East Lancashire teachers in strike action before Easter (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Teachers are just pathetic individuals who couldn't give a toss about there jobs.

Don't talk ****. If you knew a teacher well you'd think differently.

moan moan moan these teachers need to come in to the real world for years they strike moan and complain.try a job getting up at 3 am not finishing until 6 pm out in the cold and no pension and £16,000 a year then come back and moan p. s. and no pay rise for 6 years but im getting on with it.

They should stick together and so should every one who is sick of the pain inflicted on the back of the exaggerated financial deficit. We are not responsible for it. The people who caused this have walked away laughing and completely unscathed. It was reported earlier this week a prominent Tory politician said £70 per week was enough for a person to live on, He then reportedly paid £39 for a breakfast. How out of touch can they be? It is time to stand together and say enough is enough.

but, coatesy, . . . . . I am willing to bet that your 3 am job in the cold did not require four years of training costing you several thousands of pounds with zero income for those years !! ??? Maybe these teachers, unlike you, are the ones who listened at school !

Wish i got as many holidays as has teachers get. 6 weeks summer, 2 weeks christmas, 2 weeks easter and not forgetting every bank holiday and oh yes the odd trip away with pupils. Easy life if you ask me.

dinger123 wrote:
Wish i got as many holidays as has teachers get. 6 weeks summer, 2 weeks christmas, 2 weeks easter and not forgetting every bank holiday and oh yes the odd trip away with pupils. Easy life if you ask me.

You should have added their extra days off through regular strikes. I do have teachers in my family but I add my voice to those who don't agree with industrial strike action. One noticeable thing about the teachers at their conferences is how slovenly they dress and I'd also use the word "slovenly" for the way some of them teach their charges.

watch them kick off in the summer holidays when parents take a few days either side of six weeks holidays to save money on flights ect. They say its disrupting childrens learning schedule, so when they strike this isnt disrupting the childs education and not forgetting parents taking time off school and losing there income too.

wrinkles wrote:

dinger123 wrote:
Wish i got as many holidays as has teachers get. 6 weeks summer, 2 weeks christmas, 2 weeks easter and not forgetting every bank holiday and oh yes the odd trip away with pupils. Easy life if you ask me.

You should have added their extra days off through regular strikes. I do have teachers in my family but I add my voice to those who don't agree with industrial strike action. One noticeable thing about the teachers at their conferences is how slovenly they dress and I'd also use the word "slovenly" for the way some of them teach their charges.

And the 2mm thick snow, and having to close the school for health and saftey reasons.

Teachers have to work 'directed time' - which is 1265 hours...I am a teacher and I have worked out that I actually work the equivalent of over 1200 hours above this amount...but I do not get a single penny more... I have to miss 2 dinner times per week due to having to run extracurricular clubs... I get into work at 7:45am and do not leave until 5:30pm (Mon-Fri).. I work a minimum of 3 hours every week day, after having had my tea, marking in excess of 120 pieces of work...This does not include the 3 parent evenings i have to hold, lasting til almost 9pm...and then it's home and back to the books!
I have one full day off per week (Saturday), and then start work again on Sunday, sorting out lessons, plans, assessments, completing my 'subject coordinator roles', and making/locating/adap
ting resources so that every lesson is exciting and fully differentiated. In addition to all of this, I have to work through 3 break duties each week.
I am there for the children - not only as an educator, but also as a counsellor, nurse, carer and friend. I have lost count of the number of times I have found children outside on the playground in awful weather, from as early as 8:00am, with very little or no protective clothing...even though school does not start until 8:50am. Parents have even asked me to speak to their children regarding their behaviour at home - once I was asked by a parent to tell a child off because 'she always throws a tantrum when I ask her to go go bed and refuses to do as I say'.
In addition to this, I have covered for breakfast clubs, as well as holding my own 'after school' club, which should finish at 4:30pm... I just wish that the parents would read the letters as they are often late and some do not pick their children up until 4:50pm. I know it is only 20 minutes late, but it means that I am late to start marking the children's books...which obviously impacts on the rest of the evening. Oh yes, the holidays - 6 weeks off during the summer???? No!!! I have a full 2 weeks off with my family, then I am working for the majority of the time - in and out of the classroom... prepping for my new class...changing classrooms, working out the different groupings, planning lessons and resources,rearrangin
g furniture, preparing displays (after painting the boards!!!) and numerous other tasks. During the holidays, I can often be found in school, or working from home!
I have my own children and often feel like I am putting them second to my job! I know it is good pay, but when you work it out as an hourly rate (taking into account all of the additional time worked, at time and a half) you will find that the hourly rate is not as high as what you imagined. Would I change my job? No! I thoroughly enjoy what I do. It is hard work, tiring and stressful but it is the best job I could ever want...I just wish that people would just stop and think about what they are saying for a moment before ranting on about our so called time off on holidays, our 9am-3:30pm day, 5 days a week and 36 weeks a year job, as well as the supposedly enormous pension... My pension, when I retire at 68, is projected to be a lot less than what the papers report. The average teacher pension is about £10,000 a year... since I am paying over £2500 a year now for my pension, this is hardly a 'gold-plated' pension. I know I will have a lot of backlash about this but I am sick of being told that I have an easy job!!!
Maybe everyone should be made to work double their hours, for no extra pay to make it fairer for us teachers!

Sister Wendy wrote:
Teachers have to work 'directed time' - which is 1265 hours...I am a teacher and I have worked out that I actually work the equivalent of over 1200 hours above this amount...but I do not get a single penny more... I have to miss 2 dinner times per week due to having to run extracurricular clubs... I get into work at 7:45am and do not leave until 5:30pm (Mon-Fri).. I work a minimum of 3 hours every week day, after having had my tea, marking in excess of 120 pieces of work...This does not include the 3 parent evenings i have to hold, lasting til almost 9pm...and then it's home and back to the books!
I have one full day off per week (Saturday), and then start work again on Sunday, sorting out lessons, plans, assessments, completing my 'subject coordinator roles', and making/locating/adap

ting resources so that every lesson is exciting and fully differentiated. In addition to all of this, I have to work through 3 break duties each week.
I am there for the children - not only as an educator, but also as a counsellor, nurse, carer and friend. I have lost count of the number of times I have found children outside on the playground in awful weather, from as early as 8:00am, with very little or no protective clothing...even though school does not start until 8:50am. Parents have even asked me to speak to their children regarding their behaviour at home - once I was asked by a parent to tell a child off because 'she always throws a tantrum when I ask her to go go bed and refuses to do as I say'.
In addition to this, I have covered for breakfast clubs, as well as holding my own 'after school' club, which should finish at 4:30pm... I just wish that the parents would read the letters as they are often late and some do not pick their children up until 4:50pm. I know it is only 20 minutes late, but it means that I am late to start marking the children's books...which obviously impacts on the rest of the evening. Oh yes, the holidays - 6 weeks off during the summer???? No!!! I have a full 2 weeks off with my family, then I am working for the majority of the time - in and out of the classroom... prepping for my new class...changing classrooms, working out the different groupings, planning lessons and resources,rearrangin

g furniture, preparing displays (after painting the boards!!!) and numerous other tasks. During the holidays, I can often be found in school, or working from home!
I have my own children and often feel like I am putting them second to my job! I know it is good pay, but when you work it out as an hourly rate (taking into account all of the additional time worked, at time and a half) you will find that the hourly rate is not as high as what you imagined. Would I change my job? No! I thoroughly enjoy what I do. It is hard work, tiring and stressful but it is the best job I could ever want...I just wish that people would just stop and think about what they are saying for a moment before ranting on about our so called time off on holidays, our 9am-3:30pm day, 5 days a week and 36 weeks a year job, as well as the supposedly enormous pension... My pension, when I retire at 68, is projected to be a lot less than what the papers report. The average teacher pension is about £10,000 a year... since I am paying over £2500 a year now for my pension, this is hardly a 'gold-plated' pension. I know I will have a lot of backlash about this but I am sick of being told that I have an easy job!!!
Maybe everyone should be made to work double their hours, for no extra pay to make it fairer for us teachers!

Im self employed and can not afford to contribute to a pension scheme, im not saying all teachers dont put the hours in but come on you do get more hours then any other job sector i can think off! Thers plenty of other jobs who have to work extra hours unpaid ie armed forces ect who are on a lot less then yourselfs and after school clubs must be by choice and not compulsory.
My daughters attends a catholic school at the moment and tells me how much time they spend on religious education which really annoys me "waste of time" which should be cut back then more time in school hours can be spent on planning work for your next day .

Sister Wendy - you're absolutely right. The vast majority of work gets done outside of school hours. However, you're never going to win the argument - and the people who are apparently all-knowing about our profession couldn't hack it for a day, let alone a year. It's funny how other people are allowed to complain about their working conditions, but heaven forbid a teacher should.

Those who complain about us standing up for our working conditions should consider this: public sector workers are fighting together to keep conditions high for ALL workers. The government has us in a race to the bottom. It shouldn't be about bringing our conditions down to match the private sector, it should be a fight to bring those up to ours. It affects more than ourselves, it also affects the kids we teach. But hey, listen to the detractors - we couldn't possibly care about anyone other than ourselves, our easy lives and our gold-plated pensions.

Check back . . .at Sister W and dinger's posts . . . . .who has no spelling / grammar mistakes and who has made several blunders regarding their own Mother Tongue ? Again, work out which one listened when they went to school ! . . . . . . . " yourselfs " !!!!!!!!! CLASSIC !

burner wrote:
but, coatesy, . . . . . I am willing to bet that your 3 am job in the cold did not require four years of training costing you several thousands of pounds with zero income for those years !! ??? Maybe these teachers, unlike you, are the ones who listened at school !

The majority of teachers currently in service will have had the most of their tuition fee's paid for via the grants etc were available at the time.

As for debts, nowadays you'll find everyone who attends uni in the same boat, new teachers are no different apart from the fact that when they get a job, they earn above average salaries to repay that debt.

Zero income...they were students, so no, you don't earn an income while going to uni...most go & have an absolute blast & if an income is required, well they are able bodied enough to get a part time job...like the rest of the real world. Its called graft!

burner wrote:
Check back . . .at Sister W and dinger's posts . . . . .who has no spelling / grammar mistakes and who has made several blunders regarding their own Mother Tongue ? Again, work out which one listened when they went to school ! . . . . . . . " yourselfs " !!!!!!!!! CLASSIC !

Sorry Einstein!

Cripes, coates - no pension and £16,000 a year! Is your pension £16,000 or not?

dinger123 wrote:

burner wrote:
Check back . . .at Sister W and dinger's posts . . . . .who has no spelling / grammar mistakes and who has made several blunders regarding their own Mother Tongue ? Again, work out which one listened when they went to school ! . . . . . . . " yourselfs " !!!!!!!!! CLASSIC !

Sorry Einstein!

Didnt know it was a spelling test, thought it was debate regarding teachers striking plonker.

As an ex-teacher, I whole-heartedly agree with Sister Wendy. She did forget to mention the physical and verbal abuse from pupils and parents; trying to teach whilst there is an extremely badly behaved child in your class, who you have been told to keep in the room with the rest of their peers; having to pay for resources yourself as the school budget ran out, just so your class don't miss out on exciting learning tasks; having the curriculum constantly tinkered with and being ignored when we say what should be covered; hours of pointless paperwork, that makes no difference to the progress of the children, just to satisfy people in the LEA who sit behind a desk most of their day and have no clue about how best to engage and teach children; having to deal with people who have no idea how difficult, tiring and exhausting the job is. I spent 4 years gaining a good honours degree and found myself in a job where, having broken my salary down into hours I actually worked, I was earning only slightly more than minimum wage. I am now out of teaching and looking for another career, fully aware of the huge pay decrease I can expect, but on the other hand, looking forward to working sensible hours and having a life back again. having nearly suffered a breakdown due to the stress of the job, I am also looking forward to regaining full health for the first time in years. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't touch teaching with a barge pole.

dinger123 wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

burner wrote:
Check back . . .at Sister W and dinger's posts . . . . .who has no spelling / grammar mistakes and who has made several blunders regarding their own Mother Tongue ? Again, work out which one listened when they went to school ! . . . . . . . " yourselfs " !!!!!!!!! CLASSIC !

Sorry Einstein!

Didnt know it was a spelling test, thought it was debate regarding teachers striking plonker.

Oh and one more Burner have a good look at your grammer, dont think thats perfect is it?

dinger123 wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

burner wrote:
Check back . . .at Sister W and dinger's posts . . . . .who has no spelling / grammar mistakes and who has made several blunders regarding their own Mother Tongue ? Again, work out which one listened when they went to school ! . . . . . . . " yourselfs " !!!!!!!!! CLASSIC !

Sorry Einstein!

Didnt know it was a spelling test, thought it was debate regarding teachers striking plonker.

Oh and one more Burner have a good look at your grammer, dont think thats perfect is it?

Think you mean 'grammar' dinger123!!!

charmed-one wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

burner wrote:
Check back . . .at Sister W and dinger's posts . . . . .who has no spelling / grammar mistakes and who has made several blunders regarding their own Mother Tongue ? Again, work out which one listened when they went to school ! . . . . . . . " yourselfs " !!!!!!!!! CLASSIC !

Sorry Einstein!

Didnt know it was a spelling test, thought it was debate regarding teachers striking plonker.

Oh and one more Burner have a good look at your grammer, dont think thats perfect is it?

Think you mean 'grammar' dinger123!!!

Ha Ha yes that as well. Hey i know i havent got the best grammar just putting my point of view over thats all, didnt think there where so many proof readers on here.

How many exercise books could Sister Wendy have checked in the time she instead filled with the preparation and presentation of her remarks here? Those of us at the back were fidgeting or asleep before the end of her long first paragraph.

Her name attracted much teasing at school, and still does.

dinger123 wrote:
Wish i got as many holidays as has teachers get. 6 weeks summer, 2 weeks christmas, 2 weeks easter and not forgetting every bank holiday and oh yes the odd trip away with pupils. Easy life if you ask me.

Why aren't you a teacher then?

viewfromthehill wrote:

dinger123 wrote:
Wish i got as many holidays as has teachers get. 6 weeks summer, 2 weeks christmas, 2 weeks easter and not forgetting every bank holiday and oh yes the odd trip away with pupils. Easy life if you ask me.

Why aren't you a teacher then?

Dont like kids ha

Over It wrote:
Sister Wendy - you're absolutely right. The vast majority of work gets done outside of school hours. However, you're never going to win the argument - and the people who are apparently all-knowing about our profession couldn't hack it for a day, let alone a year. It's funny how other people are allowed to complain about their working conditions, but heaven forbid a teacher should.

Those who complain about us standing up for our working conditions should consider this: public sector workers are fighting together to keep conditions high for ALL workers. The government has us in a race to the bottom. It shouldn't be about bringing our conditions down to match the private sector, it should be a fight to bring those up to ours. It affects more than ourselves, it also affects the kids we teach. But hey, listen to the detractors - we couldn't possibly care about anyone other than ourselves, our easy lives and our gold-plated pensions.

Forgive me for pointing out that it's been teachers who for a long time have been in a race to the bottom where the education of our children are concerned and you've been quite content to take our tax money for a job not very well done in most cases. Our children and grandchildren are your pupils not kids which is a derogatory term .... noun: first recorded as slang 1599, established in informal usage by 1840s. It applied to skillful young thieves and pugilists since at least 1812. Kid stuff "something easy" is from 1923.
.

Wendy commits several errors.

'2' and '3' rather than 'two' and 'three'

American use of the colon when writing time - British use the full stop

lower case i for I

excessive use of I

coordinator rather than co-ordinator
repeated vowel justification for hyphenation

More, anyone?

dinger123 wrote:

Sister Wendy wrote:
Teachers have to work 'directed time' - which is 1265 hours...I am a teacher and I have worked out that I actually work the equivalent of over 1200 hours above this amount...but I do not get a single penny more... I have to miss 2 dinner times per week due to having to run extracurricular clubs... I get into work at 7:45am and do not leave until 5:30pm (Mon-Fri).. I work a minimum of 3 hours every week day, after having had my tea, marking in excess of 120 pieces of work...This does not include the 3 parent evenings i have to hold, lasting til almost 9pm...and then it's home and back to the books!
I have one full day off per week (Saturday), and then start work again on Sunday, sorting out lessons, plans, assessments, completing my 'subject coordinator roles', and making/locating/adap


ting resources so that every lesson is exciting and fully differentiated. In addition to all of this, I have to work through 3 break duties each week.
I am there for the children - not only as an educator, but also as a counsellor, nurse, carer and friend. I have lost count of the number of times I have found children outside on the playground in awful weather, from as early as 8:00am, with very little or no protective clothing...even though school does not start until 8:50am. Parents have even asked me to speak to their children regarding their behaviour at home - once I was asked by a parent to tell a child off because 'she always throws a tantrum when I ask her to go go bed and refuses to do as I say'.
In addition to this, I have covered for breakfast clubs, as well as holding my own 'after school' club, which should finish at 4:30pm... I just wish that the parents would read the letters as they are often late and some do not pick their children up until 4:50pm. I know it is only 20 minutes late, but it means that I am late to start marking the children's books...which obviously impacts on the rest of the evening. Oh yes, the holidays - 6 weeks off during the summer???? No!!! I have a full 2 weeks off with my family, then I am working for the majority of the time - in and out of the classroom... prepping for my new class...changing classrooms, working out the different groupings, planning lessons and resources,rearrangin


g furniture, preparing displays (after painting the boards!!!) and numerous other tasks. During the holidays, I can often be found in school, or working from home!
I have my own children and often feel like I am putting them second to my job! I know it is good pay, but when you work it out as an hourly rate (taking into account all of the additional time worked, at time and a half) you will find that the hourly rate is not as high as what you imagined. Would I change my job? No! I thoroughly enjoy what I do. It is hard work, tiring and stressful but it is the best job I could ever want...I just wish that people would just stop and think about what they are saying for a moment before ranting on about our so called time off on holidays, our 9am-3:30pm day, 5 days a week and 36 weeks a year job, as well as the supposedly enormous pension... My pension, when I retire at 68, is projected to be a lot less than what the papers report. The average teacher pension is about £10,000 a year... since I am paying over £2500 a year now for my pension, this is hardly a 'gold-plated' pension. I know I will have a lot of backlash about this but I am sick of being told that I have an easy job!!!
Maybe everyone should be made to work double their hours, for no extra pay to make it fairer for us teachers!

Im self employed and can not afford to contribute to a pension scheme, im not saying all teachers dont put the hours in but come on you do get more hours then any other job sector i can think off! Thers plenty of other jobs who have to work extra hours unpaid ie armed forces ect who are on a lot less then yourselfs and after school clubs must be by choice and not compulsory.
My daughters attends a catholic school at the moment and tells me how much time they spend on religious education which really annoys me "waste of time" which should be cut back then more time in school hours can be spent on planning work for your next day .

Sister Wendy you are correct. People have no idea how much out of school work teachers do! I would have said the same re long holidays etc until my daughter became a teacher..
Dinger123 please do not make comments about something you know nothing about! Having worked in the NHS I thought that was hard but at least I could leave my work at the hospital door! Unfortunately teachers cannot!

dinger123 wrote:

Sister Wendy wrote:
Teachers have to work 'directed time' - which is 1265 hours...I am a teacher and I have worked out that I actually work the equivalent of over 1200 hours above this amount...but I do not get a single penny more... I have to miss 2 dinner times per week due to having to run extracurricular clubs... I get into work at 7:45am and do not leave until 5:30pm (Mon-Fri).. I work a minimum of 3 hours every week day, after having had my tea, marking in excess of 120 pieces of work...This does not include the 3 parent evenings i have to hold, lasting til almost 9pm...and then it's home and back to the books!
I have one full day off per week (Saturday), and then start work again on Sunday, sorting out lessons, plans, assessments, completing my 'subject coordinator roles', and making/locating/adap


ting resources so that every lesson is exciting and fully differentiated. In addition to all of this, I have to work through 3 break duties each week.
I am there for the children - not only as an educator, but also as a counsellor, nurse, carer and friend. I have lost count of the number of times I have found children outside on the playground in awful weather, from as early as 8:00am, with very little or no protective clothing...even though school does not start until 8:50am. Parents have even asked me to speak to their children regarding their behaviour at home - once I was asked by a parent to tell a child off because 'she always throws a tantrum when I ask her to go go bed and refuses to do as I say'.
In addition to this, I have covered for breakfast clubs, as well as holding my own 'after school' club, which should finish at 4:30pm... I just wish that the parents would read the letters as they are often late and some do not pick their children up until 4:50pm. I know it is only 20 minutes late, but it means that I am late to start marking the children's books...which obviously impacts on the rest of the evening. Oh yes, the holidays - 6 weeks off during the summer???? No!!! I have a full 2 weeks off with my family, then I am working for the majority of the time - in and out of the classroom... prepping for my new class...changing classrooms, working out the different groupings, planning lessons and resources,rearrangin


g furniture, preparing displays (after painting the boards!!!) and numerous other tasks. During the holidays, I can often be found in school, or working from home!
I have my own children and often feel like I am putting them second to my job! I know it is good pay, but when you work it out as an hourly rate (taking into account all of the additional time worked, at time and a half) you will find that the hourly rate is not as high as what you imagined. Would I change my job? No! I thoroughly enjoy what I do. It is hard work, tiring and stressful but it is the best job I could ever want...I just wish that people would just stop and think about what they are saying for a moment before ranting on about our so called time off on holidays, our 9am-3:30pm day, 5 days a week and 36 weeks a year job, as well as the supposedly enormous pension... My pension, when I retire at 68, is projected to be a lot less than what the papers report. The average teacher pension is about £10,000 a year... since I am paying over £2500 a year now for my pension, this is hardly a 'gold-plated' pension. I know I will have a lot of backlash about this but I am sick of being told that I have an easy job!!!
Maybe everyone should be made to work double their hours, for no extra pay to make it fairer for us teachers!

Im self employed and can not afford to contribute to a pension scheme, im not saying all teachers dont put the hours in but come on you do get more hours then any other job sector i can think off! Thers plenty of other jobs who have to work extra hours unpaid ie armed forces ect who are on a lot less then yourselfs and after school clubs must be by choice and not compulsory.
My daughters attends a catholic school at the moment and tells me how much time they spend on religious education which really annoys me "waste of time" which should be cut back then more time in school hours can be spent on planning work for your next day .

dinger123

I used to work in a Catholic school - more religious education is the whole point of sending your child to such a school. The diocese pays for the school a;long with the govt, so they have a right to expect more religion. If you're not happy with that, you shouldn't send them to a church school.
As for your comment, "more time in school hours can be spent planning work for your next day" - gone are the days when the teacher could mark work/plan at their desk whilst the class were working. If you're not direct teaching, you are meant to be working with a group. You're lucky to get a minute to breathe during a lesson now! That's why teachers have to spend so many hours at home planning and preparing.

Sister Wendy wrote:
Teachers have to work 'directed time' - which is 1265 hours...I am a teacher and I have worked out that I actually work the equivalent of over 1200 hours above this amount...but I do not get a single penny more... I have to miss 2 dinner times per week due to having to run extracurricular clubs... I get into work at 7:45am and do not leave until 5:30pm (Mon-Fri).. I work a minimum of 3 hours every week day, after having had my tea, marking in excess of 120 pieces of work...This does not include the 3 parent evenings i have to hold, lasting til almost 9pm...and then it's home and back to the books!
I have one full day off per week (Saturday), and then start work again on Sunday, sorting out lessons, plans, assessments, completing my 'subject coordinator roles', and making/locating/adap

ting resources so that every lesson is exciting and fully differentiated. In addition to all of this, I have to work through 3 break duties each week.
I am there for the children - not only as an educator, but also as a counsellor, nurse, carer and friend. I have lost count of the number of times I have found children outside on the playground in awful weather, from as early as 8:00am, with very little or no protective clothing...even though school does not start until 8:50am. Parents have even asked me to speak to their children regarding their behaviour at home - once I was asked by a parent to tell a child off because 'she always throws a tantrum when I ask her to go go bed and refuses to do as I say'.
In addition to this, I have covered for breakfast clubs, as well as holding my own 'after school' club, which should finish at 4:30pm... I just wish that the parents would read the letters as they are often late and some do not pick their children up until 4:50pm. I know it is only 20 minutes late, but it means that I am late to start marking the children's books...which obviously impacts on the rest of the evening. Oh yes, the holidays - 6 weeks off during the summer???? No!!! I have a full 2 weeks off with my family, then I am working for the majority of the time - in and out of the classroom... prepping for my new class...changing classrooms, working out the different groupings, planning lessons and resources,rearrangin

g furniture, preparing displays (after painting the boards!!!) and numerous other tasks. During the holidays, I can often be found in school, or working from home!
I have my own children and often feel like I am putting them second to my job! I know it is good pay, but when you work it out as an hourly rate (taking into account all of the additional time worked, at time and a half) you will find that the hourly rate is not as high as what you imagined. Would I change my job? No! I thoroughly enjoy what I do. It is hard work, tiring and stressful but it is the best job I could ever want...I just wish that people would just stop and think about what they are saying for a moment before ranting on about our so called time off on holidays, our 9am-3:30pm day, 5 days a week and 36 weeks a year job, as well as the supposedly enormous pension... My pension, when I retire at 68, is projected to be a lot less than what the papers report. The average teacher pension is about £10,000 a year... since I am paying over £2500 a year now for my pension, this is hardly a 'gold-plated' pension. I know I will have a lot of backlash about this but I am sick of being told that I have an easy job!!!
Maybe everyone should be made to work double their hours, for no extra pay to make it fairer for us teachers!

how many teaschers were killed last year doing your job.mine was the highest in the uk.for £16-18,000 a year bad hours etc but then again we all choose what we do if you or i dont like it then find another job

Actually Wrinkles, it's some parents who have been in a race to the bottom where bringing up children is concerned. Teachers can't be expected to perform miracles with children who have no example to follow at home, parents are always quick to blame the teachers. Maybe they should take a look at themselves. Do you have children?

Great post, Sister Wendy.

Teachers are the future of our nation. They deserve good pay and conditions, and also our gratitude.

Wrinkles - can you provide some evidence that suggests that 'in most cases' the job isn't being done well? Yes, there are bad teachers. Just as there are bad plumbers, bad doctors, bad mechanics and bad customer service staff. There are also clear cut procedures for dealing with those staff. Your opinion, despite how you express it, is not actual fact.

Over It wrote:
Wrinkles - can you provide some evidence that suggests that 'in most cases' the job isn't being done well? Yes, there are bad teachers. Just as there are bad plumbers, bad doctors, bad mechanics and bad customer service staff. There are also clear cut procedures for dealing with those staff. Your opinion, despite how you express it, is not actual fact.

Can someone divine for the rest of us what is 'actual fact'? Wrinkles' opinion is a 'matter of fact', where in principle a claim can be examined and thereby established to be true or false.

What appears to support Wrinkles' opinion is the record of pupils' achievements in public examinations. In most cases, following Wrinkles' criterion, schools do not hold a hundred percent record in this respect. It is possible to show that by this measure schools - and by association teachers - have improved, but this does nothing to improve the qualifications of pupils who left school during a period of lower achievement.

charmed-one wrote:

dinger123 wrote:

Sister Wendy wrote:
Teachers have to work 'directed time' - which is 1265 hours...I am a teacher and I have worked out that I actually work the equivalent of over 1200 hours above this amount...but I do not get a single penny more... I have to miss 2 dinner times per week due to having to run extracurricular clubs... I get into work at 7:45am and do not leave until 5:30pm (Mon-Fri).. I work a minimum of 3 hours every week day, after having had my tea, marking in excess of 120 pieces of work...This does not include the 3 parent evenings i have to hold, lasting til almost 9pm...and then it's home and back to the books!
I have one full day off per week (Saturday), and then start work again on Sunday, sorting out lessons, plans, assessments, completing my 'subject coordinator roles', and making/locating/adap



ting resources so that every lesson is exciting and fully differentiated. In addition to all of this, I have to work through 3 break duties each week.
I am there for the children - not only as an educator, but also as a counsellor, nurse, carer and friend. I have lost count of the number of times I have found children outside on the playground in awful weather, from as early as 8:00am, with very little or no protective clothing...even though school does not start until 8:50am. Parents have even asked me to speak to their children regarding their behaviour at home - once I was asked by a parent to tell a child off because 'she always throws a tantrum when I ask her to go go bed and refuses to do as I say'.
In addition to this, I have covered for breakfast clubs, as well as holding my own 'after school' club, which should finish at 4:30pm... I just wish that the parents would read the letters as they are often late and some do not pick their children up until 4:50pm. I know it is only 20 minutes late, but it means that I am late to start marking the children's books...which obviously impacts on the rest of the evening. Oh yes, the holidays - 6 weeks off during the summer???? No!!! I have a full 2 weeks off with my family, then I am working for the majority of the time - in and out of the classroom... prepping for my new class...changing classrooms, working out the different groupings, planning lessons and resources,rearrangin



g furniture, preparing displays (after painting the boards!!!) and numerous other tasks. During the holidays, I can often be found in school, or working from home!
I have my own children and often feel like I am putting them second to my job! I know it is good pay, but when you work it out as an hourly rate (taking into account all of the additional time worked, at time and a half) you will find that the hourly rate is not as high as what you imagined. Would I change my job? No! I thoroughly enjoy what I do. It is hard work, tiring and stressful but it is the best job I could ever want...I just wish that people would just stop and think about what they are saying for a moment before ranting on about our so called time off on holidays, our 9am-3:30pm day, 5 days a week and 36 weeks a year job, as well as the supposedly enormous pension... My pension, when I retire at 68, is projected to be a lot less than what the papers report. The average teacher pension is about £10,000 a year... since I am paying over £2500 a year now for my pension, this is hardly a 'gold-plated' pension. I know I will have a lot of backlash about this but I am sick of being told that I have an easy job!!!
Maybe everyone should be made to work double their hours, for no extra pay to make it fairer for us teachers!

Im self employed and can not afford to contribute to a pension scheme, im not saying all teachers dont put the hours in but come on you do get more hours then any other job sector i can think off! Thers plenty of other jobs who have to work extra hours unpaid ie armed forces ect who are on a lot less then yourselfs and after school clubs must be by choice and not compulsory.
My daughters attends a catholic school at the moment and tells me how much time they spend on religious education which really annoys me "waste of time" which should be cut back then more time in school hours can be spent on planning work for your next day .

dinger123

I used to work in a Catholic school - more religious education is the whole point of sending your child to such a school. The diocese pays for the school a;long with the govt, so they have a right to expect more religion. If you're not happy with that, you shouldn't send them to a church school.
As for your comment, "more time in school hours can be spent planning work for your next day" - gone are the days when the teacher could mark work/plan at their desk whilst the class were working. If you're not direct teaching, you are meant to be working with a group. You're lucky to get a minute to breathe during a lesson now! That's why teachers have to spend so many hours at home planning and preparing.

More religious education in Catholic schools? Welcome, if of the sort driven by reason and free inquiry. Don't pupils and their parents who choose Catholic schools expect better education in all subjects?