“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 100% read this in Perry’s voice (Well, Burke being Perry)

Bonkers batshit Mumsnet 😃

As it was meant to be 😁

I have to say that I noticed state schools children used 'Miss' rather than Miss or Mrs Whatever. Male teachers have always been 'Sir' as far as I know but the kids knew the teacher's name.

Any teacher with a PhD was, of course, Dr Whatever but often called "Prof".

At all my schools we used the teacher's name (I never had male teachers). The secondary modern and comprehensive children said, "Miss".

Grammar schools, which are state, tended to encourage pupils to use the teacher's name.

'Ma'am' was generally used at boarding schools.

Nuns were Sister or Mother Whatever.

I have no bias, it's just the way it used to be. It may be different now of course.

Miss and Sir at my kids school. And was the same for me about 30 years ago…at primary I think they called them Mrs Surname, and they were all female, a rare beast the male primary teacher!

Yep it was Sir and Miss at my School which was a rough comprehensive in Scotland’Miss I’m stuck!’

Wish the male primary teacher wasn’t so rare! Very fortunate to have quite a few at our school.

@mm81736 yes you often got boys being called by their surname when I was at school (80s comp).
Even now though teenage boys seem to go through a phase of calling each other by their surnames but adding Y to the end.
So Tom Smith and Bob Jones become Smithy and Jonesy.

I'd prefer first names or a generic teacher. "Hey teacher, can I...". I think the whole title last name is very outdated and sir is just the worst. But then again I didn't go to school in uk. I did go to university in the UK and there all the lecturers and staff were fist name.

Its awful. We addressed our teachers properly, using their names like Mrs Spencer.

They were using Miss and Sir in grammar schools just after the war.

Source : Ptang Yang Kipperbang.

'Hey, woman in the office'.

'Ask the Admin'

'Hey, receptionist'

'Hey, Secretary. (Actually IT Manager, MIS and Trust Reporting Lead and a highly qualified and experienced person who really doesn't appreciate being assumed to be something she isn't just because she's female).

'Hey, I don't actually have a clue what you're for, but you're here every day, so I suppose you must work here'

'Hey, cleaner'.

'Hey, Trust Compliance Manager, Data Protection Officer, Sustainability Lead and Person That Knows How to Fix the Photocopier When it Starts Making That Grinding Noise'

It's already weird that people are thinking Miss is lower rank than Sir (as though Mrs would mean the person concerned was of higher value, due purely to having a man prepared to have sex with and marry her), but using generic job titles in preference to a simple, respectful Miss is weirder still.

Did you go to a private school, and do your children go to a private school? I called my teachers Miss and Sir in the 80s and my children do the same now

It was normal when I was at school ( 90s) and my teens are now 13 and 15 and it was normal in primary and normal in high school.

Miss and Sir were always used when I was teaching in England in the 80s/90s.
It's never been a thing in any Scottish school I've been in.

I went to a mix of state and private and so have my children. Never Sir and Miss. Always full names. Mix of one form entry schools to 1000+ schools.

No. Your sister would be "Doctor"

When I worked in an international school many years ago, the American students called all female staff Ma'am. I got used to it and rather liked it. It sounded very respectful they way they said it. And especially so since I wasn't much older than the oldest students.

I think most teachers can choose what they want the children to call them to be honest, so there’s no real angst.

Only fortunate if the male primary teacher is any good… the sex of a teacher doesn’t inherently make them any better.

You told us that your son asks teachers their names

either your son is trolling or you are

in a big secondary, "Sir and Miss" is accepted shorthand for "teacher"
by pupils and all staff