Anyone else had enough?

[DaveCoachesgavemetheclap]

I'm 52 and have been teaching Primary since 1989. I'm lucky in that the school where I work has good behaviour and paperwork/marking etc isn't as excessive as in some schools although it's pretty bad. All I can think about is getting through the next 3 years to reach 55 so I can retire, although realistically, I couldn't really afford to go until I'm 57. I was just wondering if there's anyone out there who has zero interest and enthusiasm like me.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing
if you are only 25 and feel like you’re ‘done’ I guarantee your pupils and their parents pick up on that
Do you not think maybe it’s not the job for you ?

Don't feed the troll.

They're just here to be a GF.

This is in the staffroom section so they've come in here purely to wind people up.

Ignore ignore ignore.

Come and be a teacher Farrowandball. It’s great! I get 13 weeks holiday a year, the pay is really good after 10 years and a few promotions, the kids I teach are an absolute joy and every day is different.
Why don’t you come and do it?
Just be aware that in some schools the kids might abuse and assault you, parents might be uncooperative and aggressive, SLT might micromanage you to the point where they even start dictating what colour pens you are allowed to use and the colour of paper that you need to print on and you might be constantly expected to explain why you aren’t getting grade 8s out of kids with 60% attendance who have done no work for two years.
I hear back from colleagues who have moved schools about just how awful the job is in some places. I’m sure you'll find a good school without much problem though. You’re obviously much cleverer and less moany than all the other people you’d be competing for jobs with.

Oh yeah 1 hr lunch break

Teachers are not paid for the lunch break.

@BeingATwatItsABingThing

But I love my job ?

If I hated it and felt like I was ‘done’ at only 25 - so what 4 years max ?!? I’d have rethink

Sometimes I do think about teaching but know I just couldn’t spend every day with teachers who are all so hard done by

You might love your job but being a teacher would be so much easier, no? Aren’t the 13 weeks holiday, 4pm finishes and excellent pay and conditions enough to tip the balance in favour of a career change. If your subject is a shortage one you might be entitled to very generous training bursaries and will likely be able to negotiate a very good starting salary.

I'm in my final term 😜 And still have to drag myself out of bed every morning! I've been doing this job for 30 years now and it's had its highs and lows. Mostly lows. Often due to the way SLT have treated us, micro managing every last thing, bully boy tactics, threatening us with Ofsted daily, changing the goalposts every term, endless observations. There's no let up. And that's before you factor reluctant learners into the equation!
I've always worked in challenging areas of the community so have had my fair share of challenging behaviour to deal with. I've been physically assaulted by parents 5 times, verbally too many times to count. I've been assaulted by pupils from 4 to 11 years old, had furniture thrown at me, bitten, spat at, pushed, sworn at. It's delightful! And yet, when I think hard, I realise that the vast majority of parents and pupils have been delightful. I know many of my ex pupils have got successful lives as adults. I've taught children and now grandchildren of my earliest pupils!
I wouldn't have done any other job, but were I to be a twenty year old again, knowing what I know now I would NEVER choose to be a teacher.
Roll on Christmas!

I’ve been on maternity leave for the past 9 months and dread going back. I am only part time anyway but still dreading it.

Our school has a very heavy timetable (6 hour periods a day) so we get a ten minute morning break and a 25 minute lunch break. There isn’t time for the toilet in the morning one so I’m expected to cross my legs from 8am until 1pm which is going to be interesting after having a baby! I am going to look for another school with a less manic timetable but I know all the other pressures will still be the same.

No hour lunch breaks here!!

Barely lunch at all.

Just telling it how it is.

Finish one class, once I've cleared up to make the room acceptable for the next teacher, spoken to students who want to talk after (I'm in FE) and carried everything back to the staff room, there may be time to stuff something down me while checking emails, answering queries from new staff before heading on to set up my next class somewhere else in the building.

Setting up the class can take 10 mins, cuts in estates means all tables and furniture now need to be moved by teachers. Computer on, active board on, fingers crossed it works, if not, it's upstairs to IT who have also had cuts so will unlikely have time to sort your issue out. Back to class to sort out the materials and class profiles.

That's my lunch hour

Farrowandbrawl

Did you mean to aim that last comment to me?

I know it's a troll but... I don't know any teacher who gets to take a lunch or tea break ever. In secondary, they're really short anyway and then you're usually on duty, holding a detention or prepping for the next lesson.

Oh, and 15 staff were sacked/managed out in a school near to me last year. It also quietly goes on everywhere.

This all compounds my opinion

Any criticism must be a ‘troll ‘ teachers are simply perfect 🙄

And yes @BeingATwatItsABingThing you clearly don’t like your job. You feel done, you envy someone going off sick, you don’t feel respected by the wider public. Why on earth would you stay? I don’t think you are alone. From what I’ve seen most teachers feel the same as you and it absolutely shines through

I'm not sure how you can skip from "no, we never get a break in the day and don't go home when the kids do" to "all teachers are perfect."

Usually when someone posts "you get an hour for lunch and twenty minutes break" (eh?) they're on a wind up.

@SabineSchmetterling

I think you probably don’t understand how it feels to be in a job you love.

I consider teaching almost to be amused the staff room chat of poor us ! No one understands how terrible our job is 😂

And I don’t think the pay is amazing but I think it’s fair .

I can think of no other profession on here that has whole chats dedicated to what an awful job they have

Nobody's saying the job is awful. Though the child protection stuff is.

It's just a tough job. It is. The staff turnover rate tells you it's hard work. It's incredibly fast paced and frantic and mentally draining to do well.

I love my job. But it's good to have a moan on a forum because some days I don't speak to another adult other than to say good morning.

It's just decompression.

Other people do it in lunch, in the breakout areas or with their mates at work. I hardly speak to anyone adult for more than 20 seconds at a time.

@echt

Yes you’re not paid for for lunch.

But also you cannot be ordered to attend a meeting, take an extra class or be ordered to do any work.

So I’m not sure why you should be paid ?

You work 190 teaching days a year.

You chose the job based on the pay and role. I still don’t understand why teachers all so moany. I think the fact is the Moany attitude is infectious. Just like positive people bring you up . Negative people bring you down.

And as a parent it’s so apparent that teachers dislike their jobs, but absolutely hate being challenged on failings.

Yes you’re not paid for for lunch. But also you cannot be ordered to attend a meeting, take an extra class or be ordered to do any work. So I’m not sure why you should be paid?

I never said teachers should be paid.

I still don’t understand why teachers all so moany

They're not. Just think about what you just wrote: all teachers?

And as a parent it’s so apparent that teachers dislike their jobs

All of them? Really?

Whatever else you did at school, you clearly never really engaged with critical thinking or rational arguments.

I blame your teachers.:o

www.theguardian.com/education/2019/sep/18/25-of-teachers-in-england-work-more-than-60-hours-a-week-study

A quarter of teachers work more than 60 hours a week. Not surprising that some of them are a bit fed up about it.

@noblegiraffe

😂
But that’s a survey where teachers are the responders !!!

How else do you find out how long teachers work? You know a lot of work goes on at home, it’s not the type of job where you clock in and out?

And teachers in other countries report working fewer hours.

I take with a pinch of salt any findings where employees are asked .

The thing is . Teachers on the whole say they work hours and hours extra , yet why is it so rare for school work to be marked ? Not all schools but my experience. You never see teachers in the school post 1545 . They are not they early. There cannot be required to work through any breaks .
The lessons topics in my kids primary school have been the same for at least 3 years as they do the same projects etc.

But overall there seems to be so much dissatisfaction. Just on here there’s posts about doodling while having talk from SLt. If I was caught acting so blatantly bored and rude I’d no doubt get a public bollocking from the slt.

So many teachers seem to dislike slt that ‘micro manage ‘. When I’ve had lazy staff then I do find the best way to get them to fuck off is to micro manage . I’m public sector too so know that you can’t sack someone for being a lazy and useless.

I have never found the need to micro manage someone who is doing a great job

@Danglingmod

Re the duties you say you have to cover when you are on a break . Do you not get paid extra for this ? Ie supervision of playground.

@Farrowandbrawl.
Total opposite of where my children go to school

Teacher car park full by 8 (school doesn’t open until 8.45 but I run past at this time).

And after school clubs (run by teachers, free for kids. Hockey, mosaics, gymnastics and steel band) until 4.30

Teachers seem enthused committed focussed and professional.

It’s an “outstanding” school and one of the national leadership schools.

Teachers work at home in the evenings. It’s not hard to understand.

Unless, of course, you’re being deliberately hard of thinking.