The days of teachers seeing their career as a vocation are long gone - Sarah Todd

Something has gone wrong and a rot has set in where even those who have only been in the job two minutes seem to have no shame in joining the picket lines. More money may well be an answer, but it isn’t a proper long-term solution to a mindset among many that seems to be just plain wrong.

Pursuing a passion, rather than simply doing a job, needs to be recognised and nurtured among our teaching staff.

Those of us of a certain age can all name those special teachers who had a positive influence on our lives. Ask any young child nowadays to tell you all about their teacher and it will be difficult to find any put on the same sort of pedestal that we had them on. Last time this experiment was undertaken, the pupil in question couldn’t remember her teacher’s name.

In a similar vein, many will be equally hard-pressed to name a doctor that they have actually met face-to-face. Let alone the same one for two appointments in a row.

What a difference to the relationship their grandparents had with their family doctors; professionals they looked up to and held in such high regard.

Our experience with the school system was cut short because of Covid, but even before the pandemic parents’ evenings had been reduced to a five-minute slot with each teacher once a year. That’s if the teacher turned up. Nobody seemed willing to put in an extra shift in their own time.

It became harder to find a member of staff who seemed to actually know which child the parent in front of them was asking about. Such a far cry from the detailed written reports and parents’ evenings of yesteryear that always went on long after the pupils had gone to bed.

Times have changed, but surely somebody needs to take a long hard look at the bigger picture. Even if there was a proverbial magic money tree, the next generation deserves more than increased wages being randomly thrown in the direction of their teachers.

That extra spark; that golden nugget that flicks the switch in students’ brains needs a proper value putting on it. It’s those that go the extra mile and inspire who should be rewarded.

This second year student house is only basically furnished and doesn’t have any pots and pans.

It’s been a revelation to root around in our kitchen cupboards and come out with cooking kit that is still in good enough order over 25 years after it was given as wedding gifts.

There is an irony that today’s young people are supposedly so passionate about the environment but will mostly be buying new equipment, doubtless made in China, which will be in landfill this time next year.

The Son is taking his car this time - relying on that other striking sector of trains was another negative nail in the coffin of his initial impression of university - and his mother has been pestering him to inform the insurance company.

Insurance has been on this correspondent’s mind as the company we use is desperate for yours truly to forget to renew her car policy.

The firm has admitted that they want to switch it to a new one which will be more than double the price.

For two years now, they’ve stopped sending reminders and the girl on the telephone explained this driver’s business - having been with them for over 25 years - is of no interest to them. It seemed to symbolise the fact that length of custom counts for nothing these days.

There has been a flurry of washing before the return to university and our offspring’s waistline, with a summer of hard farm work, is less than when he arrived home.

His mother has been giving his trousers a hot wash and blast in the tumble dryer to try and shrink them down a bit. So it was timely to learn that the Met Police has over the last year ordered over 5,000 pairs of trousers with waists of 40 inches or more, plus some at over 50 inches.

What has happened to the notion of our police force being run by an elite squad that prides itself on its physical fitness? The fact that nobody dare say to anyone these days “you’re getting fat” is to society’s detriment. Again, it falls far short of leading by example.