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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

aibu to think teachers should

295 replies

goodbyemrschips · 28/04/2011 08:26

to think teachers should work like the rest of us.

Just have 5-6 weeks of a year and work 8-5 mon to fri.

If this happened then they would get all the time they needed to set up lessons and teacher train etc during the time the kids were on holiday.

[this is inspired by another thread]

OP posts:
DoingTheBestICan · 28/04/2011 08:30

Just have 5-6 weeks of a year and work 8-5 mon to fri.

Hmm,i know in my ds' school that would actually mean his teachers going home earlier than they actually do do.

I wouldnt be a teacher for a gold clock & all the tea in China.

YABU.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 28/04/2011 08:30

Lovely idea, and my DH would jump at the chance. Sadly, it isn't going to happen. He will continue to work 8-7 every day and generally half a day at the weekend. He will be in school for a fortnight after term ends and be back a week before it starts.

DamselInDisguise · 28/04/2011 08:30

How exactly are they going to set up for lessons in, say, November in the summer?

echt · 28/04/2011 08:34

OP - you don't know how teaching works, do you?

The very idea of having all your lessons planned for the while year. Er....it's people they're teaching, the ones who do unpredictable things.

NinkyNonker · 28/04/2011 08:35

How would schools cover when teachers take their holidays? If you set it up to work like 'industry', then presumeably teachers then get the same flexibility as 'industry' workers with regard to when they take their holidays?

Besides, most teachers I know already work those hours and work during the holidays.

You'd have to pay them more too, pro-rata'd to account for increased hours. That would cost a fortune across the whole country.

dinamum · 28/04/2011 08:38

Yawn

I would love to just have 5 weeks off a year and finish work at 5

Spent all of Easter "holidays" marking coursework. Each student produced over 155 pages of detailed documentation and computer code to check. Oh I have 170 students

That is just part of my teaching load also have AS students and Level 2 students.

Going in on Royal Wedding day with students who want to do an intensive revision day before the exams.

Finished work last night at 11.30.

Only able to post this morning as at dr waiting for appointment that I had to make before teaching starts or else I can't have an appointment, as it is I am now having to leave without seeing Dr as they are running late and I am due to teach in 10 mins!

I dream of a proper job

WriterofDreams · 28/04/2011 08:39

I have yet to meet a teacher who works 8-5.

YABU

Bucharest · 28/04/2011 08:41

I am very lucky in that I teach part time as an EFL teacher but in a state school.
I teach (face to face in Miss fashion) for only 6 hours a week.
I prepare, mark, and do extra hours gratis (like in this period when the kids have upcoming exams) for maybe twice as much again.
I am in awe of full time teachers who must do about as many hours as junior doctors.

kreecherlivesupstairs · 28/04/2011 08:44

Interesting that only teachers or those who know what teachers do think YABU.

LadyCornyOfSilk · 28/04/2011 08:44

they should be paid more if they worked more days - teachers don't get paid for their long holidays!

huffythethreadslayer · 28/04/2011 08:47

YABU. I wouldn't teach for all the tea in china...such a thankless job and then you get knobs whining about how much holidays they get and how easy they have things.

I also wouldn't want my kids in school without the breaks they have. Kids struggle to keep going through the longer terms and need the holidays to recharge their batteries.

Kids also need time to be just kids, to play, to not be stuck in a 'work' environment for 7 hours a day. They'll get the chance to do that when they're grown up.

NinkyNonker · 28/04/2011 08:50

In fact, let's go for it.

I would love DH to only work those hours, to be able to take hols when we want and not when it is extortionate and to get paid more.

You have my vote!

Ishani · 28/04/2011 08:51

teachers don't get paid for their long holidays!

Don't they get paid pro rata, they aren't without money for the 6 weeks holidays.

NinkyNonker · 28/04/2011 08:52

No not without money, just pro-rata'd over the weeks they work plus statutory hols.

babybythesea · 28/04/2011 08:53

It would be nice, yes. And while we're sorting it all out, they should also get lunchbreaks and coffee breaks and not have to do playground duties or sit with children who are being kept in for 5 minutes because they are naughty, or help those who've come to them during lunchbreaks, or run lunchtime clubs or after school clubs.
And they should be able to choose their holidays so that they are not always confined to the most expensive parts of the year.

OP - most teachers do in fact end up with a similar amount of holiday time as the rest of the world, it just doesn't show up on paper.

Going in at 8.00 gives you time to set up the classroom just before the kids arrive,including getting all the equipment ready for a series of activities through the day. Let's say kids go at 3.30, 1.5 hours is nowhere near enough time to write all the observations or reports of the kids you might need to do, marking work, tidy the classroom, do planning, prepare (eg print and laminate) resources etc. And then you have to factor in after weekly school clubs, regular staff meetings, meetings that you didn't foresee (maybe with a special needs co-ordinator if you have a child in your class needing help), time to put up displays around the school (only occasionally but still needs to be thought about), time to organise school trips (including booking the trip, booking the coach, doing all the risk assessments), and what about keeping up with developments in your field and the professional development angle (by which I mean reading the appropriate articles and reports, not the formal day long training sessions)?
Coming from a family of (primary school) teachers, the pattern is more being in school 8-5, but bringing home work every night, usually marking and planning, and working for 2 or 3 hours most evenings, plus one half day at weekends, plus going in during most holidays (2 weeks during the summer holidays is normal, for example, when you need to strip out everything from your old class and redo the whole room, new displays, do new name labels for everything, etc etc). And if you take on an after school club like my sister has, she also has planning for that to do.
My family wouldn't change what they do for the world - it's a vocation and they love the kids and the challenges, but it doesn't make it an easy ride with lots of holidays.

PrettyCandles · 28/04/2011 08:54

Teachers should be paid more and work fewer hours. I am in awe at the effort our teachers put into our dc. They work as hard as doctors and the influence they have over our dcs' future is as significant as the influence doctors have - it's just not as dramatic. They deserve a heck of a lot more than they get, not just in salary, but in support.

If there were more teachers they would teach fewer children each and have a lower marking burden.

Lollypolly · 28/04/2011 08:56

Sorry, have done teaching in the past and there's a very good reason why I don't do it at the moment. It can be very rewarding but a lot of the time it's physically, mentally and emotionally demanding, it's grossly underpaid and requires a superhuman skillset. Hours are long and the classroom hours are the very tip of the input iceberg. Teachers are underestimated - they are training the future of this planet and not many people seem to realise....

Hammy02 · 28/04/2011 08:57

My dad was a teacher and I wouldn't do the job for all the money in the world. If it seemed a doss life, believe me, I would've done it myself.

bruffin · 28/04/2011 09:01

MY DCs reports are online with the time and date they are written. One was written 11pm on easter sunday! A lot of the reports have been written over the easter holidays.

duchesse · 28/04/2011 09:08

ime as a teacher the work was 12+ hours a day, six days a week, with maybe 2-3 weeks a year tops without work. I would have loved to work the hours you describe.

LoopyLoopsNincompoop · 28/04/2011 09:08

What everyone else who is, has been or knows a teacher has said.

If only.

Hammy02 · 28/04/2011 09:10

Teachers are grossly underpaid and I think this is why some people have the misconception that the job isn't difficult and that they don't work long hours. If they were paid an average of about £60k, the profession may get the respect it deserves. I still wouldn't do it for this salary.

peeriebear · 28/04/2011 09:16

Are you going to argue your case MrsChips, or did you just want to start a confrontation and run?

exoticfruits · 28/04/2011 09:17

I think that all teachers would adore the work hours you are describing!! If only they could cut down like that they would be laughing.

NinkyNonker · 28/04/2011 09:19

Another poster mooted this ill thought out suggestion on anither thread, the OP has obviously run with it without actually having given it any thought.

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