Casbie - do you realise just how much work they do for that money? And not many of them get that much?
Yes sure - teachers higher up the ladder get more but the starting salary is about 18k outside london?
And the stereotype of teachers just working 9 am to 3.30 pm and having 13 weeks "off" a year is just ridiculous. Sure thats when they see the children but not when their jobs stop. They have planning, paperwork, meetings etc etc to do on top.
To put it in perspective a newly qualified teacher will be in that school by 8am and wont leave until 5 pm. Then most probably they will work all evening and at least one full day on the weekend. Yes they will have time off in their holidays but if they have a two week break I would bet on at least half of that being spent on planning.
Teachers who have been teaching for maybe 5 - 10 years plus (and stick with the same subject/year group)will probably have it easier. Saying that my mum who has now taught for 30 years plus gets into school for 8am and leaves at 4pm. She has parents evenings, bits of planning etc on top of that - hardly a doddle.
On top of that you now have the blame culture, parents complaining, suing etc to contend with.
There is no way I would ever become a teacher now after seeing friends have nervous breakdowns doing the teacher training year - easily a 60 - 70 hour week for some.
And no im not a teacher before you ask lol - I had a place but couldnt go through with it when I saw the workload. I feel horribly sorry for any teacher who is pregnant or with a young family.
Picketing outside your window though must be very very annoying!!! And yes I do feel a lot of sympathy/anger for the parents who have had to rearrange childcare for today - it must be a nightmare for some.
But I am just fed up of people thinking teachers are underworked and overpaid - not a general opinion that has cropped up on here today - but GMTV..well..what did i expect really lol
xxx