'Do these teachers have no shame? How dare they pretend to care when they're skiving off sick?' - Carole Malone

Do these teachers have no shame? How dare they pretend to care about what happens to our kids when they’re skiving off sick at every opportunity.

What the hell’s wrong with them? They go into teaching presumably with the dream of enhancing children's lives and arming them with an education that will make their lives better.

So why when they have a more than decent wage, a gold plated pension AND 14 weeks holiday a year are they swinging the lead in this way?

Don’t they understand their sick absences and strikes will have a hugely detrimental impact on children’s exam results and their futures? And these are kids whose education has already been hit hard by covid.

And please no more excuses about how stressed they all are and how no one understands how hellish the job is. Every time I write a story about teachers taking the mickey I get dozens of them coming back at me saying “spend a day in my shoes.”

Well maybe they should try a gruelling ten hour shift in a factory with paltry pay and four weeks holiday a year.

Do they really think they’re the only profession that comes with stress, anxiety and a heavy workload?

No, they’re not because stress and heavy workloads go with jobs that are worth doing. But the difference between teachers and other people with tough jobs is that teachers get 14 weeks holiday a year to recover from the stress. The rest of get a measly six - max!

And let’s not forget the working day is 9-3pm or 9-4pm - shorter than the majority of other professions. Yes, teachers are very fond of trotting out tales about how they work through those holidays prepping for the following term.

Yeah, pull the other one guys. I have no doubt teachers DO put in some prep for going back to work (as do people in other jobs) but let’s not pretend teachers are hard at it for the 14 weeks of the school holidays because no-one’s buying it.

But apart from all this aren’t teachers supposed to be setting an example for kids? What example are they setting when 62% of them are off sick at any one time.

What message does it send to children in their care: “Don’t worry about not going to work – the Government will stay pay your wages, your big fat holiday entitlements and your generous pensions.”

In total 7.8million school days have been lost since in person teaching resumed after the pandemic according to analysis of DfE data by the Taxpayers’ Alliance.

The latest figures are a slight decrease on the 67.5% of teachers who called in sick in 2021/22 – and maybe we should be grateful for that.

But I’m not. Because I think this kind of dereliction of duty where our children are concerned is shocking.

According to the latest Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey most teachers believe the job has a negative effect on their mental and physical health.

And there it is - the mental health bomb thrown into the ring yet again - the unarguable with condition which we’re all told we can’t challenge.

Well I’m sorry every tough job – and I don’t deny teaching IS tough – comes with anxieties and stress. It’s the nature of the beast. And anyone who expects to have a well-paid job with great holidays and a fabulous pension is living in La La Land if they think all that comes stress free.

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Every parent should be horrified by these sickness figures. It’s a shocking indictment on the mindset and commitment of teachers today.

Because if they don’t fancy coming into work that throws classrooms and our kids into chaos at a cost of billions to the taxpayer because cover has to be found for them.

This isn’t value for money education. It’s also cheating and betraying our children.

A generation of children have been forever scared by their lost education during the pandemic and it’s this woeful government’s duty to help them by ending this disgraceful culture of absenteeism among teachers.

If they don’t it means Starmer and Co don’t care about our kids either.