Teachers in Ireland- tell me what hours you work?!

[user1483390742]

Primary in England here. I work non-stop in term time. In at 7.30am, leave at 5.30, then a couple of hours most evenings and 3+ hours at the weekend. It's killing me!
I have read a few threads before where Irish teachers have said they get in at 8.30 and leave by 4pm latest! Is this true? Should i move over there? How can we have it so wrong here?

Deadringer- you have hit the nail on the head about respect. There is very little of that for teachers in the UK, which is why we are all on our knees!
Your hours sound good too- i drop my kids to our childminder at 7am. She takes them to school and I pick them up at 6pm!

@user1483390742 yes respect here is huge for teachers. From parents and children!! I have yet to have a parent come in accusing me of x, y or z!! In the uk, they seemed to be in EVERY MORNING moaning and thinking that I was in charge of little Johnny’s jumper, little Johnny’s lunch menu and anything else they deemed a school problem. Here I don’t have any of that!! They back us up 100% and let us do our job!

Shall I tell you all a secret?

There are schools like this in the U.K. They are few and far between and only exist where headteachers are willing to stand up to the data culture prevalent in other schools.

U.K. education is changing. The government have lost interest in education because of Brexit and it’s given the space for Ofsted to have a re-think. The new Ofsted criteria is going to focus heavily on how broad and deep and well planned the curriculum is over and above results.

Finally!

But - the DFE are not removing testing or the standard agenda. In fact, primary school children will now be subject to baseline testing and the times table test. This means two statutory assessments in Reception and statutory externally validated assessments for four of the ramianing six years! Schools will also be forced to become academies or 'rebrokered' if they fail to meet the required standards. Ofsted may be changing but the DFE need to catch up.

This means two statutory assessments in Reception

Two?

If schools take the new Ofsted guidance then they are being given the soar to prioritise curriculum over and above the testing regimes.

I think Oates are trying to to say that a broad, well planned curriculum should take priority over the test syllabus.

It is not all the change we need but it is a start. Parents often look more at Ofsted gradings than the DFE dashboard.

Ofsted are combining the judgment on curriculum with the judgement in results to make one heading but with curriculum the most prominent.

But they are also dividing the pupil welfare heading to create two areas of judgement. Putting more emphasis on pupil well being.

This should be enough of a stick for most schools to re-think the exam factory approach.

Hopefully someone in the DFE is listening.

Sorry for all the predictive text typos. Typing too fast.

I'm a teacher. UK trained. Came home to teach. Cannot even compare my life before with the job I have now. Even without my amazing TA and the super lovely school building and the lovely kids. My life feels like my own again. MY kids see me during the week!

@noseoftralee totally!! Think work/life balance here is great!!! 👍

I think the rethinking about curriculum from OFSTED looks really good. But it comes on top of so many years of changes and things that have added workload for teachers, I "get" why teachers may feel a bit cynical about the whole thing....

In the absence of a unified and cohesive content-specific curriculum in England, the tests have effectively become the curriculum, it seems (due to accountability pressure and other things). Which is a problem.

I think this mindset has gradually drip-fed down to parents as well. I see so many posters here worrying about their child's maths and English, but nobody seems to care whether their child is learning lots of science, geography, history and things like that.

There are a lot of Irish teachers in my school (Catholic). They all talk a LOT about how much easier teaching in in Ireland. But it is also very difficult to find a teaching job, hence them all now teaching in England!

Up until recently it was difficult to find a job but in the past year year that has changed and there is nearly a shortage now. So can all come home again.

There is an awful shortage of supply teachers at the moment here. Anyone I know doing subbing is in every day! I have just come back and already have a job so not as hard to come by at the moment imo

Yep next to impossible to get subs in my small rural school.