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Teachers and their holidays


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Ok, I have several teacher friends who, over the past couple of weeks, have been complaining about their imminent return to work following a mammoth 6 week holiday. Would anyone agree that ( and I know I'm generalising ) they're a right bunch of whinging so & sos with no grip on reality? Just to put it into context, I have to work 40 hours a week with 20 days holiday per year but am considerable less 'stressed' than they seem to be...

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Surely anyone who has to go back to work after a holiday moans about it, whether they've had two days off or two months. My boyfriend is a teacher and I have done some teaching as well. One thing I would say about teaching is that it is a bit like 'performing'. In some ways you are putting on a show which is draining so holidays are a welcome perk of the job. But saying that I don't like moaning teachers, or any moaning professionals for that matter - if you don't like your job then do something else.

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Ok, I have several teacher friends who, over the past couple of weeks, have been complaining about their imminent return to work following a mammoth 6 week holiday. Would anyone agree that ( and I know I'm generalising ) they're a right bunch of whinging so & sos with no grip on reality? Just to put it into context, I have to work 40 hours a week with 20 days holiday per year but am considerable less 'stressed' than they seem to be...

 

In my experience teachers are not "a right bunch of whinging so & sos with no grip on reality." Many teachers choose their 'profession' because of the generous holidays, and forgo a more financially rewarding career for this very reason. Good for them I say.

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If you mention the 13 weeks holiday or other perks though, they're very quick to defend how 'hard' it is, and how they have to work in some of those 13 weeks to prepare lesson plans or mark books.

 

Too true. But presumably if you were questioned you'd defend your renumeration package?

 

I know there are a lot of bad teachers out there; poor quality teachers, lazy teachers. But I also know from experience that there are some good teachers and some very good teachers who do work hard 'out of hours'. It's the same in any organisation isn't it?

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I think that teachers have been incredibly badly served by their unions. They receive really good benefits but what they really want is to be able to educate without feeling threatened or being in a continual state of confrontation.

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Most professionals do a good job and work conscientiously.

However, I know of no other profession where, at the end of the day several hours need to be spent marking exercise books and preparing for the next day's work.

Week-ends also need to be used to prepare materials and to prepare for the week ahead. "Poor quality" lessons are those where the teacher has had little time to prepare for the class to be taught.

Many promising graduates are lost to the teaching profession because they rightly see that similarly qualified people can earn far more and their free time is their own.

Yes, the holidays are a compensation, but term time is non-stop, evenings and week-ends alike.

Apart from the police force, teaching is the only profession where you are dealing with people who are in your care non-voluntarily. A scary prospect for those not totally committed to the job!

We need more good teachers. They mould our future.

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Most professionals do a good job and work conscientiously.

However, I know of no other profession where, at the end of the day several hours need to be spent marking exercise books and preparing for the next day's work.

Week-ends also need to be used to prepare materials and to prepare for the week ahead. "Poor quality" lessons are those where the teacher has had little time to prepare for the class to be taught.

Many promising graduates are lost to the teaching profession because they rightly see that similarly qualified people can earn far more and their free time is their own.

Yes, the holidays are a compensation, but term time is non-stop, evenings and week-ends alike.

Apart from the police force, teaching is the only profession where you are dealing with people who are in your care non-voluntarily. A scary prospect for those not totally committed to the job!

We need more good teachers. They mould our future.

 

<fx: applause>

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