Teachers should have our respect

STAFF members from Morgan Academy have enlisted the help of the EIS teaching union to have their concerns about abuse from pupils taken seriously.

Local EIS leader David Baxter says that teachers are particularly worried about what steps would be taken if one of them was seriously assaulted in school.

That teachers are genuinely afraid this could happen is appalling.

That they should feel they would not be backed by the school in such a situation is just as alarming.

My teacher pals are endlessly ribbed about their three-month holidays and numerous days off.

But I have yet to speak to one person currently teaching who is not snowed under by paperwork, who doesn’t find themselves marking until the early hours, working during holidays or concerned by the behaviour of a minority of pupils who can disrupt an otherwise well-behaved class.

They’re not moaning for the sake of it — there are too many voices for it to be a coincidence.

The truth is they do sound overworked and are increasingly being asked to fill their days with things they didn’t sign up for.

For a teacher who trained because they love children and/or want to make a difference to the lives of young people, how will they be motivated by a pile of paperwork and admin?

Is any salary ever worth feeling you are in physical danger?

It might come as part of the package for the police or soldiers but that should never be the case for our teachers.

Is this a matter for parents? For them to reinforce the need to respect teachers?

They are there to improve the lives of our children, to nurture and educate.

They deserve our cooperation at the very least.