Interested to know what others think about this article on BBC?

[boundarysponge]

My weekly juggling act - being a teacher to other children and a mum to my own https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yvvr5z2pro

My own feeling is this is just the life of most working women

Yep pretty much
Except a lot of working mums are also single and not earning a teacher’s salary

My thought is that if her husband works from home, why is she the one dropping her child off at breakfast club at half 7, and then also picking him up at the end of the day? Has he considered pulling his weight there?

ETA - but also, yes, sounds fairly typical of parents working full time. And I think school holidays are a relatively decent trade off for potentially less flexibility (although only less compared to some people, not compared to plenty of other jobs). And she acknowledges she won’t get the same salary anywhere else, so it’s a case of pick where you sacrifice sometimes 🤷🏻‍♀️

I don’t think I can bear to read anything on the BBC these days. Whoever’s in charge is clueless.

I don't think there's anything to object to. Presumably she does pick ups & drop offs because she's on her way to or from work. It looks like a fairly normal description of having a FT job.

A lot of that is similar to my (non teaching job) experience. I work in software consulting, I work full time, leave the house at 7.30, get home at 6.30 or so. I have much longer days and overnights when I am visiting clients. Dh is very hands on, does all the school runs and cooks the evening meal because he works from home full time. I definitely feel like sometimes in the week I barely see the kids, and it is easy to feel like everything is very rushed all the time.

The main difference for us I think is that I dont do any work related stuff outside of those hours, I wouldn't be prepared to pick up my laptop again in the evening, and definitely not on the weekend, so I can see that her additional hours there are going to impact her family life and how connected she feels to her kids. I know there are plenty of non teaching roles out there though that have that expectation. I have gone out of my way to avoid those types of roles and companies though, even if that might limit my progression options slightly. A company would have to be paying me a shed load of money, way more than a teaching wage, to get that kind of work balance from me.

Sounds like a normal working parent to me honestly…at least she doesn’t have to pay for childcare during school holidays like those of us in other professions do

I found it a really strange article…it’s tough being a FT working Mum. We all know and it’s hardly news.

Teacher here. I’m working 60 hours a week. Also looking after 3DC. It’s simply not the same as a ‘normal job’.

Lots of people assume that you have all the holidays off. You really don’t. Over the Easter break I worked most days and only took 4 days off.

There’s a crisis in recruitment and retention right now. If anyone out there thinks this sounds easy, go ahead and apply!

Also, there is zero flexibility. I’ve missed funerals, weddings and sports days. You can’t take days off.

Exactly. People in charge there are clueless.

But for the vast majority their work stops when they leave work. The evening and weekend workload is significant as a teacher.

I’d have lots of sympathy for her if the article was written from the point of view of a working parent. Like is so often the case with the teachers I know (some of whom are close friends), it’s as if the writer of this article, and the subject, think that teachers are somehow different in this respect.

Loads of working parents (myself included) are juggling with kids, work, home, other caring or volunteering. Loads of working parents don’t make it to school events. Loads of working parents struggle with the guilt of not having a much time to dedicate to their children as they’d like. Loads of working parents are answering emails in the evening, or dealing with all manner of personal and emotional issues in their team, or the customers / other stakeholders they work with.

I’m in the trenches with the teachers who are also parents, because I’m also a working parent.

I don't understand why you use the word 'just'. It's an article where someone explains the pressures in their life. If your life is also similarly pressured, presumably you identify.

It is hard juggling a job like teaching with parenting - it's a job that has less flexibility than many other jobs. On the plus side it has less childcare pressure in the holidays.

I’m not having a go at teachers. I know lots of teachers in my friendship group, all working mothers work hard, long hours, commute etc.
In fairness I would also say that most teachers haven’t experienced other jobs so don’t see the long hours culture in many places. Bringing work home is increasingly normalised sadly.

@katmarie however as the lady in the article points out, she does have the holidays to mostly rest.

I work as a finance manager and earn a similar salary to a well-qualified teacher. I wfh most of the time but often I have to be online in the late evening for calls with our US parent company, or to finish the month end reporting.

My dh has a job where he is in a different city on each of 4 days of the week, and one day he is wfh .

My days are similar to the school teacher except we usually get up at 6.30 except on days going to the gym - then I get up at 5.20 so I’m home by 7am.

My dh helps with school run drop-offs three or four days a week, so he typically works 9.30 to 18.30, or 10am to 7pm. He also has to do client socialising typically once a month so quite often I don’t see him til 8pm or later.

As a result my youngest doesn’t have to go to breakfast club. Dh or I does reading and spelling and tables with ds2 from 7.30am to 8am, then if Dh needs to rush to work I do half an hour at my desk while ds plays before school run .

My oldest dc at secondary looks after themselves largely and doesn’t need my input until late evening.

I don’t find this anything unusual in this work pattern. It is relentless though.

I don’t get six weeks off in the summer, or two weeks at Christmas and Easter.

It isn't new news, but the reality of life is newsworthy.

Doesn't hurt for people who don't know this reality to learn about it.

Stopped reading half way through as I got really annoyed at no mention of the husband doing anything. He is working from home. Why isn’t he doing drop offs and pick ups? Dinner? Meal planning, cleaning and whatever else.

This is not about how hard and all consuming teaching can be (and it can be), this is about life with a shit husband.

I think the problem with the article is that it is somehow saying that teaching is a unique pressure. Many of us know that other jobs have this level of pressure too.

Most parents I know have to do work when the kids go to bed or they take turns when the other parent is home.

@EwwPeople exactly this.

Also why did the BBC not compare and contrast the life of another professional working mum with a useless husband? This is poor journalism from the BBC.

It does teachers no favours to make them think they are the only ones up at 6am and going non stop til 10.30pm. That’s the reality for most of us.

This is the exact reason I won’t pay for a TV licence. Typical BBC nonsense that tries to make out teachers are different to other working parents.

It's not saying that. You have a chip on your shoulder.

The point of the article is explaining why there is a retention crisis in teaching and why more teachers are needed.

Teacher here. DH works from home and does school run. I think it’s a great job to have as a parent as we get the holidays together. The only thing is I find sometimes by the time I get home my patience has worn thin - it’s an emotionally demanding job (as are many others I know).

That article made me think "you just Want to be on the telly"

You don’t think other women, in other roles, are working such long hours who are also looking after children?! You also know, other women in other roles are also set to the number of days they have off? You know about those women, some single mothers, who are working 2 or 3 jobs just to make ends meet?

My cousins, both of them, are teachers. We attended a Friday wedding in February, lovely day it was! They rang in sick!