“Immoral and wrong” for teachers to ask to go part time

[noblegiraffe]

...says some ex political adviser tosspot.

If you take a full time role, you should stay full time forever no matter any change in your circumstances, nor even if it would keep you in teaching rather than quitting. Teachers need to adjust their expectations around work-life balance.

www.tes.com/news/wrong-and-immoral-teachers-seek-reduced-hours

What a tosser.

Well, that’s nonsense, isn’t it? Teachers have the same rights as other employees so [raspberry].

Yeah, we need even fewer teachers don't we? Which is what would happen if parents never had the option of part time and those at the end of their career had to carry on with 5 days a week.
Twat.

(Have now read it and even more angry)

What a twat.

How desperate is this as a strategy? 500,000 teachers in the UK not working because (presumably) they are sick of being worked to death, and he wants to guilt trip them into returning full-time, or guilt trip current teachers into staying full-time?

This isn’t the answer. Dealing with work-load so that teaching is one full-time post (35-40 hours weekly) instead of one constant grind (60+ hours) is the answer.

Bollocks. People should apply the same standards they use for other employees to teachers. It's not a 'vocation', it's a fucking job.

Going part time was the only way I could not leave the profession.

Let him do the job for a term and see if he still feels the same. I am a much better teacher and parent as a part-timer than I would be working full-time.

Twice DD2 has been taught by two teachers doing a job share. It works really well all around for the teachers and the pupils.

Yes, deal with teachers' workload. And with pupils' behaviour. And with expectations, from SLT, governments, society - that teachers can be parent/mentor/inspiration/ all-singing, all-dancing entertainment/ first-contact of discipline to every child they meet.

He is also being a coward, as most people asking to go part time will be women with caring responsibilities.

So he is really saying women are immoral, though is too scared to actually say that.

Who needs a work life balance or family when you could be a teacher, working 60+ hours per week and having the time of your life?

What I don’t get is that the Irish teachers who’ve posted on the workload threads here before, talk about having a great work life balance. They get in at 8.30 and leave at 3.30.

Why don’t the government just introduce whatever they do there, here. Then they would be able to solve the retention and recruitment crisis as qualified teachers would WANT to come back and they wouldn’t have to be paid more-just work less.

I’m part time as I felt I couldn’t be a good parent and teach full time without having a complete emotional breakdown. If I could be in 8.30-4.30 or even 4.30-I would be full time, it’s as simple as that.

Ah well, you see, you shirkers part timers, you just needed to cut back on life. You clearly have too much

Choose Life!!

Hah. Teaching part time is manageable because you end up 'only' doing full time hours for half pay rather than 60 hour weeks for full pay.

Very odd perspective.
I am 0.6 and work approx 40 hours PW. I’m new to the school so this will reduce a bit once the schemes are familiar to me, granted. But the point is that part time equates to standard full time hours in industry/public sector ie 37.5 hrs. The 60 hour week required to teach full time is simply not possible or sustainable for a lot of professionals.

@newdeer said it better!

Hah.Teaching part time is manageable because you end up 'only' doing full time hours for half pay rather than 60 hour weeks for full pay.

Yep!

It just results in a shit pension though

It's immoral and wrong that so many (especially female) teachers feel unable to sustain full-time teaching posts because it is so hard to maintain even a semblance of family life, or have a healthy work life balance, and so end up financially vulnerable by loosing wages and pension contributions while still working the equivalent of full time 40+ hours a week.

My school doesn't have sufficient classes in my specialist subject to employ me full time. I don't want to work full time so win-win. I think it's pretty immoral to recruit specialist teachers and make them teach random other subjects! I am another person doing about 35-40 hours a week on a 0.6 (plus 12 hours of commuting per week).

Both husband and I were teachers. If I had not opted for part-time for most of my career our children would barely have been parented during term time! Retired now and yes - my pension is pitiful. (Would do the same again though.)

Well he can fuck right off.

Laughable idea of having "too much life." Tosser. Too much control over their lives for his liking is more like it.

After 40+ years of FT I'm heading for PT next year and looking forward to it, immoral gobshite that I am. :o

Teaching in Australia, I see that fractional work is the norm. Certainly it has effects on the institution that are weighed up every year, but one's reasons for wanting to go part time are never questioned. Another aspect is that bar family leave, if you go PT, you cannot assume that you can go back up to FT.

Does it mean it’s immoral for teachers to take a full time job, then want to work part time due to a change in circumstances or does he mean he thinks it’s immoral for ANYONE to do this?

Why is this specifically aimed at teachers? Is this because they have such a high drop out rate? Maybe the reasons for the high drop out rate should be investigated...

The article says he said that primary children get ‘confused’ at having two teachers in a week and that it’s not good for secondary pupils to have different maths teachers.

The thing is, it’s definitely not good for them to have no maths teacher, and that’s where we are right now. So he needs to shut the hell up.

I wonder whether Sir Andrew’s wife works.