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

mikey72

missphiphi wrote: »

WOW! THIS SOUND AWESOME!

I am a teacher and had 1.5 snow days last week. So, if I have to pay them back in the hols hmmm.... well I already spend 2 of the 6 weeks in school changing my classroom and cleaning things up...so should I be getting paid extra for these additional 8.5 days I spend in my classroom in my hols? LOADS more of the holiday is spent planning. It's not like I have 5 weeks annual holiday ever when I can just forget about work completely. I never stop thinking about it.

Some people have NO IDEA what happens with teachers during the school holidays. There is NOT A CHANCE I could just sit there on my !!! for the duration and not go in to school, plan my work, assess etc etc. Seriously, the list is endless. I work for the majority of the day EVERY Sunday, get into school 7:30am and leave at 6:00pm. Home for 6:30/7:00pm. I then open the laptop and begin work at home.

I don't think some people would be happy until...nah, some people will NEVER be happy!

I'm with Jomo.
You should quit.
I don't know any other teacher that has to work those hours.
You should make an effort to stop thinking about work, maybe try to get away during the summer would help.

*Ruby*

mikey72 wrote: »

I don't know any other teacher that has to work those hours.

I do. Unless you've seen it first hand, some people really have no idea about the amount of time and effort that goes into teaching.

Jomo

*Ruby* wrote: »

I do. Unless you've seen it first hand, some people really have no idea about the amount of time and effort that goes into teaching.

We all have quibbles and believe it or not, we all put time and effort into what we do! We all have a choice of whether or not to do it.

Pennylane

Someone commented that, as a teacher he spends 2 of his 6 weeks summer holiday in school.

I live overlooking a primary school and can hand on heart tell you that the only vehicles I see parked there during the summer hols are either gardeners, decorators or delivery men.

I also know a couple (both teachers) who hop in their car and disappear to their holiday home in France as soon as school closes and do not return until a couple of days before school opens for their training days. I know this for sure, because I feed their cats!:D

mikey72

*Ruby* wrote: »

I do. Unless you've seen it first hand, some people really have no idea about the amount of time and effort that goes into teaching.

I'm married to one.
Most of her friends are teachers.
I work for a lot of other teachers locally.
The average working hours for teachers are 1800 to 2000 hours.
If missphiphi is averaging a 60 to 70 hour week for 39 weeks of the year plus 2 more weeks in summer, that's a 2500 to 2800 hour year.
She needs a break.
So do you, you're both doing an extra quarter to half a years work.
I'm with pinkstellacat, it's not an easy job, but unrealistic figures don't help sway the rest of us.

mikey72

Pennylane wrote: »

Someone commented that, as a teacher he spends 2 of his 6 weeks summer holiday in school.

I live overlooking a primary school and can hand on heart tell you that the only vehicles I see parked there during the summer hols are either gardeners, decorators or delivery men.

I also know a couple (both teachers) who hop in their car and disappear to their holiday home in France as soon as school closes and do not return until a couple of days before school opens for their training days. I know this for sure, because I feed their cats!:D

I do know some that do that though.

FatAndy

mikey72 wrote: »

I'm married to one.
Most of her friends are teachers.
I work for a lot of other teachers locally.
The average working hours for teachers are 1800 to 2000 hours.
If missphiphi is averaging a 60 to 70 hour week for 39 weeks of the year plus 2 more weeks in summer, that's a 2500 to 2800 hour year.
She needs a break.
So do you, you're both doing an extra quarter to half a years work.
I'm with pinkstellacat, it's not an easy job, but unrealistic figures don't help sway the rest of us.

In my experience most workers do either a 37.5 or a 40 hour week and get four weeks holidays. So most people work 1,800 to 1,920 before overtime. Lots people will start early, finish late or work through lunch hours but not claim overtime.

Can we just therefore agree that teachers pretty much work the same number of hours as everyone else and leave it at that .

Pennylane

Something I have noticed a lot on this thread .... why do teachers keep harping on about "we do not provide free childcare" and "we are not childminders". To me that just sounds very petty and not the sort of comments you should hear from people who go into their profession because they like working with youngsters.

They are paid to work in a place where they are responsible for the education of children and everything that goes with that, for a set amount of hours each day.

It's a bit like a hairdresser saying "I am paid to cut hair not listen to problems" or a mechanic saying "I repair cars not do paperwork".

I get the impression they are trying to pass the blame back onto parents and use "childminding" as an excuse.

The school near me was closed for 4 days last week despite 90% of the kids living within walking distance and also the caretaker, dinner ladies and classroom assistants (many of whom are parents anyway). I believe most of the teachers live within 10 miles too, some much closer.

The head closed the school because several teachers rang in and said they would not be able to get there due to the weather conditions.

donnajunkie

FatAndy wrote: »

Fair enough, but I question why any boss would tell someone not to come inif it was possible for them to do so. I know that I'd find it difficult to work at home simply because there are too many distractions there. I've never tried it but if I think back to undertaking any 'work like' activities, e.g. completing job application forms, I've always found it very difficult to concentrate on the job in hand if I'm at home. On the other hand if I was 'isolated' in a quiet room, with no distractions at hand, I'd be far more effective. To be honest if I was a teacher with lots of marking to catch up on then I think I'd much prefer to be doing it an empty and quiet classroom as I'd get it finished much quicker.

if there is no work for them to do then it benefits the boss if they dont go in because it means they will save on gas and electric.

mikey72

Pennylane wrote: »

Something I have noticed a lot on this thread .... why do teachers keep harping on about "we do not provide free childcare" and "we are not childminders". To me that just sounds very petty and not the sort of comments you should hear from people who go into their profession because they like working with youngsters.

They are paid to work in a place where they are responsible for the education of children and everything that goes with that, for a set amount of hours each day.

It's a bit like a hairdresser saying "I am paid to cut hair not listen to problems" or a mechanic saying "I repair cars not do paperwork".

I get the impression they are trying to pass the blame back onto parents and use "childminding" as an excuse.

The school near me was closed for 4 days last week despite 90% of the kids living within walking distance and also the caretaker, dinner ladies and classroom assistants (many of whom are parents anyway). I believe most of the teachers live within 10 miles too, some much closer.

The head closed the school because several teachers rang in and said they would not be able to get there due to the weather conditions.

To be fair, we kept our kids home when the schools were open, and had a good time in the snow while eveyone one else struggled in.
Does mean the teachers have to play catch up with them now though.