School Staff. How do you feel about summer schools?

[Witchcraftandhokum]

Just watched an ex-Ofsted inspector on BBC Breakfast talk about how important summer schools will be and how they should be staffed by the same teachers students have normally.

This hasn't been mentioned in our school yet but I really don't know how it will be managed. I can't imagine a lot of staff will be happy to give up their holidays. In our school a good number of the middle leaders and TA's salaries are pro-rata'd to term time only. I've worked full-time from home so it's not like I've been on holiday since March.

How would you feel about being asked to work?

Some of the misconceptions about how the lives of working parents who are not teachers are, are similar to some complaints from teachers that others don’t understand how their jobs work, it’s not as straightforward as that or why would I be on here joining a discussion thread.

NHS staff aren't being asked to work for nothing @TyphoidMary2020. Organise childcare with friends. Leave teachers alone to have a break before all the teacher bashing starts up again in August/September, with the zillion "Horrid teacher told off my DC and he/she was only..." threads.

Bernie to be fair yes you have simply discussed things without taking personal offence.

they were entitled to six weeks off

But they are entitled. It’s part of the contract-they can say they have worked hard if they want, it’s totally irrelevant. Teacher contracts have 6 weeks in the summer that they are not required to work.

Other professions may not be entitled to 6 weeks off in the summer because it’s not part of their employment terms and conditions.

None of these things will come as a surprise to anyone really. If people want 6 weeks off in the summer and think this would be a better contract for them than their current terms and conditions, they could choose to retrain.

@Downton57

NHS staff aren't being asked to work for nothing *@TyphoidMary2020*. Organise childcare with friends. Leave teachers alone to have a break before all the teacher bashing starts up again in August/September, with the zillion "Horrid teacher told off my DC and he/she was only..." threads.

It really isn’t that simple though, you have to fit your shifts around everyone else, off duty is planned months in advance wherever possible for this reason. It’s getting way to late for this to be a reasonable suggestion.

Telling teachers they should be caring for your child for nothing, when they have their own kids to look after, isn't a reasonable suggestion either, is it?

I understand that, however I'd expect staff in the NHS who were unpaid for a period of time to he given that time off as it's not part of their contract.

I wouldn't say they were selfish at all. They are not paid for it so why would I expect them to? If they choose to work then they need to be compensated for it. If they choose not to I would understand why.

The difference seems that NHS workers can take the annual leave they have accrued at some other point (I've heard something mentioned before about within 2 years) whereas teachers can't do that simply because we have to be in school during term time.

There is also the issue of running through from Feb- Oct or to Dec without a break. Teachers and pupils would burn out and you would have ineffective teachers and children who are simply not learning.

I think the real issue is lack of childcare. If summer clubs etc were open as usual, no one would bat an eyelid at teachers having their normal time off. It just seems that some parents or carers are having difficulty through no fault of their own and the go to is for schools to open to support this despite the large majority of staff working through the lockdown.

At the risk of repeating myself please don’t think unpaid leave is an option for us as this would need notice and management to agree which is unlikely even if it were possible.

@BertNErnie

I understand that, however I'd expect staff in the NHS who were unpaid for a period of time to he given that time off as it's not part of their contract.

I wouldn't say they were selfish at all. They are not paid for it so why would I expect them to? If they choose to work then they need to be compensated for it. If they choose not to I would understand why.

The difference seems that NHS workers can take the annual leave they have accrued at some other point (I've heard something mentioned before about within 2 years) whereas teachers can't do that simply because we have to be in school during term time.

There is also the issue of running through from Feb- Oct or to Dec without a break. Teachers and pupils would burn out and you would have ineffective teachers and children who are simply not learning.

I think the real issue is lack of childcare. If summer clubs etc were open as usual, no one would bat an eyelid at teachers having their normal time off. It just seems that some parents or carers are having difficulty through no fault of their own and the go to is for schools to open to support this despite the large majority of staff working through the lockdown.

The last paragraph of this quote is it in a nutshell!

Well, we keep explaining how many days a year a teacher is paid. So people saying teachers just need to give up their holidays does not help. We can't give up what we are not paid for.

But anyway ...... back to rewriting history

If the government want to provide free childcare they should look to holiday clubs and child minders etc.
Teachers and TAs are exhausted. They have already worked through their half term and Easter holidays.
I expect MPs will be having their very long, paid summer break as usual. I also suspect they will be allowed to wear masks and physically distance when they return to work.

I agree @SunflowerProsecco.

The government are doing nothing to help those parents who have to work over the summer but allow the general public to vilify teachers as it suits their agenda.

Thats it exactly. Def some agenda there. Funny how the nhs was praised for their work but the teachers vilified... (and dentists ,opticians etc are unable to work, and those shielding- not all jumped on as teachers arew) i can only think people lash out at what is near to them.

TyphoidMary2020 yes the 'nutshell' is summer childcare.

Which will be in the process of being sorted out/planned over the next few days/weeks. You've already said that your school haven't confirmed their plans.

None of which involves teachers being in school.

Even if 'things were back to normal' as you put it, teachers wouldn't be providing your summer childcare.