clam: "you keep changing your stance, bit by bit. ...
[clam quotes me:]"I see no practical reason why teachers couldn't stay on for an extra week in the summer"
clam: "You said it should all be in one week in the summer. THIS is your main change of stance."
Your quote of me missed off the first two crucial words: I said "For example, I see no practical reason why teachers couldn't stay on for an extra week in the summer". The use of the words "for example" is a clear signal that I was not saying that this was the only solution. This is also clear from my immediate next post, when I said:
"Oh, I'm not wedded to the training happening in a week block at the end of July. I'm wedded to the idea of the training happening on one of the 70ish days when children aren't in school and it's not a weekend."
So contrary to your assertion, I have indeed been saying the same thing the whole way through.
Lots of people have been talking about standalone midweek Inset days as being a rarity or nonexistent. I'm pleased to know this. However, people have been describing long weekends in the middle of term time. This is better, but nowhere near as good as tagging on to existing holidays.
Hulababy: I should have been more explicit. The thing that is not true in the post I was quoting was this: "not everyone needed to know the same things". Lots of places have to ensure all their staff know some common core stuff. My reason for responding to this was precisely to say that despite this requirement, other organisations don't normally shut as a whole in order to do it.
"Oh, and my doctor's surgery DOES close down for staff training every so often."
As I said to the other poster, if that happens more than once in a blue moon, I think you ought to be complaining to them and the PCT. Certainly if it happens for 5 days in a year. They need to ensure reasonable access to primary care services, and there are other ways for them to do the necessary training. And this is my field of expertise.
Fontsnob: "I really have completely lost the thread of what it is you're actually trying to say though and it seems you chose not to answer the last time I asked you to clarify. Thank you for the lively debate though."
This is a busy thread and I'm trying to respond to everyone who asks me stuff. I did respond directly to your last-but-one post at Wed 11-May-11 10:57:18. My response repeated in one sentence what it was that I've been saying: "the only way I've said I think they're badly run is that the logistics are not as good as they can be, in that - specifically - term-time Insets are disruptive".
Now. This is directed towards clam, hulababy, fontsnob and possibly one or two others, I can't remember exactly. I'm fine to be told that:
- the practical problems of doing things differently are insuperable
- the thing I think is the biggest problem rarely, if ever, happens and so isn't much of a problem anyway
- my proposed solutions create as many problems as they solve
etc etc
But you've also:
- said I've been inconsistent and quoted selectively so that it appears that I am when the full quote makes it clear that I'm not
- extrapolated from my view on the logistics of Inset days to suggest that I have a problem with the very notion of training
- claimed I've not responded to you when I have
I don't like being accused of doing things I haven't done. So, I'm withdrawing from this conversation.