Did you agree with the Strike today?

twoblacklines said:
The hours are wrong. All full time teachers I know end up doing about 3-5 hours a day on top of their 8-5pm hours, lesson planning, marking, etc.
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I'm presuming the teachers you know are relatively new to the job?
I'd question their ability at being able to organise and plan their work efficiently if they were spending until 10 pm EVERY night after a few years in the same role. We all know that many people like to exaggerate how hard they actually work. Saying that, I also know teachers and they openly admit to marking work during lessons after setting pupils a task.
 
postbox said:
I'm presuming the teachers you know are relatively new to the job?
I'd question their ability at being able to organise and plan their work efficiently if they were spending until 10 pm EVERY night after a few years in the same role. We all know that many people like to exaggerate how hard they actually work. Saying that, I also know teachers and they openly admit to marking work during lessons after setting pupils a task.
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My wife starts work at 08:00 and finishes at 17:00 two days a week (SLT meetings) and 16:30 another two days and 16:00 on a Friday and hardly has any extra to do from home - sometimes 1-2 hrs a week if she is planning something unusual. So that's 43hrs a week as she generally works though lunch (teachers "directed" time - i.e. actual teaching and a small amount of planning - is 32.5hrs a week. That doesn't include marking.

Those doing a few hours each night are those that generally get in as late as possible and leave as soon as possible - not that there is an issue with that - some people prefer to work from home or have child care responsibilities. My wife has the luxury of staying at work as I freelance from home and I can sort out the kid pickups from school.

Re holidays - she says she wouldn't mind her working year being increased from 39 weeks to 44 weeks a year (in line with other degree level professions), as long as her pay was increased by the same 12.8% ;-)
 
It is mostly SEN stuff in my experience. Most of them are always trying to get into the SEN role as well and because most schools lack the funding they do it on top of work.
 
My sister is a secondary school teacher and she will tell you she is "switched on teacher mode" from 7am till 10pm each day and some weekends.

Yes she has to do a lot of planning and is relatively new <5 years still.

It will burn a lot of people out though i am sure.
 
amigafan2003 said:
My wife starts work at 08:00 and finishes at 17:00 two days a week (SLT meetings) and 16:30 another two days and 16:00 on a Friday and hardly has any extra to do from home - sometimes 1-2 hrs a week if she is planning something unusual. So that's 43hrs a week as she generally works though lunch (teachers "directed" time - i.e. actual teaching and a small amount of planning - is 32.5hrs a week. That doesn't include marking.

Those doing a few hours each night are those that generally get in as late as possible and leave as soon as possible - not that there is an issue with that - some people prefer to work from home or have child care responsibilities. My wife has the luxury of staying at work as I freelance from home and I can sort out the kid pickups from school.
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Good for your wife :). There are some subjects and positions which don't require long hours, but many do. My wife is Director of English at an 11-18 yrs boys school. She starts work soon after 7am and doesn't usually finish until 5pm, regularly with no stop for lunch. Almost every day she will then do an additional 2-3 hours work in the evening, and also at the weekend. This isn't because she isn't organised or good at her job, she is, it is because of the amount of work she has to do to make sure her department, and the school, keep up with Gove's ever changing policies and procedures.
Michael Gove is ruining the teaching profession, and doing a very good job of it.
 
Efour said:
My sister is a secondary school teacher and she will tell you she is "switched on teacher mode" from 7am till 10pm each day and some weekends.

Yes she has to do a lot of planning and is relatively new <5 years still.

It will burn a lot of people out though i am sure.
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Is that not the same for any job role with responsibility though?
 
What is the relationship between those teachers that went on strike and those who broke the picket line going to be like?
I can imagine there being a them and us mentality, will the strike action cause tensions between them? If so do you think this will have a detrimental effect on the students?
Im all for paying people right and treating them right during and after their employment but surely in the teachers case strike action would be the worst possible way of going about getting what they deserve, admitedly im stumped for ideas concerning an alternative method.
 
Efour said:
My sister is a secondary school teacher and she will tell you she is "switched on teacher mode" from 7am till 10pm each day and some weekends.

Yes she has to do a lot of planning and is relatively new <5 years still.

It will burn a lot of people out though i am sure.
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Give me her number so i can ask her? ;)
 
molinari said:
Good for your wife :). There are some subjects and positions which don't require long hours, but many do. My wife is Director of English at an 11-18 yrs boys school. She starts work soon after 7am and doesn't usually finish until 5pm, regularly with no stop for lunch. Almost every day she will then do an additional 2-3 hours work in the evening, and also at the weekend. This isn't because she isn't organised or good at her job, she is, it is because of the amount of work she has to do to make sure her department, and the school, keep up with Gove's ever changing policies and procedures.
Michael Gove is ruining the teaching profession, and doing a very good job of it.
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My wife is deputy head. And the key to keeping up with Gooves policies is to file them in round receptacle ;-)
 
nick.lidgett said:
will the strike action cause tensions between them?
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Of course. Those that didn't go on strike will have the support of local reps withdrawn from them, they wont be asked for opinions on changes and any disciplinary issues they'll be on their own etc.

If so do you think this will have a detrimental effect on the students?
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Unlikely - they'll maintain professional facade in respect of the students.
 
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Just thought I'd bump this thread seeing as the strikes are taking place in London, Cumbria, the South East, North East and South West today.

Personally I'm with the teachers – anything that disrupts Michael Gove's 'Education Experiment' is a good thing in my book.
 
Michael Gove is a moron, and for various reasons, standardisation being one of them, and fund cuts leading to unmanageable classes, being another, of course I support the strikes.

If the tory government had their way they'd teach us to "know our place" on the bottom to middle rungs, while Eton ******s rule over us.

I support any kind of workers action in the god forsaken country of hypocrisy and corruption, teachers have a difficult job trying to teach and provide a future to young people, when at every turn the government is telling them they can't.

What the **** does Michael Gove even know about it? Nothing, he's another clueless moron of a politician who only got the job because he went to a fancy school, not because he has experience or even a relevant academic qualification.
 
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Michael Gove is the man who thinks it's a good idea to let just about anyone be a teacher, even if they haven't got any teaching qualifications. He's responsible for the Al-Madinah free school in Derby, which forces non-Muslim female teachers to wear head scarves, segregates pupils by gender and was found by Ofsted to be inadequate in almost every regard.
 
He's a walking contradiction.

On the one hand he wants to raise the profile of the teaching profession, making it an aspirational occupation that attracts the best our society has to offer.

Then on the other hand he makes it possible for people with no experience to become teachers, completely ignores input from professionals throughout the entire education system and plans to alter pay and conditions to make the renumeration less attractive.

How is he expecting to attract better people into the profession when he's single handedly dismantling the entire system from top to bottom?
 
To put my 2pence in.

I don't agree with the proposed actions from the government. The teaching system works, and it shouldn't be altered.

On the other hand, I get massively wound up by teachers claiming sympathy for the hours of extra work they do on top of their teaching work. If you are doing 3-5 hours on top each day, then you are terrible at planning your workload, I have no sympathy for you.

You get ample holiday allowance to more than make up for the extra few hours a week (not a day), that is required for lesson planning and marking. Not to mention you get breaks in your teaching day for lesson planning allowance as well.

Stop the moaning, and I'll support you.
 
rossk26 said:
To put my 2pence in.

I don't agree with the proposed actions from the government. The teaching system works, and it shouldn't be altered.

On the other hand, I get massively wound up by teachers claiming sympathy for the hours of extra work they do on top of their teaching work. If you are doing 3-5 hours on top each day, then you are terrible at planning your workload, I have no sympathy for you.

You get ample holiday allowance to more than make up for the extra few hours a week (not a day), that is required for lesson planning and marking. Not to mention you get breaks in your teaching day for lesson planning allowance as well.

Stop the moaning, and I'll support you.
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Except they actually don't. My other half is a teacher and 4 days a week she has two hour meetings after her school day finishes. She gets 2 hours a week PPA time that helps on planning. Half terms and most holidays (except summer) are normally spent writing reports or preparing for parents evenings.

While I do give her grief by telling her she's a part timer, she knows I'm joking and if her school is anything to go by, they put in a ridiculous amount of time considering what they are paid.
 
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