Lazy Teachers?

[LadySinfiaSnoop]

Any teacher out there? My daughter runs a small business and thinks no one works as hard/as many hours as she does. She has a friend who is a primary teacher, who dd considers has an easy life. The teaching friend has one day off a week for ppa which she claims she uses to sunbathe in the garden. She uses the same lesson plans year in,year out. I worked in admin in schools all my life, but retired 5 years ago and when recently attempting to give my side of the story, as in teachers work incredibly hard, long hours etc etc I was shot down in flames by said dd who claimed teachers are all a load of moaning, lazy people who abuse the system and wouldnt know what a hard days work was. I was also told I had no relevant recent experience in schools, although I have a number of much younger friends who work in schools so I feel I am in touch.

Anyone like to give their side of the story? Particularly how many hours a week you work and what you do in your lengthy holidays?

If this is genuine, if your daughter isn’t prepared to listen to you or her friend, what makes you think she’s going to listen to a bunch of a strangers on the internet and suddenly be enlightened to not be a massive twat?

I really thought the idea of long holidays and short days had gone. Clearly not.

The other old chestnut is to tell your daughter she should train to teach since it’s so easy. Why wouldn’t anyone want an easy stress free job?

I should imagine that most teachers will be either unwell or exhausted since term has just ended, so will not be justifying their work hours and effort. Your daughter is ignorant and isn’t worth the time to explain, particularly since she isn’t willing to hear anything other than what she has decided is the truth.

Who cares, let her stew in her own opinion

If teaching is so easy why isn't she rushing off to train as one?

She doesn't sound v bright. Likely lacking a degree and I doubt a teacher training provider would want her now. With the economy the way it is an lack of graduate jobs, PGCE places are hard to come by.

The OPs daughter sounds frustrated. Shops are the past on my high street...

Why does it matter what her opinion is? Everyone is entitled to their own opinions even if they are based in ignorance.

If she’s not going listen to you or her friend what makes you think she’ll listen to a load of strangers on the internet?

I doubt she could. You need an ability to think.

It is a ridiculous comparison. Teaching is hard work with long hours over focused periods of time. Running your own business can be anything - some people work 16 hours a day 7 days and week and don't take a day off for years. Some people work 10-4 and go on a cruise for 4 months of the year.

Maybe counter with how can she be more efficient in running the business so she doesn't have to be "a busy fool"

Please do tell us what schools are allocating a day a week for PPA so we can all work there.

10% is statutory, so your daughter is talking out of her arse.

Right... a nice story.

She’s only young and sounds quite bitter. Happy people don’t really spend their time worrying about what other people do.

thats said why are you so concerned about presenting the other side? Seems like a waste of your energy too

Agree - its pointless. It so subjective. Some people find teaching fairly easy, some people find it tough (I'm not sure I could do it at all!), some people find running a business easy, some people find it tough. Some teachers are lazy, some business owners are lazy. There's probably no correlation between the people that find something easy or not with their laziness. There is no objective scale of hard work.

My daughter’s primary school. I have friends who work there. Didn’t realise it was a luxury.

Are you sure it's not that they work 9 days in 10 like a Dixons academy?

like any profession there are lazy people and hard workers.

teachers are no different

there are teachers who work many hours over and above the school day and throughout the holidays

there are others who race the kids out of the building at 330pm and enjoy their 13 weeks off as much as they can

when my sister was a teacher she wouldn’t work a minute extra and maxed her time off to the full. At the same time complained about how stressed and overworked she was and how no one understood how hard it was - now she’s out she agrees and recognises that her teaching job was no more or less stressful than many other jobs

teachers are just like everyone else and are not a special case

Any teacher answering your question will simply be adding to the Mumsnet perception that teachers are constantly moaning/think they have it harder than everyone else.

The fact that someone's actually asked them to say how hard they work, will be overlooked.

Lots of people think they work harder than everyone else and moan about their jobs. Those people would be the same in any job.

10% is the entitlement which is usually an afternoon or morning. To get a full day every week is double that, so yes, is unusual and indeed a luxury.

Plus planning time is not time off any more than time preparing pitches is time off for a small business owner.

This feels unnecessarily combative. Why would teachers ‘giving their side of the story’ make your daughter change her mind?

It sounds like she has decided that, based on knowing one teacher, she herself works much harder than all of them. The whole profession.

Critical thinking seems to be rather lacking here, so I’m not sure a few posts from strangers on the internet will help.

I'm a primary teacher and member of the SLT. I work 60-70 hours a week during term time including working some part of every weekend. I have been teaching for years now but rarely reuse lesson plans each year. Cohorts are different, there are new initiatives, new schemes of work, we move to different year groups etc. However, whilst I do work hard during term-time, I recognise that the holidays are a real perk. I do work in the hols- this summer I will probably work the equivalent of a fortnight which still gives me plenty of time off. Other hols I might work 2-3 days equivalent. I think people in other jobs work hard too- I can't imagine what a 12hour+ shift in a busy A&E department is like.

PPA time: planning, preparation and administration time is generally 10% of a teacher's teaching workload per week. It is a drop in the ocean compared to how much time that stuff actually takes.

I hope your daughters hard work and long hours are useful both in terms of financial reward and social merit. If not, she'd be better of doing something less hard and more useful.

How hard is subjective. Length of time is quantifiable. Depends whether the two correlate and whether working hard means longer, smarter or both.