What is hacking you off today?

[kaymac]

“Nice day off for all those teachers that work so hard for 39 weeks and only have 13 weeks off a year”

Really? Try telling the members of my family they get such a pampered working life….you are deluded!!

 

[Supershrimper]

“Nice day off for all those teachers that work so hard for 39 weeks and only have 13 weeks off a year”

Really? Try telling the members of my family they get such a pampered working life….you are deluded!!

No delusion here. I have had several conversations with my friends who are teachers (2 and a half (one of them is part time)) They all have a lesson plan for the term etc and this is throughout the whole teaching year. Unless they get moved from year group to year group then they pretty much use the same lesson plans from previous years, but updating where required for for changes to the curriculum.

I can't imagine that much drastically changes within the curriculum as to the subject matter. 2+2 is still 4, The battle of Hastings was in 1066, and Shakespeare is still very much a boring subject. There might be different ways to teach the subject but the fundamentals of all of the subject matter will not have changed much since we were in school.

I'm seeing the same lessons and activities being completed for my son that my daughter completed 2 years ago.

 

[londonblue]

“Nice day off for all those teachers that work so hard for 39 weeks and only have 13 weeks off a year”

Really? Try telling the members of my family they get such a pampered working life….you are deluded!!

Indeed, not only do I have family who are teachers, I'm also a governor of a local primary school. Teachers don't take holiday just because the kids aren't there. They're nearly always there. Moreover, they work well past the time the kids go home, and most are there well before the kids arrive.

As an aside (but related), a new teacher started at the school I'm a governor of and was instantly liked by everyone. She was exceptional, and loved by her class. One day she told her class that she gets up at 4.00am every morning to go to the gym so that she can be in school by 7.00am.

One of the kids was so impressed with this he told his mum. Her reply was "When I was her age I wasn't getting home until 4.00 in the morning!"

 

[kaymac]

You made remark about the hours and holidays, did you not??? So, you have ‘conversations’ with two and a half friends whereas I have family members past and present in the occupation including both my (late) parents….hmmm….no comparison….

 

[londonblue]

No delusion here. I have had several conversations with my friends who are teachers (2 and a half (one of them is part time)) They all have a lesson plan for the term etc and this is throughout the whole teaching year. Unless they get moved from year group to year group then they pretty much use the same lesson plans from previous years, but updating where required for for changes to the curriculum.

I can't imagine that much drastically changes within the curriculum as to the subject matter. 2+2 is still 4, The battle of Hastings was in 1066, and Shakespeare is still very much a boring subject. There might be different ways to teach the subject but the fundamentals of all of the subject matter will not have changed much since we were in school.

I'm seeing the same lessons and activities being completed for my son that my daughter completed 2 years ago.

As chair of the curriculum committee I can say you're partly right, but you'd be surprised at the amount of work that goes into maintaining a curriculum once it's been set. It is forever changing, and the way it is expected to be delivered is constantly changing, which changes the way it is taught.

For example, there has recently been government guidance for schools to make the curriculum more diverse. A lot of the material has had to be re-written in the last couple of years to include instances and examples of people from a diverse background. An example is to point out that a high proportion of the pilots in the battle of Britain were Polish (and other nationalities) and not just British. That has led to a lot of work for teachers to re-write the curriculum. So yes, the curriculum itself hasn't changed, but the way it is presented has. This kind of thing is ongoing, and probably always will be because nothing is ever perfect, and will need changes. (And, quite frankly, because politicians can't stop themselves getting involved!)

Depending on the school, teachers further down the pay scale probably don't really get involved in some of that work, they just teach what they're told, but the higher up the organisation a teacher goes and the more responsibility they take on, the longer the hours and the harder the job becomes. (I'm also the school's SEN link governor. I defy anyone to take on the role of SENCo and only work when the kids are in school. That is a full time job in its own right.)

If your children's school hasn't changed then I'd be questioning whether that is really true, or I'd be questioning the school, especially if they're due an OFSTED inspection.

 

[RHB]

Day one of putting up the Xmas decs. Only two minor skirmishes so far between the two of us. Normally we work really well together but this annual exercise generally ends in tears for one or the other, normally me. Hey ho, the day is only half over so anything could happen in the next half hour (as they say).

 

[GNH]

Day one of putting up the Xmas decs. Only two minor skirmishes so far between the two of us. Normally we work really well together but this annual exercise generally ends in tears for one or the other, normally me. Hey ho, the day is only half over so anything could happen in the next half hour (as they say).

Please check back in at the end of the afternoon so that we can ensure you are safe and well.

Has the same usual 'discussions' about putting tree and decorations up. Apparently you don't need to have the tree lights on before you put them on the tree so that you can actually see where you are putting them. Just wrap them all on and then worry about trying to sort them out once you plug them in afterwards..........

 

[RHB]

Please check back in at the end of the afternoon so that we can ensure you are safe and well.

Has the same usual 'discussions' about putting tree and decorations up. Apparently you don't need to have the tree lights on before you put them on the tree so that you can actually see where you are putting them. Just wrap them all on and then worry about trying to sort them out once you plug them in afterwards..........

That was skirmish No1. 400 thin copper wire led lights in a ball from last year. Yeah, of course it was me that put them away in a ball last year, it must have been acording to the definitive decision maker in my life.

 

[Supershrimper]

You made remark about the hours and holidays, did you not??? So, you have ‘conversations’ with two and a half friends whereas I have family members past and present in the occupation including both my (late) parents….hmmm….no comparison….

Your right, I did make a remark about the number of holidays. 13 weeks compared to 5 / 6 for the rest of us mere mortals. The workload is all subjective. What one person sees as a heavy workload another may look at with envy and wish for those kind of hours per week.

I chose to work in financial services and for my sins my workload is very heavy. When I first used to commute to London I had time on the train to read a book. Now on the train the laptop is open, and I'm responding to emails before getting to the office. A lunch break consists of a trip to the microwave or fridge and then back at the desk. Even when I'm on annual leave, the phone still pings with urgent teams messages, emails and calls.

I also have (had as now retired) an aunt who used to teach. I felt not the need to include that as I wasn't aware there was a "Top Trumps" style approach to who has the closest teacher connections. Although clearly family members past and present and both parents are going to be no match for my 2 and a half teacher friends and a now retired aunt. How can I compete with that when I'm here with the equivalent of a Full House whilst your holding the Royal Flush.

Clearly there should be 2 topics of conversation banned from this forum - Politics and discussion on teachers and their workload.

 

[southendkid]

No delusion here. I have had several conversations with my friends who are teachers (2 and a half (one of them is part time)) They all have a lesson plan for the term etc and this is throughout the whole teaching year. Unless they get moved from year group to year group then they pretty much use the same lesson plans from previous years, but updating where required for for changes to the curriculum.

I can't imagine that much drastically changes within the curriculum as to the subject matter. 2+2 is still 4, The battle of Hastings was in 1066, and Shakespeare is still very much a boring subject. There might be different ways to teach the subject but the fundamentals of all of the subject matter will not have changed much since we were in school.

I'm seeing the same lessons and activities being completed for my son that my daughter completed 2 years ago.

Primary or secondary? I can see why primary school teachers might have it easy but secondary school teachers are swamped with work to the point that even with 13 weeks off they probably work more hours than many. I know of someone that had to employ their gran to help mark the homework just so that they could finish before midnight.

 

[Supershrimper]

Primary or secondary? I can see why primary school teachers might have it easy but secondary school teachers are swamped with work to the point that even with 13 weeks off they probably work more hours than many. I know of someone that had to employ their gran to help mark the homework just so that they could finish before midnight.

Primary school to be fair. I'm sure secondary school teachers have it harder with the pressure on them to deliver the quest for ever improving pass rates to make the school more attractive.

Times have changed from my days in school when the secondary school teacher would start the lesson teaching for half sn hour and then for the next half an hour we would work through exercises or questions from the board whilst they marked the homework from the previous class (Although they had to have a keen eye in science to ensure we wasn't messing around with the bunson burners or fiddling with the gas pipes)

I remember going round my uncle and aunts and my aunt would be marking homework whilst having a cup of tea and watching Sunday evening TV.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

I chose to work in financial services and for my sins my workload is very heavy. When I first used to commute to London I had time on the train to read a book. Now on the train the laptop is open, and I'm responding to emails before getting to the office. A lunch break consists of a trip to the microwave or fridge and then back at the desk. Even when I'm on annual leave, the phone still pings with urgent teams messages, emails and calls.

My eldest son once had a job with that criteria in N.Y. I told him to leave his laptop & phone at home, when he was taking annual leave as that was his private time & not his company's.
He said if he did, on his return he'd have 100's of e-mails & calls to reply to!.
My reply that surely if he hadn't responded within a week or longer, the people trying to contact him, would then contact someone else in the Co?.
He said 'it doesn't work like that', which i thought was bonkers!. I was a Technical Sales Manager for 18 yrs between 1995-2013, had a Company phone etc, but when i finished at the end of each day & on a Fri afternoon until Mon morning, i turned it off.
On a Mon morning i'd sometimes have messages from customers & stockists of our products, who had been trying to contact me throughout these times, as they required some of our range's urgently & couldn't understand why i wasn't available??.
I didn't have access to our premises, so told them there was nothing i could do over the weekend or on a weekday night, hence why my phone was turned off!.
My M.D was a fair man, & insisted that everyday we all took the hrs lunch we were entitled to.
Def a different world out there now?.

 

[Gt Yarmouth Shrimper]

Your right, I did make a remark about the number of holidays. 13 weeks compared to 5 / 6 for the rest of us mere mortals. The workload is all subjective. What one person sees as a heavy workload another may look at with envy and wish for those kind of hours per week.

0/10, see me after the lesson.

 

[Supershrimper]

0/10, see me after the lesson.

One of the reasons I work in Financial Services. I got A grades at GCSE for language and Literature but my grammar and mixing of Your / You're, off / of is laughable.

 

[Supershrimper]

My eldest son once had a job with that criteria in N.Y. I told him to leave his laptop & phone at home, when he was taking annual leave as that was his private time & not his company's.
He said if he did, on his return he'd have 100's of e-mails & calls to reply to!.
My reply that surely if he hadn't responded within a week or longer, the people trying to contact him, would then contact someone else in the Co?.
He said 'it doesn't work like that', which i thought was bonkers!. I was a Technical Sales Manager for 18 yrs between 1995-2013, had a Company phone etc, but when i finished at the end of each day & on a Fri afternoon until Mon morning, i turned it off.
On a Mon morning i'd sometimes have messages from customers & stockists of our products, who had been trying to contact me throughout these times, as they required some of our range's urgently & couldn't understand why i wasn't available??.
I didn't have access to our premises, so told them there was nothing i could do over the weekend or on a weekday night, hence why my phone was turned off!.
My M.D was a fair man, & insisted that everyday we all took the hrs lunch we were entitled to.
Def a different world out there now?.

Definitely a different world now. Been at my present company for 16 years. It started as a relatively small firm punching above its weight with the big boys. Then after being purchased and sold a couple of times people leaving etc people remember who the best are at getting the answers / results to get the job done.

And in a post covid environment where you have MS Teams and Outlook on your personal mobile an Out of Office reply on an email is no deterrent to some. It just means theh then feel they can contact you via WhstsApp etc If I didn't keep check on my emails I would have around 50 after 1 or 2 days off.

I rarely say it but the French have the right idea passing the right to disconnect law back in 2016/17. Italy has also followed in the same footsteps.

It would be great if we could just delete all emails that are received after we clock out and then start the next day with a clean slate. Although all that would do is ensure people send their emails the minute they see you have logged in.

I long for retirement (another 15 years minimum for me though) or hope for redundancy and a nice big settlement o clear the mortgage.

 

[Mad Cyril]

I chose to work in financial services and for my sins my workload is very heavy. When I first used to commute to London I had time on the train to read a book. Now on the train the laptop is open, and I'm responding to emails before getting to the office. A lunch break consists of a trip to the microwave or fridge and then back at the desk. Even when I'm on annual leave, the phone still pings with urgent teams messages, emails and calls.

I have spent most of my career working for banks. Mostly American but some European.

The first US bank I worked for had a terrible reputation for long hours and poor work life balance. Sadly it wasn’t the smartest people who did well but those who played the game and let management know how hard they were working. Meanwhile those who did what they were supposed to and just got on with their jobs slipped under the radar.

I hated it but it looks very good on one’s CV. I have done contract work ever since and worked largely 8-5. I’ll hang around if things go wrong but that is once in a blue moon.

 

[Mad Cyril]

Why is ordering a McDonalds such an ordeal these days.

The old system seemed to work fine when I was younger.

 

[Billy Bests boot laces]

Definitely a different world now. Been at my present company for 16 years. It started as a relatively small firm punching above its weight with the big boys. Then after being purchased and sold a couple of times people leaving etc people remember who the best are at getting the answers / results to get the job done.

And in a post covid environment where you have MS Teams and Outlook on your personal mobile an Out of Office reply on an email is no deterrent to some. It just means theh then feel they can contact you via WhstsApp etc If I didn't keep check on my emails I would have around 50 after 1 or 2 days off.

I rarely say it but the French have the right idea passing the right to disconnect law back in 2016/17. Italy has also followed in the same footsteps.

It would be great if we could just delete all emails that are received after we clock out and then start the next day with a clean slate. Although all that would do is ensure people send their emails the minute they see you have logged in.

I long for retirement (another 15 years minimum for me though) or hope for redundancy and a nice big settlement o clear the mortgage.

Thanks for your comprehensive reply, appreciated. Good luck for your future and hopefully you'll get the redundancy one day, which will ease your finances and give you a somewhat stress free easier life.

 

[londonblue]

Your right, I did make a remark about the number of holidays. 13 weeks compared to 5 / 6 for the rest of us mere mortals. The workload is all subjective. What one person sees as a heavy workload another may look at with envy and wish for those kind of hours per week.

I chose to work in financial services and for my sins my workload is very heavy. When I first used to commute to London I had time on the train to read a book. Now on the train the laptop is open, and I'm responding to emails before getting to the office. A lunch break consists of a trip to the microwave or fridge and then back at the desk. Even when I'm on annual leave, the phone still pings with urgent teams messages, emails and calls.

I also have (had as now retired) an aunt who used to teach. I felt not the need to include that as I wasn't aware there was a "Top Trumps" style approach to who has the closest teacher connections. Although clearly family members past and present and both parents are going to be no match for my 2 and a half teacher friends and a now retired aunt. How can I compete with that when I'm here with the equivalent of a Full House whilst your holding the Royal Flush.

Clearly there should be 2 topics of conversation banned from this forum - Politics and discussion on teachers and their workload. Especially when you factor in how poorly they get paid.

I too worked in financial services (investment bank, one of the American ones) and can tell you that I'd much prefer that to the hours and workload of teachers. Especially when you factor in how poorly they're paid.

To put that into perspective, my year end bonus was higher than most teachers earn in a year...and I'm comparing my bonus in the 90s with teachers' salaries now.

 

[Grayson]

If you're envious of teachers' working hours, become one.

The reason most of us do not is because we are not envious of their pay or the **** they have to deal with on a daily basis.