’t remember their names. I absolutely don’t care if another teacher does this when talking about me.

Many of the slightly older students have nicknames for the staff. Some of them are hilarious.

I’m a secondary teacher. I get called Miss. it really doesn’t bother me, it’s just what female teachers are called, male teachers are sir. I think if I were called Miss outside of school it might sound patronising but weirdly it doesn’t feel like that at all within schools. I find that when the children are writing my name on their books, writing emails etc they are very careful to try and use the correct title (ie Mrs Xxxx). We have several doctors at the school and children are very good at using their correct title if they are talking about a specific teacher, but if they were answering the register or asking a quick question it would be ‘Miss’.
I’ve worked in schools where female teachers are called Ma’am and it felt a bit weird to me!

This is a big no no in my view. Teachers should call each other by full names in front of other staff.

We have several staff members with PHDs. They are all called Sir/Miss. There is no disrespect there.

If we called the teachers Professor and support staff Sir/Miss, it would just be confusing.

It’s quite sad really when I think of all the kids over the years affectionately calling their teachers Miss and the teachers secretly fuming about it.

In our school the PHds do go by doctor.

I worked in education and we were based in offices on one of the school sites. You'd sometimes even hear the teachers calling each other Miss and Sir. I think they got used to doing it in front of the kids and it stuck. More than once a teacher I didn't know personally would say to me in the car park something like 'have a good weekend Miss' even though I wasn't a teacher. It was a very big school with a lot of visiting staff from other school sites so I think it was just a safe form of address.

I don’t think many of them are!

I went to private schools, as did my siblings, one of whom currently teaches in a Waldorf school. Sir and Miss was, and remains, the norm in our experience.

(My first thought was that the OP is trying to make some sort of extreme political point.)

Strong people choose their battles wisely. What’s being discussed here in the scale of things is tinsel, glitters nicely, but isn’t really that much use. But if “Miss” is recognised as the best teacher in the school, commands the most respect, becomes a role model for many, is remembered more by all her pupils, then that’s a core of steel, and is a quiet satisfactory two fingers up to the truly sexist individuals out there.

Are you a teacher? I am and have no problem at all with being called Miss. In fact, most of us teachers call each other Miss and Sir in conversation. The pupils are being respectful when they say it and they do not perceive Sir as better than Miss.
Please don’t be offended on my behalf, I can assure you that I have never felt infantilised by the children or my colleagues.

My son has just started secondary and says he calls the teachers sir or miss.
He doesn't actually know most of their names 🙈

I was at school in the mid 50s to late 60s - we also called our teachers "Miss" and "Sir" at primary and grammar school.

Miss?

why not at least a name for an adult woman? Maam would be appropriate. Miss is a title for a young child.

Completely normal in my high school in the mid noughties. Never in primary school though

I'm not speaking for anyone, I'm just making a comment about the inequality inherent in using these titles. You, on the other hand, do appear to be speaking on behalf of all female teachers.

My title is Miss and I'm in my forties.

It is 'Miss' because traditionally female teachers couldn't be married and therefore all teachers were 'Miss'.

I was a Miss when teaching and will remain a Miss as I have no intention of getting married so I don't find it infantalising.

Teachers will also call each other Miss and Sir Infront of students too.

I was never fuming about kids calling me miss but it is a bit shit when colleagues do it in place of learning your name. Also, fuck me am I going to call down a corridor ‘oh SIR can I grab a word’ after a male staff member rather than say ‘oh Mr Shinyshoes do you have a minute’. He’s not getting an honorific just for being a bloke.

Was normal at my school 2004-2011