Inset Days vs School Holidays

Janepig

GobbledyGook wrote: »

In Scotland it's non class contact time or McCrone time that primary teachers get to do their admin/planning etc. Not enough to cover it all right enough, but that's what it's for.

Some schools, particularly bigger schools, have a teacher or two who is employed for McCrone cover and others cover it in other ways (a PE teacher or ICT teacher or assemblies for example).

That's what DD/DS's "floating" cover teacher does with them while their teachers are doing their admin/planning. He does other bits and pieces but mainly those two things.

They also have some sort of computer programme to help them to write the end of year reports - on comparing DD/DS's reports with friends it's clear that they're all identical except for afew personal bits here and there. This has been the case for about the last two or three reports they've had. They're like a standard format tweaked slightly for each child.

Jx

totallybored

Janepig wrote: »

Someone with a bit more knowledge of what exactly goes on in a primary school may be able to explain better than me, but certainly locally, and in DD/DS's primary school there are two "floating" teachers (they have a name, like PPE or something), one for Early years/KS1 and one for KS2, and for half (or possibly a full) day once a week, each class is taught by the floater (in DD and DS's case it's Mr PE from my other thread), while their normal teacher catches up with admin, planning, etc....

DD/DS's school is very large, and I imagine that a very small school wouldn't be able to run this system, but then they'd have alot less admin with much less kids; but all the schools I know of around here are all fairly large (DD/DS's is the largest in the county) and they all operate this system. One of my friends was looking for work as a newly qualified primary school teacher and this was the sort of work she was getting. This is in Wales, it may be different elsewhere.

Jx

It's called PPA time and all primary school teachers are entitled to 10% of their contact hours for planning and assessment. My school is 2.5 hours. New teachers then get a further 10% in their first year of teaching. It's up to individual schools how this is covered. Mine use PE and music specialists, some have a PPA teacher who will just cover normal lessons, some schools use a TA to cover.

ViolaLass

globetraveller wrote: »

Perhaps Scotland is different. I would dearly love to have some free time to write my 33 reports. These have to be detailed reports and take an average of 2 hours each. No matter how well managed the school is, if your management team already have to teach, due to severe staffing shortages, then there is no leeway. Why are there staffing shortages? Not enough people want to teach these days for some reason.

2 hours per report??!!

I take about 15 minutes and I thought I was slow! What kind of detail do you include? I'm really intrigued.

IrishRose12

In our school and my 2 children's schools they don't have a floater teacher. They have the same teacher all year, unless it's a sub teacher in for their teacher who may be sick or on a course.

In the school I work in we have 2 classes of each class from P1-P7. we only have 14 teachers plus the principal, then the 5 classroom assistants, 3 of which only work until 2.30.
Music teacher is also KS1 teacher, she takes KS2 classes for music from 2.30 -3pm once a week. The teacher I work with in KS1 is also the Vice Principal so 2 days a week at 2.30 she has meetings and does VP admin duties then. One day she takes a Film club for the 2 classes of the KS1 after school children. The other 2 is for hr own classroom prep. Which again isn't very much time to get work prepared for 31 children in each class with 5 different ability groups.
One of the other KS1 teachers is also the SENCO so she is always trying to chase things up and also trying to arrange meetings with parents etc. While another KS1 teacher from 2.30 - 3pm works with weaker children up the school who are not entitled to outside help.
Older teachers I think are able to use the time their class is timetabled for a P.E class with an outside instructor as their time, but this is 45 mins, an half an hour for when the children are at music.

I know in my son's school this is similar as a friend of mine has just started working there from September and she was saying it was similar to our school only they're a bigger school than ours, and my daughter's school is a smaller school which my sister used to work in and she said they had a bit more cover as their classrooms assistants look after the older classes twice a week.

IrishRose12

ViolaLass wrote: »

2 hours per report??!!

I take about 15 minutes and I thought I was slow! What kind of detail do you include? I'm really intrigued.

2 hours per pupil is the rough amount of time that my teacher said it took her last year. That was including both of us sitting down and comparing notes on children, esp regarding computers and their ability. (our children are literally only learning how to use them remember)And she's dreading this years class as we have so many different abilities and special needs that she has already started her testing on some things, and also started rough drafts of their reports to try and get ahead of herself.
Although she's hoping this year is a bit quicker as we did have computer problems last year:mad:
I've already told her if there's more computer problems I'm phoning in sick as I can't go through last year again :eek: :rotfl:

ViolaLass

IrishRose12 wrote: »

2 hours per pupil is the rough amount of time that my teacher said it took her last year. That was including both of us sitting down and comparing notes on children, esp regarding computers and their ability. (our children are literally only learning how to use them remember)And she's dreading this years class as we have so many different abilities and special needs that she has already started her testing on some things, and also started rough drafts of their reports to try and get ahead of herself.

So you sat there and discussed each child for perhaps an hour and then she spent another hour writing the report? Don't you compare notes all the time? (I talk to my TAs at lunch after class and we'll swap views on Child X or Child Y. Nothing detailed or formal but come report time, I know what I think of where they are.

GobbledyGook

IrishRose12 wrote: »

In our school and my 2 children's schools they don't have a floater teacher. They have the same teacher all year, unless it's a sub teacher in for their teacher who may be sick or on a course.

It just shows how and why places do things differently.

Teacher's in Scotland are entitled too 2 1/2 hours a week non-contact time (for full-time staff). This is during the class week rather than after school.

Schools get funding to cover it which is why some bigger schools have floating teachers because they have enough 2 1/2 hours combined.

IrishRose12

ViolaLass wrote: »

So you sat there and discussed each child for perhaps an hour and then she spent another hour writing the report? Don't you compare notes all the time? (I talk to my TAs at lunch after class and we'll swap views on Child X or Child Y. Nothing detailed or formal but come report time, I know what I think of where they are.

No no, we discuss children's progress/concerns throughout the week, we have a meeting on a Monday afternoon for 15-20 mins. Usually that could be longer if I don't have to go and pick my own children up, but now that their after schools has finished for the school year I have to be out the door on time. I stay behind on my own time to do this also.
I have a different Lunch time to my teacher so when I am on my lunch she is still teaching, then when I finish my lunch she's in the classroom and I have to go straight outside to supervise the children, or if my class are still in the dinner hall I have to supervise them in there, then we are outside. After her lunch it's straight back to work, then it's home time for the children but after schools clubs for me.
We have a final meeting - which is a bit longer as we arrange cover for each of our activities after school, the week or two before and exchange notes and concerns, and then I've nothing else to do with the reports then.
She could get 15 done when she is in school on the day off, but then has to do the rest at home. Which takes longer as she has her own family to look after as well as other personal things to do like the rest of us normal people lol.
It could take her near a week to get the reports done in the evenings, then they have to be handed into the principal to be checked over and signed then they are given back for me to put into the envelopes and addressed to the parents or guardians.
I don't be in the school on report day as it's an exceptional closure day - the same as the day for the Parent teacher meetings, and I don't have to work Exceptional closure days, but I do have to work Baker days.
Last year I was in for report day as we were due our big inspection so I said I would come in to get displays tidied up and give the classroom a general gutting:rotfl: I also made sure all the school books were up to date and all the pages were stuck in etc.
That's how I got summoned for once the computer problems kicked in:mad:

GobbledyGook wrote: »

It just shows how and why places do things differently.

Teacher's in Scotland are entitled too 2 1/2 hours a week non-contact time (for full-time staff). This is during the class week rather than after school.

Schools get funding to cover it which is why some bigger schools have floating teachers because they have enough 2 1/2 hours combined.

It does indeed
Our teachers get no non-contact time during the class week, apart from 15mins per day at lunchtime. They then have directed time for an hour and a half I think it is every day after school bar Friday.

However this past 2 years my own teacher (VP), the SENCO and the KS1 and 2 co-ordinators have been given 2 days a year where the school funds a sub-teacher to come n to let them out to do certain work etc. Sometimes if those teachers can, they will try and give some of the other teachers at least an hour on those days to try and do some work out of the class and they'll take over. However it's not often possible.
Our principal is looking into trying to get funds or re-arrange her own budget to get a sub teacher for one day next year for each teacher so they can try and get sorted. There's also talk of the VP being able to get out 1 day each week to do VP duties and a teacher from some programme the board has set up will come in on the same day each week. Apparently it's been done in schools in other places for a while, and there's a teacher like that in my son's school, but I'm not exactly sure how that works TBH as they go to other schools the other 4 days.

But some of the teachers were doing a work-to-rule strike kind of thing also last year so they were only doing what they had to do and nothing else. I honestly couldn't tell you if that's still happening now as things haven't changed much:rotfl:

It is interesting reading about how schools in England and Scotland work though also. It definitely is different strokes for different folks :rotfl:
At the end of the day as long as the children are not suffering and are benefiting of having teachers being less stressed and less tired surely that's more of a benefit for the children?
I know my teacher has been up until 2am sometimes preparing work for the class, doing reports etc but feeling the tirdness the next afternoon, I'd rather they had a day where they can make a huge dent in certain types of work and they be more awake, happier and less stressed, than being grouchy. Which my teacher can very often be!

duchy

I remember the shock when come report time one teacher whose classes I had covered all year grabbed me and was asking me who X * Y child were as she didn't know who they were and what I thought their personal comments should be. Admittedly they were pretty middle of the road students neither over achieving or struggling and didn't have any discipline issues . This teacher was an exception-most good teachers know all their students well enough to know who they are writing a report about- but it does happen !

duchy

I remember the shock when come report time one teacher whose classes I had covered all year grabbed me and was asking me who X * Y child were as she didn't know who they were and what I thought their personal comments should be. Admittedly they were pretty middle of the road students neither over achieving or struggling and didn't have any discipline issues . This teacher was an exception-most good teachers know all their students well enough to know who they are writing a report about- but it does happen !

(This was in the school our Irish poster doesn't think I worked in btw )