...to think teachers DO get paid over the holidays?

[MasterBeth]

It doesn't make sense to me.

Some people say teachers don't get paid over the holidays. They are paid, they say, for 40 weeks, but their money is aggregated over 52 weeks and paid monthly.

What does that even mean? How is it (practically) any different to being paid (less per week) for 52 weeks?

I think for a lot of teachers it isn't just about the money. It really is also about the conditions and expectations, especially following the news headlines yesterday.

Yep. But as far as I can see no one is attempting to sketch out what the solution might look like, much less move towards it. Plus CoL does mean that everyone needs more money which confuses the issue.

True. There have been MN threads before that have focused on the conditions and it's what I hear on the ground a lot.

One if the reasons that teachers attract criticism more than other roles is the moaning about the holidays. Yes, they may be paid to only work for 39 weeks of the year and that is spread out over 52, but let’s be real. Teachers are at a similar professional level to nurses, the police, social workers, etc. Their pay is also at a similar level (actually nurse’s wage is worse). For some reason teachers expect that they should be paid more, as they believe that their 13 week holiday should be protected, compared to the 4-5 week holiday of their colleagues in other agencies. The way teacher’s hours are set up is semantics - if teachers just accepted that probably 4-5 weeks of their holidays are actually protected and their pay reflects working across the other hours like similar professions - they would attract far less criticism.

@Awwwwooooga
You really have no idea! Teachers would be more than happy if they actually got 4-5 weeks protected holidays. 🙄
Most holidays are spent marking, planning etc. Since leaving teaching I now have far more time off than I ever got in teaching, I now get 26 days of leave…

Our hours sure annualised, so the same hours are set out over the 39 weeks we work as if we worked a 9-5 week. Obviously teachers work many more than the contracted hours (as do many others !).

As has been said soooo many times, no teacher says they have it hardest. Ever. In the history of the world. Just that the job is harder and is getting worse every year.

Don't like it then leave ? Yup, teachers are. Why your kids are often being taught maths and science by any warm body they can find.

As always, these views come from goady ‘gotcha’ moments. Usually after 20 minutes of people making comments about you only working part time, having half the year off on holiday and just playing with children, a teacher snaps back-‘we actually work quite hard you know and don’t work 9-3’, people then cry out with ‘ffs teachers are always moaning and think they work harder than anyone else!’

Teachers do get paid over the holidays they just don't get paid for holidays beyond what anyone else gets. When I worked in local government I had staff with term time contracts and it worked the same, salary for the year divided by 12.

You’re whining and whinging. Why are you allowed to but teachers can’t talk about things that frustrate them?

Both the last two options are correct. We get the published salary, which is for 39 weeks of work. However, this is paid in equal installments over 52 weeks. If we were paid for 52 weeks and in school for that time, I'd be needing term time holidays......