Normally they wind me up a bit, it means finding places for the kids to go & as they are at different schools the inset days tend to be on different days…however

Tomorrow I am taking my 8 year old to The Motor Museum at Beaulieu, he specifically wants to look at the steam powered world record car, then we are going to stay down at the seaside and then a trip to The Tank Museum on Saturday, I've been looking forwards to one to one time with him for weeks. He says he's excited too 🙂

Cool day out! Can I come as well? 🙂

Inset days drive me up the wall as well.

he specifically wants to look at the steam powered world record car

He's eight years old? FFS he's already eighty

The Steam Powered Steam Car wasnt there yet 🙁

He has started designing the car to beat it (mind you I think his design needs a bit of work)

he specifically wants to look at the steam powered world record car

He's eight years old? FFS he's already eighty

An 8 year old interested in fast cars? yep, sounds normal to me. Not sure why that gives him the mindset of an eighty year old.

For the barren among us, what's an inset day?

Inset = In service training days for teachers. It means your kids need to find an alternative child minding service on these days.

They drive me up the wall too – and I'm a teacher!

Cheers!

Its a training day that for whatever reason has to impact on teaching, instead of being taken during the ample holiday period.
Consequently it means children get another day off when they could be in lessons.

as said above, parents have to sort out a day off work or childminding.. they tend to happen around holidays.

Younger son had two more days off after Christmas hols, while the older one was at school, the older one has the Friday and Monday either side of half term off… very luck we have Grandparents close, god knows what we would do otherwise, schools get more holiday than my misses & I.

Oh well, we made the most of Friday, Beaulieu and Bucklers Hard, then the Tank Museum at Bovingdon on the Saturday, a proper male bonding weekend 🙂

instead of being taken during the ample holiday period.

Can you tell me which other profession requires that compulsory training is done during staff holidays? I'm certainly not aware of any.

Can you tell me which other profession requires that compulsory training is done during staff holidays? I'm certainly not aware of any.

Can you tell me which other profession has a similar amount of holiday time compared to teachers?

Can you tell me which other profession has a similar amount of holiday time compared to teachers?

Key word there is "holiday". Whatever your opinion is about the length of a teacher's holiday it is exactly that and no other profession gives up it's holidays to do compulsory training. Unlike most other professions, the timing of their holidays is fixed and they cannot take advantage of any "cheap deals". Of course when you look at the entire package that teachers receive, the long holidays and the good pension is offset by relatvely low wages. Certainly amongst the lowest for a profession that requires at least one and is some cases two degree qualifications. I know that after 3-4 years of working as an Engineer I was earning far more that either of my parents who were both teachers. All that being said, the question I asked.

Where is the Tank Museum? It souns awesome.

Of course when you look at the entire package that teachers receive, the long holidays and the good pension is offset by relatvely low wages.

I suppose it depends on your definition of "relatively" given the pay scale and the holidays etc, pro rata the pay is very good.

Certainly amongst the lowest for a profession that requires at least one and is some cases two degree qualifications

What teachers require 2 degrees? I have a degree and a PGCE and that is the normal route. A PGCE takes much less time than a degree and i did mine part time (I am not a teacher)
The bottom line is that teachers receive significantly greater holidays than any other professional body. When holidays are extended for training it appears wholy unfair.

The Tank Museum is in Dorset :- Tanks!

Unlike most other professions, the timing of their holidays is fixed and they cannot take advantage of any "cheap deals".

The same as a large proportion of the population who have children of school age. The difference is they dont get the 6 weeks in the summer!

Oh & I agree with sufer about inset days, lots of jobs with online training have to do it out of hours. Lots of business people have to get to meetings in odd places for first thing in the morning, its not training but it is still working out of hours.

I have to do 1 day (evening) a week at college without any extra pay

Is it ? I don't do 1.36x the days teachers do, but get paid that (out of uni by 2 years, comparing my salary to teachers starting salary outside London, from memory)

Still quite fancy it for a few years though, by all accounts the pay rises aren't too bad (especialy in science and maths where I'd end up) for the first few years, but then there's a bit of a glass celing untill you get enough experience to get a more senior role.

8:30-4:00 every day + marking is as long a day as any other job.

And judgeing by the lack of quantity and quality of teachers it could be argued we're not paying enough to attract the right numbers of good graduates into it.

When holidays are extended for training it appears wholy unfair.

Teacher's holidays aren't extended for training though are they. They are still at work. Just because the pupils aren't there doesn't mean that the Teachers are on holiday too.

…its not training but it is still working out of hours.

If you think that a teacher's day ends when the pupils leave the schools then you are mistaken. Lesson planning and marking all have to be done outside normal school hours.

Can you tell me which other profession has a similar amount of holiday time compared to teachers?

/wave

Can you tell me which other profession requires that compulsory training is done during staff holidays? I'm certainly not aware of any.

/wave

Well sometimes it has to be but not always.

Anyway never heard of an inset day, oop North we still call them well teaching training days.

If you think that a teacher's day ends when the pupils leave the schools then you are mistaken. Lesson planning and marking all have to be done outside normal school hours.

The old "marking at home" doesnt wash. I live next to a school and although I leave at 7 and dont get home till after 5 on the occasional day that I work from home the teachers arrive around 8:30 and they all leave (except for the headteacher) within a few minutes of the bell. Many are pulling out of the car park before the children have been collected!
They are not weighed down with files either, funnily enough!
As regard the lessons planning we used to joke about the same projects being set year in year out it must have been boring seeing the same questions and the same answers, little repeat planning, more set it once then forget it for 5 years!

Your right teachers are sh*t and teaching is a joke of a job done by lay about wasters. You can tell this by the lazy and the ill educated that are pumped out the gates. Anyone one who feels that they have had a modicum of an education should stop for a second and wonder where that came from.

A* the kids great, fail it's the teachers fault.

Your right teachers are sh*t and teaching is a joke of a job done by lay about wasters.

I dont think anyone said that, are you a teacher or a primary school age student? If the latter you need to try harder as your grammar is poor. If the former then I suspect that line of "educated types" "pumped" from the gates may soon dry up!

In my experience your observations state in your post just do not apply. Lots of work taken home, no one rolling through the gate at 8.30 and very seldom does anyone leave before 4 in fact most evening i don't leave until well after 5 having been in contact with pupils for the entire day. teaching's not a job where you can have an off day and hide away (i did that often enough in my prvious job).
Yes, we are reasonably well paid and the holidays are pretty impressive but there seems to be a large number of people who think it is a profession inhabited by the lazy and work shy.

Yes, we are reasonably well paid and the holidays are pretty impressive but there seems to be a large number of people who think it is a profession inhabited by the lazy and work shy.

I have never said that and some of my best friends are teachers, however my point was about the inset days and I stand by that.
Having said that seldom a week goes by without a thread about teachers complaining. I am not aware of another profession that spends so much time complaining about their career choice.
We all hear about the long hours etc but in my own experience I dont see it.

Many are pulling out of the car park before the children have been collected!

I used to live opposite a school where the staff car park was over the road from the main building
Just after 3:30 it was like the starting grid at Le Mans
If they didn't trample you running for the car, they'd get you on the way out of the car park 😀

Your initial post does seem to infer a lack of willing to do new work and a need to leave the building ASAP. I for one have never complained about being a teacher in fact i love it. I do however get generally pissed off by those belittling my job. There is a broad brush approach. You do also seem to think that no marking is done at home.

I very much doubt that your teaching mates approach their jobs in the way you state. Oh and for your information the majority of secondry school inservice days in Scotland are done when the kids are on holiday.

Your initial post does seem to infer a lack of willing to do new work and a need to leave the building ASAP

No it doesnt!

You do also seem to think that no marking is done at home.

This is impossible to prove one way or the other. I just think its convenient. If i have a lot to do I work later in the office. When I see teachers leaving at 15:30 I assume they have finished for the day. Why take work home why not complete it in the school? I dont down tools at 15:30 and rush home with a folder of work, why would they?

Why take work home why not complete it in the school?

So that you don't get caught in the rush hour traffic? So that you don't get pestered by other members of staff? So that the cleaning staff can get on with their job without having to work around the teachers?

There's three reasons right there.

As regard the lessons planning we used to joke about the same projects being set year in year out it must have been boring seeing the same questions and the same answers, little repeat planning, more set it once then forget it for 5 years!

Ahem

They are not weighed down with files either, funnily enough!

So that you don't get caught in the rush hour traffic? So that you don't get pestered by other members of staff? So that the cleaning staff can get on with their job without having to work around the teachers?

All these pesky demands that people in other professions see as part and parcel of daily life really.

Kevonakona that is not my first post!
Please pay attention at the back.

B-

All these pesky demands that people in other professions see as part and parcel of daily life really.

and would avoid were it possible.

and would avoid were it possible.

Of course, however other professions dont have the option of avoiding colleagues (in case they ask us something!) most see that as part of the job and as a manager dealing with queries from members of my team is part and parcel of the role.
If you can avoid it fine. Ditto leaving early to avoid the traffic.
However it doesnt strengthen your case when the next inevitable "teachers working really hard" thread appears, or the typical "don't go into teaching cos its really crap" thread rears its head.

So let me get this straight, you think that teachers should suffer all the inconveniences that you suffer in your job for no reason reason other than if it's something that you suffer then so should they? Sounds like petty jealously to me.

Have you conceded yet that other professions do indeed do training in their own time?

No the issue is you see that "So that you don't get pestered by other members of staff?" as an inconvenience that should be avoided. I see that as part of the role.

oh, and which course require teachers to have 2 degrees??