Miss and Sir

[Pippidoeswhatshewants]

Dc is about to start secondary, and brought home a little leaflet about secondary school practicalities etc.
Apparently he is to address male teachers as Mr X or Sir and female teachers as Miss X or Mrs X or Miss.

This might be because I am a foreigner and not familiar with how secondary school works, but something about calling female teachers "Miss" just rubs me up the wrong way, maybe because the Fräulein has been history for a long time and I have always been Frau Pippi, even as a teenager.

What do you think about this as teachers? Non-issue?

I prefer miss over ma'am as I always felt as if I was being called mum by northern children.

"Miss, man, allow it man" was one thing I did not miss when moving out of London. Now (in Gloucestershire), it's just "miiiiiiiiss!!!!"

I don't mind what I'm called as long as it's not 'teacher'. I don't find that the children do it but that it's the parents "say thank you to teacher" really winds me up. It isn't my name! "Say thank you to your teacher" is fine.

I am not defined by my profession however much it feels like it

We have had infants calling male teachers 'Miss', having never been exposed to the concept of a teacher who wasn't called 'Miss'!

I too would prefer being Ms Sawdust rather than just 'Miss'. The school I went to we NEVER called a teacher 'miss' or 'sir' it was always 'Mrs X' etc.
It was quite jarring to come into school as an adult and be called Miss - especially when I am particularity militant about my use of Ms in every other context!

My DH went to an all-boys school where all the teaching staff - male or female - were called "Sir". Some of the younger female teachers didn't particularly like this, but if they asked the pupils to call them anything but "Sir", they were apparently told off!

God I hate Miss sooo much! KS1 have no problem with Mrs Lara, KS2 just call me Miss! I always tell them that I don't call them Boy or Girl - if I can remember all their names, they can remember mine - in a nice way of course.
I really don't understand why secondary schools accept/promote this - how hard can it be to remember your teachers' names? It just seems lazy and quite frankly rude.

Waiting with interest to see what happens at DS's new secondary in September. In his primary school it was always Chosen-Title Surname, the same in every school I went to.

At my school it was always the full name Mrs Jones, Miss Smith, Mr Blogs. DD went to school where they used "Sir" & "Ma'am" (to rhyme with ham). DSs' school uses Sir & Miss - to the point where they often don't know their surnames which seems odd to me.

omg, they have so many subjects & teachers, how do they keep track? I couldn't have done it (foreigner here, we had 6 teachers per week to do with max!!)

I thought the Miss/Sir was just a copying strategy with so many adults to interact with.

I have no idea how the teachers keep track of 300+ kids' names, either, obviously.

Is it not derived from 'Mistress' as in School Mistress. All 'teachers' were called School Masters and School Mistresses until about 30 years ago.

My boys seem to call their teachers either Mr Smith or Miss Smith, even when they know perfectly well that Miss is married and even when they have changed Miss's surname because they know it has changed because she has got married! "Miss" just seems to mean "teacher" to them.

I really hate being called "Teacher." It's interesting as you'll never be able to please everyone. At my kids secondary it is the same as in the OP. It wouldn't bother me if that's just how it is.

As others have said, I get called 'sir' and 'mum' as often as I do 'Miss'! I don't mind Miss from the pupils but it really grates on me when other members of staff call me Miss in the staff room when their are no pupils about!! Particularly members of staff

Good point, Elly, our odious DH (who has now left!!!) called everyone, "Miss x" or "Mr. x" in the staffroom. Just one way in which he really got on my nerves.

I think Title + Surname is best and should be used for the students' subject teachers, however many secondary schools are huge and I don't think it's particularly reasonable to expect students to know every teacher's name so Miss or Sir is acceptable for those they don't know, e.g. in the dining room, cover lessons, etc. In the same way, teachers don't necessarily know the names of students they don't teach or deal with as head of year, head of house, etc.

I think Mrs/Miss Smith or Mr Smith is better than saying 'Miss' or 'Sir' as it sounds better.

EvilTwins: I am 43 and still keep in touch with my biology teacher from secondary school. I used to babysit her boys when they were younger (now grown men so I feel old). I STILL can't bring myself to call her by her first name or write her first name on a Christmas/birthday card!

I've been called Miss and Madam. I hated Madam, made me feel about 60. I don't see "miss" to mean unmarried, but rather "female teacher". The kids would quite happily refer to me by name too if it wasn't obvious they were talking to me, and the same for other staff members we would talk about. E.g. " Miss, do you know if Mrs Smith is in today? I was supposed to see her at break but I have a detention with Mr Roberts"

I know what is more annoying than "Miss, man"... "Miss, blood". Grrrr!

Afriend works in an inner city academy. Mr & Miss are not allowed. All teachers have to be addressed as Sir or Madam.

I had a little Scottish girl who called me Mistress but generally in school I'm Mrs Mrz. I hate being called "teacher" ( often by parents) it's a job description not my name!

I like being Miss. It means 'teacher' to me. Because I teach Latin, the Y7 and 8s all have to say 'salve, magistra' to me at the start of the lesson .

Magistra is pretty cool!

I'm with a PP: I think Sir can be said in a disrespectful way and Miss can be very respectful. It just depends what the student thinks of the teacher in question!

I like the idea of us all being professors, though. I don't think it matters if we are or not, does it? I mean, the Sirs aren't all knighted! :o

I'm called by my first name but some pupil's parents call me teacher!

Non issue. I taught at a German school, it went from Mrs Batman to Miss Batman to Frau Batman. I answered to all of them, can't see the problem myself. My marital status is of no importance to my work or the children.

Sir and ma'am (marm) here.