Please stop with the teacher and TA gifts!

[pinkksugarmouse]

Just that really. As someone who has worked in schools and knows many people who do presents are such an unnecessary pain. It’s just stuff bought for the sheer heck of buying and needs to stop. Protecting the environment is very high on the list of pupils concerns. Inundating people with unwanted things in their name isn’t respectful.
Please no more mugs, teddies, chocolates, bizarre decorations…how many teachers, TA’s, nursery staff do you think really want it?
You are just gifting them a trip to the charity shop and/or the need for more bin bags.

I totally agree although it's a lovely thought it would be better if schools did a wish list of things that would help the children's learning. I'm sure teachers don't want at least 12 cups a year!

Wow, have none of you seen the memo about climate change?

I'm sure some teachers love the stacks of presents they get but equally many don't.

I think a reset in how we show our appreciation is long overdue.

I've read loads of teacher present threads over the years and almost without exception they say they treasure the hand written notes most of all. Whether they appreciate wine, chocolate, smelliest, mugs etc seems to vary wildly. So rather than assuming that all teachers will definitely want whatever you've decided to give them, how about asking the PTA or similar, or maybe a fellow parent who is a teacher / friend to the teachers, what would be appropriate for your specific school?

My DC's school collect funds to buy a giant food and stationery hamper for the entire year group. Suggested contribution is £2, but obviously some parents who feel more well off contribute eg a tenner.

The hamper is for all teachers and TAs to share, and I think someone collated a book of handwritten notes by each child too one year.

To my mind this is eminently sensible.

Just because one teacher likes receiving 27 boxes of chocolates doesn't mean they all do. Ditto mugs etc.

OP is most definitely not a Grinch, but someone thinking about OUR CHILDREN'S futures. Each individual gift is just a drop in the tat ocean, but we need to change the mentality of giving bits of plastic because 'it's kind'. It's the wrong thing to do. Let's model that for our children.

Tbh I know it won't go down well but I've always found it odd(even when I worked in a school myself) that teachers and TA's don't have to declare like almost every other job.

We club together as a class to buy vouchers and flowers, much easier and nicer.

I love that someone who, from the sounds of it, is neither a teacher nor a TA, has come along to tell us we should all stop buying for teachers and TAs

Its DD's first year in school. We'll be buying wine and chocolate. If they don't want them, they're not exactly difficult items to pass on to someone else or the PTA. I only survived a year of teaching because its fucking awful 😂 I got through a lot of wine and chocolate and would absolutely have welcomed more.

I don't often receive gifts in my line of work but it's always touching to know someone appreciates you enough to have bought you a gift.

Only on Mumsnet do posters insist they don't want gifts. In RL my dcs teachers are awash with bottles of wine and chocolate and they all look pretty pleased tbh.

@Kikkomam

Only on Mumsnet do posters insist they don't want gifts. In RL my dcs teachers are awash with bottles of wine and chocolate and they all look pretty pleased tbh.

Well yes, it’s much easier to admit you’re skint and you’re fed up with the pressure to buy yet more gifts when you are anonymous on MN or other chat sites.

Only on Mumsnet do posters insist they don't want gifts. In RL my dcs teachers are awash with bottles of wine and chocolate and they all look pretty pleased tbh.
There is a difference between actively wanting gifts and graciously appreciating a gift that has been given and the thought behind it.

As a teacher I don't expect gifts. If a student gets me a gift then I thank them for it and appreciate he effort and sentiment behind it.

mycomputer I agree, I know it sounds mean spirited but there are tax implications for gifts in every other profession ... why not teaching? My DF used to receive lots of Christmas gifts from suppliers etc he had to give them in to a central 'pool' and if he specifically wanted anything he had to pay the market price. Not sure what happened to the unwanted gifts ... probably donated to charity.

@Ragwort

mycomputer I agree, I know it sounds mean spirited but there are tax implications for gifts in every other profession ... why not teaching? My DF used to receive lots of Christmas gifts from suppliers etc he had to give them in to a central 'pool' and if he specifically wanted anything he had to pay the market price. Not sure what happened to the unwanted gifts ... probably donated to charity.

Dd is working at an independent school atm. All Xmas gifts over a certain value must be declared.

Our school has completely banned gifts. Love it.

My favourite gift was a homemade xmas decoration made out of card and glitter, it still goes on the tree every year. Its things like that that cost little or nothing that mean the most because the children have made themselves.

@Totalwasteofpaper

What a Scrooge!

Teachers are so so under appreciated and underpaid.

My friend is a primary school teacher and LOVES the presents. It’s a highlight of her year…

Loads of people are under appreciated and underpaid.

Whether parents on low income “should” feel pressured or not a lot still do. They are also kind and generous. See pages on school fundraising on a Joseph Rowntree foundation. It says that children and parents feel pressure including more when they are an affluent area where other families can easily afford to spend more.

www.basw.co.uk/system/files/resources/basw_93245-5_0.pdf

There’s another thread on this board with people saying they give delivery drivers, postmen, milkmen and refuse collectors £10 or £20 each. Those people are worthy of a tip for good service, but they probably spend about a minute a week at most giving personal service to one one household.

Compare that to the hours that teachers and TAs spend with a child, and the personal attention each one gets, often extra time spent planning for an individual child, and a £2 mug really doesn’t seem like much in comparison.

OMG, RedSquirrel5. The bit about the mum with the paper cup and hot choc made me well up.
Not usually like that. Must be getting old.

OMG, RedSquirrel5. The bit about the mum with the paper cup and hot choc made me well up.
Not usually like that. Must be getting old.

Not sure how I managed to post the same thing twice. Definitely getting old. 😱

@MyComputerGetsSadWithoutMe

Tbh I know it won't go down well but I've always found it odd(even when I worked in a school myself) that teachers and TA's don't have to declare like almost every other job.

me too. I work in the public sector and we are only permitted to accept token presents. If refusal becomes awkward more valuable presents are handed over to be raffled off for charity. You'd be in a spot of trouble if you accepted a three figure John Lewis voucher of the kind that's often discussed on here when talking about class whip-rounds.

I think the whiprounds that go into hundreds that are discussed on here aren't the typical experiences of most parents and teachers in state comprehensives.

I've worked in quite affluent middle class state schools and the other extreme, and find that anything about education on here seems to be disproportionately weighted towards parents who are either affluent and tutoring for grammar, or independently educate their children. I hadn't even heard of class reps or self-appointed Queen bees who tell the minions in the class WhatsApp group what to do until I joined Mumsnet.

Wow what a grumpily written ungrateful post. Scrooge alert! 🧐

All the schools round here (State and private) each parent chips in £10 each and the teachers seem very happy about it.

I worked for a local authority for years. We couldn’t even accept a box of chocolates or wine. I’ve never understood the difference in rules.

It’s not Scrooge to point out this is an issue. DDs primary did try and tackle it in the last few years of primary (not successfully) by suggesting food bank donations instead. Her primary was located in an area of high unemployment and poverty. Parents would desperately try and outdo each other with massive bags of gifts with balloons attached. These are people living in actual poverty. It absolutely needs to be discouraged if not banned.

On the other hand I work in secondary schools and have seen teachers in years because a teenage boy has brought them a bar of chocolate they’ve bought themselves. It’s the thought behind it that matters.

@Skysblue

Wow what a grumpily written ungrateful post. Scrooge alert! 🧐

All the schools round here (State and private) each parent chips in £10 each and the teachers seem very happy about it.

Hopefully true that all parents can afford to chip in, but many ?most wouldn’t want other parents, organisers or maybe their own children know it is too much.

@pinkksugarmouse

Just that really. As someone who has worked in schools and knows many people who do presents are such an unnecessary pain. It’s just stuff bought for the sheer heck of buying and needs to stop. Protecting the environment is very high on the list of pupils concerns. Inundating people with unwanted things in their name isn’t respectful. Please no more mugs, teddies, chocolates, bizarre decorations…how many teachers, TA’s, nursery staff do you think really want it? You are just gifting them a trip to the charity shop and/or the need for more bin bags.

Why not think of the staff who don't earn as much as you and suggest the presents are donated to receptionists and cleaners, then?

@Skysblue

Wow what a grumpily written ungrateful post. Scrooge alert! 🧐

All the schools round here (State and private) each parent chips in £10 each and the teachers seem very happy about it.

Never in a million years would parents put in10 quid round my way😂😂