I am not sure I agree that Teachers have absolutely exhausting jobs - much more so than most jobs - as said by man on r4 this morning

[RevolutionHere]

i am not sure what my dh, former welder would make of this statement

this is an argument regarding long summer holidays,

It’s not that amazing any more. It’s good, certainly, but no longer amazing. And we pay quite a high proportion of salary into it.

DH was a teacher for 18 years after being in the NHS for 20. He went into teaching because he couldn't cope with the stress of the NHS any longer. He found teaching much easier.
I've done 35 years in the NHS, every year gets so much harder and more and more is expected if us. I live in fear of being sued for dropping the ball, even though I'm never given enough time to keep the ball in the air.
There should be 3 of my specialty in our unit. There's just me. The managers complain that the waiting time is going up.
I'll have to retire soon for my own sanity.

I think this is a fair point. DD is an a&e nurse and as well as being busy and interesting she has been legitimately traumatised by her job. My dad was a police officer and was also traumatised. Teaching seems mentally exhausting in a boring and frustrating way, where you just run out of steam of same old shit different day. Lots of jobs are like that I think. It is different to physical work which generally isn’t mentally exhausting so your brain continues to need to be fed outside of work.

I’ve just retired after 36 years secondary teaching and I tell you, I am worn out.
It’s not just the physicality of literally being on your feet for 7 hours without sitting down, it’s the mental load on top. I teach a 100% practical subject.

It still hasn’t sunk in that, for the first time in 36 years, I don’t have to plan anything for school during the summer holidays, and it probably won’t until September.

And you don't have the monopoly on egg sandwiches.
(what, you never claimed you had? Wonder what point I'm trying to make!!)

Children really aren’t the reason teaching is exhausting…

OH is a stonemason. His job is extremely physically demanding and exhausting. However , when he leaves the site , that’s it. Done. His back/legs might be hurting, but he’s happy to socialise in the pub for a bit, come home all cheery and chatty and he’s fine, work was fine.

I’m a TA and while the job is only somewhat physically demanding, mentally and emotionally I’m drained most days. Chasing kids(that try to escape) all day, dealing with their rage/trauma/meltdowns, being sworn at, spat at , threatened, punched, kicked, have shit thrown at me, trying to stop kids from battering eachother, trying to support/console kids that witnessed a stabbing(more common than you think), or DV, or were taken into care overnight , or a billion other things. Dealing with medical issues/medication, or worse refusal of medication. Disclosures, records of concern, existing injury forms.Attending meetings for this and that . And on top of that, actually doing my TA jobs , actually trying to support/teach my group and sometimes even teaching a class of 30 on my own because we’re that stupidly short staffed. And I get home and I realise in the silence all the things I forgot or that are piling up or that shit I didn’t check on Sarah who seemed a bit low the past two days and I never looked for Jimmy’s jumper like I promised mum and that I need to somehow make sure I do my interventions at least once this week , because despite being out of class, they still need to be done. Some days I’m already behind by 9 am. And repeat.

Congratulations on your retirement and Thank you for all your many years of service.

Which equates to the same as someone who gets five weeks holiday or 25 days plus public holidays as is standard! Yet people think we get paid for all of our holidays!

thanks at least for your apology @NannyOgg1341
i will take that

it is really, really good. And regardless of how much of your salary you put in, your employees contribution is exceptional. It really is a privilege of the profession . And it’s admirable that teachers have managed to keep hold of it tbh, considering how out of line it is with pension schemes in 2025.

I don't know. I wouldn't want to be a teacher. I was until recently a nursery nurse though. That's hard physically attacked by children (biting, hitting, scratching), expected to be upbeat and positive for 10 hours a day, constantly supervising and trying to anticipate their next move, verbally assaulted by parents, providing everything for the children for the whole day. Then paperwork in the evening. Do we get six weeks off? Do we get more than minimum wage?
So yes I'm 100% certain that teaching is bloody hard and exhausting but more exhausting than some other jobs? Absolutely not. Perhaps we should all get long holidays and then there would be no-one complaining about teachers holidays.

And in 2 years they're going to test everyone on what they learned in the party- if they don't remember it will be your fault. Also 6 of them missed most of the party but will still sit the same questions as everyone else.

Do you know I think we can do a lot with this metaphor 😂

It’s pretty obvious to me that the OP does not work at all.

Nope, it really isn’t. There are other humans that make the job exhausting! 😂😂

I found teaching mentally exhausting in a way that no other job I have done was or is.

Imagine (if you are not and have not been a teacher) being on show, on stage, the whole day. Everything you say or do is looked at and picked up on. You are performing non-stop. You can’t pause and glance out of the window or go and get a coffee or go to the loo. And even though some of the time (maybe a lot of the time) you are imparting knowledge from your wonderful subject that you love (I really do), some of the time you are spending in frustrating, repetitive crowd control. And sometimes you are doing both those things and more. And you switch from 11yos who have never studied the subject before to 16yos who are taking a challenging series of exams in it in two months’ time.

Some days I had form time x 2, five lessons and break duty. The only time I got to eat or drink or have a wee was a 30-min lunchtime, half of which was taken up by admin from the morning’s lessons.

I don’t think it is physically exhausting in the way that working in a factory (which I have done) or on a building site (which I have not) is; but it is draining. And then you come home and spend two hours marking.

The exhaustion is not the only or even the main reason why I stopped classroom teaching, but it was certainly a factor. It’s not a competition though and it makes me sad that anyone tries to make it one.

So the OP returns to accept an apology but still has not delighted us with anecdotes from her long teaching career? Goady fuckwittery of the first order.

I’m a teacher and I am exhausted. Loads of other people in all sorts of jobs are also probably exhausted but since I don’t do their job I wouldn’t be able to compare with teaching. The holidays are wonderful, pay is pretty good and the pension is too. What isn’t good is having a job which so many people have pre conceived ideas about just because they went to school once. I went to hospital once - doesn’t mean I have a clue about what a nurse does. Public sector roles - especially teaching- are scrutinised by the public in a really weird way.

Who said they do?

They don't get paid for the holidays and are quite limited in only having to go on holiday during school holidays.

Btw, despite all that, I could never do , or handle emergency worker jobs , or social work or healthcare . I know there are loads of other jobs out there that are even worse.

i was simply quoting the eejit on the radio

Secondary teacher for 16 years here, until I quit December 2013.

Teacher salary is for term time only, spread out to 12 months, just the same as TA’s, except teachers’ degrees give them a higher starting salary.

FGS... I don't think anyone has claimed teaching is the most exhausting job ever..

I would agree from my experiences in teaching small groups, plus my experience of being a pupil, that teaching is bloody hard work and day in, day out, particularly teaching younger students who frankly do not want to bloody learn (whereas I was teaching specialist skills to people who were paying me to do so, so very much DID want to learn)... is even harder.

Welding or other forms of very tough manual labour... is not 'most jobs', thats a pretty niche, specialist job, there are nowhere near as many welders as there are office workers, shop workers, cleaners etc.

The long holidays, kinda necessary as schools are shut - what do you want them to do, show up and teach an empty room?

Nobody thinks it’s the hardest job ever. Where are you getting this from? I’ve never heard a teacher, either in RL or on here, say that.