Do teachers know the meaning of stress?

[Crab.C.Nesbitt]

So the head of ofsted thinks not : http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/may/10/teachers-dont-know-stress-ofsted-chief?newsfeed=true

I have a few teacher friends and they all seem to work hard regardless of whether they are teaching at primary, secondary or fe level. Having said that I some times get the impression that some teachers feel that only they have a huge amount of stress to deal with. For instance a friend of mine (who has had a couple of bad experiences with workplace politics in two separate schools told me that he was getting fed up with the bureaucratic bs that accompanies working as a teacher and that he was fed up of having to do work on evenings and weekends.

What surprised me was that he added that he was looking for a non teaching job in the private sector in which he assumed he would be able to work nine to five, maximum. Now I dunno about everyone's work experiences but personally it seems to me that any role in the private sector which includes good career development and earning potential will require you to work some evenings and sometime on the weekends in order to succeed. I guess what I'm saying in a very roundabout way is tat yes I'm sure teaching can be stressful, buti think teachers (in some cases at least) think their circumstances are unique and don't understand that in practically every profession which offers career progression and high earning potential sacrifices will have to be made.

So what does anyone else think?

 

[Klinsmania]

So the head of ofsted thinks not : http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/may/10/teachers-dont-know-stress-ofsted-chief?newsfeed=true

I have a few teacher friends and they all seem to work hard regardless of whether they are teaching at primary, secondary or fe level. Having said that I some times get the impression that some teachers feel that only they have a huge amount of stress to deal with. For instance a friend of mine (who has had a couple of bad experiences with workplace politics in two separate schools told me that he was getting fed up with the bureaucratic bs that accompanies working as a teacher and that he was fed up of having to do work on evenings and weekends.

What surprised me was that he added that he was looking for a non teaching job in the private sector in which he assumed he would be able to work nine to five, maximum. Now I dunno about everyone's work experiences but personally it seems to me that any role in the private sector which includes good career development and earning potential will require you to work some evenings and sometime on the weekends in order to succeed. I guess what I'm saying in a very roundabout way is tat yes I'm sure teaching can be stressful, buti think teachers (in some cases at least) think their circumstances are unique and don't understand that in practically every profession which offers career progression and high earning potential sacrifices will have to be made.

So what does anyone else think?

I agree. I'm sure it is a stressful job (my father was a secondary school french teacher and I'm sure most people will appreciate it's not easy teaching a subject which most kids have no interest in) but it is probably no more stressful than many other jobs. I frequently work in the evenings, and at weekends but I don't get the massive holidays that teachers have, which is a huge perk.

 

[WookieD]

Agree Klinsmania. They are more than well embursed for the job they do. There is a lot that needs to be done to help them do their jobs better in terms of discipline, teaching from the front etc. (edit: to say that some teachers working conditions in the classroom are unacceptable). But I won't shed a tear for any of my friends who teach, they generally have things well.

Try getting up at 3:30am for a red eye flight onto the continent, working 10-12 hour days then have to continue talking about work all evening when you just want to go to bed. Or working until late into the night when you have a deadline and still have to travel an hour to get back home. Or going out onto 24 hour call so that you can't even unwind when you are supposed to be away from work... I'd happily trade with a bottle of wine and marking homework!

 

[THFC]

Plus they get a heck of a lot of holidays to unwind

 

[COYS]

My older sister's just become a teacher, and frankly she can't deal with all the stress. To make things worse, she's an English teacher which means she has to constantly mark essays, which are the hardest things to mark imaginable, and make sure she's doing it within the mark scheme, which is extremely hard for English as it isn't as simple as seeing if the student's right or wrong.

I'm doing my GCSEs at the moment, and we get these things called controlled assessments; the new replacement for coursework. Unlike coursework, controlled assessments are done in class, under different levels of conditions depending on the task, however we may go home and do work and research on the task. My last controlled assessment was an English one, where I wrote a 2200 word essay over 4 lessons explaining the way contrast is used between and within characters in Animal Farm and Much Ado About Nothing to make the story interesting. Not only has this got to be marked by my teacher, but it also has to be moderated by another teacher. Now try imagining marking a whole class of 2000 word essays.

Simply put, being a teacher seems stressful enough to me.

 

[THFC]

My older sister's just become a teacher, and frankly she can't deal with all the stress. To make things worse, she's an English teacher which means she has to constantly mark essays, which are the hardest things to mark imaginable, and make sure she's doing it within the mark scheme, which is extremely hard for English as it isn't as simple as seeing if the student's right or wrong.

I'm doing my GCSEs at the moment, and we get these things called controlled assessments; the new replacement for coursework. Unlike coursework, controlled assessments are done in class, under different levels of conditions depending on the task, however we may go home and do work and research on the task. My last controlled assessment was an English one, where I wrote a 2200 word essay over 4 lessons explaining the way contrast is used between and within characters in Animal Farm and Much Ado About Nothing to make the story interesting. Not only has this got to be marked by my teacher, but it also has to be moderated by another teacher. Now try imagining marking a whole class of 2000 word essays.

Simply put, being a teacher seems stressful enough to me.

how many holidays do they get? i'm sure a few late nights every now and again are worth the how ever many months holidays they get?

 

[Danishfurniturelover]

I did a thread like this a while ago when they went out on strike. I think i may have come across a bit wrong as i was not out and out against teachers.

For my two pence worth i think what needs to change is the education system, we need to kick out more bad bheaving students into special schools where they can all be little bricks together and let the teachers get on with teaching the rest.

I would also say that the are probably many youngster much like me, i think the last time i went to school was 14, bunked off after that, luckily my old man took me on the building with him and i learnt the trades. I do not think education works for all, i do not have a chip on my shoulder because i really hope my lad goes to university and enters a proffesional industry. But formal education does not work for everyone and by us trying to make it work for everyone we are leaving behind good kids who need to take a different path.

Letting children leave at 14 and enter technical colleges would take a lot of stress of teachers in my view.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

Problem with teachers in modern England is that they are mainly wet drip academic types with a massive victim complex before they even step into the profession.

It once again comes down to ability. And coping with stress is part of ability. I have very little sympathy with modern views and my own personal views are probably too simplistic for the 2010's culture of "There is always someone to blame other than me" & "I have rights!". If you can't handle the stress of teaching? Don't be a fudging teacher!

 

[COYS]

how many holidays do they get? i'm sure a few late nights every now and again are worth the how ever many months holidays they get?

I'll give this to you from a student's point of view, as I get the same holidays as a teacher.

On Monday I have to hand in a 3D DNA model that doesn't count towards my GCSE grade, but still must be done. On Wednesday I have a history controlled assessment. This weekend I have to do a 3D model of DNA, as well as a whole long essay draft about the 1960s. The week after that I have a physics exam, so again I have to do loads and loads of revision. Then the week after that I have a Spanish oral controlled assessment, which will require a brick load of practice and revision. Then, thankfully the week after that we get 3 days off, and I have nothing big that week, however the week after that I have a maths module; then on the week after that I have a history module just to top it all off.

That's my exam and controlled assessment schedule for the rest of this academic year, as much as it's irrelevant and you don't care. I was just using it to show you holidays are just a little bonus. So as much as we have holidays, we still have brick loads of work to do during term time. Oh, but wait. Teachers AND students still have to do work over the holidays. You think I went February half term without revising and teachers didn't mark work and plan lessons?

Just as en extra point. Contrary to popular belief, marking isn't the only job teachers have to do outside of lessons. I think most teachers will agree that planning lessons is just as hard.

 

[The Moonlit Knight]

I'll give this to you from a student's point of view, as I get the same holidays as a teacher.

On Monday I have to hand in a 3D DNA model that doesn't count towards my GCSE grade, but still must be done. On Wednesday I have a history controlled assessment. This weekend I have to do a 3D model of DNA, as well as a whole long essay draft about the 1960s. The week after that I have a physics exam, so again I have to do loads and loads of revision. Then the week after that I have a Spanish oral controlled assessment, which will require a brick load of practice and revision. Then, thankfully the week after that we get 3 days off, and I have nothing big that week, however the week after that I have a maths module; then on the week after that I have a history module just to top it all off.

That's my exam and controlled assessment schedule for the rest of this academic year, as much as it's irrelevant and you don't care. I was just using it to show you holidays are just a little bonus. So as much as we have holidays, we still have brick loads of work to do during term time. Oh, but wait. Teachers AND students still have to do work over the holidays. You think I went February half term without revising and teachers didn't mark work and plan lessons?

Just as en extra point. Contrary to popular belief, marking isn't the only job teachers have to do outside of lessons. I think most teachers will agree that planning lessons is just as hard.

You won't win any friends among the older generation talking about student workloads mate. They are far less than we had to endure. And when I did my GCSE's back in 1991, I considered myself lucky that I didn't have to do the the MUCH harder 'O' Levels that had existed a couple of years before. And GCSE's have become ridiculously easier since then. Don't even get me started on how worthless A Levels and Degrees are nowadays either. Everything is being dumbed down across the board and they wonder why this country is going to the dogs.....

 

[COYS]

You won't win any friends among the older generation talking about student workloads mate. They are far less than we had to endure. And when I did my GCSE's back in 1991, I considered myself lucky that I didn't have to do the the MUCH harder 'O' Levels that had existed a couple of years before. And GCSE's have become ridiculously easier since then. Don't even get me started on how worthless A Levels and Degrees are nowadays either. Everything is being dumbed down across the board and they wonder why this country is going to the dogs.....

You've clearly been brainwashed by the right-wing media. I mean you think or subjects are a joke?! My mum did typing as an O level! You lot wouldn't last 5 minutes in a classroom! :ross:

More and more people are getting qualified due to a number of reasons. The most important is that now there is a much wider variety of GCSE options available for students. I don't think you had all the pointless subjects we have on offer, but not ones that are completely stupid. Also examination and assessment practices and techniques have improved. But you also have to ask yourself how things are being taught nowadays. I don't think they had interactive whiteboards in every classroom in 1991, no offence. Also we have the ultimate resource of the internet. Before coursework was scrapped, GCSE students could just find what they needed on there. The internet is the ultimate learning tool!

They haven't become easier, they've just become more universal. This is because the ONLY way to get a job in 5-10 years time will be through qualifications. Gone will be the days when you can just drop out of school and go straight in to full time work up some 'ladder'. As more and more people get qualifications more and more people will be snapping up those jobs at the expense of the unqualified.

It was year 11's last day today, and they may have been celebrating, however over the next few weeks, they will be put through sheer pain and hard work, which I am dreading next year. I consider myself lucky to have not been born a year later, as the government are scrapping modular GCSEs from this September are ensuring there will only be linear GCSEs, meaning that you just do one big exam at the end for all your subjects. Just imagine the stress of that.

 

[Seedy Ron]

the government are scrapping modular GCSEs from this September are ensuring there will only be linear GCSEs, meaning that you just do one big exam at the end for all your subjects. Just imagine the stress of that.

That's what it was like when I did my GCSEs (late 90's), I didn't know they'd made GCSEs modular.

Anyway, on topic, you'd have to pay me a bucketload to get me to be a teacher, can't imagine anything worse. I'd imagine being an Ofsted inspector is a fairly cushy number though.

 

[COYS]

That's what it was like when I did my GCSEs (late 90's), I didn't know they'd made GCSEs modular.

Anyway, on topic, you'd have to pay me a bucketload to get me to be a teacher, can't imagine anything worse. I'd imagine being an Ofsted inspector is a fairly cushy number though.

And that's one of the ways they've ensured exam success - by improving the examination system!

 

[Seedy Ron]

Why's that an improvement?

I was always told that when they sorted out the grade boundaries they fit them to a standard distribution, but that doesn't really appear to be the case. I don't want to have a go at GCSEs or A-Levels or whatever - the people sitting them aren't responsible for what's in them - but statistically I don't see it makes sense that the numbers continually improve.

 

[P.D.]

You've clearly been brainwashed by the right-wing media. I mean you think or subjects are a joke?! My mum did typing as an O level! You lot wouldn't last 5 minutes in a classroom! :ross:

More and more people are getting qualified due to a number of reasons. The most important is that now there is a much wider variety of GCSE options available for students. I don't think you had all the pointless subjects we have on offer, but not ones that are completely stupid. Also examination and assessment practices and techniques have improved. But you also have to ask yourself how things are being taught nowadays. I don't think they had interactive whiteboards in every classroom in 1991, no offence. Also we have the ultimate resource of the internet. Before coursework was scrapped, GCSE students could just find what they needed on there. The internet is the ultimate learning tool!

They haven't become easier, they've just become more universal. This is because the ONLY way to get a job in 5-10 years time will be through qualifications. Gone will be the days when you can just drop out of school and go straight in to full time work up some 'ladder'. As more and more people get qualifications more and more people will be snapping up those jobs at the expense of the unqualified.

It was year 11's last day today, and they may have been celebrating, however over the next few weeks, they will be put through sheer pain and hard work, which I am dreading next year. I consider myself lucky to have not been born a year later, as the government are scrapping modular GCSEs from this September are ensuring there will only be linear GCSEs, meaning that you just do one big exam at the end for all your subjects. Just imagine the stress of that.

That post really is rather ignorant. GCSE's were minor really, half the people stroll through them without doing any form of revision at all. They are clearly getting easier and easier as many people have alluded too.

And what is this when you say only those with qualifications will be getting jobs in the future, absolute nonsense. You have no idea how the jobs market works, there will always be opportunity for those who are willing to put the effort in and work hard. Thousands of people get jobs due to who they know already for instance.

Qualifications are overrated really, GCSE's get you into a levels and a levels into uni and uni into a job (maybe) and thats it. Once you are in there you are all equal and its up to you to demonstrate your abilities and why you deserve to progress further in that company. Thats the bottom line. Obviously there are specialist areas that are the exception to this where only a degree will get you into the industry etc.

 

[COYS]

Why's that an improvement?

I was always told that when they sorted out the grade boundaries they fit them to a standard distribution, but that doesn't really appear to be the case. I don't want to have a go at GCSEs or A-Levels or whatever - the people sitting them aren't responsible for what's in them - but statistically I don't see it makes sense that the numbers continually improve.

Think of it like this. About 20 or 30 years ago, it really didn't matter if you dropped out of school with no qualifications. Today it really, really does, so students are forced to work harder year after year as every year they become more important.

 

[THFC]

any teachers worth their salt will work out a good plan, know what works i.e find a winning formula and keep rolling that little baby out, and keep honing it, No biggie. I very much doubt teachers are working 9-5 every day of the holidays, and neither do you as a student as you seem to allude to. Its almost like black cab drivers saying how tough times are when really its not as bad as they make out.

 

[COYS]

That post really is rather ignorant. GCSE's were minor really, half the people stroll through them without doing any form of revision at all. They are clearly getting easier and easier as many people have alluded too.

And what is this when you say only those with qualifications will be getting jobs in the future, absolute nonsense. You have no idea how the jobs market works, there will always be opportunity for those who are willing to put the effort in and work hard. Thousands of people get jobs due to who they know already for instance.

Qualifications are overrated really, GCSE's get you into a levels and a levels into uni and uni into a job (maybe) and thats it. Once you are in there you are all equal and its up to you to demonstrate your abilities and why you deserve to progress further in that company. Thats the bottom line. Obviously there are specialist areas that are the exception to this where only a degree will get you into the industry etc.

For all of you who are making silly outdated comments about the education system, I advise you to watch some "Did You Know?" videos on YouTube. They make a new one every year and the figures are mindblowing. They talk about how we live in exponential times and how the world is changing so fast, and how the job market will look in the future

 

[spursman17]

Plus they get a heck of a lot of holidays to unwind

Well they don't. The teachers I know have evenings worth of work marking students books on a weekly basis. Some girl I know practically spent her last weekend working at home and that's a pretty common sight with her.

I suppose it can be a stressful job but not more than others. Stress I suppose can be experiencecd in the secondary school age range where teachers are limited to their powers and so are unable to do their job as they desire. This would cause stress to anyone as they are willing to teach but are restricted.

Well that's what I can recall from my years as a student, countless teachers storming out crying because of some dingdongs who now have dead end jobs working for minimum wage, the pricks.

 

[camspur]

I'd say it depends who, what and where they teach.

My wife is a teacher at the local prison, yes it can be very stressful.