Teachers - day off at the slightest sign of snow

lindsaygalaxy

As previously said, itsoften not teachers not turning up thats the problem. Its health and safety - temp in classrooms, risk of falls (to staff and children hard to teach well with a broken arm or leg), not being able to get school lunches (no kitchen on site), accidents in the car park (its like a comefy sketch sometimes and thats when the weather is good!). I would happily go to a local village hall to cover childcare as could take my own children. But the rules would never allow it - CRBS, different ratios of adults to children for different ages, heating, food etc. I think its best when schools decide to open later then it stops the rush and traffic on the morning which causes the accidents and then in turn more traffic!

Dave_C_2

There is something wrong (and amusing at the same time) with a health and safety regime like those mentioned above

Little Johnny can't go to school because of the risk of falling in the snow and ice. So he can spend all day out in the street playing in the same snow and ice!

The time that he is exposed to the same danger of falling is greater. And you could argue that on-hand supervision and a school nurse is not available in the street.

As far as falling on snow and ice is concerned, Johnny is safer at school!

Dave

LE3

well, the school I work in hasn't closed due to snow for 3 years (can't comment on it before that!) - if it did it would be due to Health & Safety caused by unexpected circumstances (eg burst pipes leading to no water thus no toilets available)

lazer

PinkLipgloss wrote: »

Teacher bashing is a constant topic in these forums.

I find that those responsible have NO IDEA exactly what our jobs involve (despite many taking their children to/from school every day).

I actually had a parent come to see me just at the end of the school day (at 3pm) asking if it would be possible to have a chat or he could arrange another day/time if I was about to rush off! I actually laughed out loud - I never left school until AT LEAST 7pm most evenings (and often did further work at home).

A lot of parents seem to be under the impression that we skip in at 0855 and leave at 3pm. If only it were that easy!

PS No doubt some posters will come on saying how, at their local school, the staff car park is empty at 3:10pm etc. That may well be the case but 95% of teachers i have worked with work late every night (be it in school or at home). Many prefer to work from home as there are no distractions from other staff/cleaners etc.

It is posts like yours that cause teacher bashing though - 95% of people doing any professional job do not leave work on time, most of them take work home too etc.

Teaching is not a special case - it a professional job and is paid as such (starting salary of £22k which increases rapidly, especially with additional responsibilities - TLR, special needs etc), and other people doing professional jobs manage to go to work when it snows!

For anyone interested in the teachers salaries check out this link

http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/salary/teaching-salary-scales

Other thing to Remember:
Teachers working days per year: 195 day
Normal Working days in other professions - 225 - 232 (28 to 35 days hols - not heard of many places with more than 35 and 28 is the minimum!)

Pension Scheme - although it has been downgraded it is still a significant benefit - I remember reading that for a private sector employee with defined contribution they would have to contribute over 30% of their pay to get a pension similar to teachers (who only contibute 7 - 8%)

Teaching is a well paid profession, but it is no more well paid or no less well paid than most other professions, there is ample opportunity for earnings with head teachers getting over £100k.

Teachers do not work harder than other professions.

I respect the work teachers do, but of course there is some teachers who do work 9 -4 or whatever, the same as there are people in every job who do the bare minimum.

A number of my friends and family are teachers, and none of them do any significant amount of work in the holidays other than for maybe the first week ("Filing") and the last week preparation for the new year!

PinkLipgloss

@Lazer

I really don't see the relationship between the parts of my post you highlighted and your conclusion that posts like mine cause teacher bashing!

I did not at any point claim, or even hint at, teachers working harder than other professions. Furthermore, teaching is indeed "a special case" because people do not assume that other professionals work short hours. However this presumption is often made about teachers simply because children attend 9-3.

A couple of years back I was tired of hearing people going on about this issue so I did some research of my own. The result of which was highly depressing. Given my ACTUAL working hours (i.e hours spent doing various paperwork, teaching, preparing resources, attending meetings, trainings etc) I was in fact earning significantly less than the minimum wage. Interesting given that actual teaching days are in fact around 195 per year!

Also (and I'll probably get flamed for this) I do believe there is a distinction to be made between primary and high school teachers. Friends of mine that are high school teachers actually laugh at the amount of work they see me doing and often tell me I should transfer to working in a high school (I do have relevant qualifications to be able to do this fairly easily, however I do not wish to teach teenagers).

System

Dave_C wrote: »

There is something wrong (and amusing at the same time) with a health and safety regime like those mentioned above

Little Johnny can't go to school because of the risk of falling in the snow and ice. So he can spend all day out in the street playing in the same snow and ice!

The time that he is exposed to the same danger of falling is greater. And you could argue that on-hand supervision and a school nurse is not available in the street.

As far as falling on snow and ice is concerned, Johnny is safer at school!

Dave

Yes he's safer at school. However if little johnny did fall at school, his parents would then sue that school.

zagubov

lazer wrote: »

It is posts like yours that cause teacher bashing though - 95% of people doing any professional job do not leave work on time, most of them take work home too etc.

Teaching is not a special case - it a professional job and is paid as such (starting salary of £22k which increases rapidly, especially with additional responsibilities - TLR, special needs etc), and other people doing professional jobs manage to go to work when it snows!

For anyone interested in the teachers salaries check out this link

http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/salary/teaching-salary-scales

Other thing to Remember:
Teachers working days per year: 195 day
Normal Working days in other professions - 225 - 232 (28 to 35 days hols - not heard of many places with more than 35 and 28 is the minimum!)

Pension Scheme - although it has been downgraded it is still a significant benefit - I remember reading that for a private sector employee with defined contribution they would have to contribute over 30% of their pay to get a pension similar to teachers (who only contibute 7 - 8%)

Teaching is a well paid profession, but it is no more well paid or no less well paid than most other professions, there is ample opportunity for earnings with head teachers getting over £100k.

Teachers do not work harder than other professions.

I respect the work teachers do, but of course there is some teachers who do work 9 -4 or whatever, the same as there are people in every job who do the bare minimum.

A number of my friends and family are teachers, and none of them do any significant amount of work in the holidays other than for maybe the first week ("Filing") and the last week preparation for the new year!

They did a government study called the McCrone Review on teachers' workload years ago in Scotland.

They concluded they were overworked and underpaid compared with other professionals and adjusted their workload and salaries to make them fairer. We're long overdue the same review in England.

pollypenny

Whenever my school was closed it was because the buses couldn't guarantee safe delivery of the pupils in our large semi-rural catchment area.

I usually found it very frustrating as I knew exam classes might fall behind and I'd have to schedule extra lessons to make up.

Pink lipgloss - when it comes to workloads, I think secondary English carries the heaviest. I loved the job, but it took over my life.

pollypenny

zagubov wrote: »

They did a government study called the McCrone Review on teachers' workload years ago in Scotland.

They concluded they were overworked and underpaid compared with other professionals and adjusted their workload and salaries to make them fairer. We're long overdue the same review in England.

And Wales!:D

zoominatorone

My heart bleeds for them, over worked and underpaid for 185 days a year. No late nights, no night shifts. Poor, poor things.