AIBU to think that when all things are considered, teachers are on the equivalent of NMW?

[Glossynotflossy]

The extra time spent at home planning, making reources, time spent buying resources (out of your own pocket) basically means that teachers, in reality, are on the equivalent or just above NMW for all the work outside of the actual classroom?

Try being a HE lecturer. You even have students phoning you on weekends and at midnight.

NQTs probably are, I sincerely doubt a HoD or even HoF would be!

As a teacher I would agree I am not paid as much as I like, however for those struggling on NMW life is even harder.

NMW? For all those of us half asleep this morning

Don't be ridiculous. People who do other jobs do plenty of unpaid overtime - extra hours, teleconferences outside of core work hours, prep. for presentations, travel, etc. All unpaid. All of the things you mention are part of the job of teaching - or working, actually.

Certainly teachers in England seem to spend an inordinate amount of time on planning, marking and paperwork.

I'm the child of a teacher, and although he worked very hard and his hours were long, the descriptions of the hours teachers have to do that I read in here are unrecognisable to me.

National Minimum Wage?

You may have a point OP, but don't single out teachers, this is true of many many jobs.

I didn't say unpaid work was exclusive to teaching.

Not forgetting student loan repayment - yanbu

Sorry yellow that reads really bitchy. I didn't intend for it to sound like that.

You are right I got out

Yes they likely are but so are many caring professionals are only paid NMW, and still have to do the extra hours. TAs, nursery nurses, carers, HCA ect ect.
I often wonder what teachers wages would be in they worked 48 weeks a year like most, my betting would be certainly less than minimum wage

I'd say those working in IT have it worse. I had to buy my own equipment in order to be able to remote in at any time to fix things. Lots of systems can only be taken down once everybody's gone home, so I'd find myself scarfing down my tea and logging on at home to do quite sensitive work out of hours. Unpaid.

But like, yah, the teachers, man.

Do you know what? Being a teacher is OPTIONAL. What's with the endless martyrdom?

It also depends on your wage. My friend gets over £40K a year as a teacher (head of subject but thats all in terms of extra responsibilities). Im sure if you did the math she would still be earning ok.

purrpurr I know where you are coming from. As a HE lecturer, I had to buy all paper (for handouts too), pens, pen drives, bookeshelves etc for my office, printer ink...all from my own pocket.

Eh? YABU.

My dH is a teacher and probably spends an hour - an hour and a half a day doing all the extra work, either before or after school, depending on our childcare arrangements. He rarely takes any work home. He does nothing extra on his 12 weeks holiday a year. He's not workshy either, in fact he is thought of very highly and is in line to get a promoted post.

On what planet does that equate to a NMW job?

I spend about an hour a day doing unpaid overtime too. It's part of the job, and I don't get the luxury of 12 weeks off either. Working unpaid overtime is not just for teachers. It's (unfortunately) life.

No, you are being ridiculous. Teachers are well paid and to compare us to people on NMW is silly.

For the first 2 or 3 years you don't earn much per hour, but after that you can cut down the hours worked to a reasonably manageable level. I'd say that time wise teaching is comparable with an 8-6 job with statutory holiday.

And any teacher who is spending a lot of their own money on class resources is being a martyr. Yes it's nice to buy the occasional thing for the classroom, but you don't have to.

Purr working in IT is also an option.

As for the holidays its not like you have them completely off. Prep for the next academic year is a big part of the holidays

I agree its not just teachers but other caring professions too.

I think I work hard, but other professions might work harder. I don't see any teachers in my school who work constantly get better results than the ones who seem to work fewer hours. Obviously the less experienced you are the more you need to do, but that's true for any job.
Teacher bashing is dull but so is teacher martyrdom.

Some posters need to go to the grip shop. And get one.

The OP is not suggesting other workers are not at NMW, but talking about teachers. The boo hoo, we have it worse, etc., is beside the point.

Whilst I agree that these kinds of discussions are important, it might be better to admit that a lot of professions are hard hit by lack of staffing, full time roles (so many staff, but all working part time) and lack of funds, meaning some staff are forced to keep up supplies out of their own pockets. In the current situation, I would suggest this is impacting employees in far greater numbers than those in the teaching profession - and I would suggest those in the caring profession are as important as teachers and as entitled to a very martyrish attitude - but you don't see them endlessly complaining. Or having inset days.

echt It's not beside the point - I reckon you've missed it entirely.

Explain, purrpurr.