To think that INSET days are.....

[thismousebites]

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

Ok, so it is bad practice, but it happens. Covering 13 weeks holiday is very hard, we all know that, having to find another week can be the straw that breaks the camels back.

I am not saying that INSET days should be gotten rid of, assuming they are used for useful things and not playing fecking stupid balloon games or pretending to be 7 years old for that day! But I do understand the frustration of having to find yet another week of childcare on top of the 13 weeks holiday.

One school I knew did most of their training as twilight sessions, so they could use the Insets to make holidays longer. However even then the school wouldn't be locked as teacher's would be in doing bit of work (rewriting schemes of work, marking, lesson plans, sorting out equipment/storerooms/costumes etc., producing written reports, collating evidence for career progression etc. etc.).

Most days of most holidays there is someone in most schools I know (Christmas day is an exception).

IT'S NOT ANOTHER WEEK ON TOP!!!!!!! Children's holiday entitlement is the same as it's always been. And if they dropped INSET days, then teachers might regain the holiday that they were originally taken from!

No problem fuckwittery. Glad it was comprehensible!

I think you'd find that teachers did make a fuss, but I suspect the attitudes then were similar to now. The prevailing opinion at the moment is that teachers get long long long holidays so could easily give up 5 days without hardship. Any attempt by teachers to point out that their school hours are longer than the kids' hours is assumed to just be them whinging, when really they don't know how the 'real world' works, and they should get over themselves and count themselves lucky. So if it was the same then, I can't imagine there was much public sympathy, and there's no way now that those days could be reclaimed or the money suddenly found to pay the teachers for them - can you imagine the DM headlines??!!!

In my school they have 13 weeks holiday AND 5 days INSET. That is 14 weeks. (13+1=14)

At no point in my 40 year life have school holidays been 14 weeks.

Please dont "SHOUT", I am neither blind, nor deaf.

Bogeyface - what happened when the INSeT days were introduced was that the govt decided that these days should not be allowed to impact on the amount of time children were being taught for. So the five extra days were indeed drawn not from term-time teaching days, but from holiday days from the teachers. So if the INSeT days were removed you would still have the same number of days to find childcare for. However, where you might find it changed would be that those days would always come in a block.
At the moment, if a school does an INSeT day mid-term (maybe due to availability of an external trainer) that day is then added on the end of term for the children (so they now break up on the Thursday instead of the Wednesday).
As a parent, you now have to find childcare for one random day mid-term, plus instead of two days together at the end of term (Thursday and Friday) the children are now in school on the Thurs leaving you with just the one day to cover (if that makes sense). That might (or might not) prove harder depending on the childcare you use.

It's probably the muddling up of days that makes it harder to compare because it doesn't work out as one straight week anywhere in the year, just odd days here and there.

"Please dont "SHOUT", I am neither blind, nor deaf."

But the point has been made several times on this thread and you appear to have missed it.

State school children in the UK attend school 190 days per year. Teachers work (in school) 195, 190 teaching children, and 5 on INSET.

I'm a nurse and all I can add to this is its a good job our mandatory training updates (many of which you've quoted are yearly) and continuing professional practice do not involve all members of a ward/unit. Why don't teachers take a day out like other companies do to ensure the service continues to run.
I don't mind inset days - with the exception of a week on Monday which has now been changed from an inset day to a day for children to go in until 2pm! When most other schools end on the Friday before. I've even lost a day of childcare camp organised months ago as its my DD last day of primary :(

And once more, just to be clear, INSET days ARE holidays for the children. They are not holidays for the staff, even though they were taken from the (unpaid) holiday that teachers once had. It therefore makes no difference to the childcare you need to find. It is and always has been 195 days, regardless of what teachers may or may not be doing on 5 of those days.

I stand corrected baby but holidays are longer now! Ours are off for

1 week October
2 weeks minimum Xmas
1 week Feb
2 weeks minimum Easter
1 week May
7 weeks Summer.

It used to be 6 when DS started but now it is 7, every year. So that is 14 weeks plus the random inset days.

cls77 Who's going to teach my class whilst I'm doing this training? And how am I going to liaise with colleagues, or participate in whole-staff training on new initiatives that involve discussion and input from everyone? How many times should a school pay an outside provider to come in and run courses to small groups in dribs and drabs?

bogeyface I promise you, it is 190 days in school for children in England.

I have and always will defend teachers to the hilt, but the numbers dont add up, at least not here! And as someone who doesnt need holiday childcare, it is neither here nor there, I was just trying to explain why some people may be pissed off.

Set holidays are far easier to arrange child care for that set holidays and 5 random days, whether they come under the 190 days or not.

than not that!

I didnt want to have a row about whether the days count as holidays or not, just trying to say that thinking you have it sorted only to have a random day chucked in 6 weeks ahead is bloody annoying!

For you, maybe. But every time this thread pops up, there are as many people whingeing about days tacked onto main holiday blocks as there are about random days.
As I said earlier, you can't suit everyone.

I think Euphemias post @22.32 answers my question, thankyou.

An inset day isn't like a day off, to answer OP's question. It is like a day spent in a normal, office-based job. I have done both so feel able to compare.

Training days on Saturdays? Oh yes, great idea The Goady Fuckers on here do realise many teachers are also parents, right?...

We had 2 hours on What To Look For If You're Buying A Fire Door last term.

On the whole, I'd prefer to have it back as holiday time...

Buying a fire door?
Sounds like the majority of INSET days are a waste of time really.
And, for those who get advanced warning, well done. The most we get is " there will be INSET days in the future and we will inform parents later". Not really helpful when you get just 2 weeks notice and have to start juggling customers around.

The problem is not teachers, or INSET days that teach something worth knowing (like how to spot a neglected or abused child for example) or even childcare.

Its the fucking managers, sitting in offices with no fecking idea of what it is like being on the front lines. The same as in the NHS, the forces, the county and town councils.......

when I was working in school my ds was also there, so not only did I have inset days, but I also had to find childcare for ds. all on my splendiferous salary of £10K a year (and I was paid more than other TAs as an LSA).

I was also sent on training specific to supporting the child I looked after, and not only was I not paid, I also had to find and pay for childcare for ds.

Such fun!

Bogeyface our school is like yours. Only Inset day we have plenty of notice for is at start of autumn term. The rest are notified with max of 6 weeks notice. Absolutely hopeless if your employer insists on booking all your holiday in one go or if you work shifts or can't easily switch holidays with someone else.

Getting childcare for odd days is a nightmare with all the schools taking different days for training so no holiday clubs operate. This is crying out for some joined up thinking so that teachers can get their training and parents can work. Even the government must be able to work out that 13 weeks away from school to be covered by two parents each with 5 weeks holiday doesn't compute (let alone if you are a single parent trying to cover it on your own)

Yet the reason I couldnt work as a single parent was purely the holidays. I can do it now (just need the job!), but then I had nothing. 13 into 5 doesnt go!