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Primary education

Join our Primary Education forum to discuss starting school and helping your child get the most out of it.

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Original poster

Do you find it terrifying how young some teachera are?

36 replies

UnquietDad · 07/01/2008 23:07

DD's class teacher is 22.

TWENTY-TWO.

That means that when DW and I got married she was 12.

When DD was born she was 14 and probably necking cider with unsuitable boys in the bus-shelters.

When DD started nursery, she would only just have done her GCSEs.

OP posts:

Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

PandaG · 07/01/2008 23:08

I was 22 when I started teaching!

MamaG · 07/01/2008 23:08

God that IS scary

I was that DD's teacher is 27, but you win

PandaG · 07/01/2008 23:09

and yes, that was young...got mistaken for a pupil on more than one occasion!

DontDreamItBeIt · 07/01/2008 23:10

I think dd2s teacher is about 22. He looks 14

Original poster

UnquietDad · 07/01/2008 23:10

She didn't know who Spandau Ballet were the other day. I was having a conversation with the classroom assistant (more or less my age) about an 80s music quiz and DD's teacher just looked blankly at us!

OP posts:

DontDreamItBeIt · 07/01/2008 23:11

When he was at the parents evening before he started working (this is his first year) my mum though he was a big brother o one of the children.

differentYearbutthesamecack · 07/01/2008 23:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

differentYearbutthesamecack · 07/01/2008 23:25

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kama · 07/01/2008 23:26

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suedonim · 07/01/2008 23:35

Ha, wait until the teacher is younger than your own child's older sibling! Dd1, at senior school, regularly used to say to one of her teachers 'Have I ever told you that you're younger than my big brother?' to which the teacher would reply, with a sigh, 'Yes, I do believe you've mentioned it before.'

Alambil · 08/01/2008 00:15

I'm going to be 26 when I start teaching and I'm considered a "mature" student - I was one of the oldest people at the interviews for the PGCE. I was 24 at the time!

RosaLuxOnTheBrightSideOfLife · 08/01/2008 00:38

Could be worse - the mum of one girl in DD3's class actually taught their new teacher.
She was a model pupil apparently, and certainly is now a lovely teacher.

bigbumhole · 08/01/2008 09:49

My SIL is a teacher and she's 23. She works very hard and is incredibly dedicated to her work and her children (as in the kids that she teaches).

Age is totally irrelevant. To become a teacher I'm sure you have to work very hard which is proof that regards to how young the teacher is I'm sure she/he is quite capable of teaching.

I don't think its fair to have a dig at them just because they are young. Maybe they seem younger to you due to your more mature age? Just an thought.

Oh and for the record, not all 14 year old "neck cider with unsuitable boys in the bus-shelters", I for one certainly didn't.

Kbear · 08/01/2008 09:52

I would get her sacked, imagine not knowing Spandau Ballet!

Original poster

UnquietDad · 08/01/2008 09:57

Oh dear, I knew someone would take this thread too seriously.

She seems a good teacher. I was only commenting on the passage of time. And I'm not desperately "mature" in age! Some days it seems to me as if I have only just left university. It's quite a shock to be reminded that it was a decade and a half ago.

OP posts:

Kbear · 08/01/2008 10:02

It is a serious matter, Spandau Ballet were my heart throbs! Buy her the Greatest Hits and educate the woman!

I know this... much is.... T R U E... dah dah dah dah dah dah....

bigbumhole · 08/01/2008 11:43

Ok fair point, i didn't mean to take it so seriously, im not usually that uptight (im mean for god sake look at my name lol)

I dunno i guess i see how much work SIL does in the evenings (at least 4 hours every night), marking, preparation for the next day...etc, the poor woman works her fingers to the bone, and just thought it was a bit unfair to have a dig at them i guess.

PS Is Spandau Ballet some sort of musical? (kidding)

catok · 11/01/2008 22:24

Yes, I was 22 when I started teaching - have you thought how terrifying it is for a young teacher at her first Parents' Evening having to speak to people old enough to be HER parents?

Hulababy · 11/01/2008 22:28

I was 23 when I started teachig and I looked much younger! I manageed too get myself told off by older teachers many a time in my first oupe of years when they mistook me for a pupil out of lessons! And yes, parents evenings feel really odd to start with.

Pesha · 11/01/2008 22:32

Yes! I'm 29 but I'm not quite sure whats happened cos last thing I knew I was 23. So for dd's teacher last year and now ds1's teacher this year to seem considerably younger than me is terrifying!

In fact the school is full of young, pretty, fresh faced teachers. Only the head and two other treachers I know of seem over the age of 30

REIDmylips · 11/01/2008 22:36

I am 28 and have been teaching 6 years. I have found this thread quite funny tbh (although i have had a few beers )

I must admit i did find it quite strange teaching A level when i first started teaching as they were only a few years younger than me.

now i feel ancient, i have mentioned 'He Man' and 'She Ra' to the kids (cant remember why, and they look at me as though i am speaking a foreign langusge!

LadyJogsAlot · 11/01/2008 22:40

oh ffs

so bloody what

why does age matter here?

surely dedication is more important

imo some of the worst teachers i have come across have been older teachers stuck in their ways. in teaching, attitudes, methods and curriculums are changed frequently and tbh it tends to be the older teachers who don't want to adapt themselves to fit them.

for example, whilst i was a student on my teaching placement i made some computer programs for the children to use. i showed the teacher them and she said that they weren't important and she'd rather not have them on as they distract the children from their proper learning

LadyJogsAlot · 11/01/2008 22:42

phew

foofi · 11/01/2008 22:42

The best thing about young teachers is they aren't rushing home to their own kids, so they can spend more of their time on marking/preparation.

ArrietyClock · 11/01/2008 22:45

My mum was a teacher. When she arrived for work on her first day, she went to the office to ask where to go. The secretary looked up and told her in no uncertain terms that pupils weren't allowed to use the main entrance to the school..... That was 40 years ago.

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