to be annoyed about the end of the scool holidays?

[maxpower]

Only because I'm so sick of listening to and reading fb posts about all the poor teachers who are having to go back to work after 6 weeks off. There are many workers who don't get 6 weeks holiday for a whole a year never mind in one go. I've just read some drivel on fb about how - while I'm 'watching tv' - some self sacrificing teacher is writing a lesson plan to benefit my child. This the post stressed is unpaid. Oh woe is s/he. How about the 5+ unpaid hours I worked this week over and above the full time job I do? Oh and just to clarify, when I got home from work I spent an hour coaching my daughter for school entrance exams, when I discovered that all the amazing teachers she's had have not taught her about calculations involving 'parts' or indeed how to work out the area of a triangle.

So forgive me if I don't lament over how tough it is to have to go back to work (where the rest of us have been all summer long).

But it's still the full salary so I don't really see the difference?

Yabu, I'm a TA. All school staff, especially teachers work fucking hard, so I think we have every right to moan about going back to work, so balls.

And no other profession works hard?

I had 23 days holiday on my last contract.

23 days!!!! I'm a solicitor. I dont work fucking hard?

I dont whinge about going back to work though. It's life.

Not a teacher and my job is better paid and easier, but after a holiday I always whinge about returning to work, and sympathise with others doing so!

Teachers don't get paid for breaktime or lunch either.
catsize I don't know why you don't think about retraining?

The legal minimum is 28 days which can include bank holidays.
No one simply gets 23 days unless their employer is breaking the law.

Attitudes like this are why teachers are leaving the profession in droves. I realise you were making a point about a specific fb post, OP, but it's just the general teacher bashing behind it and around it that knocks morale. I'm a HCP, not a teacher, and have the utmost respect for the people teaching my kids. If I had to go back to work teaching a class of 30+ kids next week I'd be whinging too! Especially if I'd had my own kids bickering all summer long too. Sometimes people just want a bit of recognition for a tough job. The post does sound badly phrased though and clearly not everyone is sitting watching telly the whole time.

28 days assuming a full time equivalent working week.

An average teacher's pay works out at approximately 2.60 an hour when you factor in all the evening and weekend work.

Teachers don't get paid for breaktime or lunch either.

Who does get paid for lunch?

I never have been.

The only thing that made me at the FB post was the remark about them working hard while we are sat watching TV. Especially as the person who posted it had an amazing summer and wasn't sat preparing for class for 6 weeks.

I had 11 days off and moaned that I had to go back to work. That is just normal.

I do find that a lot of teachers moan about how hard they work etc but I think a lot of that is in retaliation to all the people who go on about how lucky teachers are.

I don't get paid for lunch but unlike many teachers I'm not put under pressure to attend meetings, supervise people or set up activities during it either.

My lunch is spent at my desk eating my food and if calls come in, we have to take them from clients. We get ratted out by reception if we are there nd dont take the calls. Senior partners can be tyrants.

So I am working at lunch and not being paid.

It isnt a pissing contest but teachers aren't more overworked or hard done by than the next profession. We all work our arses off.

orda I'm support staff.

My gross salary is ££ an hour X hours per week X 43 weeks (39 term time plus 4 weeks holiday pay)

This figure is then divided by 12 to give my monthly gross pay.

If I was paid each month based on the number of hours actually worked that month, my wages would vary so much that budgeting would be nearly impossible- not to mention not receiving any pay at all for August. Instead I am 'underpaid' for full months to make up for the shorter months.

I dont whinge about going back to work though. It's life.
But, as I said earlier, neither has anyone presented much evidence that teachers whinge about going back to work beyond a Facebook post that a few people have seen. Nonetheless, the OP has provided an apparently welcome opportunity for everyone to go on about what a dreadful bunch of whingers we all are.

Orda - it's a bit worrying you can't see the difference!

Fwiw as a teacher I am content with my salary. Salaries were crap when i first started, but increased to a decent level later. It's not great when worked out as an hourly rate for the actual hours I work. But ok

But it's a fact that the holidays aren't all paid. The salary is split into 12 equal payments that's all.

Op.

You problem isn't teachers; it's Facebook. Turn it off.

Orda1
"But it's still the full salary so I don't really see the difference?"

The difference is 3 months pay if teachers and support staff where required to work over their holidays or paid for their holidays.

I know lots of people work hard, but teaching is so all bloody consuming. You get blamed for the mess other people make of bringing up their children, who haven't been taught to wipe their bums, or control their tantrums, or use a knife and fork, or speak in sentences. These children have targets slapped on them about frontal adverbials.

It's just the fucking insanity of it.

And that is why I left teaching.

But they're still paid the same figure regardless of when they're in work.

They earn the same as similar professions who have the standard holiday ... Right? It might be technically classed as unpaid with 195 days but it's not really, unless they're being paid £5k (or whatever) less than their actual salary.

Orda, the point is, teachers would be paid more if they had shorter holidays. The salary that is deemed appropriate is cut by a quarter of what it would be if they didn't have such long holidays. Teachers have no choice about this, they can't say, "Oh, I will work for more time and have the rest of my pay please". That isn't to say they aren't happy about it, but I think it's quite a simple concept.

I understand the concept, I just think the average salary would be a good yearly one anyway.

The simplest way to compare it IMO is to compare two people on £35k annual salary, one a teacher and one not. The non teacher is likely to get say 25 days holiday and the teacher gets school holidays. The only difference is a teacher has fewer (ie 195) working days. Whether or not that annual salary plus terms and conditions is comparable to other professions is a different point. I think when you compare to other public workers teachers do reasonably well.

Surrey, that is the practical decision which people make when choosing a career, yes, and obviously teachers make that choice. However, actually the difference is that the teacher is doing a job which is 'worth' say 45k a year, but because of the length of the holidays, 10k is taken off the salary. Anyway, I think the point was only that when people say, "Oh, you get all this paid holiday...", technically you don't. I'm not complaining about that - I'm just coming to the end of 9 weeks' holiday and only today have I done any work at all!

yes orda but see my calculations on how my salary is worked out, I imagine the teacher's salary was originally worked out in the same way. So if teachers did get paid for the holidays the salary would be higher... Just because no one outright says 'the salary is X but of course you're not working the holidays so we'll take some of that off you' doesn't mean the calculation hasn't been done.

In fact, didn't teachers used to be officially paid for 1295 directed hours (or something like that, can't remember off the top of my head) which is just over 33 hours a term time week. So the salary will have been calculated based on that.

converse, there are many reasons I am not a teacher. All these suggestions to various posters of 'why don't you retrain' etc. are just bizarre. It's a bit 'toys out of -ram' when all that is being said by the OP is that a Fb post is irritating. If I'd seen it, I'd probably snort. What do you want? Career X-Factor? 'Whilst you're preparing lessons, I am working to convict a murderer'. 'Whilst you're working to convict a murderer, I'm performing life-saving surgery' etc.

All a bit spatty playground dispute of 'My dad's bigger than yours'.

Still, interesting to know the 195 days thing. I did wonder. Makes no difference though really. Teaching isn't unique that people work out of hours.