Sorry Nicky I'm out - A Teacher Article to our Leaders
Professional Comparisons
The thing is, as mentioned before I really do feel for Teachers but in all honesty I can’t feel too much. Reading through some of the responses and no I've not posted myself, I've begun to see what negatives I feel towards Teachers. There's a few assumptions that anyone but a Teacher can't comprehend on any level the work load, there's assumptions that any profession doesn't quite compare unless you are a Doctor/Nurse. I'm some one that does understand what a Fully Qualified Teacher will do on a daily basis, expected to Teach all day while still lesson planning, marking, observations and data tracking assessments. I've even been very tempted to go down the route of Teaching, sat down and had several serious discussions to see what an average week is like for a Teacher. I have witnessed the difference to Teachers from when I was a child, to first working in Education and seeing it today. After all Teachers are expected to take roughly 25-30 days off a Year and perform those tasks like lesson and curriculum planning - some Teachers assume that all the half terms is their own time. I remember when Teachers could sit at their desk in a quite classroom, we worked and completed tasks while the Teacher would do what they needed to do. There was minimal interaction. Now, Teachers are expected to deal with all what I listed while also teaching up to 30 Students instead of 15-20 per class.
The fact that the only comparison that gets mentioned with Teaching being Medical is a major oversight. My great uncle was a doctor before he retired, he worked long hours, endless amount of data entries and several times came home not just exhausted or drained but emotionally destroyed at seeing people die. I remembered once (because I loved spending time with my Aunt and Cousins) that he came home in tears. He had witnessed a lovely old lady die after trying to keep her alive after a whole month and before his shift ended he had an emergency of a young girl involved in an accident. This young girl was a spitting image of my cousin (his daughter). Now that's one thing that Teaching nor my own profession could ever grasp. We don't see the deaths, the tragedies of families constantly losing loved ones. I've been to hospitals enough in my life to know everyone walking in that door wants the Doctor to give that magical cure to our suffering. To save our loved ones. I couldn't imaging watching a child die and pass away while attempting to save them.. Yet I'm sorry to say but Teachers continue to compare themselves to the Medical Profession. I know a lot of people in the private sector of IT who work long hours (longer than me) to get tasks completed because of companies being open 24/7. To have last minute changes for months of work or thousands down the drain as a result of business changes.
It's one reason I don't work in the public sector. I know one person in particularly that gets to spend one day a week with his family if he is lucky. Why don't Teachers compare to his job? because they don't know or don't understand that they are not the only ones in a full time professional job? Why don't they compare to the armed forces? One thing I noticed in the comment section was "You chose that job" well didn't a Teacher choose their job? The goal posts for a lot of jobs is always being moved - that's life.
When have I been professionally pushed?
Yet, some and it's not the majority don't quite understand that teaching is not the only profession that can drain you. I've dealt with long hours to get systems online and this was through either poor configuring, previous IT Staff or simple lack of budgets. I remember once working till the Site Staff kicked me out for an entire month while I had to do several huge changes on the system. This was due to management not following my advice on "decent" equipment instead we went for "cheap as chips" which failed consistently. There was one night I couldn't do more, I went home at my normal time which the Head was fully happy for (he was grateful for the extra hours) yet I found out that one particular Science Head made a snarky comment. That I should have been there late every day until I had it sorted, she had said that to a Teaching Assistant. This is what really niggles me with some Teachers. It's that lack of understanding on our job, lack of realisation of what constraints we have and they treat us like the Government treats them. You would think they would have more understanding for us.
You also have to remember the times I have been poorly treated, systems are down and constantly "IT NEEDS TO BE WORKING NOW!!!!". Ever had your car broken down and expected it to be fixed instantly regardless?
In my profession if anyone wants to understand what we do, come and sit with me. I make it a habit of telling Staff often they are more than welcome to sit in my office, have a seat and talk to me about anything/everything in regards to IT for their departments. A quote I use often "Work with me to work with you". How many times do I get comments like "How do you do that, how do you know these things" because I have worked hard to learn, long hours, outside of working hours, courses, qualifications and years doing IT.
What do Teachers need? Voters Support
On the article I found one post which I completely support, we are voters that need to be supporting good causes. I for one support their protests but I don't support strikes not since the miners strikes because of the conditions they were in every day. As a voter, I vote for our Government, I vote for our local MPs and I have a voice on how this Country is run plus tax money spent. We all do - we are a democratic society. Yet again I see a comment that mentions we are not allowed to have an opinion on the matter.
The comments and negative ones are torn apart
Looking through even more posts on this article, I am seeing a hard defence in Teaching with quite a few "You are wrong" attitudes. A few are actually quite insulting and showing a lack of understanding of other professional jobs. This is why I don't know many people that are willing to support Teacher strikes. Each time someone is willing to discuss, comment or even have an opinion they are met with attacks. I once had to do a post about "What's wrong with Technicians" and I am more than happy to admit that there are some poor ones. Yet looking through these comments you would think every Teacher works long hours, every Teacher has it hard and every Teacher goes above and beyond their job. I'm sorry but we are human beings and mistakes are normal, people who are not up to the job are normal.
What's wrong with IT Technicians
It's quite sad at times, I love my job, it's a nightmare at times but I am very grateful for what I have. The salary, the hours and wouldn't ever consider comparing to the medical profession. It's why my heart doesn't completely go out to Teachers.
Don't get me wrong as shown in another post that I Support Teachers more so than people I've worked with over the Years. Even some Parents have vented quite a lot of anger. My feelings have been made rather clear that generally can be positive but a minority really cause their own headaches.
What's wrong with Teachers - The wrong headline
Although the headline is wrong, I've purposely put it so it looks negative but in fact will actually show a lot of the hard work Teachers do. The majority of this post is positive but also shows negativity. Showing that perhaps Teachers need to pull back just as much as the Government does and everyone work together to move forward. Which also means Teachers.
In regards to the Government I completely agree that they should stop altering things and realise that our children in this Country are not raised in different cultures where Education is paramount and a must have. We allow our kids to have a childhood and not worry about the stresses of School life. I know a few non British kids who are hard educated from a very early life. Problem is though children in this Country generally are raised like that. It's a different mentality, different parenting and not easily changed.
So for anyone who doesn't agree with me:
What would you compare the Teaching profession to?
Do you work in a job working long hours with day to day stress?
Do you find Teachers admit that some of their fellow professionals are questionable?
Would you consider yourself very hard pushed in your job compared to medical staff or even the armed forces?
Did you choose your job and should you just simply "Lump it" or would you protest, strike and fight for improved job conditions?
Do the people above you constantly move the goal posts?
Are you grateful for what you have?
Let me know. Perhaps I am being too harsh? Perhaps lenient?
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