Gove's at it again

[fedup21]

www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Education/article1355695.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_12_21

Things like this always get announced on day 2 of the holidays when people think teachers are doing pish all!

Shocking journalism though; does Sian Griffiths really think teachers 'enjoy short working days'? I am in my classroom from 7.45 until 6pm. That's longer 'working' hours than my 'city boy' husband does (though not the 1.5 hour commute) and I work in the evenings and he doesn't!?

I work four days. I work from 745-545 at work Monday - Thursday. I work between 1 and 3 hours Monday to Wednesday nights and about 6-8 hours sometime over Friday - Sunday. We have to spend so much time having meetings about doing our jobs properly, filling in paperwork to show we are doing our jobs properly and checking others are too it is ridiculous. The detail required in marking, planning, intervention etc... Is phenomenal. Yes I love teaching, the being in the classroom and delivering lessons but there is no way I could do it for 51 weeks of the year.

On paper the t&c may well look 'excellent', how the job works in reality is not like that. If we are going to get the same time and status as teachers in other countries Gove idolises then it might work. To just extend the number of weeks teachers work won't work at all.

Was that cushy 9-5 job in the public sector?

I leave the house at 6.50am - before DS is up - and arrive home at 6pm in time for tea. Then I do the bath, story, bedtime routine with DS.

The holidays are when I remind him who I am because the long hours I have at school make him slightly unsure.

Not quite sure how I could work longer if I want a real relationship with my little boy.

That's working pattern for lots of us not just teachers,teachers don't have exclusivity on hard work and doin stuff at home
The wow factor is the holidays,the bank holidays,no weekends,no unsocial hours

Yes. If you said that to me in person ----> that is the face I'd make.

Said what?that professional jobs are demanding,encroach on time,and stressful
Yes,thars what being in professional job is like,demanding,frenetic,lots responsibility
Working at home,always busy.yes?that's the buzz,that's the intellectual satisfaction one derives

Has anyone said teachers have it harder than anyone else? Taking the holidays into consideration I don't think we do.

I really hope most people are not working until past midnight five nights a week. I hope most people do not start their working day at 7am knowing that ,allowing for a few hours a day to do housework and have family time, they will be working until gone midnight. I also think they are quite unsocial hours.

Again I am not moaning because the holidays offset that .

If people are routinely working those hours with five weeks holiday a year, something has gone very wrong in society.

I leave house 7am,collect from Afterschool 6.thats a typical week for me

Do you continue working at home for a good few hours ?

Oh, for goodness sake. It is very tiresome to have this kind of conversation descend yet again into an unseemly 'who works hardest and why' squabble.

The issue is that yet again Gove is making pronouncements which are utterly uninformed, do not have a basis in educational research, and which directly contradict anything which would actually support and improve our education system and our children's experience. The man is dangerous, wilful and self-serving.

you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/remove-michael-gove-from-office?source=facebook-share-button&time=1387140018

Idont think this is tiresome in least,it's commonly argued teachers need the hols,as they work so hard term time
Yes,I'll work at home if I have to.thats my job,what I took on

But it's not just about the teachers. It's the children too. How is sticking them in school for longer going to help them?

I doubt school holidays are the way they are because of teachers.

We make it so hard for families with two working parents - youngchildren are out of the home for hours and are exhausted. This is not right.

It is interesting that the tone of this thread changed so drastically when certain posters joined; ones who have strong anti-teacher feelings and have turned it into a "teachers don't work hard enough, ought to do more, know how lucky they are, etc." thread. And when, not surprisingly, teachers defend themselves they get accused of moaning. (What is the difference between stating facts about jobs to rectify commonly held misconceptions and moaning about them....?)

Sad really, when the focus of this debate ought to be Gove and his agenda when making these statements.

so,you simply don't care for the content or direction of the thread?and
Holidays and hours worked were in op and by post 3.initiated by teachers
Teachers commenting on their own demands,hours out in.no one asked explicitly hey!what hours you do

The most important thing is that Gove's plans are not good for children, or for education.

They go against the recommendations of research carried out by the most distinguished and experienced educationalists in the country. He is neither.

But he will not be told. Because educational outcomes are not what he's really interested in.

Read the thread canyou,conversation about hours worked initiated by op and other teachers
No one has set up a tell me your hours trap,it was apparent in op and onward

I agree gove does malign teachers,he is in a collision course to provoke IMO
I don't think current coalition value or respect public service
I agree school hours,term times need revision

I didn't mean to post and run earlier, few more last minute bits of shopping to do.

My point about the empty car park at school is simply that early on in the thread people were saying that they are in school for very long hours. Well, not at DS's school. Even if they are working at home, they get to leave and work in more convivial surroundings - anyone who is lucky enough to be able to take work hone rather than gave to stay at work knows that is a real boon.

I agree it is a work of the job, again you will often find me saying that it is so.

Perk not work

I don't think it is particularly surprising that teachers will discuss their hours in response to a news article that talks about our short hours and long holidays .

I have not moaned about my hours, I accept them as a trade off for my holidays .

Absolutely no issue discussing hours,I'm responding to poster querying why it's topic

God, why doesnt he just cancel childhood whilst hes at it.

I LOVE my job. Yes, like any other job there are crap parts, but it is helping children thrive and develop that makes it for me. I AM NOT MOANING ABOUT MY HOURS; they need to be done to get that good part of the job and the trade off is that by end of term, when I'm so tired I cry and sleep through three alarm clocks, I can have a good break. I relax, catch up on things I can't do in term time like have a haircut, go to the dentist, see friends, remember who my DFamily are, catch up with or get ahead of work I can't fit in to term time. That is my perk, but it is a trade off for silly hours and total exhaustion for the other 39 weeks of the year.
I know I'm a less effective teacher by the last few weeks of every term, I'm just too tired. If I had to work 51 (or what ever) weeks a year I would have to reduce the planning, preparation, marking and assessment I do out of school, I would be a less creative teacher, and that would impact the quality of learning and progress my class could make. It would be cut corners or burn out. You can't work 7 - 6, then go home for more every week of the year.