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Original poster

Anyone got anything positive to say about teachers?

36 replies

TitianRed · 22/09/2006 20:00

Whenever I come on Mumsnet I find a lot of negative posts about teachers. As a teacher myself, I know how demanding the job is. It makes me thoroughly depressed to see the 'Us versus Them' mentality of a lot of Mumsnetters. Please realise that teachers want to work with you to get the best out of your child. We are not the enemy. Anyone got any positive stories to start the ball rolling, please?

OP posts:
puff · 22/09/2006 20:03

Titian - it's cyclical - September on Mumsnet can be rather demoralising for teachers.

Original poster
TitianRed · 22/09/2006 20:05

Thanks, Puff! I'm fairly new to MN and like to log on to unwind after a long day at school but, just lately, the posts have been getting me more stressed! Perhaps I'll avoid the Education section until around November.

OP posts:
puff · 22/09/2006 20:08

Probably a good idea !

I'm an ex teacher btw!

WigWamBam · 22/09/2006 20:08

I think you also have to bear in mind that Mumsnet sometimes distorts these things because when people have problems they (a) need advice and (b) need to get their frustrations off their chest. When they're happy with their children's teachers they don't need to do either, so there's no need to post. It's a bit like MILs - the only posts you'll see on here are about bad ones, because those with good ones don't need to offload. There are very few posters here that I've seen who genuinely believe that schools and the teachers within them are the enemy.

I can't say what I think of dd's teachers this year - they seem fine, but she's only been back a couple of weeks. Certainly the standard of teachers and teaching at the school is excellent, her teacher last year was wonderful, and the head is inspirational.

ComeOVeneer · 22/09/2006 20:08

Well dd has just finished her first week of reception and it has been fantastic. SHe has settled in great and I'm sure a lot of that has to do with the teachers. Her teacher and class room assistant did a home visit a few weeks ago and we were very impressed with them. DD came home with a day by day written report of her first week so we could see how she got on, and her teacher arranged a celebration of the Jewish New Year today too. Will that do you TitianRed? Don't worry I know all about negativity from my profession (dentist) .

Original poster
TitianRed · 22/09/2006 20:12

Good point WWB. Thanks also COV.

OP posts:
Kelly1978 · 22/09/2006 20:12

well dd's teacher is wonderful. We are very lucky to have her teaching dd for the second year running (Y2). dd isn't the brightest child in the class, and her erception year was spent in a London school with very poor standards so she4 has had a lot of catching up to do. Her progress has been brilliant and the teacher has given me lots of help so that I can assist dd and actively support her education.
We've been going through a very stressful time at the moment, so she has been paying extra special attention to dd to help her through this. She made a huge fuss when dd brought in a letter from the Queen, and said letter is going in the newsleeter and on the school site and they made a special exception so that dd could participate in the walk to school activity on tues instead of weds as I can't do it on weds.
dd has come on in leaps and bounds in the past year. Her reading and writing is really coming on, and the teacher is working hard to improve her confidence. She really is absolutely lvoely.

ds's teacher is also lovely. He has sn, and they give him special attention too. When we first became involved with ss, she even came home with us, to support me when they began their investigations.

drosophila · 22/09/2006 20:12

My DS's tracher gives them choc bars as rewards and I know a lot of Mums hate that but I think she is usually a very good teacher. DS is thin as a whippet so it doesn't bother me unduly but some parents are aghast. Then again she thinks my DS is an ace student and is trying to help us with a weakness he has with writing (buying him special pens and such like). She also buys him special choc bars cos of his allergies.

Is one's view of a teacher coloured by the teacher's view of your child?

albatros · 22/09/2006 20:12

I love teachers
(well so far anyway)

Peridot30 · 22/09/2006 20:12

my ds started school in august and his teacher is brilliant. ALL THE STAFF ARE!!

QueenBodicea · 22/09/2006 20:19

Titian. I have many positive things to say about the teachers that my DS has had so far - he's in year 4. He is SN (has statement) and is not the easiest of children. Maybe we have been lucky but the teachers he has had have been great with him. They seem to understand him well even though some of the younger ones have probably not had a lot of experience with his particular issues which can just look like bad behaviour to the unitiated. Also I have always felt that they are approachable so if I have any concerns I can talk to them about it. I drop him off at 8.45 knowing the teachers have been there for about 1/2 an hour already and then make my way to work and when I pick him up from the afterschool club at 5.45 the teachers are only just leaving so they do at least an hour a day at work more than me and I work full time. I always make a point of saying this when I hear people moan about teachers long holidays. Also my sister is a teacher and I know how hard she works in the evenings preparing for the next day. Its a difficult job and I have a lot of respect for them.

ja9 · 22/09/2006 20:24

or perhaps we could have our own chat area where we vent about nippy parents?

i had parents night the other night and could start the ball rolling...!!!!

aaronsmummy · 22/09/2006 20:33

Don't take it personally, I know we sometimes feel got at in the Special Needs section. Wigwambam probably has it right.

Orinoco · 22/09/2006 20:46

Message withdrawn

Blandmum · 23/09/2006 08:15

Titian, I can only back up wjhat others have written, September is the worst time of the year to be a teacher on MN

I am a secondary teacher myself and wrote a long and heartfelt post about this 2 years ago....I felt that I had to finally confess that we deliberatly don't change books of somepeople while delibertly giving other children too much work. That we give children 'project' style homework just to piss off the parenst while giving 'boring work sheet' homework to piss off the kids

It seems this time of year that everything that we do is in the wrong, because you can't suit all the parents, all the time.

And as WWB says we are all more prone to whinge about someone than praise.

It comes, it goes.

Judy1234 · 23/09/2006 08:44

My twins both have lovely teachers this term. Last year the twin who thought he wasn't clever and didn't try was completely transformed. His teacher was marvellous. I do feel in both camps because I was married to a teacher for 18 years and know how awful some parents are, pushy, thinking they're right when they're wrong, bringing up children badly, always thinking their child is some kind of genius and always right and others are great and we've had five children three of whom are right through the school system now. My mother was a teacher too.

Do parents complain more when they don't pay fees or vice versa? I'm not sure. I just wondered if there were an economics argument about it.

iota · 23/09/2006 08:47

teachers provide lots of lovely free childcare, so that I can sit around on my fat, lazy SAHM ar$e and watch daytime TV

sorry, was this a serious thread?

mummydear · 23/09/2006 09:39

I think teachers do a fantastic job , I have one in YR1 the other started in reception this Sept.

I go into school and am a parent helper ( even though I am a SAHM I can get off my arse sometimes !)

After a morning as a parent helper my head is spinning, so God only knows what the teacher feels.

As in all walks of life their are some good ones and bad ones, we rarely get to hear about the good ones , but thats also goes for Doctors , Nurses, Police Officers . We like to pick about the bad ones.

Good luck to teachers , I think you do a great job .

Axolotl · 23/09/2006 09:53

Titian
I think it's that classic thing where when everything is good we just smile and keep quiet, but it's when something goes wrong that people make lots of noise. Which is of course completely normal and understandable. But just for the record, I think you do a brilliant job in the main. My son's teachers in year 2 were so fabulous - they took him an incredible distance in one year. I told them at the end and they had tears in their eyes, which I thought was sad because it was clear they didn't get told very often too. I went and told the head too!

lockets · 23/09/2006 10:06

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

Twiglett · 23/09/2006 10:10

I think teachers are amazing

People keep telling me to retrain as a teacher because I'm a SAHM (graduate) and normally have a house full of kids

but NO WAY

I can't think of a more challenging task

and sometimes when I see parents marching up to teachers at school to talk about little Jonny's latest acheivement / escapade I feel like screaming 'leave them alone, let them do their job' ...

the patience that teachers exhibit with parents is a skill

I do have one complaint .... they seem SO very young .. there I go chatting away thinking we're on a level and then I think .. bugger I'm old enough to be your mum aren't I?

Twiglett · 23/09/2006 10:13

I remember once after parent - teacher meetings some of us mums went to the pub that night .. and at the other side of the pub were 5 of the school's teachers having a giggle .. of course they left within 20 mins because who wants to be overheard by the people you're no doubt chattering about (of course they said hi on their way out)

funny thing was the next day at school I was talking to another friend who hadn't been out with us who said she'd been in a different bar and they'd walked in there

poor teachers ... can't find a pub to have a drink and chat about parents without bumping into a gaggle of parents having a drink and chatting about them

well it made me larf anyway

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 23/09/2006 10:44

Ds2's teacher is fantastic. rea;l;yw arm, lovinga nd kind. She genuinely loves the kids; ditto lasy tear, and indeed ditto ds3's nursery teachers

I've met one genuinely bad one who shouldn't be in the profession,a nd one who is too over loaded by the school 9NOT her fault) to do the job well. I complain about the two who can't do their job endlessly because they frustrate me, anger me and cause problems for ds. The others are so fantastic I don't even need to worry about them

Original poster
TitianRed · 23/09/2006 12:48

How lovely to read all these positive messages! Thank you everyone who has taken the time and trouble to post. xxx

OP posts:
suedonim · 23/09/2006 13:21

I've had children in the education system since 1980 and also have a number of teacher friends. One thing I can say for certain is that there is no way I could ever do their job!! I take my hat off to them.

I guess the reason people sound off about teachers now and then is that when there are issues with a teacher it has a huge impact on the child's life and colours everything until the issue is resolved.

Coincidentally, I came across this quotation last night. Oliver Goldsmith wrote in 1759

"Of all professions in Society I do not know a more useful or more honourable one than a schoolmaster: at the same time that I do not see any more generally despised...or so ill rewarded."