Teachers' Strike: Is your kids' school on strike today?

plumpmouse

FBaby wrote: »

It's all very confusing because what is written on this thread is so different to what my teacher friends tell me. My best friend has been teaching Spanish for almost 20 years and she does say it is so much easier now because she can get on with things so much quicker. I.

From my personal experience I think the longer and more experienced you are the better able you are to manage things. My husband is 16 years in and finds his workload manageable. He does long hours and works at home but not too extreme. I would say he does about 50-55 hours a week - of which 45 are in school, he doesn't take a lunch break.

I think the profession has changed so much for him over those 16 years though. Things are different, a large % of his work now is done to tick boxes rather than for any advantage for the children. This is the bit that really annoys him - it is like the actually teaching and developing of children is now second to form filling and box ticking.

Why does he carry on? He loves the kids, he's good at what he does and for our family we need his wage and the financial security it brings. I do know that despite his love for the role he would do something else if he could but at this moment in time it just isn't possible. And he is realistic enough to know that no job is perfect.

lostinrates

plumpmouse wrote: »

From my personal experience I think the longer and more experienced you are the better able you are to manage things. My husband is 16 years in and finds his workload manageable. He does long hours and works at home but not too extreme. I would say he does about 50-55 hours a week - of which 45 are in school, he doesn't take a lunch break.

I think the profession has changed so much for him over those 16 years though. Things are different, a large % of his work now is done to tick boxes rather than for any advantage for the children. This is the bit that really annoys him - it is like the actually teaching and developing of children is now second to form filling and box ticking.

Why does he carry on? He loves the kids, he's good at what he does and for our family we need his wage and the financial security it brings. I do know that despite his love for the role he would do something else if he could but at this moment in time it just isn't possible. And he is realistic enough to know that no job is perfect.

I think the thing is when many read these 50 hour /60 hour weeks it is genuinely hard for them to feel overly sympathetic because others in some other jobs are also doing it with less flexibility about things like marking at home.

They, like teachers have made their choice of career, and often like teachers, cannot afford the time out to retrain in something else that might suit better.

I think there is an awful lot of 'the grass is greener' in an awful lot of jobs. I wouldn't teach if you paid me. No siree. I'd be terrible at it and I'd hate to do that to myself let alone the poor kids.

pollypenny

Fbaby, you are partly correct. Preparation does get quicker, especially as I would have saved worksheets, helpsheets etc on my computer and can amend to suit particular classes or individuals.

It's just that the government and schools' hierarchy keep moving the goalposts, inventing new tasks.

In English literature, the set texts change regularly, which is good, as it makes for a fresh approach. I didn't ever have Daisiegg's experience of the same text every year.

Buzzybee90

My friends and I (in different years) used to laugh that we had had the exact same lesson the year or two before.

plumpmouse

lostinrates wrote: »

I think the thing is when many read these 50 hour /60 hour weeks it is genuinely hard for them to feel overly sympathetic because others in some other jobs are also doing it with less flexibility about things like marking at home.

They, like teachers have made their choice of career, and often like teachers, cannot afford the time out to retrain in something else that might suit better.

I think there is an awful lot of 'the grass is greener' in an awful lot of jobs. I wouldn't teach if you paid me. No siree. I'd be terrible at it and I'd hate to do that to myself let alone the poor kids.

I do agree and as I said earlier the things that infuriates my husband more than the pay/pensions (although he would like more but who wouldn't) is the changes that are being made that affect the children and the education.

His job should be focused on his children and encouraging them to learn. Gove and the government are slowly killing this.

My husband never actually complains on the hours he works at all and certainly has never said that he is worse off than anyone. Life isn't and shouldn't be a competition for who works the hardest/longest. People should be able to stand up for better work conditions (not just for them in the case of teachers but also for the children they work with) without being shot down for doing it.


The things that has really shocked me as I said earlier is the intense dislike of teachers (not in this thread but on Facebook.) I found it really shocking!

I can remember fireman striking and the NHS (whilst I worked for it) being in uproar over agenda for change. Those workers whilst fighting for better conditions didn't get half the abuse that teachers have had this week. I find that really sad.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Idiophreak wrote: »

* amount of time on basic jobs like cutting, laminating, sticking. Weirdly, both TAs and admin staff at the school seem to be much better protected than teachers, there's quite a "that's not my job" attitude when you try and get them to do these things. From an outsider's perspective, however, it's insane that quite a well paid member of staff spends so much of their time doing such unskilled tasks...but there's no budget to employ others to do it.


Marking, also, isn't really a great use of teachers' time when you think about it. I can't believe that you couldn't pay someone half as much and just give them the guidelines on how to mark each piece.

These are just a few things that immediately spring to mind...but there are definitely things teachers get involved in that they needn't...but, whichever way you look at it, it would mean employing a whole bunch more people...which means a lot more money needs to be spent...and that's contrary to Mr Gove's awesome plans.

I might be able to shed some light on these.

The admin person has most likely been in just as early as the teacher. They have spent all day doing their own job, which involves liaising with 20-80 odd people with conflicting priorities, handling calls from screeching parents, trying to balance the needs of their department and their job with the needs of other departments, who have no understanding of how other departments work, not had a break because that's when the kids come in, not had a lunch break because that's when the kids come in, supervised students when there are no teaching staff available, taken registers, broken up fights, administered first aid to kids and staff, been chased by the bursar to design and produce complicated financial reports at two hours' notice which aren't part of their job description or pay grade, been a safe person for upset kids to go to, mentally carried details of about 50 different tasks all interdependent upon one another, done all the resource production and co ordination for their own department, fixed the printer, had an argument with the caretaker who refuses to believe that the door frame just fell to bits, when she saw it happen herself, so is being publically called a liar whilst the innocent kids are being accused of smashing up poorly constructed items, refereed interstaff disputes, had the staff individually offload about their jobs, been moaned at by the bursar for ordering the equipment and stationery that's needed, been screamed at by three parents for sending too many messages, three for not sending enough, seven claiming not to have ever got the messages in the first place and the bursar for spending so much money on sending messages in the cheapest possible way, been asked by a member of the management to 'help out' on a functional skills course she has a teaching qualification for, but told it would have to be for [strike] free [/strike] continuing professional development (which in admin, you don't have) - knowing that she isn't going to be paid for the 86 hours' overtime she's already done by the end of February, that she's going to be in most of the holidays plus several long evenings and that, for all that, she's going to receive the equivalent of minimum wage because she's paid term time only.

And then somebody comes in the office and wonders why the answer is 'no, it's not my job to do YOUR photocopying'?


I'm not complaining about teachers. The entire system is set up to wring every last scrap of physical, emotional and mental energy out of staff.



My school didn't close at all.

poet123

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

The entire system is set up to wring every last scrap of physical, emotional and mental energy out of staff.
.

This, in spades.

daisiegg

pollypenny wrote: »

Fbaby, you are partly correct. Preparation does get quicker, especially as I would have saved worksheets, helpsheets etc on my computer and can amend to suit particular classes or individuals.

It's just that the government and schools' hierarchy keep moving the goalposts, inventing new tasks.

In English literature, the set texts change regularly, which is good, as it makes for a fresh approach. I didn't ever have Daisiegg's experience of the same text every year.

Did you honestly not do OMAM at GCSE most years? Must have been one of the only schools in the country that didn't if so! Among other things, of course, but I am given to understand by older colleagues that it had been pretty constant for decades! Also, budgets come into it. I didn't really want to do An Inspector Calls with my top set Y11 this year as I felt it was not challenging enough for them....but we had no money to buy a set of a new play.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

Idiophreak wrote: »

Sorry, pj, I missed your response to my post.

It's an interesting topic for me, as someone that's always worked in the private sector. Frankly, there's so much stuff teachers do that they just shouldn't be involved with - and that plainly doesn't make sense for them to get involved with -it's just there's nobody else to do it.

My wife, as ICT co-ordinator is responsible for organising which broadband supplier the school uses. She's also, as phase leader, responsible for ordering all of the pencils, books, tables, consumables etc etc. All of these tasks should clearly be centralised at that council to ease the load on teachers and ensure economies of scale in purchasing. Sadly, as the government continues its relentless march towards a nation of academies, such common sense just gets further away.

As an outstanding teacher, my wife is deployed to other schools to help improve standards and push for best practices. There used to be whole teams of consultants that did this - but they were sacked when this government came in.

My wife spends an *incredible* amount of time on basic jobs like cutting, laminating, sticking. Weirdly, both TAs and admin staff at the school seem to be much better protected than teachers, there's quite a "that's not my job" attitude when you try and get them to do these things. From an outsider's perspective, however, it's insane that quite a well paid member of staff spends so much of their time doing such unskilled tasks...but there's no budget to employ others to do it.

As deputy head, my wife's spent a lot of her time recently managing the rebuild of her school - from coordinating classroom movements (as one class is built and another is knocked down), to discussing build issues and budgets to selecting suppliers for fixtures and fittings...none of which is stuff an external project manager shouldn't be able to deal with.

Marking, also, isn't really a great use of teachers' time when you think about it. I can't believe that you couldn't pay someone half as much and just give them the guidelines on how to mark each piece.

These are just a few things that immediately spring to mind...but there are definitely things teachers get involved in that they needn't...but, whichever way you look at it, it would mean employing a whole bunch more people...which means a lot more money needs to be spent...and that's contrary to Mr Gove's awesome plans.

Admin staff are usually paid minimum wage/term time only. For that, they also get to work long hours unpaid, deal with kids, screeching parents, the bursar, senior management, have to balance conflicting demands on their time, plan, design and implement strategies to improve efficiency, maintain stock levels at the cheapest possible cost, design timetables that require knowledge of every kid's individual timetable, the staff visiting, the opinions if each member of staff relating to their lessons, manage repeated alterations and their knock on effects at zero notice, deal with sick and injured kids and staff, take registers, maintain order until delayed staff or cover is arranged and arrives, design and implement complicated information gathering from different non compatible systems, use initiative and design skills to produce documents, displays, promotional material, co ordinate events, manage different teams for separate tasks, fundraise, handle payments, perform accounting and auditing tasks significantly outside their grade and pay band, handle upset kids, listen to various members of staff venting about how hard their jobs/other members of staff are, liaise with IT, fault find, tolerate caretakers who call them liars when they report something just fell apart, as it had to have been deliberately smashed by kids when it was nothing of the sort, learn how to do all this without training beyond 'this is your login' on their first day, and then get asked, once it's found that they have qualifications suitable for a teaching role, to 'help out' for [strike] free [/strike] 'part of your ongoing professional development' (which doesn't exist for admin staff).


After all that, if a random member of teaching staff expects thirty five minutes' standing in front of a photocopier and laminator can be done, because they're 'unskilled workers' - well, I think you can understand why 'that's not my job' can be an answer heard occasionally.


I think it's great that teachers can afford to strike. Good on them for protecting themselves.



My school was open as usual. Just a few teachers not around at form time, so admins had to take more registers than normal, and a few larger classes for the day.

poet123

OMAM is such a staple, and boring!!