Teacher lunch hour!

I'd rather that they be given a budget big enough to fund both.

Actually, I've had a spiffing idea. It used to be the case that headteacher's spouses didn't actually have a job of their own - they spent all their time supporting their significant other and being involved in the "school family".

We should go back to that. Remember to take your rubber gloves into school with you.

Would you rather the NHS cut doctors and nurses to fund more cleaners?

That's disgraceful.

In our health board only clinical areas get cleaned by housekeeping staff. That results in nurses, therapists etc (of all bands) having to hoover, mop and dust their non clinical areas, after finding a member of housekeeping staff to borrow the equipment. I suppose we don’t have to but if we don’t it doesn’t get done!

As 20 years as a school governor, teachers are not responsible or required to do cleaning, catering or maintenance. This would be rejected by the governors.

I do miss the laugh emoji.

I'm wondering what type of school this is. A rival to Hogwarts, perchance?

He must be a shite head if he can’t leave his desk and needs to “ strategically lead “on his backside in his office all day as opposed to being amongst pupils. Our head can multi task, is super organised and doesn’t need to be tied to a desk to “strategically lead” which is the most pompous hysterical phrase I’ve ever heard.

And the HT and DHt cover the dining room!

Teachers in Scotland went on strike in the 1980s to stop covering children’s breaks. That’s why PSAs are employed!

At my school the TAs get half an hour and cover all lunch duties between them and teachers get their full hour. This suits as us TAs would rather get paid and work more and the teachers get their full unpaid hour!

Our senior management do hall duty and a shed load of other unpleasant tasks. As others have said they have flexibility in their day. Teachers don’t. Being seen amongst pupils is one of the most important things a head teacher can do .

There is no way that any headteacher should be carrying out cleaning and maintenance. The role is to offer strategic leadership and ensure teaching and learning is the best it can be, not pick up litter.

Teachers should be flexibly timetabled throughout the day so that some of their time is spent in the classroom, and some supporting with lunch catering or office admin.

There is no way that this is happening in a uk state school. Unions would be all over him like a rash. It must be a private school IF it’s happening at all.

At our school the head teacher picks up the cleaning, maintenance, admin and a shed load of other stuff when things are tight. One
wonders why said goady poster’s husband isn’t doing the same.

And teachers have more important things to do.

Senior management don't have their day rigidly timetabled, so they can take their lunch break wherever they choose, before or after they've spent half an hour in the dinner hall.

Oh, you're back.

Your posts about your DH's expectations of his teaching staff just make teachers on here want to know where his school is so that they can avoid it. There's an incredible lack of respect for his staff in every post you've made over the years. Expecting them to be cleaners and maintenance and catering staff as well as professional educators is incredibly unreasonable.

Every teacher will find themselves having to clear up occasionally, but actively not employing cleaners and using your teachers to do their job instead, is to have no respect for either the teacher's or the cleaner's role.

Senior management have far more important things to do than supervise lunches.

They are responsible for both the strategic and operational running of the school.

There should be lunch time supervisors as well as senior leaders, not main scale teachers who have to be back teaching in the afternoon.

"Mrs Weary, do you have a few minutes to discuss my coursework with me?"

"Sorry John - I have to go clean the bogs."

Teachers are employed to teach not to clean or maintain the school. No teacher is required to do cleaning as unpaid overtime.

What your DH is doing is absolutely not normal unless he is something like a law firm partner or a CEO.

Once again for those hard of understanding -

'I think <insert job name> should get a lunch break>' does not mean either:

'I think <insert job name> is the only job where you don't get a lunch break'

or

'I don't think that any jobs apart from <insert job name> should get a lunch break'.

If there are people in other jobs who you think should get a lunch break and don't, feel free to start a thread about them.

So it makes more sense to take away from marking and preparation time? I find it very difficult to believe this.

If this were tried in Scotland, the HT would be laughed out of the building.

I totally agree with you. However, it's not just teachers. Everyone should be entitled to a lunch break but in all the years I worked in corporate I very rarely took one, granted it was an office job so I was sat down, which is less hard work than primary school teaching, but I'd guzzle my sandwiches at my desk, answering emails and desperately catching up on things.
I agree teachers should get a break, and only have to work the agreed hours, and not have to prep/mark/decorate classrooms in their holiday, or mark work in their evenings, but I do sometimes get a bit fed up at the idea that it's a teacher-specific thing. I only ever got a "proper" break in between jobs, if I had a job, I was encouraged to take my work phone on holidays, I've joined calls on my non-working days before, rarely had a lunch break (and almost never a full hour) and always worked evenings and weekends. My dh is the breadwinner now and works through the majority of our hols, never has a break for lunch and is often working past 11pm at night.
Working conditions suck for most people, its wrong, it's not teacher specific though. Your question should be "should everyone get a proper lunchbreak" and the answer is wholeheartedly Yes, teachers included. The reality is, very few salaried employees ever do (suspect teachers included too, sadly).

Oh it's you. Your dh can believe what he likes. Teachers are not cleaners. HTH.

In my experience (Scottish central belt, secondary) the dinner ladies are only supposed to serve food.