Teachers' Strike!

[scratchnsurf]

Why the animosity toward teachers?

They do a difficult job. There's quite a lot of inaccurate information posted previously in this thread about their hours - they do not do the same hours as the pupils, far from it. In addition, the amount of unpaid hours they do take them well beyond the normal working week.

Don't be coming in here with your reasonable opinions. That's not what this thread is about. What you need to remember is that, since you once went to school, you are therefore an expert on education and quite entitled to make up all sorts of bullsh*t to support your viewpoint. I give your post 5 out of ten; its grammatically sound but you need to pay greater consideration to the purpose and the audience of the piece.

 

[Groucho]

Don't be coming in here with your reasonable opinions. That's not what this thread is about. What you need to remember is that, since you once went to school, you are therefore an expert on education and quite entitled to make up all sorts of bullsh*t to support your viewpoint. I give your post 5 out of ten; its grammatically sound but you need to pay greater consideration to the purpose and the audience of the piece.

Facts man, facts!

We need accurate info, not conjecture and mere waffle.

Ok maybe some waffle. But factual waffle.

 

[Brennan]

Firstly, they know the pay scale, holidays, working hours when they chose their career.

No-one forced them into teaching.

They do get more holidays than the average Joe and their starting salary isn't bad. Without experience, they can walk into a 21K job?! My first job was 10.5K....and I worked 45hrs/week. I didn't get 13 weeks holiday, I got 4. Maybe I should've striked too?! Oh no, I realized that was the package on offer when I accepted the job offer!

Sympathy = none at all.

The main reason they're striking isn't even because of their pay.

 

[Groucho]

The main reason they're striking isn't even because of their pay.

Correct.

 

[edge]

They deserve everything they get.frustating job, used to help out a bit in my kids school , shocking the things they have to cope with, there were kids who couldnt even play never mind learn in the class and when you met there parents you could tell why, funny enough they shouted loudest about how ****e the school was, wouldnt dream of helping out , to busy smoking weed and having a bevy and watching daytime tv . teachers do a lot more than just teach that does not show up on a balance or timesheet

 

[Raymondo077]

Pupils ditching Maths at 16, is a different issue to kids leaving school without the basic numeracy skills ffs.

Your excuse that it's the systems fault & has been for supposedly decades, doesn't explain away why the standards have fallen 4% in the last 8 years either.

To lay 100% of the blame at the door of the 'system' & in doing so excusing those responsible in the classroom of their part in the failure, is delusional imo.

The annual cost to the public purse of children failing to master basic numeracy skills in primary schools is £2.4Bn. Source: KPMG 2008

Serious understanding of that basic master of numeracy skills of those uneducated darts lads tho!!

 

[The Esk]

The main reason they're striking isn't even because of their pay.

I thought the reasons for striking were the Government's refusal to negotiate on changes to pay, working conditions and pensions. In particular the introduction of performance related pay and the end to automatic incremental pay rises.

The Government blames the economy for having to do these things. Far better it really sorted out tax avoidance and evasion and perhaps purchasing and procurement which singularly has to be the biggest waste of public funds.

It's ludicrous that we want the best possible public services, particularly in health and education, yet do not support their right to proper and appropriate pay levels. Reducing the salary levels of teachers will reduce the level of teaching over time, what sort of investment in the future of Britain is that?

 

[bluerevolution1878]

9-3 with an hour for lunch and two 20 minute breaks = 100 minutes a day for breaks, at least two or three frees throughout the week for most.

2100 minutes working
500 minutes break
120 minutes for frees

= 1480 minutes/week

x39/52 = 1,110 minutes/week. Round that down to 1,000 due to paid school trips to Barcelona etc, sports days, invigilating exams, reduction in lessons over exam periods, that last week in the xmas term where nobody ever did any work.

That's 16.666 hours a week. A couple of parents' evenings a term and holiday time meetings does not equal over 50 hours a week.

I am a teacher myself, and not even an overly hard-working one. I get in for 7:30am and leave at 5:30pm - that isn't me being keen, that is what is expected of me. 1hr20mins of break within that time and most of that is spent working or running a club. I then work at home on weekdays and weekends to plan lessons etc etc.

Some people have no idea how much work teachers do for their children.

 

[tonyhorne]

There's plenty of lazy sh1thouse teachers who don't care about their profession.

Really? How many exactly? You clearly have a great insight into the profession that must have taken a great deal of research, please enlighten us further.

 

[scratchnsurf]

It's ludicrous that we want the best possible public services, particularly in health and education, yet do not support their right to proper and appropriate pay levels. Reducing the salary levels of teachers will reduce the level of teaching over time, what sort of investment in the future of Britain is that?

Seeing as our government pretty much exclusively use the private sector for their education and health care, I find it hard to believe they want the best public services. My cynicism aside, they're not exactly doing much to prove otherwise.

 

[The Esk]

Seeing as our government pretty much exclusively use the private sector for their education and health care, I find it hard to believe they want the best public services. My cynicism aside, they're not exactly doing much to prove otherwise.

The "we" is the general public, I agree entirely that the Government have little concern over the quality of public services.

 

[Mrk]

Seeing as our government pretty much exclusively use the private sector for their education and health care, I find it hard to believe they want the best public services. My cynicism aside, they're not exactly doing much to prove otherwise.

They want better public services for the same reason every ruling political party does - because if people feel their public services have improved, they're more likely to vote for said party.

 

[The Esk]

They want better public services for the same reason every ruling political party does - because if people feel their public services have improved, they're more likely to vote for said party.

Disagree - the focus will be entirely upon the small number of marginal seats that determine who wins in a tight election, and the policy focus will be on the economy not public services.

 

[Mrk]

Disagree - the focus will be entirely upon the small number of marginal seats that determine who wins in a tight election, and the policy focus will be on the economy not public services.

I'm not suggesting it is in any way a priority, but policing, health and education all play a factor, not so much in persuading people directly, but in shaping a helpful political narrative.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

My brother had a note this week saying that the teachers at his kids school are having a 'development' day today, as well as the strike yesterday, so nice long weekend (is the perception).

They really don't help themselves sometimes.