Inset Days vs School Holidays

GobbledyGook

duchy wrote: »

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 )

Ha! I worked with a teacher who was rubbish with names. It made communicating information so difficult. I'd go to her and say "I've been working on X with Mary Jones..." And she'd be like "Is that the Mary that wears the scrunchies or the one with the squeaky shoes?" The HT used to despair at how long it would take her to get to grips with the names and on parents night she was always terrified the teacher would muddle up children.

gregg1

duchy wrote: »

Can you quote exactly where I was "teacher bashing" please ?
I believe I see all sides -as a parent and a TA..... and having a lot of teacher friends. I stand absolutely by the fact it is completely unacceptable to have twilight training AND close the school for a day (mid term and midweek which I have direct experience of) so the teachers get a day off mid term but parents are picking up a day which could be tagged onto end of term when holiday club availability is more likely than a random day (and also may make a family holiday cheaper departing on that day as school would break up earlier to pick up on the other chestnut topic).

There is no reason for a school closure to have to be the same week as the twilight training except to appease teachers. So long as the total days add up to contractual hours over the year that day can be used for the good of the majority of service users not just the staff ! I don't see that as teacher bashing but as commonsense.

I do see using training days for report writing as inappropriate (the clue is in the name-"training"). Teachers are given free periods for report writing in well managed schools-if the SLT don't manage their resources properly that is a management failure and is depriving teachers of training time -which impacts on their performance (and career development).... and thus onto their students. School management bashing perhaps -but deservedly so-some schools manage their resources far better than others !]]]




Look no further than your second paragraph! And I quote "To appease teachers"! Certainly at my OH's school, teachers have no say at all in how or when Inset/twilight sessions are managed/scheduled and they are certainly not consulted as to whether the timing suits them.

You are correct, free periods/non contact periods are supposed to be given for report writing. However, my OH's school has just had hundreds of thousands of pounds slashed from their budget. Even the best managed schools will struggle with that! However good the SLT is at budgeting, there is going to be a knock on effect such as teachers having to sometimes cover for staff during those free periods as a way of cost cutting.

FYI, my OH a actually does her report writing at home, not during Inset days. Those are actually used for training purposes.

I also have worked in education and am a parent. I also see it from both sides.

LandyAndy

tom9980 wrote: »

Honestly its the little digs from all corners that now simply make the job of teaching one that no average person would ever contemplate, in years to come the ones that will suffer are our children and grand children. My wife she just plods on and gets on with it most of the time.

There just seem to be so many people who think having a child makes them an expert in education.:(

daisiegg

LandyAndy wrote: »

There just seem to be so many people who think having a child makes them an expert in education.:(

They don't even have to have a child....they think just having been to school themselves qualifies them to comment!

Nicki

daisiegg wrote: »

They don't even have to have a child....they think just having been to school themselves qualifies them to comment!

A bit like posters who have gone from school to uni then back to school again as a teacher or TA with maybe the odd temp or holiday job under their belt feeling qualified to comment on how much more demanding a teaching career is than most other careers?

duchy

Nicki wrote: »

A bit like posters who have gone from school to uni then back to school again as a teacher or TA with maybe the odd temp or holiday job under their belt feeling qualified to comment on how much more demanding a teaching career is than most other careers?

Touche !
And true
I've come across four teachers at one school who studied there, went to uni locally so lived at home and then returned to their old school as NQTs -some still had siblings at the school.
One was an excellent teacher , the other three weren't.
I;d quite like to see BEds offered with a gap year in business/industry - I think there would be a lot of benefits for the teachers and the students.

gregg1

duchy wrote: »

Touche !
And true
I've come across four teachers at one school who studied there, went to uni locally so lived at home and then returned to their old school as NQTs -some still had siblings at the school.
One was an excellent teacher , the other three weren't.
I;d quite like to see BEds offered with a gap year in business/industry - I think there would be a lot of benefits for the teachers and the students.

I also think sending some parents to parenting classes would benefit teachers hugely!

gregg1

Nicki wrote: »

A bit like posters who have gone from school to uni then back to school again as a teacher or TA with maybe the odd temp or holiday job under their belt feeling qualified to comment on how much more demanding a teaching career is than most other careers?

At least they have worked in teaching. That qualifies them more than some.

lostinrates

gregg1 wrote: »

At least they have worked in teaching. That qualifies them more than some.

My that measure no one would complain about ay substandard service.

Botched medical procedure? Your not a doctor or a nurse so what do you know? Cowboy builder.....are you a builder, no? Well don't persue a claim as the situation is clearly outside of your understanding. A lot of what is discussed on Mse, re miss selling, faulty charges, things that fail the consumer would be impossible to challenge.



The teachers doing a good job are producing students who can extrapolate and apply critical thinking to situations outside their direct remit. . If they are failing at this with a huge percentage of their students

( for the record, not a teacher, but have lectured and taught in higher and further ed briefly during a very early and short academic period, and used to teach two different non academic skills. Couldn't and wouldn't want to be a tea he,r but have teacher friends in both sectors)

LandyAndy

Nicki wrote: »

A bit like posters who have gone from school to uni then back to school again as a teacher or TA with maybe the odd temp or holiday job under their belt feeling qualified to comment on how much more demanding a teaching career is than most other careers?

Having lived with a teacher / headteacher / education consultant for 25 years I can confirm that it is a lot more stressful and demanding and time consuming than my own chosen career (I'm a chartered accountant). Nor have I ever been attacked, punched, bitten, had furniture thrown at me, had my thumb broken etc etc by anyone I've worked with. My wife has had all of those things many times (ok the broken thumb was only once).