Teachers more worthy than doctors?

I think everybody should be made to teach at least once in their lives for a year and it would put pay to the myth that teachers get long holidays and only work half a day. If at were that easy, we wouldn't have such a hard time recruiting staff. If you knew how exhausting it was trying to keep a class of 30 odd children working at the level they should be whilst keeping discipline of the children who, quite frankly, would be better served in a different environment. And that is before you even get to the lesson planning, knitting your own resources, record keeping, staff meetings, extra curricular clubs you are expected to run, report writing and book marking. Some teachers will face violence and aggression on a daily basis (that's just the children let alone the parents) but won't get nearly the pay of the police after studying for 4 years and serving a probationary period. Many primary teachers are dealing with children with mental health and continence issues but that is not recognised.
If everybody experienced what it was really like, the pay would be commensurate with the job and there would be hefty pay rises for teachers.

So true, Sunlover. We have teachers in our family and circle of friends; like any section of society there are excellent, good, and idle among them. Listening to one of the latter moaning relentlessly about his job at a family event I said why didn't he change direction and take his degree and excellent education into the world of commerce.? His response was that he couldn't cope without the fourteen weeks of holiday. The look of disgust on my sister's face was a study - her husband is dedicated and in a long career has pushed many no hopers and seen them flourish.

Many of the teachers have been working through lockdown, teaching key workers children, and my grandson, who has autism has attended school roughly 2/3 days per week. The staff have done an outstanding job.
The police deserve medals, I don’t know how they hold it together the amount of abuse they get, in certain situations, is dreadful, they seem powerless.

Well said sunlover completely agree with your post. I was a nursery nurse for 25 years working in schools with children up to 8 and I saw many good excellent teachers and many of the other kind you mentioned. My grand daughter has been short changed by her school and we have had to do most of the home school work ourselves.

SpecialK57, you also forgot to mention, being kicked, verbally abused, threatened etc, etc, etc. This happened on a daily basis as our authority had a policy of total inclusion. I carried a walkie talkie, so that I was on call at all times for any incidents.

I was once recovering from a broken foot, when a child with mental health issues decided to stamp on it, after running away from another teacher and I just happened to get in the way! The staff said they heard my scream at the other end of the school. Another member of staff nearly lost an eye, after having a wooden toy thrown at her by a child who should never have been in mainstream school in the first place.

There are lazy, uncommitted people in every profession, just as there are committed hard working ones. You can't judge us on all on the strength of negative experiences, you have experienced.

I had to give up my career as a teacher, due to the fact that I was working 60+ hours a week, trying to cover staff shortages on top of my own remit. Sunday was spent preparing for Monday. I was permanently exhausted. It eventually impacted on my health conditions.
The occupational health doctor couldn't believe the hours I was working.
I worked most of the summer, setting up the IT systems after each yearly refresh, as well as putting lots of other things in place for the new session.

Before I was forced to retire, I hadn't had a pay rise in three years. I can't undersand why people, who teacher bash, class us as all the same, useless and uncommitted and only in it for the holidays, you have absolutely no idea what the job is like.

I have taught for over 25 years. The job has become progressively harder. Student behaviour, parental expectation, teacher targets, government expectation, technological advances to name but a few areas of increased/ing workload. I'm on holiday now but I have worked throughout lockdown. When I work, I start at 8 and finish around midnight with a break for travelling home. I eat in front of laptop and curse needing to go to the loo. Lockdown hasn't been much different, except not having to travel. I love my job and have never whinged about pay, as I feel it's pretty good especially compared to nurse friends/daughter. It's a vocation and I would gladly see my pay rise go to NHS staff. Please don't bash us... most of us work really hard for love, not money. I literally cannot wait to see my students again. Oh and the lazy, bragging teacher (above) would never get a job at our school... our staff are top notch!

EllanVannin my DD has had chairs chucked at her, been sworn at, had lessons severely disrupted, parents complaining and a head teacher who will not allow the children to be disciplined - the latest woke outlook. Had it not been for being home during the pandemic she may well have resigned rather than have another term of it. Fortunate next year she has a different class that does not have problem children. She goes the extra mile for all her kids.

Without getting into the argument about who deserves what, I remember being told once by a very North Country Trade Unionist that 1% of £100 is £1 but, 1%of £0 is “bu*&#@r all”! Maybe that is why doctors who are, generally better paid than teachers to start with, are being granted a smaller percentage? (I know there are exceptions but, as I said, “generally”.)

Having been a teacher for over 40 years I know that you get excellent, dedicated teachers, hard working teachers, lazy just do enough to get by teachers and b** awful teachers.
Many of my colleagues have worked throughout the lockdown. Had no Easter or half term breaks and are still going in even now getting the school ready for the new school year in September. Not all teachers are as dedicated and I feel sorry for those pupils who have suffered during lockdown.

My elder daughter is a primary school teacher. She has been working throughout the epidemic, both teaching key workers children in school and preparing lessons for home schooling. In normal times she spends hours at home preparing and marking lessons, is at school by 7.45 and doesn't leave until after 5. When we visit for example, English Heritage sites, she is always on the lookout for ideas to make hger lessons more interesting. This week, although it is the school holidays she has spent two days in school getting her classroom ready for next term. I would say that all of the teachers in her school are like this. (She also has a family to look after.) It makes me really, really cross when ignorant people think that teachers have it easy! Those long holidays, which incidentally are usually a bit shorter then most people think due to teachers going into school at the beginning and end of term, are well deserved and needed.

I don’t think Gillybob is saying they don’t do a worthwhile job just that others do too and aren’t getting pay rises and others have been made redundant and no chance of getting another job with thousands of people in the same boat. Small firms are going under.

My daughter is a teacher and contrary to what some think on here works b****y hard. So called long holidays are spent planning and organising, most nights up till late marking, planning and assessing. She has been home during the pandemic as a shielded person but still organising online lessons, marking, writing reports and liaising with parents etc. So don’t put them down BUT they are lucky to have secure jobs and they have index linked pensions to look forward to which should not be sniffed at.

I wouldn't do a teaching job in this day and age where discipline is forbidden !
Which is why there's so much disruption in class and unruly pupils.

Whose ruling was it not to chastise children ?

gillybob

Who’s bashing a teacher ?

You teachers and retired teachers and mothers of teachers are just too bleedin touchy !

I’ve had it up to the back teeth with the whole public sector heap of sh*t today and yes I have had 3 glasses of wine !

Gillybob, as an NHS employee, I too pay tax and NI, so I pay equally for my own pAyrise.
In fact nurses Pay rose less than 5% between 2010 and 2017, whilst public sector wages rose to just under 10% over the same period, info from Nuffield trust.
Your beef should really be with the private sectors owners and shareholders not begrudging public sector employees wage rise.

I think the pay rise is uncalled for at the present time, too.

That's not teacher bashing, it's common sense, considering the state of things.

I also don't believe anyone who has worked throughout is some kind of saint.

There are plenty of us, in all sectors.

Good post MawB.

brigid18

some teachers have worked very hard but other have enjoyed the sunshine break according to their facebook entries. These teachers did not even contact my GC, not happy

Complain!

@pinkcakes If you ever worked as a teacher you'd know how exhausting it is. You have the lessons where you have to be on your toes and concentrating for hours at a time. The classes are disrupted by yoiks who have to be kept in control, easier said than done.
Then you go home to marking, and lesson preparation, not to mention exam setting and marking, and writing those awful reports. During term times I recon I worked something like 50-60 hours a week, and even during the holidays I spent some time working on the next terms themes and lessons.
No wonder the retention rate is so poor!

I decided that taking long knives off big boys was a step too far. I lasted five years, and there were often wonderful times when a student blossomed and did something wonderful and maybe unexpected, but these weren't often enough to compensate.

I also decided that I'd rather like to have a roast dinner occasionally!

For those of you love to teacher bash, are you brave enough to try stepping into their shoes for a while to see the reality of their so called 'cushy job. If you were you would soon see the reality of long working days in school along side countless hours of working at home in the evenings, at the weekend and through the holidays too! Yesterday's pay award was the first time in a very long while that teachers have received any positive government recognition and is very well deserved

JenniferEccles

I don’t believe ANYONE should be getting a pay rise at the moment.

The simple fact is the country can’t afford it.

Predictions about the possible unemployment figures grows day after day so those whose jobs are safe should consider themselves dammed lucky.

Where is all this money coming from to pay for these increases?

Simple! The teachers' pay increase isn't being funded.

In any case, all the government has to do is get the Bank of England to push a few buttons on a computer.

On the balance sheet, the government will owe the Bank of England and the BoE will gain an asset. As the BoE belongs to the government, the government owes itself.

Interest rates are almost zero, so the debt could remain on the balance sheet for decades without affecting anything. Nobody needs to pay anybody back.

some teachers have worked very hard but other have enjoyed the sunshine break according to their facebook entries. These teachers did not even contact my GC, not happy

Patticake You did well to last to retirement age.

Nursing/care homes have missed out I notice

I don’t believe ANYONE should be getting a pay rise at the moment.

The simple fact is the country can’t afford it.

Predictions about the possible unemployment figures grows day after day so those whose jobs are safe should consider themselves dammed lucky.

Where is all this money coming from to pay for these increases?

No growstuff neither do I but she has.

The government isn't giving any further money to teachers to increase their salaries - the money has to come from the school's budget which are already stretched to the limit and beyond. As the mother of a teacher who has worked incredibly hard during this time including weekends and school holidays I am saddened by the ignorance and unkindness of some people on both Gransnet and the wider world