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?

No, they have a day for PPA, we are told this in headteacher communications (to introduce the cover teachers) and I have friends who work there.
My children have been there for over 10 years cumulatively and I buy a present for the cover teachers each year.

If she has a day off a week she’s part time.

seems odd to call someone who works part time lazy but whatever

ppa is usually two hours a week (and it’s time to do your paperwork, not time off)

Never heard of anywhere doing this, so would be very interested to hear from any teachers directly who have this set up.

I never ever bother to engage with this. There is a shortage of teachers in the UK, so why doesn’t she become one? It’s easy after all.

It's like everything, varies from person to person, school to school and there's a lot of hyperbole and exaggerating from both sides.

I'm not a teacher but NHS and have friends in teaching. Some who seem to manage fine and some who claim constant traumatising overwork. Same as I know people in the NHS who manage fine and others who claim to have not had time for a piss at work for decades.

I would engage if this was a genuine post - clearly its just a bit of teacher bashing fun.

All the teachers I know work ridiculously hard. Long hours and holidays filled with tasks they have to do, but are given no other time for - moving classrooms, planning curriculum, knowledge organisers, data etc. There's a reason it has a high turnover as a profession also a relatively high number of suicides, especially at primary level.

However, if she isn't happy with her job and workload and thinks that would be a better option, then she could look into potentially doing a pgce, I think they can be done part time through some universities. She may well end up loving it.

I'm guessing the any teacher getting a full day's PPA is an ECT in their first year of teaching. They get 20% planning time for that first year of teaching, and it may well also include their meetings with their mentor.

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?

No thanks

A lovely story. If your fictional dd works so hard then maybe she should retrain as a teacher so she can enjoy a lovely relaxing life, sunbathing during ppa and doing no planning. Bliss.

Funnily enough my daughter is a teacher. She has a friend who runs her own business. This friend has a paid day off a week where she just potters in the garden - she’s supposed to be preparing for her pitches but she just uses the same one each time.
I used to work in a small business and tell my daughter how hard the owners worked but that’s some time ago now.
Can anyone tell me how hard you work if you have your business? It would help me persuade my teacher dd that entrepreneurs work hard. What do you do with all your days off? My dd’s friend just takes holiday whenever she wants, she takes tine off for doctors appointments or if her children are ill or have a school play/sports day/award ceremony etc

Another goady teacher bashing post. Yawn.

Is this true? It seems incredibly difficult to get a job as a teacher - there are few teaching roles thanks to various Govt cutbacks, but everyone I know whose son or daughter has recently graduated from university is finding it nigh on impossible to get anything more than a few days cover here and there. Permanent jobs are like hen's teeth. We're in Scotland - maybe there are plenty of vacancies elsewhere in the UK?

Scottish teachers have much better pay and conditions than English teachers.

It’s not so easy to get a job as a primary teacher (partly due to falling rolls) - I know a couple of YP who have struggled.

And some subjects at secondary are harder. But afaik there is a real shortage of secondary teachers of maths, all sciences, MFL, CS, and other subjects. This is in England tho.

Not many vacancies rn but then schools are shut; but this summer there were plenty and I have a number of teaching friends whose schools are struggling to recruit.

And yet not all rosy
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2025/feb/06/scotland-schools-pupil-violence-increase

Yes they do - and the universities keep churning primary teachers out, knowing that there are no jobs here. A friend's daughter has just qualified and neither she nor her peers are finding it easy at all to get permanent roles - many of her fellow students are going abroad to places like Dubai. No good having higher salaries if there are no jobs thanks to Govt cutbacks in which to be paid those salaries!

However, @SirChenjins with the SG's commitment to reducing contact time there should be many more jobs becoming available in the next few years.
I'm not holding my breath, but that is what they promised!

No, don't hold your breath - you'll be holding it for a long time! The SG have a habit of claiming lots of things that simply never happen.

Well yes but they know now teachers will strike if it doesn't happen!

Indeed. I'm also wondering what this particular teacher does on all the days of the year when there's no sun available for "sunbathing"...

I suspect the bitter business owner saw the teacher sunbathing once and failed to understand that this teacher still had her PPA work waiting for her; the notion that she can just use the same lesson plans year on year when the children's needs differ from week to week, let alone with each new class she has to teach every year, is just ignorance.

I go into two primaries to teach the same history topics to different classes every year (I'm retired, but a former secondary history and English teacher and do voluntary teaching at two schools where I'm a governor). I spend hours looking at each new class, reflecting on their individual needs, reflecting on what worked well last year and what didn't- and then re-write my planning and resources.