School closed. You have to make the time up in holidays!

mikey72

Seasonal job though, so it's an equivalent 10 hour day for that days pay, and no pay at all for any of the hoildays.
Would you do your job if you had to take 157 days unpaid leave?
Could you afford to?
Fairer to say starting at £10.50 an hour average pay.
So it's good, but not outstanding.

donnajunkie

wiseman2 wrote: »

I appreciate all the exasperation However, 8-5 with no lunch break maybe normal, but how many continue when they get home. Some I am sure but not many.

Using planning from last year does happen, but is not possible for all subjects all the time. Lessons need to be replanned for different groups of children as they are all different and unfortunately the lessons we have to teach change almost yearly in some cases. There is always something new to plan, new forms to write, (often things then it has to be copied, typed etc to 3 other places).

Its not straight forward, although a day away from the children helps to catch up elsewhere.

Schools don't shut easily, it actually causes a lot of trouble, trying to get children to reach their targets etc. I am glad we only had one day where it was unsafe (and for most it was). It takes just one slip on the way in to school for us to be hauled over the coals.

I'm sorry if it has caused difficulty, to people, but the teachers don't make the decision, it's the head, based on a number of factors. We do try to get the kids in and safe.

yeah, i undertstand there are exceptions and there will be some new planning to do on occasions. i just think teachers making out that they teach all day and then spend all night, every night and all weekend marking and planning is bull and just a tactic to get sympathy and a pay rise.

curly_cabbage

I think schools should open as long as it's safe for the children. My son's school closed Thursday and no effort was made to clean any part of the path's or play ground on that day by the caretaker who lives on site so there was no intention of opening on Friday and on Sunday the care takers were clearing the snow so that on Monday when a great deal of the snow had begun to melt they opened for years 10 & 11 only. I think the staff should have to make up there hours or lobby the head to open the school to see how many staff and children get in. With the staff knowing that they will have to make the time up i think that many would make the effort to get in to work like the rest of us! the thing that isn't recongnised is that by closing a school has a ripple effect, as parent have to stay home to look after their children, so in turn they are away from their job which might mean an opertaion cancelled a delivery of food to your supermarket not made, etc and so on just because they close a school for a few inches of snow.

Strangly if i want to take my son's out of school for a day it's threats of fines and unauthorised absense. I wounder if they would except a fine to cover my wages and those of the other parents that their closure effected?

CC

donnajunkie

Juicyloo wrote: »

This is not a debate about the intricasies of teaching- just that teachers should not be paid for taking days off and should make time up- my daughter has an a-level psychology exam on Wednesday- has she been affected? has she been studying all over christmas-?do teaching 'proffessionals' care?- to use the word lightly, liking even more time off does it help her situation- NO- she is committed! No sympoathy whatsoever

i think if the decision is taken away from the teacher and the school chooses to close then they should still get paid. if they dont get to work because of the bad weather then they should lose a days pay just like people do in the real world.

mikey72

donnajunkie wrote: »

i think if the decision is taken away from the teacher and the school chooses to close then they should still get paid. if they dont get to work because of the bad weather then they should lose a days pay just like people do in the real world.

I think they should all be made to go in.
The good teachers already do the time anyway in the holidays, so one or two of theose days will be officially counted, net extra time will be zero.
The Grantly Budgens will be made to work the 195 contracted days, so if they don't usually go in in any of the holidays they'll have to this year.

Everybodies happy, (sort of)
good teachers, - won't be affected, there anyway
public's happy, - it's about time they were made to work in summer anyway, ask anyone, (ignoring the fact most of them do anyway, apart from the Grantly Budgens)
Grantly Budgen is unhappy, - no-one cares, and see the sentence above.

FatAndy

mikey72 wrote: »

Seasonal job though, so it's an equivalent 10 hour day for that days pay, and no pay at all for any of the hoildays.
Would you do your job if you had to take 157 days unpaid leave?
Could you afford to?
Fairer to say starting at £10.50 an hour average pay.
So it's good, but not outstanding.

Schools are open Monday to Friday so that's a total of 260 working days per year (52 weeks x 5 days). Teachers are contracted to work for 195 days so I make that 65 days of 'unpaid' leave.

Perhaps what they could do is what my brother did a few years back. He's in the RAF and for a while was working a four days on, four days off shift. Like many of his colleagues he signed up with an employment agency and often did a bit of casual work in local factories during his off days. It kept him occupied and gave him quite a bit of extra cash. So in answer to your question if I faced the prospect of thirteen weeks 'unpaid' leave I try to find some casual work to tide me over.

donnajunkie

mikey72 wrote: »

I think they should all be made to go in.
The good teachers already do the time anyway in the holidays, so one or two of theose days will be officially counted, net extra time will be zero.
The Grantly Budgens will be made to work the 195 contracted days, so if they don't usually go in in any of the holidays they'll have to this year.

Everybodies happy, (sort of)
good teachers, - won't be affected, there anyway
public's happy, - it's about time they were made to work in summer anyway, ask anyone, (ignoring the fact most of them do anyway, apart from the Grantly Budgens)
Grantly Budgen is unhappy, - no-one cares, and see the sentence above.

they should only be expected to go in when the school is closed if there is work to do that can only be done at the school. there will also be many teachers genuinely snowed in.

pinkstellacat

It is such a shame that this thread, which started with an interesting question, has turned into unashamed teacher-bashing. It is the very reason I love my job, and take pride in it, yet am often ashamed of admitting to others my profession. Teaching is the only profession that people feel they know everything about, despite never having worked within it; understandably this is because everyone has attended school, yet this is a very different experience.

Just like in any profession, there are people that are good at their jobs and people who aren't; therefore, lines such as 'my friend's are teachers and don't...' and 'tactics for sympathy...' etc are ridiculous. I would never claim to 'know' what it is like to work in a profession I have never worked in!

I chose to be a teacher. As a teacher, I recieve good 'perks': the holidays are good and the pay is good. However, my sales friend recieves bonuses, a car and free meals out... my accountant friend receives excellent pay, bonuses and is wined and dined for free... my friends who run their own businesses chose their hours, take holidays when they want and don't have to answer to a boss.

It doesn't make their job 'easy' or make them 'lazy'. Please stop the teacher-bashing as I don't understand it. The teachers posting on here haven't been trying to gain 'sympathy' or make out their jobs are harder than the rest of you, they've been trying to defend themselves! The question has to be: why?!

To return to the original question, our secondary school is running extra revision classes at weekends and after school for those students that missed teaching due to the school closure and have exams coming up. A effective school, filled with effective staff will find a solution to missed time, after all, it's the education of the students that should be the real issue here.

FatAndy

donnajunkie wrote: »

they should only be expected to go in when the school is closed if there is work to do that can only be done at the school.

Why .

mikey72

pinkstellacat wrote: »

It is such a shame that this thread, which started with an interesting question, has turned into unashamed teacher-bashing. It is the very reason I love my job, and take pride in it, yet am often ashamed of admitting to others my profession. Teaching is the only profession that people feel they know everything about, despite never having worked within it; understandably this is because everyone has attended school, yet this is a very different experience.

Just like in any profession, there are people that are good at their jobs and people who aren't; therefore, lines such as 'my friend's are teachers and don't...' and 'tactics for sympathy...' etc are ridiculous. I would never claim to 'know' what it is like to work in a profession I have never worked in!

I chose to be a teacher. As a teacher, I recieve good 'perks': the holidays are good and the pay is good. However, my sales friend recieves bonuses, a car and free meals out... my accountant friend receives excellent pay, bonuses and is wined and dined for free... my friends who run their own businesses chose their hours, take holidays when they want and don't have to answer to a boss.

It doesn't make their job 'easy' or make them 'lazy'. Please stop the teacher-bashing as I don't understand it. The teachers posting on here haven't been trying to gain 'sympathy' or make out their jobs are harder than the rest of you, they've been trying to defend themselves! The question has to be: why?!

To return to the original question, our secondary school is running extra revision classes at weekends and after school for those students that missed teaching due to the school closure and have exams coming up. A effective school, filled with effective staff will find a solution to missed time, after all, it's the education of the students that should be the real issue here.

That's my point, good teachers will make up the hours without trying, so insisting that they go in is a pointless exercise by the management.
Only the Grantly Budgens who will not put in the hours are made to put extra effort in.
To be fair though, it's teaching bashing because the thread is about teachers.
Start any thread on here about any job from shop assistant to brain surgeon, it'll degenerate very quickly.
And to answer the other question, there's always work that can be done at school.