Teachers on Strike

System

simple_but_sweet wrote: »

just want to add my 2 cents into this discussion.

My future BIL has recently trained to become a teacher, moved a long distance from home to gain his 1 year teaching experience. Whilst working he literally only made enough money to pay his rent, rates, council taxes etc and the basic daily food. After his years experience he moved back home and has since been unable to gain a full time position, instead having to rely on subsitute work (which unfortunatly isn't as stable as he would have liked).
Now when he does get a full-time position and is then able to receive all of these "substantial" benefits that has been claimed on this thread, then I say he is more than entitled to them.
If I were a teacher (and judging by my grammar in this post, be thankful that im not :rotfl:) I would expect more than the wage they receive to even begin to think of the work involved. As mentioned previously it's not a simple case of turning up at 9am and leaving at 4pm, there's so much more work happening in the background (not to mention the pressures added by school boards, parents, other teachers and finally pupils!)

Rather a rambling post there, but basically teachers deserve every penny they get and more!

I work in IT and get paid 9-5pm. I usually work alot more than these hours. I don't see why Teaching is being treated like the only career where you are expected to do unpaid work outside the core working day.

The difference for me is that I don't get 16 weeks off work a year to recover!

simple_but_sweet

goater78 wrote: »

I work in IT and get paid 9-5pm. I usually work alot more than these hours. I don't see why Teaching is being treated like the only career where you are expected to do unpaid work outside the core working day.

The difference for me is that I don't get 16 weeks off work a year to recover!

As do I, my 9-5.30 hours are really only guidelines, and like you I don't get paid for anything extra worked. However, my job doesn't entail trying to shape our teenagers and children into decent human beings. Also, when i'm socialising in my own time I'm not being heavily judged based on my profession. (eg if it's been a long hard week in the office and I want to go out at the weekend and get completely r*t-a*sed I can go do so and if someone sees me okay fair enough and que a smart remark the next time I see them under work conditions. Now, take for example a teacher going out and doing the same thing and maybe a parent or even a pupil seeing them who then expresses concern to the school - surely they'll be judged in a completely different manner and may even face some sort of disciplinary action).

I'll be the first person to admit i'm wrong if perhaps the above isn't true, but that's simply my view.

Andy_L

goater78 wrote: »

I work in IT and get paid 9-5pm. I usually work alot more than these hours. I don't see why Teaching is being treated like the only career where you are expected to do unpaid work outside the core working day.

The difference for me is that I don't get 16 weeks off work a year to recover!

how do IT salaries compare to teaching?

System

Andy_L wrote: »

how do IT salaries compare to teaching?

My starting salary back in 2001 was £15.5K a year which was less than my friends who entered teaching.

Its gone up now but that is the difference between private and public sector industries not between IT and Teaching.

I have teaching friends who work at private schools e.g.Brentwood in Essex and they earn significantly more than me.

greathat

goater78 you best get retraining then. You can have an easier job, work less hours, have loads of holiday, more pay. If you have a degree it will take you a year to do a PGCE, in fact you don't even have to have any training. Gove has made it so you don't have to have any qualifications to teach. I really don't understand what's holding you back. Teaching jobs are listed on the tes website - google it. Sorted. You can thank me later for this huge improvement in your life.

System

greathat wrote: »

goater78 you best get retraining then. You can have an easier job, work less hours, have loads of holiday, more pay. If you have a degree it will take you a year to do a PGCE, in fact you don't even have to have any training. Gove has made it so you don't have to have any qualifications to teach. I really don't understand what's holding you back. Teaching jobs are listed on the tes website - google it. Sorted. You can thank me later for this huge improvement in your life.

I would do but only teaching in a top private school would pay more than I currently earn. They are obviously a lot more picky than state schools so it's harder to get a job.

If I restarted on a state school teachers salary I would be losing around £25k a year which I can't afford to do.

One of my plans is to try and retire at 50 and move into teaching for the easy life but I suspect my age would put schools off.

alipops1986

Hello All,

I've been reading parts of this thread with interest.

Firstly, I am a teacher. I've been qualified and teaching for the last 5 years and am one of the youngest teachers in my school. When I chose this career, I already anticipated the long hours and general distaste it creates between those who don't teach and those who do.

However, during the mere 5 years I've been a teacher, things have changed dramatically and I now feel like more of a social worker than a teacher.

I work in Special Education with aggressive, unpredictable and very troubled young people. Their life thus far, has in most circumstances been shockingly traumatic. They have violent outbursts and at times endless verbal abuse, directed at the staff as we are the constant in their lives. I spend a lot of my time working through their issues in order to be able to deliver them an education. At times, I go home with bruises, scratches and bite marks. I often spend late into the night thinking of how else I can engage them in education and emailing the various agencies in their lives to update them on the latest goings on.

My job isn't 9am-3pm. On paper we do have good holidays, but this week alone I've spent 4 days completing various paperwork for this and that school related as well as planning lessons. But, mentally and physically my job in particular is exhausting.

Do I strike just to be give others a problem? No. I went on strike because there's no way I can do my job at 75 years of age plus. There's a lot of aspects of my job which are just paper chasing and don't help the students. Also, there are suggestions that Gove will take away the maximum number of hours a teacher can teach - meaning, if the school see fit, a teacher could be asked to work every min of every day - how would this help the well being a teacher?

Alipops x

whitesatin

alipops1986 wrote: »

Hello All,

I've been reading parts of this thread with interest.

Firstly, I am a teacher. I've been qualified and teaching for the last 5 years and am one of the youngest teachers in my school. When I chose this career, I already anticipated the long hours and general distaste it creates between those who don't teach and those who do.

However, during the mere 5 years I've been a teacher, things have changed dramatically and I now feel like more of a social worker than a teacher.

I work in Special Education with aggressive, unpredictable and very troubled young people. Their life thus far, has in most circumstances been shockingly traumatic. They have violent outbursts and at times endless verbal abuse, directed at the staff as we are the constant in their lives. I spend a lot of my time working through their issues in order to be able to deliver them an education. At times, I go home with bruises, scratches and bite marks. I often spend late into the night thinking of how else I can engage them in education and emailing the various agencies in their lives to update them on the latest goings on.

My job isn't 9am-3pm. On paper we do have good holidays, but this week alone I've spent 4 days completing various paperwork for this and that school related as well as planning lessons. But, mentally and physically my job in particular is exhausting.

Do I strike just to be give others a problem? No. I went on strike because there's no way I can do my job at 75 years of age plus. There's a lot of aspects of my job which are just paper chasing and don't help the students. Also, there are suggestions that Gove will take away the maximum number of hours a teacher can teach - meaning, if the school see fit, a teacher could be asked to work every min of every day - how would this help the well being a teacher?

Alipops x

I know exactly what you mean. Most of my teaching career was in special schools. The lower the ability level, the more you have to break things down into achievable steps resulting in mountains of paperwork to show how you are doing this and also to show progress, which can be very minimal as many are working at pre National Curriculum levels.

Alongside this, it is very draining with many pupils having mobility problems, medical needs etc. and you need to be very fit and, dare I say it, quite young. I found that I picked up just about every virus that was going, there was always someone in the team who was unwell in one way or another. We were scratched, bitten, hit etc. etc. but the pupils were not always able to control their behaviour so we just accepted it as part of the job. Of course we had training in behaviour management but keeping everyone safe was not always easy.

There was no way I could have carried on beyond the age I did (56) and I was happy to take my pension and let the younger teachers have my job. It is only fair on the pupils who need their teachers to be stimulating and innovative, not worn out.

Saying all that, I loved my job and found it rewarding in so very many ways. However, I would not want to be doing it today with goalposts changing all the time.

Carry on doing a good job and ignore those who have no idea of what's involved. Let those who criticise train and have a go themselves. I have lost count of the number of people who thought they could do a better job but found they couldn't complete the course or gave up not long after qualifying.

whitesatin

goater78 wrote: »

I would do but only teaching in a top private school would pay more than I currently earn. They are obviously a lot more picky than state schools so it's harder to get a job.

If I restarted on a state school teachers salary I would be losing around £25k a year which I can't afford to do.

One of my plans is to try and retire at 50 and move into teaching for the easy life but I suspect my age would put schools off.

Well, do come back and let us know how it goes, if you do decide to go into teaching when you retire.;) Presumably, it will be a few years from now but maybe your current job is easy so you will still have plenty of the energy you will need.

lindsaygalaxy

whitesatin wrote: »

Well, do come back and let us know how it goes, if you do decide to go into teaching when you retire.;) Presumably, it will be a few years from now but maybe your current job is easy so you will still have plenty of the energy you will need.

Lol. brilliant. Goater78, don't forget, the easy job you are predicting will not only be a 25k pay drop for you, as you will have to reach that pay point. You will not be able to get there unless you teach outstanding lessons every time with all children making exceptional progress every lesson and all be above the national average. Tough luck if you have any children with special needs/EAL/ not attending due to parents not being bothered - it doesn't matter it will still be your fault. It is also 12 weeks not 16, all bank holidays are in the school breaks, you will then have to do training days which will take it down to 10 weeks. Then there is working every evening and weekend just to keep up, and the performance related pay. You will also need to be a social worker, health visitor and make-shift parent. You will be critised by someone every day of your career and told constantly you don't deserve to be paid. Then there will be the contant changes by goverment of what they want and what you have to do.

I hope you look forward to enjoying it. Also, please do go and practise teaching kids every subject in primary while being aged 70 - im sure it will be a hoot. Saying that you can now be fired within 6 weeks if you are not up to scratch, so better keep fit not. Which reminds me, you should stop having breaks and a lunch hour so you get ready for the changes. Also be at work by 7/7.30 so it is not such a shock to the system.