Topic ID 3556
I'm wondering what effect members are expecting from the strike this week and what they think of it all. Both ours are attending school tomorrow, though one has just announced he may not have any lessons as such.
Reply ID 51942
I believe there is one school in Hertford that will be severely impacted and will have to close for the day.
Reply ID 51943
quote:[url="http://www.hertbeat.com/article.php?id=529960"]Mill Mead Primary, Hertford [/url]
Originally posted by Ewoowar
I believe there is one school in Hertford that will be severely impacted and will have to close for the day.
Reply ID 51944
Yrs 8 and 11 at RH are off school.
Reply ID 51946
Abel Smith open as usual
Reply ID 51951
Hollybush will be open as well
Reply ID 51960
My two are both off from Morgans today although some classes are still running. I have mixed views about the strike and have had to take a day off from my own office to look after them but what has really made me angry are these two things - 1. Younger child came home with NUT propaganda in the book bag 2. Older child had been given two pieces of homework last night to do at home today whilst off from school and hand in tomorrow morning. So not only do I have to take time off work, I have to do the teachers work for them! I appreciate that the children will now be behind but that's the consequence of the strike, isn't it? I don't think you go on strike expecting someone else to do your work for you. Am I over-reacting to this? I was thinking of writing to complain to the head teacher
Reply ID 51962
Curious that NUT claim this is all about attracting new people to want to become teachers, but have missed that the principle barrier to recruitment is not pay, but public image and lack of prestige. In my opinion, they have further embarrassed their members by this action.
Reply ID 51967
quote:I think the homework is for the child to do..
2. Older child had been given two pieces of homework last night to do at home today whilst off from school and hand in tomorrow morning. So not only do I have to take time off work, I have to do the teachers work for them! I appreciate that the children will now be behind but that's the consequence of the strike, isn't it? I don't think you go on strike expecting someone else to do your work for you.
Reply ID 51968
quote:Am I missing something here but ..... yes. Wot work? Teacher gives out homework , pupil completes it (at home presumably this being homework) pupil gives homework to teacher (usually cribbed off the net). That’s how it worked in my time (w.w.w. not withstanding). Where does parent fit into the equation? Other than to possibly offer bacon sarnis & fizzy drink on occasions… (never happened to me, had to make ‘em meself)
Originally posted by wingnut
2. Older child had been given two pieces of homework last night to do at home today whilst off from school and hand in tomorrow morning. So not only do I have to take time off work, I have to do the teachers work for them! I appreciate that the children will now be behind but that's the consequence of the strike, isn't it? I don't think you go on strike expecting someone else to do your work for you. I think the homework is for the child to do..
Reply ID 51971
quote:That'll be the homework the teacher will be marking in their own time over the weekend then, along with all the other usual paperwork.[:)] At least we still have teachers in Hertford, but unfortunately I can't see how in the future a new teacher could ever afford to settle down and live around here on present rates of pay.
Originally posted by wingnut
2. Older child had been given two pieces of homework last night to do at home today whilst off from school and hand in tomorrow morning. So not only do I have to take time off work, I have to do the teachers work for them! I appreciate that the children will now be behind but that's the consequence of the strike, isn't it? I don't think you go on strike expecting someone else to do your work for you. I think the homework is for the child to do..
Reply ID 51974
Unfortunately child is not that old that you can just leave them to get on with it. I know we used to get on with it ourselves back in the olden days but I never had homework from the age of five onwards, did you? Also - if I have to use one of my precious annual leave days (and bear in mind that I don't get one quarter of the days a teacher has) then I don't want someone else dictating to me what I do with it.
Reply ID 51975
Anyone who thinks its as easy as leaving the child to get on with it obviously hasn't got (or has forgotten what it's like to have) yourng children
Reply ID 51976
quote:£32,000 starting wage seems ok to me, when you factor in all the other benefits. Teaching trades off wages for benefits. Those benefits are it's attraction. One of those benefits is 600 less contracted hours than most other professions on similar money. Time enough for some marking, I would think.
Originally posted by dennismoorequote:That'll be the homework the teacher will be marking in their own time over the weekend then, along with all the other usual paperwork.[:)] At least we still have teachers in Hertford, but unfortunately I can't see how in the future a new teacher could ever afford to settle down and live around here on present rates of pay.
Originally posted by wingnut
2. Older child had been given two pieces of homework last night to do at home today whilst off from school and hand in tomorrow morning. So not only do I have to take time off work, I have to do the teachers work for them! I appreciate that the children will now be behind but that's the consequence of the strike, isn't it? I don't think you go on strike expecting someone else to do your work for you. I think the homework is for the child to do..
Reply ID 51977
You'd have to pay me at least £40k to put up with the kids of today.... :/ lol
Reply ID 51979
Actually, for a classroom teacher the starting wage is £20,000 with a maximum of £34,280 for the most experienced. Not much for a 50-60 hour week.
Reply ID 51980
quote:I know of one recently qualified teacher who has to have an evening job as well to make ends meet.
Originally posted by dennismoore
Actually, for a classroom teacher the starting wage is £20,000 with a maximum of £34,280 for the most experienced. Not much for a 50-60 hour week.
Reply ID 51981
quote:Fair enough newgirl. Seem to (very vaugly) being allowed to have a childhood back then.. but I did'nt start myeducation under this
Originally posted by newgirl
Unfortunately child is not that old that you can just leave them to get on with it. I know we used to get on with it ourselves back in the olden days but I never had homework from the age of five onwards, did you?
Reply ID 51984
quote:Not bad for only working 9 months of the year, guaranteed a week off every 6 weeks, guaranteed Christmas and Easter weeks off. Many workers in other professions have to cover Christmas and Easter. Many people with a career work more than their contracted hours. It's the difference between getting a wage and a salary. If you want to be paid for the hours you work rather than the job you do, get a job that is hourly paid or become self-employed. It seems to me that teachers jobs have been made easier - what with classroom assistants and "non-contact" time etc. not to mention the amount of training courses they seem to be allowed to go on. (Do they still do dinner and playground duty?). It also seems to me that teaching used to be a vocation and nobody was counting the hours, just taking great pleasure in playing their part in shaping future citizens. Nowadays graduates become teachers not for the pleasure of teaching but because they don't know what else to do with their degree. No wonder they leave the profession - they don't really know what they want to do and find teaching is actually much harder or not as stimulating as they expected. Teachers seem to think they automatically have a right to hero-worship from the wider public beacuse they carry the title "teacher". Respect has to be earned, and in my view this is done by inspiring children. It's also one of the few jobs where you don't struggle with childcare over the holidays. Consider the cost of a minimum 2 months' childcare for 2 children that many of us pay out of our annual salaries - add that to your pay. So many primary school teachers I know are mothers who have switched careers for this very reason. They have an ancient degree in some daft subject then do just 1 year's training, et voila, a teacher is born. The best teachers, in my opinion, have done BEd's, have continued to study their specialist subject and are passionate about sharing their knowledge. Does anyone know if the striking staff get paid while on strike? If they do, they've now had a day off on full pay and that's their pay rise, in my opinion. Rant over[:)]
Originally posted by dennismoore
Actually, for a classroom teacher the starting wage is £20,000 with a maximum of £34,280 for the most experienced. Not much for a 50-60 hour week.
Reply ID 51985
no; they dont get paid. Well not normally; But whether they bother to update the records as to who was in and who wasnt is anyones guess.
Reply ID 51987
My partner is a teacher and I sometimes count the actual number of hours she works. Yes, the holidays are a big plus especially when it comes to childcare, but even then work creeps in. For example, out of ten days off this easter my partner was working for three of them. Not to mention the usual Sunday evening of planning. Teaching is still a vocation but not one you'd want to take up if you can't afford to raise a family near where you work. That (apart from the sheer hard work, people expect it to be a cushy number) is why there's an increasing problem with recruiting and holding on to teachers. Those striking won't have been paid but you can bet that most will have been sat at home for much of the day doing paperwork.
Reply ID 51991
Teaching is a great job, yes the holidays are good, and the pay is too..the dispute should not have been about pay but focussed on the stupid amount of paperwork and new initiatives. from 1944 to 1987 there were hardly any changes, since then there have been changes on a yearly basis..I doubt if any child has followed an unchanged curriculum since then. The hours can be long but that is offset by the holidays (though with no flexibility holidays are always on the pricier side!) However one thing to bear in mind when you compare jobs, how often in other jobs do you need to make 10 decisions a minute, respond to 2 urgent requests that cannot be put on hold, per minute have fellow 'professionals such as social services, ed psychs not believe a word you say and have your results compared in the national/local press with no chance to explain. I love the job but it seems all to easy to knock us.[:)]
Reply ID 51992
quote:I was referring to a secondary school entry level, as officially posted with 0-1 years experience. Where the 50-60 hour week comes from, I'm not sure. Not one of the teachers I know (including the headteacher within the family) does anything like that. In fact, all of them chose the role as a lifesyle choice, because it's so much shorter hours than a commercial career. A sixty hour week is eight in the morning to six in the evening, six days a week. Find me a teacher who does that 48 weeks per year.
Originally posted by dennismoore
Actually, for a classroom teacher the starting wage is £20,000 with a maximum of £34,280 for the most experienced. Not much for a 50-60 hour week.
Reply ID 51994
can you imagine working those hours and being paid pennies AND having to put up with the gobby little gits that are our youth these days? :S
Reply ID 51996
quote:A gross generalisation I think. Would you like to qualify that statement? [:)]
Originally posted by simcut
...the gobby little gits that are our youth these days? :S
Reply ID 51998
quote:I'd say those are about average pressures in the non-teaching world. To earn more, you'd be expected to do all that and much, much more, and for longer each day, and for more days per year. For those us with children, there's also no flexibility in holiday dates, just 8 or 9 weeks less of them and of course some of that is taken up by all the inset days which we have to take as holiday. Oh and if you think teaching has changed a lot, take a look at employment law. We have been operating under different laws every month. Even builders face significant changes in law and paperwork. I'm not knocking teachers, just those who think they are somehow doing a harder job than the rest of the world. Teaching's a good job, generally done well and with integrity. Of course it has it's trials and challenges, but it's not a special case.
Originally posted by wingnut
Teaching is a great job, yes the holidays are good, and the pay is too..the dispute should not have been about pay but focussed on the stupid amount of paperwork and new initiatives. from 1944 to 1987 there were hardly any changes, since then there have been changes on a yearly basis..I doubt if any child has followed an unchanged curriculum since then. The hours can be long but that is offset by the holidays (though with no flexibility holidays are always on the pricier side!) However one thing to bear in mind when you compare jobs, how often in other jobs do you need to make 10 decisions a minute, respond to 2 urgent requests that cannot be put on hold, per minute have fellow 'professionals such as social services, ed psychs not believe a word you say and have your results compared in the national/local press with no chance to explain. I love the job but it seems all to easy to knock us.[:)]
Reply ID 52004
quote:Typically it's eight in the morning til six in the evening plus two or three hours at home after that. Add to that several hours at the weekend. With report writing coming up, weekends will disappear altogether. The holidays are great (although not entirely work free) so you won't find many teachers complaining, but the problem we're all going to have to face is that newly qualified teachers just can't afford to settle in this part of the country.
Originally posted by shuntquote:I was referring to a secondary school entry level, as officially posted with 0-1 years experience. Where the 50-60 hour week comes from, I'm not sure. Not one of the teachers I know (including the headteacher within the family) does anything like that. In fact, all of them chose the role as a lifesyle choice, because it's so much shorter hours than a commercial career. A sixty hour week is eight in the morning to six in the evening, six days a week. Find me a teacher who does that 48 weeks per year.
Originally posted by dennismoore
Actually, for a classroom teacher the starting wage is £20,000 with a maximum of £34,280 for the most experienced. Not much for a 50-60 hour week.
Reply ID 52007
quote:Agreed, but then neither can newly qualified anything. Your partner seems to work as many hours as the rest of us, when not on holidays. That is extraordinary for a teacher. None of the teachers I know do anything like that.
Originally posted by dennismoorequote:Typically it's eight in the morning til six in the evening plus two or three hours at home after that. Add to that several hours at the weekend. With report writing coming up, weekends will disappear altogether. The holidays are great (although not entirely work free) so you won't find many teachers complaining, but the problem we're all going to have to face is that newly qualified teachers just can't afford to settle in this part of the country.
Originally posted by shuntquote:I was referring to a secondary school entry level, as officially posted with 0-1 years experience. Where the 50-60 hour week comes from, I'm not sure. Not one of the teachers I know (including the headteacher within the family) does anything like that. In fact, all of them chose the role as a lifesyle choice, because it's so much shorter hours than a commercial career. A sixty hour week is eight in the morning to six in the evening, six days a week. Find me a teacher who does that 48 weeks per year.
Originally posted by dennismoore
Actually, for a classroom teacher the starting wage is £20,000 with a maximum of £34,280 for the most experienced. Not much for a 50-60 hour week.