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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think being a teacher/teaching assistant is worthwhile just for the holidays?

177 replies

MrsCD67 · 16/05/2018 20:42

Just that really!
I'd love to know what teachers/TAs think of their jobs- pros and cons.
Of course it would be unreasonable to take a teaching assistant job just for the holidays but it's just so tempting for me as I want a work/life balance!

What are school holidays like for teachers/TAs in terms of workload?
Thanks!

OP posts:
cloudyweewee · 16/05/2018 22:14

I love the fact that the next week off (or more) is never more than 8 weeks away. I don;t take work home in the holidays as I work hard enough in term time.

Murane · 16/05/2018 22:15

Holidays are for pupils not staff. My school gave staff 5 weeks holiday per year, you had to book your holidays with your manager, and if you hadn't booked a holiday that day you were expected to be in school working (marking, planning, training, putting up displays, etc). If anything it was worse than a normal job because you were restricted in when you were allowed to book your holidays (i.e. not during term time). Most people just took a week at Christmas and Easter, a fortnight in the summer and a few days at each half term.

ICantCopeAnymore · 16/05/2018 22:17

Oh yeah, we don't work at ALL during those holidays! Nor after 3pm. It's such an easy job too, 9-3, basically having fun with children all day. It's not like work really.

HmmHmmHmm

converseandjeans · 16/05/2018 22:17

It's great in the hols which is 13 weeks, but term time is 39 weeks a year where you would need breakfast club/after school club as you would need to be in school yourself by about 8.15 latest. Then there are parents evenings and meetings so you would need to get those covered too. It really depends on your support network - if DH can work from home a couple of days week and drop in school, or if you have grandparents who can help out then it is perfectly do-able.
Despite the negative press on here it is a mostly interesting job which is different every day. You would never be bored.

PinguDance · 16/05/2018 22:18

@Murane Shock wtaf that’s terrible

BlondeB83 · 16/05/2018 22:19

Teacher workload is high in term time but the holidays are so worth it! Yes you work during some of them but you still get plenty of time off! It’s a huge perk of the job IMO.

UrgentScurryfunge · 16/05/2018 22:20

Ah the holidays! "Cinema day" with your own DC, which in reality is putting some DVDs on your classroom projector and a load of supermarket popcorn while you plough through marking the 50 GCSE books that were too heavy to attempt to lug home. Waking up at the crack of dawn each day to try and crack on with the rest of the marking that you could drag to the car, before your own DCs wake up and need your attention.

That was followed by the term when DS's TA's went on strike because the council was slashing their already modest pay by 25% for their time directed in school. Across the city there were many resignations in the months after because people simply couldn't exist on the salary and work around the directed time.

Working in schools is emotionally demanding. You have to love what you do and believe in it. If that is broken, then you'll break soon after. There are too many broken teachers and ex-teachers.

QueenofLouisiana · 16/05/2018 22:20

I love teaching, I really do. I love working with the kids, I love seeing the lightbulb moments, I love getting to know 30 new people each year.

But the work/life balance is awful. We go away for a month in the summer so that I can unwind, relax and just chat to DS and DH. I also like the treat of eating lunch without being called to break up a fight/ bring in a child/ talk to parent on the phone.

Those expensive adverts telling you all to join the profession and make a difference? There a reason those are needed. Apparently the holidays aren’t enough to hold people in the job.

BlondeB83 · 16/05/2018 22:20

Depending on the school/your organisation it’s possoble to have a good work/life balance.

WilburIsSomePig · 16/05/2018 22:20

I'm a Cover Supervisor so I don't work in the holidays. The teachers do though, for a good deal of the time. In my school, most of them probably work around 3 of the main school weeks; there's shit loads to be done before a term starts. I'd say they all prob work some of the days of the other holidays too. I don't envy them one bit.

MoonFacesMum · 16/05/2018 22:20

The thought of 6 weeks with my own two DC is getting me through just now. I will not be working over summer.

BlondeB83 · 16/05/2018 22:21

*possible

Fruitcorner123 · 16/05/2018 22:23

Primary can easily clock up 70 hour weeks and the pressure of always being able (or being asked to) do more takes its toll mentally.

secondary too, even the PE teachers!!

Tawdrylocalbrouhaha she/he is a deputy head so leadership team. How can I put this... they know how to delegate Grin

I will second everyone saying TAs are paid pittance for very hard work. I don't really understand why anyone does it. Teachers pay is fine and we have benefits like a fairly decent pension but I am mkd 30s now and starting to see my o
peers feom school and uni to overtake me in their salaries and careers. I admit the holidays are a huge perk, especially if you have children. You pay for it the rest of the year though. I see the holidays as my reward but I still don't really like my job.

SansaClegane · 16/05/2018 22:25

I'm a TA and did it for the hours/ holidays. I'm a single parent to 3 DC so holiday childcare, and after school clubs, would cost me a fortune otherwise. I work 9-3 so I can drop mine off and pick them up myself, and I'm still there for them after school. The pay is utter, utter shite though!
That said I really enjoy my job, I never thought I'd like working with children/ teens/ young adults so much! And I think I'm actually suited to it.

itssquidstella · 16/05/2018 22:26

I don't work anything like 50% of the holidays! I usually do a day at the end of half term/Easter/Christmas and a few days towards the end of Summer.

I do spend quite a lot of time reading/preparing new texts to teach during the summer - but I like my subject so it doesn't really feel like work. And even if you factor that in, it's no more than a week max out of seven.

Maelstrop · 16/05/2018 22:27

As a head of department, I have only just downstairs from the study. It’s 10.22pm. I was up at 6.15 and in school by 7.30. Journey takes about 30 minutes, wouldn’t want to be any closer to the kids I teach, much as I enjoy their company! I did break duty, had an involuntary (I was working through it, got cornered by my line manager) meeting during lunch. Love and need my holidays.

Furano · 16/05/2018 22:27

Nope nope nope nope NOPE

I do occasionally get envious of my teacher friends and their 3 months holidays a year (the ones at public schools) but then I remember their 90 hour working weeks and not being able to do anything at all even at the weekends during term time.

Murane · 16/05/2018 22:28

wtaf that’s terrible
The school doesn't shut down because the kids are on holiday. In my experience teaching is a year-round job like any other, with the same amount of vacation time. The weeks the kids are on holiday does not equate to the weeks the teachers are on holiday! In fact you get a heck of a lot more work done when the kids aren't there. Plus the holidays are when you have to run catch-up sessions for kids who didn't do their coursework during term time, so all the good kids are on holiday and all the challenging kids are still in class (plus those who were off sick) and you're trying to push them through the work they missed.

millimat · 16/05/2018 22:32

I'm a teacher with many many years of experience. I do work in the holidays but make myself have a proper time off too.
TAs in my school are paid pittance and all accountable when ofsted come in. Most of them have OHs who earn lots so it's more of a pastime. They barely get chance to breathe though - all to do with not enough staff and no budget to increase the number of staff.

millimat · 16/05/2018 22:33

@gingerbreadbiscuits what are you going to do next?

AnxiousPeg · 16/05/2018 22:34

It totally depends on the school you're in.

I teach in a pleasant independent school in a small city. And yes, the holidays do make it worthwhile. I honestly can't imagine doing any other job.

But I think colleagues in state schools have a HELL of a lot of shit to deal with (admin, govt bullshit, big classes, shorter hols), and I don't think I could do it.

AnxiousPeg · 16/05/2018 22:36

Where are you teaching murane??? I have never heard of a UK school pulling that sort of shit.

Cary2012 · 16/05/2018 22:37

I started out as a TA, poor money, but my then DH was a high earner so it was fine because I got the same holidays as our three DCs, so ideal.
Got divorced, trained and got HLTA status, couple of hundred quid more a month, but covering so many lessons decided to bite the bullet and do teacher training.
English teacher at High School/Sixth form and salary is good. On paper. Actual hourly rate less than old TA rate, which was barely above minimum wage. Why? Because I average an eighty hour week. The summer holiday is the only one where I get a proper break. Last August I was in for five days planning, and spent at least a day a week working at home.
There is no flexibility, the scrutiny from SLT and the data is relentless.
I'd be a TA again tomorrow if I could afford to be, but it doesn't pay enough to be the main, or only wage, to live on.

elephantoverthehill · 16/05/2018 22:38

I always love the articles in July about 'How to survive the holidays and amuse your children'. I always think - well I've been doing it all year and had 5x30 a day, I think I can manage my 2 DCs thank you very much.

KingFlamingo · 16/05/2018 22:41

A lot of schools pay TAs less than £20 000, sometimes a lot less. That kind of takes away from the perks of many weeks off. Of course, a good option if you only need that kind of salary.

I am a teacher and work around 1/3 of my holidays. So yes, it is a good deal and I love it. But every day is non-stop, intense and there is an endless stream of prep, assessment, marking, leading subjects, managing, pastoral care, behaviour issues, parents... the list goes on... to deal with. And that is before the politics and toxic environments Ofsted/results pressure often brings to many schools.

So there are swings and roundabouts...