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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think that INSET days are.....

238 replies

thismousebites · 15/07/2013 23:04

basically just another day off?
So, all you teachers out there, what exactly do you do on INSET days?

OP posts:

herethereandeverywhere · 15/07/2013 23:59

what always pees me off is parents who moan about having to find childcare for these odd days here and there when they are published at the start of the year !!

Have you tried to find childcare for odd days when you don't have relatives living nearby? You can pay an agency a vast amount of money to send a stranger to sit with your children all day but aside from that if your regular provider/helper doesn't automatically have space on odd days it means taking more time off. I'm not suggesting teachers are responsible for this, but advanced notification does not make the problem any easier.

I do chuckle at all the hard done by teachers. If you don't like it, get a different job, one that only has 25 days holiday a year.

As I say to my teacher friends complaining about being at school at gone 8pm (wow!) for parents evening, "don't worry, if there isn't a holiday this month, there'll be one along next month!"

Also hollow laugh to teachers were not financially compensated for losing 5 days of their holidays when they were introduced. I'm no Tory but I expect Mr Baker was trying to get the tax payer a little more 'bang for their buck' when he introduced this. Given the number of weeks of the year that teachers do nothing because they're on holiday (again).

I'm sure they all work terribly hard whilst schools are open though.

ilovesooty · 15/07/2013 23:59

Never mind mouse, why not be a teacher instead?
Quick bit of training and off you go!

And once she gets QTS she'll know it all and never need any training again.

phantomnamechanger · 16/07/2013 00:00

OP - did you KNOW about those terms and conditions when you took on the job though, and that YOU would have to foot the bill?

it does sound a bit rough but I don't see how it has anything to do with what teachers t&c are

Bogeyface · 16/07/2013 00:00

Wow!

As someone who moans like hell about random days off for INSET, even I know that the INSET is there for a reason! I moan because it buggers up my routine, but I would far rather have that 5 days a year than a teacher that couldnt see an abused child in their class, or didnt know how to best implement the latest technology for example.

Would you complain about a doctor doing INSET days in order to keep with the latest advances in medicine? No? Then why is education any different? Without them we would still have children learning by rote and getting slippered when they got it wrong.

ilovesooty · 16/07/2013 00:01

In fact I started teaching before the introduction of INSET days. They did represent a worsening of T&Cs.

ilovesooty · 16/07/2013 00:02

Would you complain about a doctor doing INSET days in order to keep with the latest advances in medicine? No? Then why is education any different?

Exactly.

snowmummy · 16/07/2013 00:02

so, herethere it sounds like you view the education system as a free childcare facility?

MidniteScribbler · 16/07/2013 00:03

We sit around all day and get drunk and laugh about stupid parents. You know the ones - the idiots that like to post stupid things about teachers on internet forums.

Then we have an orgy.

Ericaequites · 16/07/2013 00:03

Why not hold these on Saturdays when the children are off. It's very inconvenient for parents.
Moreover, I live in the States, and work in a family business. My hours are good, but I don't have more than a week of holiday a year.

snowmummy · 16/07/2013 00:04

and you'll find teachers work hard during the holiday. We all like a headline but why not try to look a little deeper?

ilovesooty · 16/07/2013 00:05

Why not hold these on Saturdays when the children are off. It's very inconvenient for parents

I'm sure that will be on Gove's agenda soon.

Currently if they did that they'd have to give teachers weekdays off in lieu.

cozietoesie · 16/07/2013 00:06

No, No, Midnite - you have adult circle time training followed by enhanced interaction training.

phantomnamechanger · 16/07/2013 00:06

hereandthere - of course advance notice makes it easier - DH or I take days off work for training days to look after our 3 kids - what's so hard about that - when the dates are published well in advance - the schools don't look at the weather forecast and think let's spring a random day off on them you know! some people have said they do not get enough notice - unless that is out of the schools control eg a course being rescheduled at a venue, then that's bad.

I do chuckle at all these hard done by parents - if you don't like it, you can always home educate you know......

lurcherlover · 16/07/2013 00:06

Yes, OP, if teaching is such a breeze, do come and join us at the chslkface...

I have done tedious-but-necessary inset (how to use new data monitoring/tracking systems, new report software etc), sad-but-necessary inset (child protection), pointless inset (new govt initiatives) and the odd bit of inspirational inset (usually time to plan resources and teaching ideas in teams or with teachers from other schools). When would you like me to do this inset? After school? Yep, we do that, on three "twilights" a year. In my holidays? Oh yes, do that too - because historically, on those days when your kids are at home, I would have been too. No longer...

phantomnamechanger · 16/07/2013 00:07

Why not hold these on Saturdays when the children are off. It's very inconvenient for parents

hahahaha, yes, poor parents being inconvenienced by their own children! schools are only free childcare after all!

Bogeyface · 16/07/2013 00:09

Why not hold these on Saturdays when the children are off. It's very inconvenient for parents.

Because inconvenience for the teachers, most of whom are parents too btw, doesnt matter!

Well done, you get full points on my "Fuck you, this is all about ME!" meter! And no, I am not, nor have I ever been, a teacher.

TheFallenMadonna · 16/07/2013 00:14

I know INSET days are inconvenient to parents, because I am one, and that means I have to work (and can't take holiday) on my DC's INSET days.

BoneyBackJefferson · 16/07/2013 07:05

herethereandeverywhere
"I'm no Tory but I expect Mr Baker was trying to get the tax payer a little more 'bang for their buck' when he introduced this. Given the number of weeks of the year that teachers do nothing because they're on holiday (again)."]

You missed out that the holiday is unpaid

mouse
nice goady thread.

MrsMangoBiscuit · 16/07/2013 07:09

Not a teacher, never been a teacher, but I do know a few of them. I am laughing at the suggestion inset days are holidays!

icklemssunshine1 · 16/07/2013 07:17

I'll just say the one thing I always say when I hear how "easy" my job is because of my "short" days & "long" holidays...

OP, you do it! Seriously if our job is so rosy, retrain & do it. Don't criticise til you've experienced it & don't say you know what schools are like just because you've been a pupil once & you read shite in the DM, actually do it!

fuckwittery · 16/07/2013 07:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Flobbadobs · 16/07/2013 07:19

My DD's teacher retires this week after 30 years of teaching. I was talking o her before the last inset day and mentioned that I bet she hoped she's have gone by the time another one rolled round and she just sighed and said "no one will ever be that lucky"
I have the impression from her and other teachers I know that they can be a PITA for the teachers too!
Wird thread to start, didn't realise people were actually that ignorant..
YABU snd goady.

Flobbadobs · 16/07/2013 07:21

iscklemiss I would love to retrain, I think I could do it as far as the children are involved, it's just the rest of the crap I'm not sure i could take!

muddymary · 16/07/2013 07:24

I'm a teacher and I hate inset days! We have so much pressure to get our kids to make 'rapid progress' then we have to take a day out from teaching to listen to someone tell us something which they already told us last year but has changed slightly.

There are only two good things about inset days - the buffet and the fact that we're allowed to dress comfortably ie jeans and trainers!

exoticfruits · 16/07/2013 07:25

I am surprised that OP wants her DCs taught by staff who are not up to date on training or thinks that training is a holiday for teachers.

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