A polite request...

purplepurple

Could people please stop all the "Teacher Bashing" threads? It's getting quite tiresome hearing the same stuff over and over again.

*No-one asks for, or expects end of term presents. If you feel obliged to buy something because someone else has, then surely it's your own insecurities that are the problem, not the teacher's.

*If you feel that teachers are doing a poor job with your children's education, then get off your bum and do something about it. I find that the parents who moan the loudest about teachers are the ones that contribute the least to their own children's education.

*If you feel you could do a better job than teachers, become a teacher yourself. There's a national shortage of them, if you're an expert, prove it.

*Amazingly enough, very few school decisions are made by classroom teachers. It is Senior management, governors, LEA's etc etc that make decisions about our schools. Take your grievances to them, they're the ones wasting our taxes - not the teachers.

*Hardly any teachers stop working when the bells goes at the end of the day - for most, the bell just signals the start of the next 3 or 4 hours worth of work once the pupils have gone.

I could go on but I won't! There are some people on this board who obviously feel passionately about their children's education - that's great; Teachers are just as passionate about your child's education too you know.

My rant over:D

Mishy

Exactly. I couldn't agree with you more purplepurple

At some schools it's the parents compete against each other to give the teacher the best present.

trafalgar_2

wouldn't it of been better to put it on the present thread,because all your gonna get now are the same posts repeated:D


but for my part I think teachers deserve medals and our appreciation (most) and parents need to play their part too :cool:

livinginhope

I think teachers have one of the hardest jobs in the world,everything they do is under the microscope by parents and they are blamed for all sorts of things,parents are as much responsable for their child's education as teachers,it's not always miss smith's fault that little johnny can't read.
As to the presents issue,I will not allow my children to give presents to teachers,I refuse to get involved with the competition of what other children have given,one child I know gave a present worth 20 quid,that's more than I spend on my hubby's birthday! it's all got out of hand.I appreciate everything the teachers do for my children,but their willingness to learn and excellent behaviour should be reward enough.

bikerqueen

The only thing that irritates me about the teachers that I know (and I quit teacher training so I know I couldn't cut it!) is that they assume they are the only ones who work hard. As a mental health worker I did many out of hours sessions, planning etc with only the benefit of 25 days holidaya year

griff.

It's a point well made..there is unfotunately an inate snobbery from the 'traditional' (I use the word in its narrowest context) professional workers to other 'professional' (I use the word in its broadest, inclusive context) workers.

To help things along, I think that the teaching 'profession' would benefit from better srcutiny. That way, the original poster could present some quality perormance statistics as to why teachers are indeed the wonderful people that we all hope they are, and not just the projection that they would have us accept.

Rant over

Murtle

No, no more stats on teachers and schooling. If you have children and they are doing well at school chances are you have a school that is well suited to your child. If your child is not doing well, look at the teacher, the child and what the school has to offer - do they match, if so work out the problems, if not look at other schools. But please no more stats to tell us that x number of pupils passed x subjects at whatever grade. It still scares me that some of my friends are teaching the next generation of children, I remember them with dodgy haircuts and their first boyfriends!!!!

Congratulations on teaching, someone has to do it and I haven't got the courage to go further then requet the teacher training materials!!

x

seven-day-weekend

My husband has just taken early retirement from 20 years of teaching and the biggest 'present' he could ever have was to see someone he'd taught realise their potential.

He didn't want gifts, although occasionally he got them.

If parents want to buy expensive gifts, that's up to them. It doesn't mean everyone has to do it. No-one expects it and it won't make the teacher give Diddums special treatment (which I think is the motivation for expensive gifts).

aimee21j

Thanks for your post OP :T
I think the adverts on the tv at the moment for the latest recruitment drive say everything i want to say why i am a teacher.
PS: Please remember that not every teacher is motivated by presents. We don't have presents in secondary schools.

Dormouse

Being a foreigner in this country, I've always been baffled by the end-of-term present business. It seems to be a British phenomenon, and I've never heard of people doing it in other Western countries.

And yes, I completely agree with OP, having worked as a secondary-school teacher myself.

aurora_borealis_2

I supervise MSc students. I just had £25 of wine vouchers from one of my students. I'm all for it