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

[Billynomates71]

Anyone?

I know that the curriculum rolls over, so many lesson plans are rehashed from year to year ( told to me by teachers I know). You are not reinventing the wheel every year
Newsflash! The students are different every year. You have to tailor your lesson to the needs of the students.
I would think that that, combined with the minimum 2hours at the end of every single teaching day, should be sufficient to mark, plan, organise your classes, and do the odd training day
Why would you think that when plenty of people are telling you that it isn't sufficient time?

BTW, I'm not a teacher, nor am I married to one.

Inset days often cover such things as: departments looking at grades etc. in order to put pupils in sets.
At my DCs school most Insets are tacked onto holidays, so cause minimum disruption. Sometimes a specific bit of training is needed, and to book the trainer means it needs to be mid-term.

If a teacher says they "rehash" a lesson, that doesn't mean they teach the "same" lesson, it just means they use the same bare bones, but then modify it for their specific class - a bit like I might knit the same jumper but would adjust the size and maybe colours and...

Most teachers I know work at least 8 to 5, and then in the evenings (lots work 7 to 6). Lots do some extra days at the beginning and end of term. At secondary quite a few do work in the Holidays. There is often further training after the school day, and usually meetings then (as well as phoning parents, dealing with email etc. etc.).

From a learning perspective, 5 days condensed learning over a variety of subjects (perhaps mandatory changes, continuous professional development, local changes) with no opportunity to put any of the learning into practice is not efficient - it'll tick a box, but is far less likely to be implemented than something that can be immediately taken away to a real environment. Plus a week of L&D bundled together doesn't allow for timely & tailored updates to staff.

I come from a family with many teachers - some retired and most current. I can't say many of them like in service / inset days. That said, I am not desperately keen on the touchy feely mandatory 'behavioural' training I've received in more than a decade in Financial Services, but every job has its own challenges and benefits.

Also all those people saying if you want those holidays just bcome a teacher is a bit childish

Strangely.... it's because that seems the only aspect of the job people like to focus on and whinge about

chicaguapa - A lot of people work long hours - not just teachers!!!!!! - but they don't have the holidays to look forward too.
That is the old chesnut from teachers - assuming they are the only people that work long hours!!!

I don't fail to see that we've got it good. I'm delighted. Thank you for highlighting the positives to us. Cheers OP!

Actually, olive hater I never assume that! It often works the other way round though.

I work in the pharmaceutical industry whilst my husband is a secondary school teacher in an inner city school.

I know who has the hardest and most challenging job and it isn't me.

Even comparing working in pharmaceuticals to teaching is laughable. There isn't a role in the pharma industry that compares to the stress and workload of teaching and I speak from experience.

www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching

Come on, sign up!

Teachers don't assume that they are the only people who work long hours, just that they do too!!

Help
Yes, because this is obviously a reasonable way to ask about INSET days

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

I think Alis hit the nail on the head. There doesn't seem much point in continuing to engage with someone with such poor comprehension skills.

olivehater Where have I or anyone else said that teachers work harder than everyone else?

My point is simply that you can't dismiss the hours with the fact of long holidays and use the holidays as a stick to beat them with. It doesn't make sense.

That is the old chesnut from teachers - assuming they are the only people that work long hours

Oh for the love of god.......

Teaching surely isn't just about education though, is it. Communication & people skills are important too? Go on, give it a go. I'm sure you'd be fabulous.

In my experience, teachers only ever mention their working hours in defence against those arses people who insist on perpetuating the myth that they piss off home at 3.30.

Billy why don't you do a couple of presentations to your colleagues and then tell us how long it took you to prepare your materials and talk.

Then replace your colleagues with a variety of challenging and increasingly obnoxious teenagers who not only don't engage with your wonderfully informative talk and discussion tasks but actively try to sabotage it.

Now add in the fact that you're worried about person a as you know there is a family crisis and person b might kick off at any moment because there's history with person c and d provoking them.
Finally, imagine that you are responsible for getting all these colleagues through some form of standardised test regardless of their personal motivation. The buck stops with you. Do you think it might be a little more tricky than you're arrogantly making out?

I worked in a pressured career for 15 years before teaching. Teaching is amazing but tiring on an intellectual level that my lawyer career didn't even come close to touching. By Friday I am fit for nothing. I have contact time (I.e.teaching) from 8.30 - 18.30 Mon - Fri as well as 10 - 17.30 on Sunday thanks to my specific specialism. Then marking and planning is on top. You're damn right I need those holidays.

Despite the post above I don't feel the need to whine about other people's situations. Some people are paid more, some less. Some have more hols and some less....

Don't make yourself feel better by trying to put others down. It's really mean spirited.

Actually the primary curriculum hasn't just 'rolled over' this year, it's had to be rewritten thanks to the lovely Mr Gove.

Actually, wasn't the last person who started a goady thread like this deleted?

Can we just have a standard response for these threads, that we can paste in each time? Its so boooooring when people grmd the same axe again and again. We shouldn't engage with it.

How about just the get into teaching link? Imagine that, pasted hundreds of times. And a little teacher hating troll speaking all to themselves. It would be beautiful! Brings a tear to my eye to think of it!

www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching

Like this?

www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching

I just don't get why teachers think they work so much harder than anybody else.
No-one's saying they work harder. Just that they work hard. Lots of people work hard.

Comparing now with then is pointless re when we didn't have and now we do have inset days.
You made this comparison. Both teachers and pupils used to be off on these days. Now, pupils are still off and teachers are in doing training.

The reality is that you as teachers are paid on average a sum equivalent to many others working a 48week year, less public/bank holidays. That equates to ~232 days a year of work. Which is 37 more days than teachers are required to work.
minimum holidays are 25 days including bank holidays - i.e 5 weeks not 4 as a minimum (certainly not average because most people get more than the minimum). Teachers work 40 weeks (12 weeks holiday - the 13th week has already been lost to inset days) compared with a maximum of 47 weeks in other sectors which is (at most) 35 days more than others. This is generous of course, no-one is denying that. It is most definitely a perk of the job.

I would think that that, combined with the minimum 2hours at the end of every single teaching day, should be sufficient to mark, plan, organise your classes, and do the odd training day.

Teachers in scotland have to work an additional, logged 35 hours over the school year - so thats another week off the holiday entitlement (bringing it to 11 weeks/55 days).

I know that the curriculum rolls over, so many lesson plans are rehashed from year to year ( told to me by teachers I know). You are not reinventing the wheel every year.
No it doesn't roll over. Curriculum is always changing. Technology, advances and relevance mean the wheel is developed and improved every year.

I am not sure why you think you should be paid more than your existing full time wage to do a a full time job?
Not sure what you mean by this? Teachers do a full time job as laid out in their contract, and receive a full time salary in return.

Ok, just to be really fucking clear.

I GET IT THAT 5 HOLIDAY DAYS WERE TAKING FROM TEACHERS NEARLY 30 YEARS AGO FROM THEIR EXISTING HOLIDAYS. Which are what, do remind me, 13 weeks - 65 days a year?

So what the fuck has that to do with the here and now.

I get 20 days holiday a year. Along with the rest of the uk ft workforce. Other than this thread I don't constantly bang on about how hard my life is or expect others to sympathise with all the difficulties I encounter every day, or the deadlines I have to reach, or the hours that I work of the 50000 mikes I drive a year, or not being home to tuck my kids up at night.

Why can't teachers see how irritating it is to parents who work full time, are not allowed by law to take their children out of school, to have extra days popped in during regular term time.why can't schools appreciate how hard it is for parents who get 4 weeks a year to manage extra inset days.

Why is it always about the poor poor teachers? Why do parents who query it get totally flamed for expressing an opinion?