I would like a teacher work over 150 hours in the two weeks and be expected to attend on saturday after 12 days working. My work rate was not expected to fall over this time. This is why I am searching a new job.
Morning Posh - how are things? Had a great day out (apart from the result) in P'boro last week, I certainly swelled the coffers of a couple of your pubs!
W-Y ..... I'm doing fine Glad you had a good day .... which pubs did you use ? My favourite is Charters on the barge .... although it is a bit pricey
BB and I went to the same school - as did Gordon - but he is older than me so has forgotten more and like most Aussies he has a relaxed idea of work so thinks hard work is cracking open his boiled egg in the morning.
No such luxuries up here Leo - breakfast is porridge, but only if I get up early enough to milk the cow - can't stand it made with water. One day I'll have it sweetened too - when I finally work out how to milk the bees. You're right about the Aussie attitude to work - I often yearn for the days when I finished at noon and slept through the hottest part of the day. Mind you, getting up when the pademelons were getting ready for bed was a bit of a bugger.
Sounds a bit like my wife's job. She works eleven hour days Mon-Fri and has to bring work home on weekends - every week, normally spending around eight hours over Sat/Sun. She's hoping that will be relaxed soon as she has a new manager who started this week - doesn't appear to be so draconian as the old one. . . . . . . . . . Did I mention that she too is a teacher?
I used to be head of a special school for disturbed kids in Newcastle.... one half term for every day of every week half my staff were off sick with various forms of stress related illness.... I jacked it in after 18 months after working in therapeutic education and child psychiatry for over 10 years..... the pressures were immense... Working with young people is very demanding work.... I think much underestimated.. which is why erm..... I guess....erm.... private sector schools for the wealthiest get the longest holidays
NOt surprised - teachers were never rated highly on work efficiency scales - just think how many hours she would put in if she did a real or non part time job I can believe that special schools where there is a mix of education, psychiatry, health etc is a slightly different ball game. Long holidays for private sector seals my argument - shows long hours not necessary, just the best I don't feel this is going very well for me - I now have BB, AND Yorkshire and w-y? lining up on t'other side
Those who have been teachers or live with them generally think it's a hard life; those who haven't generally think it's a doddle. Easy to draw conclusions from that I guess...
Before the game we started in Charters Posh, then went across to The Cherry Tree for a couple - but it was packed and took ages for refills. After the game it was back on the barge for a few rum's - well it is on the way to the station!
Ok, Ok, I will have another pop on the teaching debate. I'm quite sure that a few years ago teachers could enjoy most of their holidays as holidays, but will all of the paper-work, assessments, OFSTED visits and general government BS, this has now been heavily eaten into. Mrs W_Y works in a nursery school and apart from all of the prep she does to ensure her children experience the most from their time there - for instance she always has them making Xmas cakes (of course working in bandit central they are called Holiday Cakes!), so the night before she is buying the ingredients, measuring them out, cutting ribbon, cleaning the little cake tins they use etc. But the craziest thing she has to do is prepare reports on her children and attend parents evenings - this is for children just out of nappies! Sorry Lenny, could not resist it!
Thanks to Baroness Warnock, you'd be hard pressed to find a special school these days Leo - Inclusion and all that. Mainstream teachers are now required to take care of the education and physical, social & psychiatric health of all those who once upon a time would have attended such institutions. It's a bone of contention that no consideration for this is factored in to Working Time Agreements - agreements that outline to the very last minute how our annual working hours are to be spent. And as Inclusion was little more than a Government cost-cutting ploy, there is no extra reward for the additional knowledge teachers had to take on board to cover for the lack of qualified social workers/mental health specialists etc. When I started teaching, the mix of 'normal:needy' children was around 80:20 in any given class - that has changed to around 40:60, increasing the demands on a teachers time. So, many thanks to the aged expert Baroness Warnock. I guess we should just be thankful that, given her advanced years, she didn't incorporate her other baby into Inclusion - euthanasia.
The special school I was head of is now closed.... and the aim is to integrate into the mainstream (cheaper) .... so puts the pressure back on ordinary teachers... My heart sinks every time the Tory govt start to meddle with education. They just don't understand it. Many years ago, most teachers voted Tory.... not so now. Gove and co. will now start to make derogatory comments against teachers and of course teachers unions....because they will resolutely disagree with his proposals ....
Interesting development in an SPL match currently being played. Richard Brittain, who has signed a pre-contract with St Johnstone for next season but is currently trying to back out of it, has equalised for Ross County against - St Johnstone. I wonder if that will persuade them to tear it up? Am not keen on them ever since they had some shady dealings with Gretna's goalkeeper a few years ago when both teams were vying for promotion to the SPL. Towards the end of the season, Gretna lost 0-3 to them at home - a surprising result to say the least at the time - one which saw St Johnstone take over top spot from Gretna. Said keeper made a few howlers during the game, and it turned out that he had previously signed a pre-contract with St Johnstone. Justice prevailed though - he never played for Gretna again, and they won promotion ahead of St Johnstone.
