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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

1000 replies

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 20:37

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

this is an argument regarding long summer holidays,

OP posts:
Windywuss · 20/07/2025 21:29

Bambamhoohoo · 20/07/2025 21:06

Do you know what makes me laugh is you know what’s really bloody easy- being a university lecturer. All the benefits of teaching but with adults and massively reduced timetable. People never seem to talk about how easy they have it with the same frequency as they do about school teaching 🤷🏼‍♀️

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeeeeeah...dead easy mate.

Go post this on the uni staff board, I dare you 😆🤦🏻

Anyonecanachieve · 20/07/2025 21:29

BCBird · 20/07/2025 20:39

Teacher of 31 years. Retired Friday- early. Reason for leaving: i don't want to work so hard anymore. It is exhausting.

I’m going part time at 52 as I literally can not cope anymore. It’s exhausting. I will do 3 years part time and fortunately be in a position to retire but that due to my husband not me. I work 6-9 pm x5 days a week and one day at a weekend for less than my friend gets working full time for Tesco wtaf?

HighLadyofTheNightCourt · 20/07/2025 21:29

GonnaeNoDaeThatJustGonnaeNo · 20/07/2025 21:22

I’ve no doubt it is exhausting.

but so are loads of other jobs.

many on lower wages and without 13 weeks annual leave per year.

teachers don’t have the monopoly on being tired 😪

Nobody is saying they do 🤷🏼‍♀️
and remember, teachers don’t get paid for all those holidays.

vipersnest1 · 20/07/2025 21:30

You can take your opinion, @RevolutionHere and stick it anywhere you feel appropriate.

Bambamhoohoo · 20/07/2025 21:30

WhenYouSayNothingAtAll · 20/07/2025 21:24

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.

It kind of blows my mind that anyone does a TA job. Like why, for minimum wage? You could be stacking in a warehouse or serving behind the till in M&S. why would anyone chose to do this instead? It’s like the ultimate piss take job. It makes me angry that it’s always women who do it and have the piss taken out of them. I do wonder if it attracts women who think they are a bit better than a self stacker though so exchange a decent job for some perceived status.

cardibach · 20/07/2025 21:31

Bambamhoohoo · 20/07/2025 21:23

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.

If you think teaching is boring or ‘same shit different day’ then you have absolutely zero idea or understanding of it. Boring is one thing it never is.

Thepossibility · 20/07/2025 21:31

My DH used to do a physical job very similar to your DH and is now a teacher. He would say teaching is by far harder. The other job was harder on the body, but teaching is more exhausting. Your brain can't just switch off at the end of the day. You can't just knuckle down and focus on one task and complete it...constant interruptions and doing 100 things at a time is its own type of exhaustion. Dealing with other people's problems and opinions constantly!
But the holidays make up for it a little bit.

Bambamhoohoo · 20/07/2025 21:31

Windywuss · 20/07/2025 21:29

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Yeeeeeah...dead easy mate.

Go post this on the uni staff board, I dare you 😆🤦🏻

Don’t worry I’m highly experienced in listening to how hard university staff have it 🤣

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 21:31

DreamingofTimbuktuagain · 20/07/2025 21:06

Given you refuse to say what you do OP and only reference your husband’s job we can only assume you don’t have one. I’d further speculate that is due to a poor education meaning you’d only get a job you’d consider “beneath you” and resent your former teachers and their wider profession for this.

i have already said i am not bashing teachers,
my job is irrelevant, i was simply saying other jobs are exhausting, longer hours,
i cant believe some of you are teachers quite frankly

OP posts:
Sundaymorningcalla · 20/07/2025 21:31

Knittedfairies2 · 20/07/2025 20:56

Is being a welder mentally exhausting? Because teaching is.

Yes, and physically. Particularly TIG welding.

middleeasternpromise · 20/07/2025 21:32

I am not a teacher but work in a profession that goes into schools, what I have learned about the job that I would find stressful is :

living by very tight timings - everything is timetabled and staff are expected to manage the unexpected within that - a child who shares a safeguarding concern, a conflict between pupils; unexpected environment issues like a classroom becoming unavailable

What do I notice - people dont eat or drink or go to the toilet without always noticing - that takes terrible toll on the body.

Emails - teachers often read emails day and night and over the weekends routinely - this is a central way of communication in schools because of the structure of working in classrooms - this leads to limited time away from the job - this is bad for well-being. Emails can lead to miscommunication between staff and managers - increasing stress levels if there are tensions.

Now parents use email it changes communication where talking would have taken place face to face there is more time needed for responding - its good for real time information sharing, not so good for a system set up to deal with meeting in person.

Very little thinking space is available in teaching - teachers are always dealing with groups or individuals - there is little time to process without being responsible for monitoring what is going on in the environment and being ready to intervene.

Some of the leadership positions offer different opportunities and I have met amazing people who have stayed in teaching and gone into leadership. Its not a role I would choose or recommend to someone I cared about.

Good teachers make a huge difference to children and young people - literally life changing.

Astleyxyz · 20/07/2025 21:32

Goady bollocks

MasterBeth · 20/07/2025 21:32

TheMeasure · 20/07/2025 21:20

"Teaching is the only job with holidays that good. Teachers cannot argue with that."
And have you ever heard a teacher arguing that the holidays are NOT good? I have not.

Yes.

I have heard teachers argue that:

They have to work over the holidays.

They are not paid for the holidays (a very technical and practically irrelevant point IMO - they get 12 monthly paycheques).

They cannot choose when they take their holidays, so have to pay high costs for flights and accommodation.

All of these things may be true, but they are not unique to teaching.

HighLadyofTheNightCourt · 20/07/2025 21:32

Bambamhoohoo · 20/07/2025 21:06

Do you know what makes me laugh is you know what’s really bloody easy- being a university lecturer. All the benefits of teaching but with adults and massively reduced timetable. People never seem to talk about how easy they have it with the same frequency as they do about school teaching 🤷🏼‍♀️

Hahahaha please tell me you’re being sarcastic?

clary · 20/07/2025 21:33

most people have never worked anywhere but schools so assume it’s the hardest/worst job ever

This is not my personal experience btw. I knew a good number of teachers (inc me) who had also done other jobs – from journalist and HR to retail management and civil engineer.

Tho I'll be honest, if I think of the three very very best and most talented and brilliant teachers I worked with, they were all career teachers who had never done anything else. And thank goodness all of them are still in the classroom, teaching, even though I bailed.

Hercisback1 · 20/07/2025 21:33

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 21:31

i have already said i am not bashing teachers,
my job is irrelevant, i was simply saying other jobs are exhausting, longer hours,
i cant believe some of you are teachers quite frankly

Why can't you belive?

There's plenty of research out there about teacher workload and working hours.
I don't think the man said it was the most exhausting job...

TheFallenMadonna · 20/07/2025 21:33

Trouble is, there is a real issue with recruitment and retention. Anything that makes the profession less appealing will make that worse, and while many parents are unaware of the scale of this (especially if their children are in leafier schools), it's really a crisis in some areas, education sectors and subjects.
And honestly, I don't think it's really about pay. But making the holidays shorter or going for pensions would seriously have made me question staying when I was younger.

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 21:34

PoplinPopIn · 20/07/2025 21:26

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

what are you implying?

OP posts:
Windywuss · 20/07/2025 21:34

Bambamhoohoo · 20/07/2025 21:31

Don’t worry I’m highly experienced in listening to how hard university staff have it 🤣

And yet have no clue what the job is. Like a teacher but with less timetable...love it.

CarpeVitam · 20/07/2025 21:35

Darragon · 20/07/2025 20:43

Ok great, why does the rest of the world need to hear your opinion on this OP? Usually there's a phone number for the radio where you can tell them what you think while it's on and if it's witty, original, interesting etc they'll read it out. If they don't read it out, no one probably wants to hear it.

Meow

Booklover2021 · 20/07/2025 21:35

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 20:39

is it goady?
it was a quote from the radio?
i was gob smacked
i am sure at this time of year, sure, the thought of a summer break teachers would feel totally hard done by and agree with the statement
but not everybody is a teacher

I'll say what I say to everyone who goes down the "so much holiday route" (btw, I work most of my "holidays")

There's a teacher shortage, please feel free to join the profession and enjoy the perks of all the"holidays"

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 21:35

Astleyxyz · 20/07/2025 21:32

Goady bollocks

do you need a break?
bless

OP posts:
Letsgoforaskip · 20/07/2025 21:35

I have done a lot of very different jobs, from manual to professional in a variety of settings. In my experience, teaching is challenging because you give of yourself all day. Most jobs have lulls where you might be doing something different e.g. driving to a meeting. With teaching, you are delivering to an audience, many of whom do not want to be there and all have their own issues (as of course do the teachers). How you put yourself across is crucial, with no let up. Added to that there is endless paperwork, vital safeguarding and some unrealistic expectations.
The best teachers I know will spend a lot of each holiday and at least one weekend day working. With physical jobs, at least you have the satisfaction of getting the job done. I don’t think that often happens in teaching. There is always more that can be done.
I think it says something when there are adverts for certain careers on national television. If teaching were a doddle, they probably wouldn’t be needed.

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 21:36

you lot have put me off teaching, dont worry, let alone teachers, quite frightening! #

sounds like you would miss it if you gave up

OP posts:
Astleyxyz · 20/07/2025 21:36

RevolutionHere · 20/07/2025 21:35

do you need a break?
bless

No I’m fine, I've got 6 weeks off 👍🏻

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