This irritated me slightly..

[mdench]

This was sent round on a whole staff email today 10 Reasons to Love Teaching

 

. I never feel bad when my non-teaching friends are working during half-term or just get a few days at Christmas. They picked the wrong job.

 

Teachers of the World…let’s talk up the profession. There is no better one.

[X-13]

Woooooow...

 

And they wonder why people dislike teachers.

[synaesthesia]

I don't think it's as bad as perhaps you perceive; this is clearly coming from one of the teachers that loves their job and would say the same about anyone that isn't teaching. But of course teaching isn't for everyone. They're just saying they don't feel bad about it, it's not nasty!

[garethEds]

Agree with Syn' - everyone hates teachers but I refuse to feel guilty about the holidays or pay I get compared to others. It's the path I chose and I was successful at getting here. The majority of teachers work hard (even during the holidays).

 

The people who generally have a go at teachers are the ones who haven't got a clue. My mother is one of them :-)

 

Take it in the amusing way it was probably intended.

 

GJE

[CamelMan]

This was sent round on a whole staff email today 10 Reasons to Love Teaching

 

remind them about that when they are next moaning about reports, homework, twilight sessions etc "Sorry your picked it - its the best one, I dont care"

 

I do find it really thoughtless that they sent it to all staff - its a bit of a slap in the face for all the hardworking Associate staff.

[strawberry]

^ that. Exactly. I remind teachers they are paid for a year same as me, they choose to do their work in a shorter time frame than me so when it comes to reports, parents evening, meetings, inset etc etc that's the choice they make!

[tmcd35]

I see nothing wrong, agree with them even. I've seen how hard good teachers do actually work, and how much is done out of hours and during so called holiday time. No I don't begrudge them their time off. I couldn't and wouldn't want to do their job. And they are right, If I'm not happy working through the school holidays - then I picked the wrong job. Actually, I'm very happy working through the holidays - it's term time I struggle with

[Earthling]

Unfortunately, I have to say that if the teachers here did their job half as well as I do mine, we wouldn't be in the mess we're in now.......teetering on the brink of Special Measures.

 

I'm sure there are some good, thoughtful, egalitarian teachers somewhere in the country, but not here. We have five, maybe, at the outside.

 

I get a bit fed-up when they say to me, 'You're really clever, you should have been a teacher.' I normally respond with, 'If I'd wanted to be a teacher, I'd have been a teacher.' When I get really p#ssed off, I say 'Yes, I know I'm really clever, that's why I'm NOT a teacher'.

 

Apologies to all teachers on here, but you must be able to see my point. Support Staff here have already been warned about redundancies if we go into Special Measures, and it really is not our fault. It's the T&L that's failing, and we don't do T&L.

[clockend25]

The whole article irritates me.

 

8. Being your own boss; creating your own spaceOf course we all have things we have to do that we’d rather not. But teaching affords a fantastic degree of autonomy. If you choose, teaching can have an strong element of performance about it…you’re on stage, live and in the room with 9M; you can express yourself in a way that you never do around adults. Or, you can be quietly cerebral, wildly eccentric or straightforward and dignified. The classroom is your domain…your space to make things happen the way you want them to. Every lesson is yours to craft, the way you want it…testing out ideas, exploring off at tangents or just keeping it simple. I love that.

 

That's quite telling, I reckon.

 

[Earthling]

 

I do find it really thoughtless that they sent it to all staff - its a bit of a slap in the face for all the hardworking Associate staff.

 

Our bunch of clowns do this as well. Somehow they seem to think that the teaching staff ARE the whole staff.

[bossman]

I agree with Michael Gove and what he would like, all public sector workers and this includes teachers to work a 37 hour contracted week same as everyone else, now it gets really interesting as he also wants teachers to have less holiday time too.

 

Yes teachers you chose this professional route and if the powers that be change the working practice will you all still work in this profession.....................I would think the answer will be yes as the real world workers are sick and tired of your bellyaching!!!

 

All is about to change for the teaching fraternity and they really don't like it........all I can say is get used to it as change is on it's way

[Hefferzzzz]

oh boo hoo teachers suck yah boo rah

 

Why cant we all just get along

[twin--turbo]

I get a bit fed-up when they say to me, 'You're really clever, you should have been a teacher.' I normally respond with, 'If I'd wanted to be a teacher, I'd have been a teacher.' When I get

 

The response to that should be "You don't need to be clever to be a teacher"

 

Rob

[tmcd35]

I agree with Michael Gove and what he would like, all public sector workers and this includes teachers to work a 37 hour contracted week same as everyone else, now it gets really interesting as he also wants teachers to have less holiday time too.

 

Wohoo! Unpaid time off for all union members

[bossman]

@tmcd35:

 

That's cool as we all know teachers work far more hours than 37 don't they?

 

All M&P to be done in holiday time 31 days per annum same as support staff Yahoooo!!!!

 

Wonder how they will manage to get all that work which they gripe about done in such a short time as 37 hours per week?

 

I know let's ask a support member of staff they know how because they are really clever people hehe!

[Mako]

I had written a comment on his blog post but deleted it and thought better of it.

 

The attitude won't change. My negativity won't make a difference and would only get deleted after. I will say, though, that the teachers here aren't -that- bad.

[localzuk]

The whole article irritates me.

 

That's quite telling, I reckon.

 

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It is quite telling actually, and is actually indicative of many of the issues we face day to day - teachers working on their own tangents and not as a team or community. I'm not bashing teachers, I'm bashing the way teachers have been trained to behave that way. The best schools work when all teachers work together to educate the kids. What I constantly see is people growling and grumbling about changes coming in, or the way things are done - but not sitting down with those who come up with the ideas and working with them to produce something workable for everyone.

 

To me, the fault lies with the organisations who train teachers, and it is damaging the profession.

[AMLinington]

Wow teacher bashing on edugeek. Groundbreaking.

 

Having been a teacher, it was a lot of hard work and long hours and tbh I pretty much slept through the first half of any holiday. I've done this job and I hated it. I'd much rather work a nice solid 37.5 hour week with weekends and bank holidays to myself instead of spending my weekends marking coursework or lesson planning. 2 days at Christmas instead of two weeks? Ah well, at least when I leave the office at 5 and drive home to my Cat and Rabbits the evening is mine to do with as I please. If I feel like sewing or watching TV or doing housework or baking I can. I don't have to make sure I'm home by a certain time at the weekend to make sure my marking is finished for Monday. I rock up to work at 8.30am ready for a day of meetings and reports instead of having to deal with the bad behaviour of Jack in year 8 and worry about differentiation for the statemented kids in year 9 and the hormone overload of the year 11s.

 

There are no half measures where teaching is concerned - if teaching is not your LIFE then it isn't for you.

 

Personally, I think the concept of the school year is flawed anyway - it was invented around harvesting needs when kids actually did manual labour too. IMO the school day should be structured like a work day - 8.30am-5.00pm. With Schools manned all year and pupils booking a set amount of annual leave (that way parents can co-ordinate holiday booking). That is not to say that pupils must be in structured curriculum classes for the entire period, but if we filled in time in the timetable for supervised study periods, pupils wouldn't need to do homework at home - research and report writing can be done during 'study period' in a designated location. I think pupils ought to have life skills classes - being taught about household budgeting, banking and money management, pensions, tax, rudimentary DIY, cooking and 'domestic skills'. There should be room in the school day for vocational courses so pupils can learn non-academic skills in IT, Manual trades like carpentry, electrics, plumbing etc, nursing, child care, mechanics etc etc.

Edited December 20, 2013 by AMLinington

[GeekyPete]

I do find it really thoughtless that they sent it to all staff - its a bit of a slap in the face for all the hardworking Associate staff.

 

And there in lies the Problem. I REFUSED to be called "Associate Staff"! I joined the board of governors so I could get that term removed from the school vocabulary!

 

Associate - Connected to; Not a full member of; a person with limited or subordinate membership of an organization.

 

I am every bit a member of the school staff, to say otherwise is just insulting. We had a science tech with a PHD, The highest quaifiied person in the whole school talked down to and basically bullied by *#&$s who think that a PGCE makes them God...

 

I'm sure that there is a module in teacher training called "Advanced condesention - QTS and your right to superiority".

[AMLinington]

I'm sure that there is a module in teacher training called "Advanced condesention - QTS and your right to superiority".

 

Condescension.

 

And no, there isn't. Some people are just douches. Don't tar all teachers with the same brush.

[synaesthesia]

It also means directly connected. Professional, one teacher is an associate of another...

[witch]

Most of the teachers I know work very hard and really deserve the two weeks they get off at Christmas. Most of them are grey and tired - and they have ridiculous pressures put on them. For example, last night, one day before the end of term, one teacher has been told that she is teaching cookery to the year 5's next term. (she is the specialist cookery/textiles etc teacher and normally teaches year 7 and 8 only as they are senior school). There is no scheme of work for year 5, there are only 18 sets of utensils for a class of 21 and the first lesson is lesson 2 on the first day back.

She has spent most of last night inventing a scheme of work for the whole 8 weeks - creating resources etc and photocopying and laminating everything today. That is something that happens all the time to the teaching staff.

 

It isn't that I object to the holidays at all, it is the fact that whoever wrote this obviously DOESN'T work as hard as many teachers and is enjoying the fact that others have to work when they don't - and being very smug about it

[GeekyPete]

 

And no, there isn't. Some people are just douches. Don't tar all teachers with the same brush.

 

With all that said, it didn't stop me marrying one... Thankfully teachers of that ilk are getting fewer as they retire. It does tend to be the ones of a certain age, and then if I am fair, only a small percentage of those. But Oh My do they wind me up!

 

/OffSoapBox

[GeekyPete]

It also means directly connected. Professional, one teacher is an associate of another...

 

It can, but I would argue not in this context. If that was the inferance we would all be staff and there would be no need for the distinction. It does seem that the teaching professionals are keen to put some distance between them selves and others in school, irrespective of the merits of the individuals involved. The only thing that get you in the club is QTS, not a degree, masters, PHD or just plain competance.

[StevieM]

I'm always torn between amusement and disappointment when I see threads like this when people snipe at teachers and gripe about being undervalued. While I'm sure that many of the comments are justifiable, all it demonstrates to me is that the school in which you work isn't a particularly good one. If this is the case, look for another job - possibly outside education.

 

Like @AMLightfoot, I also was a teacher in a previous incarnation. During this time, my social life was reduced to taking some of my marking to the pub on the way home, having a couple of pints and a chat before going home and getting everything ready for the next day before going to bed. I was in a school were I was totally unappreciated by the headteacher who took every opportunity to put me down, often in front of staff, parents and even my class. Needless to say, I didn't cope particularly well. I stuck full time teaching for a year before moving on to supply and then lecturing.

 

Now I am IT tech in a school in which I used to do supply teaching regularly. Yes I still have a huge workload and have to take things home. Yes, I often come in for grief from staff when things go wrong or change in way that they don't like, but overall, I am part of a team. Teachers rely on me to make sure things happen and appreciate that they would be in a whole lot of bother if I wasn't around. A teacher who has just left at the end of term said to me, 'I just hope that there's one of you in my new school.' Says it all really.

 

Come on edugeekers, let's have a bit of peace, love and harmony. If you don't want to work in a 'them and us' culture, stop taking the role of 'us' and let the 'thems' follow your lead.

 

Merry Christmas, everyone.