Coping with Teacher Training days

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I'm new to education, DS1 in reception DS2 19 months old. But this is really going to get right up my nose. Teacher training days tagged onto half terms. 1st one Friday just before the weeks break.

How do mums cope? Ive got something planned - booked months and months ago and have to leave really early and now just checked diary and DS1 is home and I'm paying for DS2 to be in nursery!

Why cant they do these training days in the evenings or even Saturday morning like the rest of us? Why has education have to be so disrupted? Surely with the number of weeks off they get it wouldnt be too much to expect a few days to be put towards training?

Struth, we are self employed here, hubby never hardly gets time off, when we were farming we worked well unto the night, expected to get up at the crack of dawn, 7 days a week, working when completely exhausted and so hanging and no paid holidays!

So many families are struggling with childcare, trying to hold onto their jobs, and then this is slapped in our faces.

Surely this doesnt happen on the continent??

A training day the Friday before 1/2 term would be FANTASTIC. We have just had one on a Wednesday the second week before 1/2 term. No matter used one of my 28 annual leave days for it, incl bank holidays. Not a teacher but get to work at about 8.30 - leave at about 6 (live about 5 minutes away thank goodness). Two meetings last week in the evening - got home at 10. Have been up at 4.30 twice this week to finish reports (management ones not school) and usually fit in about 5 hours each weekend. Why is it that teachers just don't seem to understand that anyone else works hard as well yet get half the holiday. I have a bunch of adults to manage and you would think they would know better!!!

I think I did acknowledge that other people work hard, which teachers are saying otherwise.

You did Vespasian - sorry. I think I have a hangover from the DC's old primary head who used to drone at the parents at every end of term service about how exhausted all her staff were and how much they needed the holiday. Didn't feel there was too much empathy when many of the parents (me especially) were feeling guilty that unlike her they wouldn't be spending the holidays with the dc.

lol at you - you really are new to education

there are around 9 a year in public schools - get used to it

No worries Oncemai. Tonight I upset my husband as I was saying how much I was looking forward to having time with our dd and time to relax.

During term time he has to almost run the house single handed, so he also gets very tired but does not get regular holidays.

To be fair to teachers, we do work excpetionally long hours during term time. I have worked in other sectors before and have never had to work about 15 hours a day week after week. As I said though I am sure that it will all balance out when you take into consideration holidays. Teachers vary as well, I know some work far fewer hours than me. Having said that by half past seven this morning every teacher on my corridor was at their desk and I was the first to go home tonight at 6pm.

Living in a farming community I accept farmers often do those hours all year round, I could not do that - and would not want to - which is why I chose teaching and am happy with that decision.

People complain about teachers and then complain when teachers have training time to be better teachers. I don't get it.

I hate twilights - it messes up MY plans and makes my childcare difficult

I am on MN because I am having a break from writing lesson plans & 35 care plans. I've been at school for 9 hours without a break, had an hour at home to make dinner & put DS to bed, before starting work again. Another 12 hour day, I think.

Why do so many people think school is free daycare?

Go and re-train as a teacher then - it's obviously so easy

They have them in Belgium too, but the school runs a "garderie" for working parents so business as usual.

I am really surprised to read so many teachers are in at 7.30am! Is that comprehensive? because believe me I know a lot of teachers and my SIL doesnt get in till 8.30 and hardly ever finishes after 4.30 (apart from the odd occassion). Over the holidays she does work and do the odd day in school but nothing much really.

No, I dont beleive its free childcare, I only p/t work myself so I do spend a considerable time with my children and baby thank you. Actually my husband can work 70+ per week so I'm the only career here and weekends I'm usually on my own with them. I also help with the PTA etc so my input is good for a parent so I'm not a mum that expects the school to teach my children everything either.

Can you explain how these days are off are taken from the holidays because the weeks off are the same as they were when I was in school (80's) and see no difference.

Who said it was easy? I didnt, not a job for me at all, I wouldnt enjoy it. Yes, most are hard working and totally dedicated so why get so deffensive? I'm only stating what many parents feel about it and how it can be an extra difficult issue to deal with. At the end of the day education is of the upmost importance to me.

Yes I can explain that easily. The summer holidays are now 5 1/2 weeks long, at most. I returned to work on 31 August this year, as opposed to 4/5/6 Sept in previous years.
Also, return to work in January is normally the 3rd or 4th, whereas it used to be the 5th/6th/7th. Inset days do come out of holidays.

INSET days tagged onto half terms would be great. My dds school has had 3 INSET days already and apart from the 1st September they have all been in the middle of a working week. There are still 3 more INSET days to go - all mid week! In January there are 2 INSET days in one week which are on the Monday and Friday!
Days have been planned to fit in with the availability of a national literacy trainer!
Have complained that school is having 6 INSET days this year rather than 5 but they have permission for this apparently.
Am hoping this will be better at secondary school next year!

Where we are the summer holidays were 6 weeks and then they had an inset day as well. All 4 of my children's schools are having 6 inset days . It was supposed to be 5 but the change occurred because of the new government according to 2 of the schools.

we have 3 inset days here- told it is in teachers contract to provide for their professional development. fair enough say I and to be fair current headteacher invites speakers in etc and does team building and cross cirruculum stuff.

i have to say though that i do feel ops pain. when mine were little, i was working 5 full days a week and had 23 days holiday a year. during one summer term they had 2 inset days and then closed the school for elections for a day as well. the play-scheme doesnt run and i do remember just being in tears over how impossible the whole thing was. dh self employed and unable to take time off.

littlest is now 2- i am plotting my escape from full time work before she reaches school age- i just can't bear to go through it all again.

I used to swap Inset days with another working Mum and we would take turns looking after each others children & booking a day off.

Only one that used to drive me INSANE was at our Primary, EVERY year, they had an Inset day on the last Monday of the Summer term, then you had to go in for Tues & Wed, then they broke up! When I asked why they couldn't have the Inset day on the Wed was told they couldn't have on last day of term as everyone would think they were "down the pub" !

At least it was every year though, so we knew to plan for this madness!

crazymum53 the 6th INSET was planned to introduce the new curriculum, (which won't happen now because they never got back into power) but because Labour forgot to get it through Parliament before setting the INSETs and holidays it can't be taken out.

I agree that training days should not occur adjacent to half term holidays. There is no need for this to happen.

Why shouldn't they occur adjacent to half term holidays? Isn't that the best time for them to happen rather than random days throughout the year? When I was a school governor all the inset days were set ages in advance and for my DCs school I have a yearly calendar with them all on and there are only two that aren't tagged onto school holidays.

It isn't the inset days that cause the problems though, its the "snow days" - now that's a whole new topic

Hmmm, which other professions do training on weekends? Hell, in my old job we'd have whole firm team building days that couldn't be on weekends because that wouldn't be fair on employees...but it's ok for teachers?!

Besides, many times those training days are determined by availability of trainers, speakers etc.

Exactly MrsC2010-how are you going to get speakers trainers etc to work at weekends? Those who think it could be fitted in after school have no idea of the work load and there are already afterschool activities, staff meetings, parents evenings etc.
The days come out of holidays.
They are given well in advance. Schools are for education-not child care.

OP I'm loving that your SIL works during the hols and goes into her school at some point - but you think that's nothing! Yeah like more people work during their holidays. [hhmm]
In addition to the 5 inset days we have here (Scotland) teachers do 35 hours of prof development each year - these can be twilight or weekend courses, or personal study in evenings. What we do on inservice days is very different, involving speakers, all staff getting a (rare) chance to meet together for example.
The problem is surely the difficulty of getting childcare for working parents, it's not a problem to do with teachers/schools at all.

I can explain about the holidays and training days OP

Kenneth Baker was the Sec of State for Ed between 1986-1989

During this time he introduced INSET days, these were taken from the school holidays

With no discussion and no change to pay teacher contracts were increased by 5 days per year

Oh and, my normal time in school is 7:30 - 5:30

Apart from days like today when I worked 7:30 - 8:30

I am in school for at least 12 days during my UNPAID holidays ... as with your sister

Oh, and, when my children's training days do not coincide with my own I am not able to take holiday time !

I think that if you go to any school you will see staff arriving at 7.30am and they won't be the first in!

I am a secondary teacher and have 2 DD in reception. I still have to arrange childcare for INSET days. DH often works away from home, and my parents aren't close enough to pop over to look after them. If I had to do training during evenings or weekends, I would still have to arrange childcare.

OP - it's just one of those things when your kid start school.

I am usually in school 8.10 (can't drop the DTDs off til 8) - 4.50 (have to get them from after school club at 5, except on Mondays, when they're in til 6 as we have meetings that sometimes over-run) I bring work home with me every day. I will be spending at least 3 days of half term working. I spent 2 weeks of my 5 week summer holiday working full days at home (DTDs were still in nursery at that point) and then spent another 3 days at school sorting things out for the new term.

No one takes a pop at the working hours of other professionals because no one presumes to believe that they know the ins and outs of the working life of a doctor/sugeon/solicitor unless they've actually done the job themselves. BUT we've all been to school, haven't we? So we all know exactly what teachers do, right? [hgrin]

am not a teacher myself, and have had many a "happy discussion" with teacher friends about pros and cons of the profession, which I mention only to say I don't always agree with teachers' complaints... however.... Icoping with school holidays & teacher training days are, yes, difficult to manage, but part of the decision about a) having kids b) continuing to work c) a fact of life. I was at a PTA meeting last night, feeling pretty miffed that I had gone straight from work and not getting home til 8 - but the teachers there (and there were several) had all been in since 7. So sorry, YABU. By the way, "on the continent" it's even harder for parents to work because they only do half day schooling and not always the same hours everyday.
We'd all be quick enough to complain if teachers weren't being kept uptodate with the latest things.