AIBU to wonder why the feck teacher training days can't be delivered in the holidays.

[Billynomates71]

Anyone?

"Social workers typically work over and above the 37 hours they're contracted for - they couldn't manage their caseload in just 37 hours a week! Typically take home work typically work weekends.

For the same starting salary as a teacher."

If you look at the calculation I've done, you will see that calculating teachers on 46 hours per teaching week gives them more hours over all than a social workers "official" 37. It's kind of comparing an official 46 hours per working week in teaching to an official 37 for social work. 46 hours would be the equivalent of teachers working 5 days of just over 9 hours.

But of course many (most?) teachers do much more than this during term time and spend a significant amount of their "holidays" on planning - so all in all, I'm guessing it works out as roughly equal.

Again not at all criticizing social workers who have a tough and stressful job too.

There are plenty of unions in private sector.

There are plenty of teachers in the private sector too.

I haven't seen any teacher here claim they're worse off than any other job. Most of us are simply responding calmly and possibly a little wryly.

Re child protection issues. You know that some of us have to do that too...

I don't see why it has to become us -v- them.

More private sector workers should be in unions imo. Their size gives them the power and the voice to represent the interests of the worker bees.

Until DS started school last year I had had nothing to do with education since I left school in the mid 80s. I became a parent governor last year and it has been a real eye-opener.

During their summer holidays the teachers, among other tasks, cleared their classrooms, made and set up new displays, lesson planned for the new curriculum and redecorated the library and main corridor.

I saw the training schedule for the last INSET day. It is far from a waste of time. It's an early start with four or five subjects covered, not finishing until well into the evening.

Teachers also attend courses and other meetings off site at the end of the school day. That might be where your child's teacher is going when you see them 'buggering off at 3.30'.

Every meeting I have been to with teachers present has been before or after the school day. I get there for an 8am meeting and they've been there since 7am. They often have to stay for meetings that start at 7.30pm to fit in with the commitments of other members of the governing body.

Then there are the additional day to day and week to week responsibilities they take on, such as lunchtime and after school clubs, sports teams' fixtures, staff meetings, frontier trips...

I don't know any teachers who take 190 days of their annual leave.

Ha social workers not criticised! This is the most ridiculous statement I have ever heard!

You're not wrong, inlawsareasses (love the name, by the way )

Granted you get some utter fools doing the job - just like in all others - but they do tend to get blamed for a lot of society's ills, damned if they do and damned if they don't sort of thing

The comment re social workers did not say they are never criticised
Though social workers aren't criticised on a daily basis. Occasionally, but not because they're lazy and workshy.

As someone who used to work in social work I am aware that most social workers get time off in leui when they work over the contracted hours (but often not for things like completing court reports at home, which should be recognised better). Social work is a stressful job and often involves unpredictable hours.

It really isn't comparable to teaching. The teachers at my children's school work bloody hard and take loads of marking and planning home. They are at school by 8am ever day and never leave until 5/6pm and then go another hour or two at home. They don't get any time off in leui for all the hours they work over and above their contracted hours.

I would also rather bd a social worker on the receiving end of an unhappy parent than be a teacher putting up with ridiculous demands from parents who think you work a few hours each day and get a million days leave each year.

Both jobs involve working with unpleasant ungrateful parents as well as nice understanding cooperative parents. That is the only similarity from what I can see.

At no point did I say that social workers aren't criticised. My point was that there doesn't seem to be a week go by on here without teachers being criticised; I don't think SW are blamed as much or to the same extent for the ills of society.

The flipside of teachers only being paid for 195 days... THIR HOLIDAYS ARE UNPAID! So why should they work in them? (Yet they do...)

A quick thanks to those posters who have made positive comments about the teachers who they have come into contact with. Teacher bashing always amazes me, I have been in the profession for over a decade now and my bil still thinks i exaggerate my workload. I think some of it is a hatred of teachers that has spilled over from their school days and jealousy of the 'holidays'. I'm looking forward to seeing my own dc next week and alleviating some of the constant guilt.