Teachers and workloads



The Sheepfolds End said:
But I genuinely can’t believe that people still have this notion that teachers rock up at 8.45, go home at 3.30, stick their feet up when they get in and start planning how to spend all their leisure time for the holidays in winter, spring and summer.
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You nailed it in your earlier post. The critics only see things from the perspective of their children. “All those holidays... who looks after Little Johnny when I am work...? Those twats have all this holiday” etc. What they miss is all of the other stuff that needs doing, and why would they know about it until they or a partner have been there?

My parents were both teachers all their careers, my brother in law is a teacher and my partner was too, but she trained then worked as a teacher only because it was required for her dream job as an EP. I am fortunate that I work as a contractor which gives me some time off to do stuff I want to do. Some of that time I help out as a volunteer TA in the local secondary school and also give lunchtime and after-school GCSE revision / tutor classes for Biol, Phys and Chem. Why? It gives me a “fix” of teaching - the inspiring of children - without the rest of the crap and stress that goes with it. I’d love to be a teacher but for reasons described earlier in the excellent posts I couldn’t deal with the non-teaching bulls***.
 
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Kent_Mackem said:
When I hear/read news like this I find it incredibly worrying. Teachers leaving (presumably that includes very good teachers), Climate Change and Brexit. Now I know that depending on the newspapers some people read they’re instructed that those things either don’t exist or don’t matter, but with somebody who has young children I find it desperately depressing that their futures have been f***ed up by our generation of politicians (and by extension those that voted them in - i.e. us).
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You need the best people teaching your kids

The system is breaking them it’s not happening
 
The Sheepfolds End said:
Teachers have their results scrutinised, their marking scrutinised, their lessons observed, kids parents’ scrutinise, Ofsted scrutinise. The list goes on! Teachers are probably under more scrutiny than the vast majority of professions. If I had another layer of bureaucracy added to my job for scrutiny purposes where I had to type in a timesheet what I was doing, when I was doing it and why I was doing it, I’d have even less time to do the things I should be doing instead. And if I thought I was doing that just to convince Joe Public that actually we are quite busy then I’d probably start looking for alternative careers as well.

Also, NQTs probably do earn a wage that is equivalent to or less than minimum wage.
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Which was my point. If you think the work load is too much then how can this be changed unless what you do is quantified?

mcq10 said:
How are you going to fund the additional two weeks worth of wages for teachers?

Teachers are paid for 195 days plus statutory holidays. This is averaged out into 12 monthly payments for ease of administration. A hell of a lot of goodwill goes into teaching that a lot parents don’t appreciate.
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I'm not suggesting that you don't earn every penny you get mate. I'm saying the system needs a overhaul to show that you are worth more.
 
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pillars of hercules said:
Which was my point. If you think the work load is too much then how can this be changed unless what you do is quantified?
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That’s a good question and I could list a load of ways how but that would be relatively boring for both of us. I can absolutely guarantee that adding a further layer of bureaucracy to prove that we are overworked isn’t the answer though.
 
Raggy Lad said:
Those who don't agree with this post should wonder why, if it''s such an easy life, why does the country have such a serious problem with the recruitment of teachers and and an even greater problem with their retention. And no I'm not a teacher
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I'm a former teacher who quit after 23 years in the job. There is not a chance in hell I would ever go back to it.
 
pillars of hercules said:
That's the kind of sarcasm I remember from teachers at school tbh :rolleyes:
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That wasn’t sarcasm. I genuinely think it would be boring, but since you asked...

- reduce the amount of data inputs to monitor ‘progress’
- reduce the amount of parents evenings / report writing
- reduce the amount of assessment required
- reduce class sizes (this would require significant government investment that isn’t coming)
- completely modernise classroom practice to incorporate technology (again, investment...)
- increase the amount of teaching assistants to help with resource printing / creation, to assist kids with SEND / challenging behaviours
- centralise detentions and behaviour management policies

Could probably think of a few more given time.
 
Fred Basset said:
I'm a former teacher who quit after 23 years in the job. There is not a chance in hell I would ever go back to it.
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Gone in the last 12 months after 15 years, didnt even have owt to go to, thankfully have been able to take some time out courtesy of some decent financial decisions over the years......Forgotten what it was like to feel human, mental health symptoms virtually all gone, family life is awesome rather than a chore that gets in the way of work and I now sleep at night........

Not a great financial decision but I would rather walk over broken glass lodged in lego bricks than ever put myself in a classroom again. Love working with the kids, love being in the classroom and loved the school I worked in......Unfortunately the system is utterly broken and while all govts waffle on about dealing with the workload in reality each thing they do to "reduce" it ends up creating more work. People take the piss out of marking but they really dont understand the insanity of marking in the 21st century. The days of ticking a page are over, each page now has to be annotated, often in different coloured pens with kids having to respond to your comments in yet another coloured pen.....Spelling mistakes and grammar errors must be highlighted and man can some kids make a LOT of errors on one page. Multiply that by hundreds of books a week then add hundreds more assessments on top and you suddenly have a mountain living on your kitchen table.

What they will do to solve the recruitment and retention crisis I do not know, it really is getting desperate now with class sizes increasing massively and teachers utterly burnt out. As a parent I hate that I know that the people teaching my kids are likely to be teetering on the edge and therefore not able to deliver the education the kids deserve. Those who stay are under ever increasing pressure as so many are leaving and are not replaced either because the schools are skint or because they cant get the teachers they need. Teachers who were just coping are having their work loads increased by rising class sizes which adds hours and hours of extra marking each week and eventually they too will break.

Cut teachers some slack folks, like many things in life its only when they are gone that you will understand what you have had. As for me I spent years in the private sector before giving it all up to follow my "calling" to teach....Am over the moon that I am going to find a 9-5 job where I can go home and not think about work till I go in the next morning like I used to do. No more long holidays, no more golden pension, no more "9 til 3" days and Im over the bloody moon.
 
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