Any teachers out there ? - what actually happens on "Inset days " ?

chiefgoobster

Had a look around the site and this seemed the best section to put this question under.

Can anyone tell me please what actually happens on school inset days ?
These are starting to annoy me as it now seems there are 2 (where i am) before the next term starts, thus making the kids holiday even longer. What happens on a inset day (as above) that can't be done on any other appropriate day in the last 6 weeks ?

It then transpires there are further inset days late on October and early next year...etc etc
Daft question but are school kids only "allowed" to be at school for a certain amount of days and the inset days make up the difference ?

I appreciate teachers like all of us working folk are entitled to their time off etc but are they "getting things ready " for the new term on these inset days ?

sorry for the rant but it's really getting on my pip.

thanks peeps

Torry_Quine

They are training days for the teachers. They certainly aren't extra days off.

For instance here the teachers went back yesterday to get things organised and the children went back today.

chiefgoobster

I kind of guessed they are training days ....but why can't they be done like a week ago , thus getting the kids back to school that extra day early ?

I'm not having a go at teachers , it's just the system.

[Deleted User]

we worked hard on inset days. Started with a full staff meeting with lectures etc. Quick cup of coffee then probably more lectures. pm usually full department meetings often taking a couple of hours at least. Very little time for personal prep in our (comp) school

laurel7172

Training, usually, and when that's finished, handing over, sorting out cupboards, moving furniture...

The children are definitely at school for the statutory number of days each year. Inset days are just days when the children are on holiday and ALL the staff have to be there, as opposed to the rest of the holidays, when people come in on days to suit them.

iloveshoes21

You are correct in that there are a certain number of days the kids have to be in school. There are also a certain number of teaching days that I have do. I'm pretty sure that there are a certain number of training days that we have to have aswell.

We have 2 when we go back this time and they are there for teachers to have training. This has to be done because the government changes its mind all the blooming time about what it wants taught and how it wants it teaching. I will also be in meetings with members of my department and preparing myself for the new year. There is data to organise, class lists to be scrutinised, seating plans to be written, SEN support to be sorted, lessons to plan, data to be analysed from the GCSE results and tidying my classroom after the community have been in over the holiday and moved everything.

So if we don't use our Inset days for this when do you propose we do it? I have already been in twice this holiday for meetings and I have spent way more time than I would like re writing schemes of work to match the new exam guidelines. This is done during my time. I agree that we do get more holiday than the average but that is the perk to the job. The only perk I would like to add. I would happily give up a month of my holidays for a months extra pay. Because although I have all these holidays I cant blooming afford to do anything in them.

If we didnt use inset days for these jobs then I would spend the first few days of teaching not knowing which of the new year 7s needs more support or even how to give it. I would not be aware of what our schools new behaviour policy was and I wouldn't be there to give support to the new member of staff in my department.

But I fully understand that you don't want to spend any more time with your kid. The kid that you decided to have.

chiefgoobster

Thanks to all who replied so far. I now have a better understanding of what goes on. I am not alone as other parents have commented that why can't inset days happen the week prior to term starting.It seems the major school holidays are long enough - too long in my opinion (but that's another matter) - without having further inset day problems where parents have to re-organise their working shifts/days around yet again...........to accomodate teacher training et al.

iloveshoes21

If the inset days happened the week before school started then your child would break up two days earlier. They would still have the exact same number of days off so it wouldn't make a difference to you.

The days should not come as a shock to you. The calender should be available for you to see months even maybe a year in advance. My school has the start dates for Sep 2014 already available for parents on the website.

When you have children you have to accept that you will need to rearrange child care etc and that this could come at a cost. Teachers with children also need to organise child care for these days.

We are there to teach your children and to do this we need to be trained. I promise you it isn't fun for us either.

kingfisherblue

Children are in school for 190 days a year, and teachers for 195 days a year. The additional five days are for training. I have two sons at different schools. One tags inset days onto the holidays. The other has randon days in the middle of term. I prefer to have the days tagged onto the holidays, as it is easier to plan things. The 'middle of the week' inset days confuse my disabled child, who cannot understand why he can't go into school - but if they were added to the holidays, he would find this easier to accept.

Also, with ongoing training, teachers can keep up to date with the ever increasing demands on their time, regarding paperwork, curriculum needs, IT training, SEN training, etc.

BristolBob

chiefgoobster wrote: »

to accomodate teacher training et al.

It is not a case of you having to rearrange your shifts to accomModate teacher training.
School is not a childminding service, organised for the convenience of your schedule. The children are not the property of the school, to be loaned to parents in the holidays. They are your snot-gobblers.

whitesatin

These training days were introduced in 1988 as part of a series of "reforms" by Kenneth Baker. At that time, teachers got a reasonable payrise but undertook to do 5 extra days a year. Up until then a school year was 190 days for children and teachers. As far as I know, the children still do the same number of days as they always did, it is just that the teachers do the extra days so it seems like the children are doing less, if you understand what I mean.

As a retired teacher, I have mixed views about these training days, some were better (more useful) than others. I think they are monitored these days.

Looks like they are here to stay anyway, parents just have to organise their lives around them. Unless they increase the number of days children attend school in a year.