‘Teachers must run summer schools to help pupils to catch up’

[DNAshelicase]

...said the children’s commissioner. Uhmm no hun. I’m a teacher and have already worked through Easter and half term for free, contrary to popular belief we are not paid for holidays. If I’ll be paid handsomely for overtime I’d consider it but tbh I need a break. Wouldn’t get into the profession if we didn’t care about the kids but they aren’t more important than our own kids, the suggestion is a piss take.

@princessspotify why? I’m not holding him up as a martyr, just saying what his ft teaching job is like. I’m also a teacher but in a different setting and pt and I know nurses work extremely hard in conditions I wouldn’t want to work in. But in terms of hours, 3x14 does compare to 5x12+4. Please don’t be patronising, I’m taking nothing away from nursing and hca staff.

It’s not accurate that state teachers have not been furloughed. I saw a secondary teacher friend of mine and she said she has. I think linked to childcare issues but also workload. A primary friend is still on part time hours.

One I know is back this week after maternity leave and doesn’t have work to do yet. She is frustrated but hasn’t been allocated teaching work. Yet some are working flat out. It varies due to each school.

I tend to.ride my bike after work, usually the hour or so it would take to.drive home and collect my kids. I'm more visible cos I'm not going from.to work to gym. I sit in the garden.during the day with my laptop, planning and marking and communicating and having meetings. Most of my kids seem to wake up about 4, so I'll be responding to emails after tea.

I don’t think it’s what parents want and the government would have to come up with a grant (maybe based on PP) to schools if they wanted this to happen.

olivehater

You have no idea what your child's teacher (or any teacher) has been doing.

So maybe you should try finding out fact instead of making stuff up to suit your own agenda.

@FrenchSeal, why not ask why those NHS workers whose clinics and surgeries have been cancelled and who are sitting around twiddling their thumbs at the moment have not been given a pay cut, or asked to volunteer for one? You could argue that they're "refusing to work" by not seeing patients at the moment, and the potential fall-out of that will be far greater than children not returning to their classrooms for a few weeks longer (and instead engaging with the work that has actually been set for them).

I feel like this thread has become a pissing contest between nurses and teachers. Both professions are equally important and where would we be without either one of them. It seems during the pandemic the government and public have only reaslised our worth and it makes me wonder if when we return to normal (whatever that may be) if we will still be held in high regard.
I can honestly say after trying to homeschool my 7yr old on my days off it's not a job I could do.

I agree, I'm a governor and it's shocking that staff have had to work through holidays already. Can you imagine in any other industry that being ok? Plus I guarantee there is no chance any school budget would stretch that far anyway.

Well frip I can only go off my own experience. I don’t know what they have been doing but they haven’t been teaching my child or any of my friends kids.

@penguinsbegin

Personally I'd like to see a competitive, performance-focused pay package for teachers. I'd pay a flat rate of around £10 per hour for a 37.5 hour week x 38 weeks.

I'd then add a large performance-related element based on qualifications of the teacher and outputs like exam results, feedback from parents and headteacher, as well as qualities such as innovation and overall engagement with school life.

And now they need a 6 week break. Seriously!

Ok, let's say some teachers haven't been working hard. Others have. Who is going to audit which teachers "deserve" their summer holiday and which don't? How will this be done?

I've been working all through. I've worked days of my Easter and half-term holidays in school. Yesterday and today, I spent the day with my new bubble at school, who are not from my own class, then came home to record videos and send emails to my own pupils

I will most definitely be taking my summer holiday and it isn't for some random member of the public to decide that because they haven't had any contact from their school, I'm not allowed a summer break.

Anecodotes mean nothing. All my teacher friends in different parts of the country have been working hard since lockdown providing work and calling pupils. All my parent friends have had sufficient (most say too much) work from their schools. That doesn't mean I don't believe that some schools around the country have not been providing enough work, it just means that you cannot generalise from just your own personal experience what teachers have been doing.

roadtrip they have had to go in on the odd day. Its not like we can go anywhere else on holiday anyway. Friends that were teachers were happy enough to go in as it was a change from being at home. They weren’t teaching the curriculum in the holidays just doing more play based activities.

Also there aren’t many other industries that have to accommodate 13 weeks holiday a year.

It's super sad that so many children are not being taught. Mine are, teachers and staff have worked incredibly hard. We have phone calls, online teaching, extra resources, whole school challenges, staff drop off items that children need if they require it. The head and deputy have out their email addresses and answer questions from parents all the time.

Is the situation ideal? No. Is every child doing the work? No. But a lot of those children who don't engage in the work are children from homes that are disadvantaged and they go to school part time now.

If seriously no work is provided than I would be complaining, it's not easy or ideal for teachers but they should be at least trying to produce some work.

That's because we are dealing with CHILDREN.

They can't function at fully till 335 days ours of 365.

All of you moaning about the holidays just come and teach if it's such a bloody lark.

We need the staff. For some reason, people don't stay in the job......

[quote FrenchSeal]@penguinsbegin

Personally I'd like to see a competitive, performance-focused pay package for teachers. I'd pay a flat rate of around £10 per hour for a 37.5 hour week x 38 weeks.

I'd then add a large performance-related element based on qualifications of the teacher and outputs like exam results, feedback from parents and headteacher, as well as qualities such as innovation and overall engagement with school life.[/quote]
This already exists!

Every teacher has a performance management review annually which sets targets based on all of these things. School budgets are so stretched that leadership teams routinely put totally unachievable progress and attainment targets in purely so that they won't have to move staff up the payscale.

I used to be on the Upper Pay Scale. When I needed to spend more time with my family, I took on a new part-time job on the main payscale, which I had to do as part-time jobs on the Upper Pay Scale barely exist. I've now been there years, have gone back to full-time and taken on extra responsibilities but my school have said they can't afford for me to move through the "threshold" (even though I've already passed it once before!) so they set some completely unachievable whole school project as the target for moving up.

Of course it should be voluntary. But you do get paid for holidays, teachers are on a 52 week contract. It’s support staff who aren’t paid for the whole year, they are normally on 39 working weeks contract plus 6 weeks paid holidays.

@WoolyMollyMonkey I think it must vary. This is the case in my LA area (although newer support staff only get 39 weeks and 5 weeks - 4 weeks holiday plus bank holidays) this increases eventually with time served but teachers get paid 52 weeks. From what I've read on here it's not the case everywhere

And when I said paid for holidays what I mean is that the teachers advertised salary is what they receive. Mine as support staff is pro rata'd down to the 39 weeks plus holiday allowance then split over the 12 months. Also our teachers were forbidden to work over the holidays and other council staff drafted in from services such as libraries, youth work and leisure centres for hubs. I guess it's a postcode lottery as with many public services

The teachers salary is what they receive because it's split over 12 months. But contracts are for 195 days.

I don't know how many times this needs explanation.

Support staff are on different contracts. As are heads, actually.

Same here op.
I love the kids I teach, and this whole experience has really made me realise that more than ever. I miss them, I care about them, I worry about them.
BUT I'm working 10 hour days, working over the weekend, have also worked over Easter/half term. I'm live teaching; delivering lectures; doing form periods and small-group tutorials.
Do I resent it? No. Would I want to do any less? No.
What I absolutley know, though, is that I'm on my knees, and there's no way on this earth I'm giving up my holiday.

Yes mine is split over 12 months too but it's pro rata'd. My business manager explained it to me just the other month when we were working things out for tax credits. I'm in Scotland, maybe it's different but her exact words were that teachers are paid for 52 weeks but support staff are 39+ holidays which vary depending on length of service.

On the basis of this thread I have decided I am going to email the head and kick up a fuss. It sounds like the provision ds2 has been getting is exceptionally poor rather than the norm that we all have to put up with in difficult times.
I am not one of nature’s fuss-kicker-uppers and I have been working on the basis that other kids probably need staff time more than we do, but possibly I have been more understanding than they deserve.

You don't need to "kick up a fuss." How about asking politely?