Teacher Training Days - and 13 weeks holiday

[mcshroom]

Reusing lesson plans every year would work if the curriculum you had to teach to was the same every year, and if you believe that every kid is identical to the next one and learns in exactly the same way at exactly the same pace. If that was the case then you wouldn't need any professional skills to do the job. Of course we've all been to school so we all know how they work - right?

Just a reminder that the INSET days were actually taken out of leave by Baker. At the same time as introducing the national curriculum five extra days training were added to the school year (without any corresponding pay changes, so basically they had their contracts changed to work five more days for the same pay) They are not 'extra' days without kids from the school year.

Both my parents were secondary teachers, and my sister teaches in a special school for young people with severe autism (which seems to involve getting physically assaulted every week or two by the students) after training in primary (which from my observations seemed easier than secondary YMMV). I thought about teaching myself but didn't because I found I could have a much less stressful job which paid more in the private sector. Also I can arrange my holidays when I want rather than being tied to set dates in the peak holiday season.

 

[Archie_tect]

Teachers are gods... we are not worthy!

 

[MrJamie]

I suspect some teachers work really hard, but I know quite a few of my secondary school teachers just recycled previous years work and marked homework without reading it - my history teacher used to just give out approximate grades based on previous work, even if your essay on a certain war was actually mostly about sex at the circus. Probably why my history knowledge is so terrible Oh and we used to steal all the answers from friends in the year above.

Youve got to be the right kind of person for it though, my friends who are teachers/teaching assistants get driven crazy by the kids and 3 or 4 of my school teachers had nervous breakdowns, wasnt my fault

 

[mcshroom]

You may believe so Archie, I'll stick with just normal working people who work harder than many give them credit for.

 

[Archie_tect]

I love teachers, just not the whinging ones... everyone has some aspect of their job which they have to cope with. Most do.

 

[subaqua]

Hello from 'somebody', you read it, it's not difficult to remember who wrote it... my two cousins were deputy heads by the time they finished... it was their experience not mine.... I'm not a teacher [remember?].

"If 'someone' is so disfunctional that they cannot organise themselves year on year to plan their workload or plan for a year's teaching based on their experience to achieve the results they need over several years, working within the guidelines for curriculum, including the marking and assessments- which they have to do every year then, perhaps, they should consider another profession and not be teachers". [My cousin's words - not mine. She was an infant school teacher for 38 years, became acting head for 12 and then became an independent OFSTED inspector, so don't shoot the messenger OK?]

I used sombody as i couldn't scroll back to the posts to read who it was. i don't like crediting people wrongly.

wifey is a 3rd generation teacher, qualified for 24 years. both her parents were teachers, as were 2 of her Grandparents. Its always been the same, long hours and heavy workload. Her dad was a headteacher, and very succesful . He advised her not to go into it as it was only going to get worse. she has seen curriculum changes so often its impossible to plan for a whole school life of a child. some of the stuff she teaches now was deemed bad and needed changing back when she was training . the workload is huge and the only way to manage it is work the long hours. most of it is the monitoring and reporting guff that succesivee governments have put in because they think teachers only work 9 to 3.30.

in the 20 yrs she has taught in london she has had her arms broken several times, been pushed downstairs, been threatened with rape. had knives pulled on her when trying to break up fights, all by primary aged children. no support from LEA who don't want to exclude children as its bad for the borough. Union get involved but generally all that happens is an apology that is never actually meant. but of course its a doddle of a job

acting head for 12 years !! why didn't they appoint as a permanent position ?

I never used to have more than 2 weeks off for holidays until 2007 , and when i was self employed holidays were a thing I could only dream of and I was working from 5am to around midnight due to the amount of work.

 

[subaqua]

Obviously- lesson plans are part of the job- they should be able to use a template based on their experience though, sigh.
Remember that every parent of school-age chldren can't take holidays in term time either? [or shouldn't]
I have not had a two week holiday since 2004.... I'm not complaining, just saying.

I'm not anti-teachers.... my cousins loved it and still do as governors and independent inspectors- teachers are wonderful people [in the main].... they just knew that they had a privileged position in a responsible job which they loved. Teachers sjhould love teaching, otherwise they are negative and a bad influence on the children they are intended to inspire.... that's why they are there...right?

The teachers I know well don't spend a lot of time complaining... could it be that the ones who do are possibly a minority?

she does love it. what she ( and I) hate is being told by people who know nothing, and even worse people who should know better, that they have an easy life.

I have said to her plenty of times to give it up and get a different job but she is good at what she does ( she must be she is at the top of her pay spine) and loves it. now The SAT results are out she is really chuffed with where she has taken kids who started school with English as a 2nd language to in the 3 core subjects. thats why she does it.

 

[mcshroom]

According to the school holiday schedule for 2013 teachers get around 65 days per year, plus in-service days, or whatever you want to call them.
The average full-time worker will work 47 weeks (235 days), a teacher will work 195 days.

So the average teacher would need to work an absolute minimum of 20% more hours than the average full-time work to make up for their additional holidays.

I'd dispute your number for your average full time worker.

52 weeks = 260 days (at 5 days/week)
Minimum statutory leave is 28 days, therefore = 232 days

On top of that, although it is allowable for bank holidays to be included in the 28 days, a majority of working people get bank holidays extra to their entitlement so this year that would be 10 more days leave making 222 days

 

[marinyork]

On top of that, although it is allowable for bank holidays to be included in the 28 days, a majority of working people get bank holidays extra to their entitlement so this year that would be 10 more days leave making 222 days

Where does the majority of workers get ALL of the bank holidays as extra come from?

I'm not disputing that quite a few get extra days somewhere between 0 and 10, but the whole 10, a majority?

 

[PaulB]

It's very easy to condemn teachers for the holiday entitlement they get and that may have been appropriate at one time but not anymore! It is now so over-regulated, thanks to the Nazis at Ofsted, that the work required of them borders on the cruel. The self-important regulators impose these pointless-busywork nonsenses for the same reason a dog licks its own bollocks - because it can. In doing so, the profession repels the vocational and tends to attract the functionally useless who can't find anything else to do but are good at pointless busywork. I would hate to be sending my kids to school nowadays and would pack in work and home teach them myself.

 

[Archie_tect]

she does love it. what she ( and I) hate is being told by people who know nothing, and even worse people who should know better, that they have an easy life.

I have said to her plenty of times to give it up and get a different job but she is good at what she does ( she must be she is at the top of her pay spine) and loves it. now The SAT results are out she is really chuffed with where she has taken kids who started school with English as a 2nd language to in the 3 core subjects. thats why she does it.

That's lovely sub-aqua... that's the sort of feedback we need... nowhere have I claimed to know better- that's a low punch that's unfair and unworthy... my cousins are fantastic people and were fantastic teachers... they know better and I respect their opinions. Don't accuse me unfairly of bigotry.

 

[subaqua]

That's lovely sub-aqua... that's the sort of feedback we need... nowhere have I claimed to know better- that's a low punch that's unfair and unworthy... my cousins are fantastic people and were fantastic teachers... they know better and I respect their opinions. Don't accuse me unfairly of bigotry.

not aimed at you. sorry you took it that way

 

[Archie_tect]

acting head for 12 years !! why didn't they appoint as a permanent position ?

12 years between them, not concurrent- one of the heads had cancer for which she was undergoing treatment, but sadly eventually died... they'd kept her job open for her return. The other head had ongoing mental illness- one can presume that it may have been work-related but more probably his personality- he retired on medical grounds.

 

[ohnovino]

This is a joke, right?

Nope. I can pick and choose when to take my holidays. If my employer offered me more, but with no choice over when to take them, I'd probably turn them down.

 

[Archie_tect]

Try being a builder, 2 weeks at Christmas, 2 weeks at Easter.