to ask for a justification of inset days

[5Foot5]

Really, really don't want to sound like I am teacher-bashing here. This is a genuine question.

There is a story being discussed on the news programme about a school which has decided to have all of its inset days at one go so that parents could potentially take advantage of term time prices for holidays. This got me thinking about the timing of inset days generally.

I assume that these days are used for training and /or acquainting staff with the myriad changes imposed on them all the time by government.

But, here is the question, why do these days have to be taken during what would otherwise be term time? Why are they not held during the school holidays when there is surely enough capacity to accommodate these days?

Can i add that I am no longer affected by this since DD has now left school but it really has only just occurred to me..

They are not during term time. Children have a set number of days at school, inset days are outside of that.

Oh jeez. They are actually non teaching time. Your dc have the same number of days education. Teachers have fewer days 'off'.

They do occur in holiday time as they were previously teacher holidays. They are for important training to take place like safeguarding and first aid.

Plus, there are only a certain number of organisations which provide such training. They simply cannot accommodate the capacity over the holidays for all the schools in the country that need to have such training.

Big sigh.... I'm not a teacher but do wish people could get their heads around the fact that inset days are an addition to teachers working days. Kids have always attended school for 190 days a year and still do that's never changed. If inset days were scrapped tomorrow children would still only attend 190 days.

They are usually tacked onto the end of a holiday, but sometimes that's not possible due to the need to hire in external speakers and having to work with their availability.

Scheduling them in the middle of a holiday would be impractical.

They are in the designated holidays. Teachers work 195 days. Children attend school 190 days.

I don't see how the school can possibly make that work. It's just weird.

Our inset days are the final three days of every holiday - Summer, Christmas and Easter.

They are for:
*Staff meeting, departmental meetings, duty team meetings, SLT meetings
*ICT Training
*Training in current educational issues eg Assessment, AEN, G&T
*Sports and Lifesaving Training
*First Aid Training
*Pastoral care reviews, Academic reviews, Health and Safety reviews
*Organising classrooms/departments and putting up displays
*New staff inductions
*Having a good gossip and catch up!

They were taken from school holidays... Before inset days existed teaches had5 more days holiday

A justification? What do you think happens on Inset days? Champagne and strawberries?

I would seriously doubt the value of 5 Inset days on the trot, just so parents can go on a cheap holiday.

As others have said, they are not taken from term time. Children are taught by law for 190 days a year. The 5 inset days originally were taken from the holidays.

And having them all in one lump might work for some teachers, but, since they are not as pp have said, an opportunity for strawberries and champagne, most schools prefer to spread them throughout the year so that staff can receive appropriate training on those days.

Does everyone else have 5? I didn't realise there was a set norm?

We have 9 - but there is lots of down time for catching up and getting yourself ready.

If they all came at the same time (eg for a week in July) then how could we be prepared for the start of each term? It just wouldn't work. Insets are normal work days just without the children - we need them!

Yes lets scrap inset days.
Means then we work 190 days and either school children will then have 185 days, or no staff training. So no first aid, IT training, child protection, additional math/English, no time to wrap heads around changes in curriculum.

Or do you mean that children then get an extra 5 days education? Which will mean staff work an extra 5 days for the training and thus requiring paying which of course will then have a knock on effect in the overall school budget?

"I assume that these days are used for training"

Yeah, well the clue's in the T of Inset. In Service Training.

"Why are they not held during the school holidays"

They are.

" I am no longer affected by this since DD has now left school"

And it's only just crossed your mind to wonder?

I bloody hate Inset days, boring in- house training from some keen to impress NQT wanting to share good practice ie. defining AfL for the millionth time. 5 days of it on the trot and I'd be ready to slit my wrists.

They were taken from school holidays... Before inset days existed teaches had5 more days holiday

Thanks. That is an adequate explanation in one line. I said I wasn't trying to teacher-bash I just didn't know the ins-and-outs.

Presumably it was done this way so schools could organise them when it suited them best.

A justification? What do you think happens on Inset days? Champagne and strawberries?

Read my post properly. I said I assumed they were used for training, it was just the timing I questioned.

I think everyone else has already answer what I came on here to post - that Mr Baker took them from teachers' holidays, not from the term time days.

However, I'm posting still as I agree with those saying I can't see how it would work. You need them spread out.

Lots of schools have twilight insets so that inset days can be put in one lump. The teachers want cheaper holidays too. Having to do twilight training after teaching all day is grim though.

Schools can indeed organise them when it suits them. To provide adequate training to their staff.
Our school used some of their INSET days ( previously Baker days) to do autism training :) A huge benefit to my DD who has ASD and to every child who shares a classroom with her.

I think part of the point of them was to ensure a minimum standard of in-service training. What you have to remember is that at the time they were introduced, there wasn't such a thing as the National Curriculum and, in theory, teachers (at primary anyway) could teach whatever they wanted and, by extension, not teach subjects that did not appeal to them. RE was the only statutory subject (1944 act). I now await cries of derision from fellow teachers but I am just about old enough to remember colleagues who simply swept subjects they did not fancy (music anyone?) under the carpet.

Prior to 1988, there was no additional INSET beyond normal staff meetings. The children were in school 190 days a year, as they are now. All that's changed is that teachers now have 5 days less holiday, they benefit from keeping abreast of new developments and some parents take the opportunity to complain about "having to find childcare" for days that they always would have had to cover anyway.

Hi old teacher here. Pre intro of "baker days" as they were first called we didnt get any ongoing professional training. But then again we didnt have so many changes to keep implementing. The days when we were just allowed to get on with actual teaching.