To think it is a choice for teachers to work during summer holidays?

[antelopevalley]

I know five teachers in primary and secondary schools. During this summer holiday, two are doing work during the summer holidays. These two teachers are younger and very ambitious. The other three openly say they are doing no work over the summer.
So AIBU to think working over the summer is a choice?

You don’t HAVE to work but you do need to plan sometime.

My friend is a teacher and she will work extra evenings and weekends leading up to the summer holidays, so she can have the entire 6 weeks off and actually have a break and not worry.
She often goes in for just one day just to sort out the classroom and new books etc.

As a single parent I struggle to use my evenings and weekends so I tend to go in in the holidays much more.

I find it much easier to do my work in school when there are no kids there than at home with distractions so I don’t mind it.

But I’m looking forward to being more senior and not have as much planning to do as it gives me bad anxiety on weekends and over the holiday, worrying I haven’t done enough work in preparation for me to go to work lol.

I do think there should be a paid INSET day where we can do these things though as the actual INSET day is used for training and you don’t get any of your actual work done.

@Bernadinetta I've apologised for the phrasing and repeatedly clarified my intentions. I hope my post will be deleted because it doesn't reflect my thoughts accurately. I don't think anyone is too thick to organise their time. I think people are shafted by crap leaders.

Thanks

I find a lot of teachers really resent going in to school to sort things out for the new year. They say they’re not paid for it.

They are paid for it: it’s exactly why they are on much larger wage scales than the TA’s who do much the same work as them in the actual class once kids are in.

Teachers are not all the same, blah blah, and the education system calls for a lot of unnecessary make-work, but I find they’re increasingly entitled and blinkered to the reality of others.

Not sure it’s always leaders ( sometimes it is though) . Sometimes it’s just capacity of school/ whether they are expecting Ofsted etc. But do agree that different schools have different work cultures and some better than others.

Strange that you missed out those that think teachers are lazy and over paid.

Is this you bias showing?

As for the rest teachers never rarely start these threads and always end up trying to inform various posters of what actually happens, then get rounded upon by posters like you for defending themselves.

No...teacher's salary does not cover all 13 weeks holiday. We're not paid for it.

A good TA is worth their weight in gold but they don't do the same job as a teacher, not even close. Maybe some HLTAs but not an average TA.

I would love to see the post specs that you have based this comparison of teachers and TAs upon. Either, the TAs you know have wildly inappropriate contracts or you are speaking from a position of utter ignorance.

And the irony of your last sentence is lovely.

They are paid for it: it’s exactly why they are on much larger wage scales than the TA’s who do much the same work as them in the actual class once kids are in.

I worked as a TA before I became a teacher - I can categorically tell you it is not ‘much the same work’ in any way shape or form. As a pp said, a TA is worth their weight in gold - I’d like to think I was anyway 😉- but I work 20 times harder in class now with about 100 more things to think about per minute than I ever did then.
The larger salary I now earn is not on the proviso that I work extra hours in the holidays. What a bizarre thing to think.

We entertained ourselves at home, or went out to play, or went to stay with grandparents, or grandparents stayed with us, mum would do marking and prep in the evenings when the telly was on, she was able to get on that way.

My parents wouldn't have afforded childcare during the holidays.

I do not think teachers are lazy. They work in a demanding and important job.
But that does not mean I believe the picture painted either of teachers having to work every school holiday and rarely having a day off.

@antelopevalley Has your question now been answered?

I don’t know any teachers say they rarely have a day off. The holidays are one of the only reasons I stay in job! I do have to work some of the holidays though.

Are you a teacher or a TA as I suspect you don't actually know what you're talking about?

I worked as a TA before I trained to be a teacher and I remember being naive as you as to the amount of work they did and the impact it had on the children. Many TAs are worth their weight in gold but the reality is most do not do the same work as the teacher when actually in the classroom. The teacher makes evidence based decisions on how best to move the children on in their learning, will have researched misconceptions and how to overcome these, will spot that the children haven't quite 'got it' and will regroup and try again in a different way. I don't see (most) TAs doing the same. Teachers are paid more because they are more experienced in how to teach and (usually) have deeper subject knowledge, not because they have to back some boards and label some books over the summer holidays.

If no-one can work with children around, then that means I've no hope when I get to school eh? I've got 1000 of them walking around outside my door at lunch, coming in asking questions, sorting out scuffles between them etc. I somehow manage to get my marking and paperwork done at the same time. By comparison, having 3 primary kids at home is a breeze. It's a shame that you have such narrow vision tbh.

@Nannyogg134 you would send children to a holiday club because real work cannot be done with children around. so if you are able to look after primary school aged children while you are working, you are not really working.

I wfh. That means no interruptions, head down at my desk, 8 hours a day. Real work cannot be done with children around.

There’s a lot of generalising on this thread. Surely it all depends on the person. I for one do need my children out of the way to get work done - I work part time Mon-Wed and Thursdays at home I get marking and planning done, sometimes other bits of admin, when the older kids are in school and my littlest one does an extra day in nursery for this - I personally do need the childcare to get things done. The marking I could probably do with the kids pottering about and interrupting from time to time, but not the planning, I need to be fully focussed for that. During very busy periods DH will take the kids out on a Sunday afternoon as well so I can get some more stuff done in peace. And yes, I book them into holiday clubs too.
That is not to say that Nannyogg isn’t working as hard - they may have more chilled out kids than mine or simply be better at multitasking. Or might not mind taking longer to get things done with interruptions - I prefer to get things done quickly without.
Not everyone is the same.
Incidentally my DH works from home sometimes too - he’s not a teacher - and doesn’t mind the kids pottering about when he’s doing so. He’s even taken the kids to work with him in the holidays while I’ve worked from home, because I’m the one that really needs the peace and quiet. I can assure he’s still doing ‘real work’ … I should hope so anyway, he earns more than double my salary 😂

I was also a TA before retraining as a teacher.

I loved being a TA and they are very important and valuable, but it's not the same job at all.

I knew I’d get crap. I wonder how and why.

Yes I work as a TA. I trained as a teacher but I will not play the politics, can’t manage the required hours, and have to give my own kids extra tutoring to make up for the education that schools in their infinite wisdom have failed to give them. I work in alternative education now.

Around here, TAs are sometimes advertised as graduate positions, and many in mainstream are required to plan. They take classes and are treated badly. You can say that they are on wildly inappropriate contracts if you like, but that does not change practical reality.

As for the whole old rubbish about teachers not being paid for holidays, you are paid to do a job. That job requires work outside school hours which is why it is paid more. TAs are not paid for the holidays. Teachers are.

Dd never went to ASC on the holidays even when I was working in the holidays as I could mainly work from home or around her, especially taking into account play dates, seeing her grandparents etc. I would prep in evenings or when she was busy playing or elsewhere.

There are certain things that just need doing, ime. My tech lead role means I need to do things after the children finish for the summer but before the new cohorts begins, aka the summer break.

New to the job teachers will often need to work more in holidays than more experience fed staff.
Those changing year groups and key stages may need to do more than those
staying in the same year group/classes. Those changing classrooms will need to do more than those staying in the same room.
Those with new curriculums in their subject will need to do more than those where the curriculum stays the same that year.
Those that are given time at the end of the school year and time ion the first day or two (if INsET) will need less time than those who don't have that time during those days.

It varies how much is needed sometimes.

I could do nothing in the holidays - no one is going to force me. But it will mean a much harder start to the school year and everything not working quite right for myself, the children, other staff and the parents if I don't.

So yes, it's a choice. But one with consequences that will affect not just me.

That job requires work outside school hours which is why it is paid more. TAs are not paid for the holidays. Teachers are.

Working outside of school hours is not the main reason for the difference in pay though - to think that is just plain daft.

Teachers are not paid for school holidays.

TAs are not paid for the holidays. Teachers are

Teachers aren't paid FOR the holidays, but they are paid DURING them. That's because their pay for the weeks they work is smoothed over the year, and divided into twelve equal parts, which are paid monthly.

@antelopevalley “But that does not mean I believe the picture painted either of teachers having to work every school holiday and rarely having a day off.”

There’s a huge difference between working a few days every holiday and rarely having a day off. Most teachers I know do the former. I have never met nor seen a teacher on here claiming to work nearly every day of the year.