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part time teachers HELP with parents evenings on days OFF

407 replies

GordianKnot · 11/03/2010 20:07

ok so i do three days
parents eve always on day off
dont mind dointg EXAM classes at all, but in KS3 is complusory subject so its tough titty really.
so i said " are you goign to pay me or not expect me in"

teh solution they propose is that my LOVELY HoD reads out what i write down

dont know what do do

OP posts:
TheFallenMadonna · 11/03/2010 21:55

That would be a correlational. No evidence of cause. Tut.

Hulababy · 11/03/2010 21:56

But ooos - you still only have x number of lessons per week to plan for, just as primary school teacher do. It is the same number of hours work that needs filling with meaningful work - the same number of hours that require short, medium and long term planning.

In secondary when teaching classes you do often have the advantage of duplicate lessons. I taught ICT so would have maybe 3 or 4 Y7s a week for example I didn;t have to produce a whole new plan for each of those 4 classes - I simply had the same long and medium plans, but adjusted the short term plans.

The assessment is different but not necesarily less time consuming, especially when levelling literacy work for example. Some aspects of secondary assessment does take longer and there is often more of it.

Primary school reports are longer than what you would expect from a subject teacher in secondary. In primary the teacher would have to write reports for several subjects per hild. In secondary you write one report for each child. I reckon it probably evens up.

You probably do have more parents evenings in secondary,a lthough IMO primary teachers seem to see parents a bt more often and certainly that is the case on a day to day bases with parents popping in more often. etc

There is a lot more resource prep IME in primary, and more time spent on presentation and display type work.

Having seen both sides my personal opinion is that the two jobs are actually very different jobs. Neither is IMO harder or tougher than the other.

cornsilk · 11/03/2010 21:56

It's a contentious issue - you've opened up a can of worms. Real teachers versus work shy lazy arses. (I'm one of the latter)

TheFallenMadonna · 11/03/2010 21:58

There are loads of other jobs where you work in your own time. DH travels on a Sunday to make a meeting on Monday morning. He works through the night if he has a deadline. We both work our socks off. I get more holiday, he gets more pay.

wastwinsetandpearls · 11/03/2010 21:58

Talking of workload I am supposed to be writing reports, I still have another 20 to go.

I have known a lot of teachers have breakdowns and a lot of teachers have quite fragile mental health. I sometimes wonder if it is the job or the type of people attracted to the job. We were discussing this very topic at work today. I work incredibly hard in term time and am on my knees with exhastion by the holiday. It usually takes me all of a half term to recover. I think I would be like that whatever job I had, at least teaching gives me a regular holiday in which to build up my reserves. I could not last in a normal 9-5 job with a few weeks holiday a year.

Hulababy · 11/03/2010 21:59

"By ooosabeauta Thu 11-Mar-10 21:54:14
I'd agree pudding. Looking back it seems mad, but I was in my classroom sorting out books and wall displays the day before my due date (not getting paid) with ds, in the middle of the summer hols. Not many other jobs where you find yourself doing this! "

But why were you doing that? Where you not on maternity leave? Presumably you chose to do that, it was not directed time you had to do.

PatTheHammer · 11/03/2010 21:59

Fallen Madonna- see, this is where it gets complicated becasue technically you are already at work on the thurs and may not finish til......say 5.30pm? If the parents evening starts at 4.15pm, then theres the travel time extra to consider?

Gets blimmin complicated doesn't it!

BTW, I think the general consensus was that most people were not getting paid for it anyway.

at pointylog

Hulababy · 11/03/2010 22:01

twinset - that is why I now get paid peanuts, in order to avoid the feeling of exhaustion by the last week of term (despite being part time)!

iggi999 · 11/03/2010 22:02

"Iggi, you arrange childcare"
Well thanks for that. So, I pay £36 (the rate my nursery would charge for a half day - I'm not about to pay a random person he doesn't know and will only see a couple of times a year) in order to go into work on my day off, when I'm not being paid. I pay them to do a parent's night?
DP also a teacher so cannot arrange to leave early.

ooosabeauta · 11/03/2010 22:05

Yes that's true Hula. I've taught R.E. full time and English full time, so I've seen both sides of that, teaching fifteen vs. eight classes. Having a huge number of students IME still does take up more time. In subjects like English lessons can flow more easily through the week, so that although there is planning, it is slightly less demanding and knowing the students better makes marking and tracking easier too. Having said that English is quite heavy on marking because of the amount produced, and coursework demands.

You're right that they are very different jobs. Must go and complete prep. for tmw!

pudding25 · 11/03/2010 22:10

This school year, 2 parents' nights fell on Monday and Tuesday when I don't work and I was paid. One of them fell on a Thursday night when I do work and I was not paid. That was fine and fair. On the days I work, I would expect to not get paid.

Teachers work bloody hard. I actually don't know anyone who works as hard as I do who does not get paid at least double. Yes, I chose to do this job but that doesn't mean that I shouldn't take any extra penny I can get, especially living in London where on 2 professional salaries, we are struggling to pay a badly needed bigger property.

LittlePushka · 11/03/2010 22:15

I do not know many people who work to rule,...and I know no professionals who do so. parents eveing is a MASSIVE thing for parents and such a little thing for you to do.

Go in,...have pride in your work and your profession, like the others who have posted above.

iggi999 · 11/03/2010 22:18

LittlePushka
I'm assuming you do know how incredibly patronising and insulting you are being?

pointylog · 11/03/2010 22:21

gosh yes, it's such a little thing. Stop moaning and rattling your chunky beads. Tuff up.

wastwinsetandpearls · 11/03/2010 22:30

I rattle my chunky beads at lazy pupils. It is completely ineffective but quite cathartic

pointylog · 11/03/2010 22:32

oh noes! Whip them with a colourful thin scarf on your way past.

TheFallenMadonna · 11/03/2010 22:33

ROFL at "such a little thing". Um, no.

It's a big, bloody knackering thing. But important.

pudding25 · 11/03/2010 22:36

LittlePushka
How dare you. First of all, I think most teachers agree that if they can, they will go in for parents' night. I don't think that is the issue. What we want is to be paid for the time.

If you have actually read this thread, you will see that teachers are working well and beyond the call of duty already without being paid a penny extra.

Such a little thing for us to do-really? Such a little thing that my husband has to take annual leave when I am expected to be at school on my days off from 4.30-almost 10pm? Luckily, he can take the annual leave as otherwise, who is going to look after my dd on my days off?

You know what, I don't know why I am actually wasting my time replying to people like you...

iggi999 · 11/03/2010 22:40

Pudding you are replying because you have pride in your work and don't like it when people treat you like a lazy, clock-watching scrounger.
Maybe Pushka or pointy log will volunteer to look after our kids for us? It's such a little thing to ask..

abbierhodes · 11/03/2010 22:55

But iggi, full time teachers have to organise extra childcare for parents' evening too. What's the difference?

And as for your DH not being able to get home...if he's a teacher too, surely he can be home in time? Unless your parents' evenings clash, I don't understand the problem. Parents' evening at our school is 6-8. Even on a day with a meeting I can be out by 4.30 if I need to.

EvilTwins · 11/03/2010 23:03

Since this thread is now full of teachers, can I push for a bit of sympathy? Three weeks ago, I went back to the school I left three years ago, as a favour, as one of their English teachers is off sick. I'm basically supply, (hence the hourly rate...) but since the head of English knows me, am not being given any teaching materials - am just being expected to wing it sort my own, using lesson plans I am unfamiliar with (WALT and WILF anyone? Didn't do it when I left...) and texts I've not thought about for three years (too busy with In the Night Garden and Charlie & Lola) So, three weeks in and (ta da!) Ofsted. Great. Have spent HOURS today ignoring giving my children independent activities to do so I can sort acceptable plans, resources (even had to buy a copy of Mizz magazine) etc for lessons which may or may not be observed tomorrow, and I am definitely not being paid to do that.

cat64 · 11/03/2010 23:21

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

LittlePushka · 11/03/2010 23:23

Pudding25..how dare I? Because I do it, ...thats why I dare say it. If folk want a job that pays on time spent, get one that pays an hourly rate not a salary. Otherwise get with the rest of the world and deal with it.

Iggi - not meaning to be patronising, I just dont think its such a big deal.

Would you flame medical consultants,or social workers for not feeding back to their patients/clients? They do such things all the time unpaid, its the nature of the beast in professional work.

LittlePushka · 11/03/2010 23:25

I also meant it is a little thing to go in on a day off,...not the job of teacher.

UnseenAcademicalMum · 11/03/2010 23:43

I also work p/t (4 days) as a university lecturer. Sometimes I have to teach on my so-called days off. It's just part of the job. This happens maybe 10 days of the year out of maybe 200 working days.

Some jobs just have commitments that don't fit into a normal working day. It's not nice, but otoh, that's just how it goes.

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