Teacher wellbeing days for shopping

[ForAMinuteThere]

Nope - this isn't a bash. I saw an article in the Fail about it and wanted to add some support for the teachers of this world.

I am a non teacher. It looks hard. One day off for shopping is a nice gesture.

I expect mixed responses but personally, I think teachers staying sane and feeling worthy can only be a good thing.

(This isn't my first post, have NC)

But everyone else seems to cope ok!!

Is there a massive recruitment and retention crisis for ‘everyone else’ as well?

dorset for the millionth time, teacher stress is not just about long hours. That is just what people on MN say because that is what we think people might understand.

I earn just over £50k. I do not work silly hours. I am stressed to the max.

fave, not a teacher ,though, eh? I bet they don't know how little you value them as colleagues.

Out of interest, do you really think a working day starting at 7 am and finishing at even 4 is really sustainable, what with the intensity of the teaching day? And how do you know aht thye do once they get home nayway??

I am interested in these other professions who take work home. Because many many graduates in a recent survey specifically cited this factor as a thing that put them off teaching as a graduate career.

and guaranteed weekends off, and while some may start at 7am, most are out of the workplace by 4.

@FaveNumberIs2 That sounds like a dream school! I'm on maternity leave at the moment, but when working, I work every weekend in term time, do some work every holiday and am never out by 4! Your headteacher must have a really good stance on work life balance!

"Great teachers can earn £60k!"

Not even Inner London UPS3 teachers earn 60k for just being a teacher, that gets you £48k.

That would require UPS + 12k of a TLR which would be the upper end of the responsibility scale, so a minimum of a Head of Faculty or head of year. That's on top of an average of 12 years experience.

"guaranteed weekends off,"

Yes marking doesn't get done at weekends at all does it?

"most are out of the workplace by 4."

Yeah, and working at home, only out by 4 because of child care and other issues.

I bet you aren't a teacher.

What puts graduates off going into teaching then?

According to this thread they finish at 4, get every weekend off, 13 weeks holiday, paid at least £36k. Why aren't people queuing up to be teachers? There must be a reason.

That would require UPS + 12k of a TLR which would be the upper end of the responsibility scale, so a minimum of a Head of Faculty or head of year. That's on top of an average of 12 years experience

Hence why there were so many complaints about the ad! I had a very stroppy reply to my complaint though!

£50k is a manager level salary in any other sector so clearly that should bring extra responsibilities/duties for teachers on that salary too..

It's not a managerial salary in accounting or law, is it? I know plenty of non managing accountants and lawyers on £50k

All require postgraduate qualifications the same.

Why isn't teaching held in the same regard?

One only has to look at the utter crap spouted on this thread about all the holidays and working til three to see the media and government efforts to knock the profession have done their job.

And people wonder why there's a recruitment crisis. I mean for an easy £50k and 13 week's holiday and 7 hour days you'd think people would be queueing up to do (paid!) shortage subject PGCEs.

But they're not.

Explain why, if it's such a cushy number.

According to this thread they finish at 4, get every weekend off, 13 weeks holiday, paid at least £36k. Why aren't people queuing up to be teachers? There must be a reason.

Yes-why do people with these views think there is a teaching retention issue at all if it’s so lovely?

@flatwhite32 the head is great. It’s an infant and primary (not sure if that makes a difference) but the only time I’ve known staff be there late, is for parents evenings etc. Even the Christmas parties are usually done in an afternoon during school time.

@holidayshopping

Undoubtedly. But we won’t hear about the companies we don’t have anything to do with. Like cleaners, dinner ladies, construction workers, manufacturing, etc.

School matters affect every parent one way or another, but most other types of employment/work will pass you by unnoticed unless you work in that field.

@piggywaspushed

No. I’m not a teacher (unless you count teaching an after school club, and I don’t because that wasn’t my main job) and yes, I value most teachers who do a good job, the same as I value any employee who does a good job.

The problem, is the bad side outweighs the benefits, and the benefits (holidays/early finished etc) disappear because it’s taken up by the “back office” work. And this has nothing to do with marking work, but everything to do with report writing, keeping up to date with what the government wants, and making sure all the kids are taught to the best of the teacher’s ability whichever way that child learns best.

Personally, I think teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there because it’s now less teaching and more form-filling.

In a capitalist economy if you're struggling to recruit or your turnover is shit (teacher turnover now an average of 6 years!) then that means the job is utterly crap for the money.

Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand basic economic back of a fag packet theory.

It literally is as simple as 2+2=4

There are way too many people with some snarky hidden agenda on this thread pretending not to understand the above to either play devils advocate, troll, or basically be an actual cunt.

If you’re out by 4 but started at 7 that’s still a long day! 45 hours a week.
Totally agree with this by piggy
teacher stress is not just about long hours

Laurie... the only way they keep it going is the vocation factor.

Yet parents here will still see teachers as child care.

They will still say teachers can't be criticised on MN, despite it happening every day.

Blah blah blah.

Boris you’ve lost me now, not sure how you’ve reached the conclusion that people on this thread view school as childcare as I’ve not seen anyone express that view?

Also not seen daily threads criticising teachers?

Chip. Shoulder.

Not really.

Go through MN most days and you will find teachers being criticised, whilst they say that they can't do that ( the old "i'm being silenced" victim card).

You only need to look at the complaints about inset days to see how many parents see school as childcare.

Genuinely don’t see any of those posts you refer to. Only complaints I’ve seen related to schools closing down far too readily at the first flake of snow...

Maybe people just get a little fed up of teachers being ‘poor me’ all the time. Plenty of people have given examples where they’re teachers and not working the hours that people are claiming on here or have personal experience of family/friends who are teachers who also have a very different experience.

Feels like because some teachers work long hours the assumption is that they all do. And if they say any different they’re liars...or crap at their jobs.

@dorsetdays
Yes, I think some posters are assuming I’m lying.
I don’t work extreme hours...now. But I certainly did when I started teaching.

Are you still intent on ignoring me saying it is not all about the hours!?

It is you that seems fixated on the length of worked hours.

You can't be lookign very hard at MN if you can't see the daily teacher pops on there. Last week's special was a 'help me word my email so I don't call teachers cunty fuck face fuckers' followed by a whole load of gleeful posters coming up with awful names to call the teachers of their children. It actually horrifies me. Can you even begin to imagine if teachers posted in AIBU and called students, or their parents every name under the sun in not entirely jest?

Piggy. Not ignoring you but most of this thread was around the length of teachers working days, working evenings, weekends etc so yes very much centred around hours.

None of you responded to the teachers who posted on here confirming they don’t agree and don’t work those hours as that clearly wasn’t very convenient. The previous poster was also called a liar and was apparently speaking BS, again because her story didn’t fit the narrative.

The post you’re referring to was a week ago (so not exactly daily) and was about a school putting a child in isolation for two days for not wearing the regulation shoes. Their school shoes were found to have a hole in them on the Sunday night and the mum worked late so hadn’t had time to take him shoe shopping until the Tuesday afternoon so he wore another pair of black shoes. The thread I read was balanced in terms of responses with lots of people saying she should have communicated better with the school and that uniform rules are there for a reason but that sometimes common sense needs to prevail a little more in these situations.

Not quite the anti teacher rant you speak of, especially when there were teachers posting in agreement with the OP!

Hiphoray123
Yes, I think some posters are assuming I’m lying.

I think that you are on a heavily reduced timetable and are one of those people that have forgotten what it is like teaching full time when you can't cherry pick the classes that you teach.

As I have previously stated, I walked into school at exactly 8.35 today. That was early for me. I walked out at 4.30 which was late for me. It’s because I am part time like many others at my school. I will be doing about two hours this evening and I have a day off tomorrow so I will probably be seen walking around the shops at some point. I will also spend a large portion of the day at my desk.

Think about the maths. I have 7 classes. A mixture of years 7-11. There are approximately 31 pupils in each class. 5 of the classes have 2 lessons a week and one homework. The other 2 have 3 lessons a week and two homework tasks. If I mark all of this, spending 3 minutes on each piece, then it’s nearly 39 hours of marking. I then have to do displays, attend meetings, fill in reports, write behaviour incident forms, photocopy, email parents, create worksheets, update PowerPoints, do break duty, participate in CPD etc. This is why I do not do everything on this list every week - I physically can’t do it. But teachers are not making it up when they say they don’t finish at three.