Private school teacher with tattoos?

[bubblenance]

What is your opinion? If your child attends a private school and you noticed their teacher had tattoos up arms etc….

Would It bother you? Non offensive tattoos.

My kids French teacher has visible neck tattoos. A horror to look at, but my goodness is he an excellent teacher with very high standards and absolutely no shit behaviour in his classes.

Sorry but so much in your post is inaccurate:
It’s really no longer frowned on in professional circles. I have a friend who’s been a teacher in a private, very religious and conservative school for years (she’s now the deputy head) who was not allowed to have visible tattoos up until about 10 years ago, when the rules gradually relaxed. Since then she’s had two full arm sleeves (she’d been put off getting any on her arms because of her job) but now she says it’s completely acceptable in school and there’s no rule that teachers have to cover them.

Secondly, it’s really not true that the majority of MNers are younger. I guess younger is subjective but IMO of being on here for the last decade or so, the average age is mid 50s

Wow

Yes bothers me especially if paying for my kids to be at the school

You’re severely uneducated about the hygienics of tattoos and piercings 🤣
What sort of chemicals do you think stay in your body when you get a tattoo? That aren’t in the bazillions of other things that go into your skin?!
And why are nose piercings unhygienic? Where’s your evidence? 🤣

I don’t like tattoos on anyone. They look ok when they are fresh but they are horrible on older skin.
I am a bit judgey and think people who have them are being a bit short sighted and attention seeking regardless of what their occupation is.

Of course not. I don't like tattoos myself, but whether someone has them doesn't tell me anything about their ability to teach - in a private or state school. Why would it bother you? Are you also fussy about how they talk or what car they drive?

It's interesting that so many posters are both adamant that they would think nothing of any sort of body modification on anyone and very cross with anyone who even mentions a negative thought about it. And equating someone privately thinking some tattoos are a bit blurry and wonky and don't look great, with being a homophobe (wtf)?

While other posters are absolutely fine with anything except.....x y and z. And actually what that line is is different for everyone but often seems to include face and neck. And maybe there could be some thought from group a and group b that what is your xyz is different to other people's but the feelings behind it are similar?

Almost no posters are genuinely stating that they would believe a teacher to be less good at their job in any way.

The negativity is almost exclusively limited to 'I might think it looks a bit rubbish' and yet there is quite an energetic defensiveness towards that.

My very good friend is a nurse. She got an (admittedly really rubbish) tattoo on her lower leg as a teen in the 90s. When she did her nurse training and first qualified she was made to wear a skin coloured plaster over it for every shift. Absolutely no visible tattoos were allowed at work. She got it lasered as she was so fed up of the plasters! That was less than 20 years ago. It is really not at all odd that there are associations between 'professional appearance and dress' and expecting tattoos to be discrete or covered up when huge numbers of the experienced workforce were subject to these expectations.

It is absolutely great that times and social mores move on. It would be completely wrong for someone to be poorly judged on anything other than their ability and performance at work. But it's not impossible to understand where people's reticence comes from, nor to share it in some way (as group b do).

(And also, a lot of tattoos are just really not very good!)

That's why I didn't say that a teacher with tattoos is unprofessional.

A professional appearance includes smart clothes, good grooming, and a style that does not draw attention. Self-expression doesn't rule in the workplace.

Having said that, there's an enormous difference between a small, fairly discreet tattoo, and facial tattoos!

I suppose what is the tattoo picture of? What does it symbolise? Is it art work or not? Or something that wouldn’t be suitable for the majority of people?

Also, it depends what subject you teach. Eg art yes cool parents would love it. Equally PE good maybe RE no 🤣

I wouldn’t care for day to day living. However if it was an open day / parents evening or anything special I’d make sure I’d have a light weight cardigan to cover up - so it’s less confrontation in the long run - need to make your life easier not harder!

Yes all my kids attend private schools but I drop and go unless you are doing the reception kids I don’t even know what my 2 senior school teachers look like 😬 I know the prep school one but he wears long shirts for all I know he could have a full body tattoos 🤣

Good luck - I think if you teach in a “posh” / cash rich area it won’t be as well accepted but else where who cares.

Absolutely not. My dd’s favourite teacher at her private primary school had tattoos and a hairdo where half of her head was shaved - she was a wonderful teacher in every possible way.

Tattoos are not particularly indicative of anything. I am solidly middle class, educated, a classical musician, and have one very large tattoo on my back and a smaller one on my forearm…the only thing they say about me is that I like tattoos.

Plenty of terrible people have no body art.

I'm not sure mid 50s is true.

Check out the pregnancy, ttc, baby names, primary school etc threads too.

I hope all the shocked from Ruislip brigade never need the services of a life saving doctor my goodness what will they do?

I don't judge people for having tattoos, but I personally don't like their appearance because I think it makes people look as if they have grubby skin.
There is also evidence that they are bad for your health:-

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12685120/

I'm surprised by how many of the teachers at my kids' (state) primary school have tattoos. It doesn't bother me or make me think less of them, but it does make me wonder why tattoos are so popular. I think people look better without them.

I hate tattoos but this wouldn’t bother me.

I guess that explains it then. I'm 68 but still think I'm 18, so there are your 50 years right there! 😂

I don't think I'll ever escape from my 1970s mindset now. To me, an armful of tattoos conveys a butch, masculine, testosterone-fuelled, rough-around-the-edges, macho type of image and pairs with a bare chest (or possibly a string vest of the type worn by Rab C. Nesbit) and the smells of stale beer, cigarette smoke and BO. So seeing tattoos on women feels so "wrong" and is very jarring, like fingernails scraping down the blackboard (showing my age again! What schools nowadays have blackboards and chalk? I suspect, none!).

But you're right, it probably doesn't affect a person's ability to teach - but it would be highly distracting to me if I were the student.

There metals and other things in tattoo inks. Tattoo ink does sit in the lymph glands. The hygiene is another issue though. Be careful with who you select and you shouldn't have a problem with that. I'm not anti-tattoo and have one.

From a "change in social norms" perspective I admit that I find it absolutely fascinating.

You've got a cultural practice that was stereotypically very much associated with a male working in very physical occupations plus sailors that has completely flipped around in 50 years (which in cultural change terms is incredibly quick) to be associated as a more female practice.

It's a bit like saying that in another 50 years going to a nail salon will be more associated with men in physically demanding jobs such as builders than women.

It sounds crazy but like I said, at the same time absolutely fascinating.

But again before anyone jumps on me, it totally has nothing to do with someone's ability to teach.

A massive amount of teachers actually have tattoos, but they are genuinely in an area that is hidden.
I actually have some very obvious ones- hands etc- that I can’t hide (unless I wear gloves) and I taught for many years. No parents ever had a problem with it. If you’re a good teacher, you’re a good teacher.

I know a teacher who had a massive birth mark all across his face. Would this bother people?? I hope not!

I have a post grad degree and an IQ of over 140.
Am I not intelligent enough for you?

Wow, so you think your money should give you the power to dictate someone else’s appearance….

It isn't an excuse. It's my opinion.

I can't see the point in tattoos.. I don't like the thought or the appearance of them.. Many people share my view.Of the people who do feel the same as me I suspect more I likely to be in the more mature age bracket. No evidence. Again this is my view..

I agree in that I don't like the thought or look of them much. I also don't like the thought or look of piercings, including pierced ears, but I expect many female professionals - maybe even the Head teacher at a private school - have them. It doesn't make me wonder if they're good at their job.

I'm more likely to question the intelligence of someone who makes a spelling error.