“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 🫣

Why?

Miss is a title given to young girls or unmarried women.

Sir is a form of respect - a title given to somewhere who has been awarded a royal honour.

If you think about it, it's weird that they call the male teachers "sir"

It's normal here (N Wales). It was the same when I was in school.

I am a peripatetic teacher in primary. In some schools teachers will even use Miss / Sir when talking to colleagues in front of the children.

Yep. Totally normal. I always thought it bizarre. I went to a school where we called the teachers by their first names until secondary. Then at 16 at college the same.

I always knew that my teacher friends and family hate to hear that whiny, almost sarcastic 'siiiirrr' 'mmmiiissss' prefix to any question.

They should taught to say Mr or Ms whatever their surname is. But I'd honestly prefer they just used first names. In work you don't call your superiors 'sir/miss'. Unless you're a fucking butler?

Very normal where I am except for a couple of schools where it's 'sir' and 'ma'am'

What would you prefer?

We had a teacher at school who had a doctorate in earthworms and insisted on being called doctor

Made him sound a bit up himself to be honest

It's quite interesting really when you think about it.
Married women being called "Miss" as their job title yet back in the old days a woman who was a housekeeper or the cook in a big house would have been called "Mrs" even though they would be unmarried (ie Mrs Hughes and Mrs Pattmore in Downton Abbey)

I assume the 'Miss' 'Sir' may be a hangover from the days when women would give up work when married, so the only female teachers would be Miss.

So what does the new intake call all the staff they don't know? (or what are new members of staff called to start with?)

We called them by Mr / Miss / Mrs their name at my highschool. But the school I went to was a third of the size the ones my son's are at. They can't be expected to remember the name of every single teacher, especially when they're helping out at an event and it could be teachers who have never taught them.

I don’t think teachers are “looking for attention” 😂 But respect and to be called by their actual name - yes!

Teacher here for 27 years in secondary. In big schools sometimes the children are never taught by you so they won’t know your name. Miss will do.
I’ve also been called Mum (funny) and Nan…..(gutted).

Miss isn't childish. It's an abbreviated form of Mistress, which is the feminine form of Master. It's a term of respect.

Sure. But many interactions don’t require names. Eg holding a door open for a teacher “thank you”, “you’re welcome”. No need to say “you’re welcome sir/miss”
They don't as far as I recall!
This is such an odd thread!

Perhaps try a posher school? The teachers there may give a damn about being addressed by full titles all the time!
I got used to being called Miss in school, despite not being a teacher, because the kids just use it as shorthand. To me it hilarious at first because ‘miss’
was a title for teachers… so I felt like I was getting unearned respect.

I was on a train recently. There were a load of teachers In my carriage.

The teenage students were all in the next carriage. They couldn't hear the teachers.

The teachers were having a conversation with each other. They were calling each other miss and sir!

Normal when I was in school in both primary and secondary, my children were in school and when I taught to be Miss/Sir/Sister X (catholic school and also had those with phd's who taught)

This has been the norm since me and my siblings were at secondary school so we're talking 70s onwards.

Very normal. Often used interchangeably with actual name. It really isn't an issue

So what were the women called when you didn't know their names?

They learn their teachers names? Is it that hard? My son has 15 teachers. He learned their names by week 2. They’re written on his timetable etc and online. It’s just courtesy. Just as most of his teachers learned his name by week 2.

My daughter is a lecturer at a sixth form college and says all the new starters call her “miss” for the first few months as that is what they are used to from school. it’s always been the case here - I said miss/sir in school and I finished secondary school in 1983 - as did my children who are only in their 20s. I did also have nuns as teachers and called them sister rather than miss.

On the back of this thread I've just phi ed my mum and dad up who are 84 and 83 respectively.
They called their teachers sir and miss!

Come to think of it even our Sisters were Miss!