to think there is NO NEED for 2 inset days after a week off?

[Charliefarlie1192]

Only realised by asking on fb this morning that ds doesnt return to school till wednesday as today and tomorrow are inset days, aibu to think this is beyond ridiculous?!

Teachers are touchy because they are constantly being got at.

How many threads in the last few days have bashed other professionals? Why are teachers fair game?

No no, Curry, it's helping my children take personal responsibility for their school calendars. Nothing quite like the threat of an absent-minded parent who might have got it wrong to make a child look up their own term dates!

(We didn't choose to have them at different schools btw, it's just how things worked out.)

Tinga, I spent half an hour yesterday adding inset days for the 2012-13 school year into my diary

Correct me if I'm wrong - but teachers don't get paid for the holidays, do they?

They just have their term time wages split over 12 months. The salary they are paid is for the 195 school days in a year.

So it's not that they get lots of lovely paid holidays at all. They get paid for the school days in a year and this is paid out in 12 equal amounts in a year.

Ds has got a full week off. School asked the parents a while back on how they'd like the inset days to be arranged & most people voted for week long blocks. Suits me better this way tbh.

That's interesting Babe. I would prefer that too. Good that they actually asked parents as well - my DDs' schoold seem incredulous that parents have jobs to be honest!

And schools shut at 3.30, how incredibly annoying for working parents who work until 6 or later. Why can't the teachers stay behind for 3 hours and look after our children?

What do you think teachers are doing on these days OP? The work doesn't stop when the children aren't there.

And teachers do not choose their inset days, the LEA tells them how many to have.

EXACTLY celia, I have stated several times that I am not teacher bashing ffs!

The breath taking arrogance of the OP just because she pays taxes thinks it gives her the god given right to dictate another professions terms and conditions. I'm not a teacher but I think the job is difficult nowadays and the renumeration doesn't seem to tally with the demands of the job.

YABU Its much easier to organise childare when its tagged on the the start or end of a term or half term that odd days all over the place.

When I was at school back in the 80's we got 2 weeks off in June, then 6 weeks in the summer.

Now the kids get 1 week in June but there are 5 inset days tagged on to the start and end of term/half terms.

My kids go to an independent school and next yearthey are having almost 2 weeks off at autumn half term.

You're not teacher bashing but we "have enough holidays as it is".

INSET days are not holidays! Unless your idea of a holiday is to have a training session on yet another initiative that will have been given no funding and precious little thought.

my job is also difficult and renumeration doesnt tally with the demands of the job - thats life.

Im guessing all the teachers on this thread are choosing their inset days and are cheiftains of the LEA, because thats the only reason I can think as to why you would be so god damn touchy about it
How could I be teacher bashing when its not the teachers in control of this?

As a professional I wouldn't like to have my inset in one week long block.

As a parent I wouldn't want my child's teacher to only receive training once a year. And I would want my child to benefit from the odd 'occasional day off' during a busy term.

In both capacities I would worry if the whole week was being used effectively. Inset has a multitude of different functions and spread out across the year is logical. Ie. if it is all this week, when will the departments meet to set up for the new school year (and by set up I mean discuss strategy with new colleagues, and share best practice for the term ahead). A week in June seems a silly time for that sort of thing.

I can see how it suits parents but not teachers or pupils to be honest.

inset days are usually published in Sept and come out of child's holiday time, but rather than adding a week to summer hols they spread them out. Maybe I'm odd (probably) but any extra time I get with dds is a blessing. Soon enough they'll be all grown up.

Its not just teachers who get touchy about the constant bashing about their perceived hours / holidays... it is their non-teaching wives too!

My DH is a teacher and works stupidly long hours. I barely see him in the week... leaves the house by 7am, back by 7pm just in time to grab half an hour with the children, eat, and go back to working until 10ish. His "holidays" are spent preparing for the next term, tying up loose ends from the previous term, planning the additional training he provides for his colleagues, additional revision sessions for his students... the list is endless. His work really is never done. Teaching isn't a job that you walk away from at 5pm when you leave the office. They rightly get touchy about constantly being questioned and mocked about their supposed 9 - 3 day and 13 weeks holiday. Real life is very different.

INSET days are essential not only for their development but other factors of teaching. For example, they have a mandatory session on CPR / first aid etc. I would be the first to complain if my child needed first aid and the staff in school didn't know what to do, or weren't up to date on the latest CPR research.

It is about time our professional roles within society were given the respect they deserve.

Yabu

Teachers don't get a say when the INSET days are.

Blame it on the governors. They, along with the HT, decide when the INSET days should fall.

I know, I am a teacher and I've been a governor.

Quite often the INSET days are tagged onto a holiday because it's felt that once a parent has arranged childcare for a week, they may as well book it for a couple more days. Unfortunately, they don't always consider that sometimes parents have to beg, steal and borrow to provide childcare for that week and an extra day or two feels like a pisstake.

OTOH, parents can organise their workload around that so not book meetings, organise projects and shifts to cater for it. Whereas if you have a random INSET day in the middle of the term, you'll find there are parents who find it difficult to organise childcare for that one day/arrange the day off work.

It's a pain for someone either way.

And don't get me started on INSET days at the start of a term when the focus means that at the end of the day to have to revisit your medium and short term planning and get your head round it before the start of the new term the following day.

That's helpful. Not.

YABvU - they have to go somewhere in the year so why does it matter if it's after half term.

Is it the fact you didn't realise until this morning that has pissed you off? Presumably that's because you forgot, not really the fault of the school or local authority.

How come you didn't think to check before this morning whether school was back or not?

All our 5 days are tacked on to holidays or made into long weekends. Children only need to be in school 190 days staff are required to do 195 but many do much more.

Applauds SoozyWoozy

I'm not a teacher.

Still think that you were teacher bashing.

FFS. I want my children's teachers to have a less stressful time of it. I'd like teachers to be respected and appreciated and for the profession to have the respect it once did, to attract excellent graduates who are dedicated and see teaching as a desireable career. Why would anyone with school aged children want otherwise? I want the person who is teaching my child to have job satisfaction.

It's impossible to do the job if you don't work in the holidays. You'd never have anything ready. Every lesson of every day would be a 'blag' or a suck it and see if you didn't plan (and colour code the LO; SC; targeted questions; T focus group; TA focus group; independent activity; talk for writing opportunities; cross curricular opportunities, etc... GRR!) Oh, so glad I'm not doing it anymore!

Displays don't put themselves up or take themselves down; resources don't make themselves; the role play corner didn't set itself up; the resources didn't order themselves, receive their own delivery, put themselves away.

And any notion of 'non teaching duties' being taken off teachers and given to TAs.... Yeah, right.

I'm not even responding to anything now, I'm just offloading!

I rather suspect that the OP is one of those parents who makes the teachers' hearts sink when she hoves into view...

My dp is a doctor (well, a psychiatrist but it still counts!) and he was when we moved in together. He couldn't believe the hours I work. I work far more than he does. Yes, he has to work weekends and nights some times but he gets paid a fortune and sleeps through them anyway. He is often a bit put out that I don't have more time to spend with him in the evenings. He even bought me a 'work/life' balance book for Christmas, but as I calmly explained, I have to do the work I do.

RE the 'we pay their salaries' well yes, you do. I also pay tax, so I pay my own salary. I also don't have any children, so my tax is being taken to pay for a service I don't use myself.