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

[MrsCD67]

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!

TA don’t get paid for the holidays and they get paid minimum wage... the TA in one of my old charges class told me she had to find other work in the holidays.

@Newsofas I doubt you know very many teachers then

@Murane Whaaaaaatt?!?!? I'm surprised that school can hold onto a single teacher!

@honeysucklejasmine @Murane
Ah now it makes sense. FE. They had their contracts ripped up in the 90s and lost loads of rights and conditions. We still have it much better in school.

I completed my PGCE and have never entered the classroom. That was enough for me.

People think that teaching is family friendly; I now work shifts spread over 365 days a year, including Christmas Day and fine this more suitable to family life. Even if you doubled the teaching salary I still wouldn't be in the slightest tempted.

I'm a TA . After everything I take home monthly under 900£,so yeah the money is shit. I work an extra hour two days a week most weeks. On the upside I have a lot less responsibility and pressure than a teacher and I'm lucky my employer is quite understanding about sports day, xmas plays,random school closures etc.

I get in at 8 and leave at 3;10(except for the 2 days) so I need minimal childcare,but there's always an inset day,a school trip,training,an emergency meeting that need sorting.
I sometimes do go in in the holidays because there's admin stuff that needs doing and it eases my workload during the term.

Depending on the area you are in the social and emotional side of the job can be really exhausting though, more so than the teaching side.

Are the holidays worth it? If you actually enjoy most of the job, they are. If you don't,they're not.

@MrsCD67 I think several people have listed what work teachers and TAs do in the hours outside the timetable.

A lot less. Full time TA where I am gets about £11 000. It's a really badly paid job.

A lot less.. Full time TA where I am gets about £9k.

Coming up to half term, a whole week of report writing and lesson preparation. Yes, teachers get lots of time to themselves! 🙄

Even the holidays aren't worth being a teacher! I left teaching and now have a full tine job and have far more of a work life balance than I ever did as a teacher!

Evenings and weekends are now entirely my own to spend as I wish. Annual leave is obviously many less days than teaching holidays but each one is entirely my own and never spent stressing about planning,moving classrooms or the latest government or SLT directive.

And I worked in a special school too. Loved the kids, hated the behaviour and being frequently assaulted.
The SLT was the worst though. Inhuman robots with no people skills.

Most of them have OHs who earn lots so it's more of a pastime.

This is definitely not the case in my school. The TAs take it very seriously; they do so much more than general support. They do loads of interventions too, from phonics to numicon to guided reading. They never stop and are bloody amazing, I genuinely don't know how a school can run effectively without them.

My teacher friends used to go travelling together as a little group in the summer ( before they had kids) 4-6 weeks at a time. Now they do similar - like round Europe in a camper - with kids. They don't appear to do much 'work' in the summer or over the Easter/Xmas breaks not anything more than I do any way...

@MsPob@ actually you are wrong. I live in a grammer school area where 95% of the kids in my child’s primary had a private tutor. We had to book one a year in-advance of requiring one. Once in grammer school the tutoring continues. So yes I know lots as I’ve used lots for my kids and I have neighbours that are teachers. It’s you that don’t know many.

My DM was a teacher. The hours and holidays were great for childcare. But her work didn't stop on leaving school. Once she'd picked us up and got home, she had lesson planning, marking, reports, admin - hundreds of forms! - assembly prep, school management (more so once she became a deputy head), classroom displays, dealing with parents, mentoring junior teachers, etc etc to do. Many of those holidays and evenings were spent working.

I am a HE and FE tutor and part of the reason I went into teaching was the holidays and weekends. It isn’t as great as it sounds, trust me. A chunk of my weekends are spent lesson planning and marking endless essays. I also have to go into work sometimes in the holidays to do more work, revision classes etc.

It’s not a walk in the park and we don’t lull about for six weeks during the summer.

To those teachers here who are saying they don't understand how people don't get things done in their working hours, please could you tell me how you DO?

My working hours are 8:30-4pm (technically). I teach in primary so no free periods etc, but one afternoon of ppa. I have three playtime duties, our lunchtime is now ten mins shorter and I spend that getting ready for the afternoon. When should I be doing all my marking from the day? The children leave at 3:30, usually 3:40 by the time the last one has gone. Quick tidy up of classroom. 3:45. I have fifteen minutes to mark 30 maths books, 30 English books and 30 pieces of theme work in that time?!

Slightly different.... secondary Scotland. In for 8.45. Reg starts 8.55. Generally teach 5 x 55 min lessons in day with a 55 min free period. Lunch is an hour. Always leave before 4.30 as have childcare. I photocopy and organise as I go. Marking... you can use assessment is for learning techniques... so marking less to achieve more. I'll work 45 mins at lunch sometimes... other times I won't. I'll mark jotters at my desk sometimes as the class is working on a piece. Or if they're having a reading period I'll mark then.

Haha fowlis sounds like Scotland is still in the 1990s.

That's a good thing, by the way.

I'm a primary teacher in Scotland. I do exactly two days work in the summer holidays to prepare my new class, never anything at the weekend or during any other holidays and I almost always leave by 4.45pm. Great job!

A friend of mine was a teacher and has now gone back as a part-time TA after being a SAHM for a few years. She says it's great: she leaves on time, doesn't have to do any work at home or in the holidays. But she doesn't need a good wage as her husband earns enough. The salary is the big downside...

I taught for ten years. I loved it at first but it does take over your life, and after having kids I haven't gone back. I hope never to again, as the workload and stress levels just became too much.

To the OP asking what I do in my unapid work time:

1 have 4 60min periods free per week - the minimum you can get. One of those is allocated to phoning parents and do admin around my tutor group - typically, chasing reports, sorting out physical fights, chasing truanting students and issues students have in particular lessons, then reporting on the system and back to the Head of Year.

So that leaves 3 hours a week. They're mostly taken up with photocopying, liaising with other staff to swap rooms (for specialist teaching), tidying my room (because kids typically like to throw anything from pens to homework projects across the room - yes I report it and no, it doesn't get dealt with by senior staff) and printing paperwork necessary to evidence that I'm doing my job.

I teach, on average, 27 students in each class, of which I have 7. Each set of class books takes 2 hours to mark according to our guidelines with 4 stamps and for every lesson, plus hand-written comments and updated trackers. That's 14 hours spread over 1 1/2 weeks - the minimum. Then I marked and tracked 4 sets of tests this week - about 1 hour 15min each.

I also teach up to 6 lessons a day. Each of which can take anything between 5 and 30min to plan and resource (I have about 15 years experience, so some lessons do take little planning). Then I need to photocopy said resources. On average, the copier jams once a day. Which needs sorting. Usually by me.

This week, I had to check the marking of every set in a year group - 8 sets today alone. I had 20min allocated for this. Taking the required pictures, writing and processing the forms for this took an hour, because I am a fast worker. One set showed issues - I now have to follow this up with the teacher and then check again. In my own time.

I also wrote 30 reports and had a parents evening lasting until 7.30pm (no time to go home), in addition to 2x30min revision for year 11. None of this is paid, but all of this is normal and expected.

OP
TAs are worth their weight in gold, but they don't get holidays off. They are unpaid for about thirteen weeks of the year. Even taking that into account, they earn far less than they should for the hours they work. Many TAs I know work a second job, and one gets more, far more, for night shifts at Tesco.
Teachers get paid more, because they should. They don't have holidays off either. They save being ill for holidays. You don't just phone in sick as a teacher and crawl back under the duvet. You plan and deliver cover, (before 7.30 a.m. at our school) then dread returning because of the fallout. Many a time I have gone in ill, because I couldn't face setting the cover work and the subsequent issues.
I had the school call me, in hospital, as I was being prepped for emergency surgery because they hadn't received my cover lessons.
In what other profession would that occur?
Teaching isn't an easy option to fit in around the kids.
TAs are exploited and undervalued.
Neither jobs are easy.

Thanks so much @Narkle for giving me a breakdown and a better idea of the extent of work done by teachers! I'd be absolutely exhausted in your shoes!