How much holiday do you think teachers really get?

[Fairenuff]

I was reading a thread about inset days and inevitably it led onto the amount of holidays teachers get and I was wondering whether Joe Public thinks that the teachers get the same number of days off as the children?

Alright, they are not actually in the classroom, but the teachers I know all work during holidays (and also evenings and weekends). My estimate would be that they plan a fortnight summer holiday with the family and the rest of the time they are planning, assessing, marking, report writing, etc.

Perhaps they should be renamed 'child holidays' rather than 'school holidays' to help clear up the confusion?

NiceHamione - agree; and those are the benefits for teachers. Really bugs me that people feel that teachers should not be entitled to any benefits at all.

[Hula], that's terrible!

oops, that should have read , Hula, that's terrible

NiceHam, I agree.

I have been teaching part-time and in a primary specialist setting for the past 8 years. I am able to arrive at 8.30 and leave at 4.30ish with virtually no work to do at home. I will have to do some work at home when I go back full-time in September but still NOTHING like when I was in mainstream where I was getting in at 7.30am and leaving at 6pm and doing lots of stuff at home. It was gruelling although also very rewarding.

DH is a secondary teacher (well very senior now) and it is extremely rare to see him doing any work at home, although when he was a HoY he had about a million reports to check every June!

I have also worked in similar conditions, which I suspect encouraged me to get pregnant and take time out to be a SAHM. I was attacked when pregnant, regularly sworn at, threatened with anal rape, pushed etc. working under those conditions knowing that the management would not or could not do anything about it was very stressful. Often stress is a reaction to not being in control, you have very little control in that kind of environment .

Definitely agree about the pass-rate related to drop-outs - there are a number of students passing who clearly aren't cut out for it, but maybe it's in the university's interest to pass as many as possible?

Hula that's horrid. Glad you found a better place.

I realise I didn't answer a question pages back, when I said my DH gets lots of holidays as a teacher and we see him far more than when he worked in industry.

He is a secondary teacher, he has two jobs. He lectures in an FE College and also teaches at a school for children who are psychologically fragile, with a range of additional support needs.

It is not an easy job and I take my hat off to him, but you can't argue with the fantastic holidays.

I suspect you need to have the right personality to be a good teacher. If you are stressed to the max working loads of extra hours, maybe it isn't the profession for you.

It's ridiculous to compare FE to primary teaching though, ithaka. And working in a specialist setting is still very different to teaching/planning/marking/assessing 30 children.

Feenie/Tilly - yes, it was. But it's a long time ago now fortunately. I would still never return to secondary school teaching, but I am loving primary (HLTA there) - and in a year or so when DD is at secondary herself I may return to teaching in the primary sector.

SMT meakes all the difference ime.

NiceHamione - pleased you also found a way out of the environment

'It's ridiculous to compare FE to primary teaching though, ithaka. And working in a specialist setting is still very different to teaching/planning/marking/assessing 30 children'.

Say what and hold the phone? Who says my DH doesn't have to teach/plan/mark and assess? The you people he teaches have additional support needs but it is a secondary school and he teaches at all levels of the secondary curriculum up to and including advanced higher.

At the FE Colleges, surprise, suprise he is also expected to get young people through exams and I am guessing he indulges in a bit of teaching/planning/marking/assessing there from time to time as well.

Not a teacher but I would just like to comment on Cakebumps point about the academic requirements and PGCE's.

A number of people that did A Levels at the same time as me got into teaching degrees with the most appalling A Level results. These were much lower than mine - I went into nursing.

One of my friends is now head of her subject despite getting a "U" at A level in this subject and an "N" when she retook it a second time. Another is head of her subject having gained an "E" in her subject and a "U" in her other A Level.

These people may be great at their jobs and there is more to life than academics but I wouldn't particularly want a teacher teaching my children GCSE History etc is they couldn't pass it at A Level - even if they had a degree and/or a PGCE.

Sorry - nothing to do with the holiday issue

My dh is also an FE teacher, ithaka - yes, they plan/mark and assess, but it's totally different to primary school teaching. For example, in a couple of weeks the exam season will be over, and many secondary/FE teachers will have an annual quieter period, whereas for primary school teachers it's hands down our busiest time of year.

My dh and I both teach - but the type of planning, assessing, marking, etc, is completely and utterly different. He doesn't have to teach 11 subjects for a start.

ColinFirthsGirth - in Scotland you have to have a degree in a subject in order to qualify to teach it in the state sector.

Feenie - thanks for confirming my husband has an easy job - I always susected it. Although the FE lecturering is his second job, he teaches in a secondary school, but I agree, it is easy peasy.

ithaka - Out of the two people that I mentioned the one that took her A Level twice and still didn't pass it, then got into a degree in that subject and then did a PGCE. The other did a Bachelor of Education specialising in the subject she got an "E" in at A Level.

Even though they did get a degree in those subjects I would still wonder why they were allowed into teaching degrees with such bad A Level results. I am maybe being unfair but it also makes me skeptical of the actual standard of the degree in those cases.

Maybe not easy peasy. But very different

That's what I was saying before - if teachers swapped their extra holiday for more pay, would people still moan?

Also, agree about expectations. I've hearda fair few people say they wanted to be teachers to fit in with childcare. The fact they still need FT childcare for the holidays must be a pain

Today I started work at 7.30, half an hour preparing for the day and spent half an hour in the Library installing new computer system, then was on playground duty from half eight to 8.50, took register, attended collective worship and began teaching at 9.20, then on playground duty so no break,continued teaching then had 15 minutes break at lunch then had a meeting with a educational research fellow who needed information for a research project, then taught all afternoon, 15 minutes playground duty at the end of the day, straight into staff meeting until quarter to 6, drove home and had tea, wrote 2 risk assesments, one more report ( still eight to go!) and filled out 2 passport application countersignatory sections ( you can tell it's holiday season!) and have JUST finished work. I NEED a holiday!

Because sometimes people cock up A Levels that's why. Doesn't having a degree negate that?

FWIW I failed my A level in my teaching specialism I had an atrocious headache on the day, so bad that I could hardly get out of bed. This was in the days before we were really clued up about medical notes from docs. Basically you just struggled in and did your best.

I went on to get a 2:1 which included a higher commendation, and I was accepted onto a masters which I decided not to take up. I then worked in a related industry for 10 years where I achieved outstanding sales and revenue based on what I knew. I was featured in the trade magazines several times

I then went on to do a PGCE. I currently deliver a course which is incredibly difficult. I get outstanding results and my subject knowledge is bottomless tbh through a combination of degree and work. But I haven't got A Level...What a bloody cheek!

I make a point of accepting students without GCSE/failed GCSE onto my A Level course if they want to do it, because of what happend to me. Someone recognised my strengths despite A Level cock up.

snowball what is your point?

No-one is saying teachers don't work hard. They are saying that other professions work JUST as hard....

(if not harder)

And teachers are saying we work JUST as hard as other professions ( if not harder.....)

No-one is saying teachers don't work hard

Really? So you didn't say this then, Cakebump:

"Teaching a class full of 6 year olds is not stressful."

Or then proceed to swank about your easy life with 13 kids, no governmental red tape, no ongoing assessments, no form filling and 15 weeks off in an overseas school. Was that another Cakebump then?

My DH also teaches in FE. In one week he will have finished most of his courses for the year and will have several weeks where he will (mostly) be preparing courses for next September. I am a primary teacher. I have another six weeks full on, then will plan my teaching for next September during the summer break. He will work in college, using their computers, heating, printers, coffee, photocopier, etc. I will work in my own home, using my own electricity, printer, ink, paper, etc. I will be downloading video clips, sound files, making powerpoints, smartboard presentations, copying out the alphabet 38 times into their spelling books, writing name labels ...

... and I have a First in my degree and the PGCE was bloody hard work!

"Teaching a class full of 6 year olds is not stressful."

Have you done this regularly?