SUCH GREAT PAY and all those holidays. Plus you only work from nine ’til three…is often the response a teacher receives when they say what they do for a living. It hurts, but we generally don’t defend ourselves. That’s partly because we’re aware of our reputation as being whingers and partly because we feel embarrassed – embarrassed for the person who said it and their gross ignorance. Teachers understand the public perception around the work they do, even if the public does not.

Watch the teacher who receives those words the next time you hear it said. You dumb-arse, they’re thinking. You have no idea what I do.