“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

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.

I wonder where the evidence for that is. Primary teachers have to have their PPA covered by other teachers (if they’re lucky, cover supervisors/TAs if not). My class seemed to manage ok that it was Mrs Purple mon to weds and Mrs Blue weds to Friday. They got the benefit of both of us teaching our specialist subjects.

So the inspirational music teacher who has kept autistic ds on the straight and narrow for the last few years should have retired completely rather than come back part time following treatment for cancer.

IDIOT!

And it is beneficial I think to have two teachers for core subjects such as maths and English. In fact I think all schools should try and do this regardless of whether they are part time etc.

My son had two part time teachers in year 1 and initially I was a bit concerned about how it would work and how he would cope with it.

I need not have worried, they were fabulous, worked very well together and had great communication so 9/10 each knew what had been happening

Surely two part time teachers who are happier with their hours and they have some work life balance is better than one teacher who resents having to do full time, feels frazzled, and desperately wants to spend some time with their child/at home

As long as the teachers work well together and the school ensures the hours agreed are appropriate to allow joint working to be successful then what is the problem.

I wonder how Sir Carter regards part-time surgeons, doctors, nurses?

Not at all since you asked.

Some of my best school teachers worked part time. They were probably the best because they weren't being worked to death like the full time teachers!

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

Precisely. The investigation will never happen.

In a way, the fact that this colossal knob end thinks it's OK to even make such an half-arsed opinion tells us everything we need to know about the degrading of teaching, the proletarianising of their work into itemised lesson plans that supposedly anyone can teach.

Hang on..... so why do we need teachers?

According to him we do, and full-time.

We know that the demographic of the people most likely to leave teaching is women aged 30-39.

Can anyone think why that might be? And a sensible part time offer might be a helpful retention tool?

It's not like there's anything magic about 40 hours a week, either (or 35, 37.5 or 60). It's a completely arbitrary number.

Well, for what it’s worth I left teaching after ten years because I was refused pt hours after maternity leave.

Perhaps he thinks that was a good outcome?

Primary children "confused" by two teachers? Why? Are they similarly confused by two parents?

Nutter. Thankfully his is becoming a rarer point of view.

I've recently gone back full-time after several years job-sharing. I don't think I'm as good a teacher as I was when I was part-time as I can't keep on top of everything. I'm tired and stressed which makes me grumpy in class. I'm doing an even worse job as a parent.

@fedup21 weirdly we are having a recruitment crisis in parts of teaching here (Dublin) although it’s more linked to pay structures and a major housing crisis here.

We team-teach in all of our classes at all times. Our kids certainly aren't confused about that. (Sometimes the parents get confused about who the class teacher is but then just have to get their head around the idea that their child has two.)
I officially teach 0.9 but do 36 hours per week. I very rarely work more than that. I am abroad, though. It's generally accepted by my school here that when I'm off the clock, I'm off the clock. Any additional work I am doing is very much appreciated but not expected.
I certainly felt like I was trying to do a full-time job in my 0.8 contract hours when I returned after maternity leave in the UK. I saw DS very little during term time and was still working in the holidays. Not ideal, either. I couldn't have done full time. Not if I wanted to see DS at all while he was growing up.
Here, it's quite common to take a year or two out for maternity leave. Benefits are generous and part time working parents are actually being supported by the government. I know that if I asked for a reduction in hours (if just increased them) from my school, they'd try anything to timetable me so that it's possible.

So is he actually a head teacher? I wonder what working for him is like.

Idiot! Makes you wonder why there are so many qualified teachers not wanting to teach!

My kids had a job share at primary and often 2 teachers for GCSE/A level. As far as I could see it worked brilliantly. They are now grown up and not damaged or confused.

I do a management role and teach in class. Last time I looked (today) my class were not confused.

If people in the profession are so rude, ignorant and stupid, we have no hope.

Everyone round here (Hampshire / Surrey borders) in education knows that Andrew Carter is a knob.

What a fucking idiot. Just proves my point that we need people at the top who have first-hand experience of being a classroom teacher (not an executive head teacher!). I'm speaking as a part-time teacher who is currently signed off with stress. I had the temerity to request 0.8 after mat leave. As a result I have been given a completely unworkable timetable, which is constantly pinned on me when I complain (school wanted me to do 0.6). I have a lot of life, sitting in hospital with a poorly child, and then be scolded for not setting appropriate cover. Fuck this shit, I'm out