The female head at our primary school is outstanding, have not met a more professional person in any walk of life. Some of the younger female teachers however do seem to be very heads in the clouds and are *always* pregnant!
[quote][cite]Posted By: Big William[/cite]As Sting once said, being a teacher is like being a rock star - you spend your life trying to entertain hooligans for 45 minutes.
Not sure I'd do it for 20 weeks holiday - the teaching that is.[/quote] or 12 weeks, plus a lot of teachers work in the school for some of the time the kids are not there. My wifes school, staff have been going in for the last week and a half and were going in for a week after the end of term
This thread reminds of something I saw 2/3 weeks back, in the same road as me live 2 youngish teachers with 2 young boys of their own. As I returned home from work, she was standing at the kerb with her boys I parked and watched, thay crossing backwards and forwards. On leaving my van she had noticed me watching and shouted "I'm teaching them how cross the road safely" Ah, thats what was puzzling me, "You might want to teach them to look right first, rather than left"
worth every penny teachers.
[cite]Posted By: falconwood_1[/cite]The female head at our primary school is outstanding, have not met a more professional person in any walk of life. Some of the younger female teachers however do seem to be very heads in the clouds and are *always* pregnant!
I dunno. You make up your workforce largely of women of child-bearing age and then they go and get pregnant. There should be a law against it.
Of course there are good and bad teachers, just as there are good and bad parents. The difference is that you can work to improve the teachers and ultimately there are procedures for getting shot of them. Unfortunately, you're stuck with the parents, and more to the point so are the kids.
There's no doubt teachers come under a lot of pressure to produce results and this spawns a great amount of bureaucracy that can be counter-productive. However, I can remember teachers in the 70s - at primary and at grammar school - who were bloody useless and didn't make any effort to do the job, but nothing was done about them because nobody was checking up at all. Don't think that was fair on the kids, with hindsight, and they are what matters most.
Fair comments Airman it used to be quite difficult to get rid of teachers I believe. I think most teachers accept the need for some accountability as perfectly reasonable, but the whole ofsted/ inspection culture needs a serious review in my view. It is ludicrous the amount of pressure schools and staff are put under during some of these inspections, and some of the hoops we are expected to jump through in the name of education are quite frankly laughable if it was not such a scandalous waste of our time. As you rightly say, in the end, it is the children who matter (as well as the staff) but no child is better served being taught by stressed teachers who simply run out of energy needed to do the job in the way it needs to be done.
I'm pretty harsh on the quality of most teachers, but I do sympathise with the ridiculous expectations from precious parents. Cake on your birthday, erm maybe do that at home. Don't remember any celebrations at school during my day apart from shared ones say at Xmas. School isn't for your kids gluttinous celebrations do it at home.
I have a great deal of respect for har working teachers and much sympathy for those who deal with the general public who put f**k all into their parenting but want everything forr their kid's at school.
[cite]Posted By: Dave Rudd[/cite]My respect for teachers increased immensely when I discovered (from one in the trade) that many of them play Pac-man when invigilating during exams.
As they walk leisurely up and down the exam room aisles, one teacher assumes the role of Pac-man, while others are the ghosts.
This thread has thrown up some very typical attitudes towards teachers from people who have a limited experience of them.
"I knew a teacher once and she got drunk a lot and was s**t at teaching her kids to cross the road etc etc blah blah."
Consider these points:
1) All industries have members of the workforce that do their colleagues no credit whatsoever. There are bad teachers, lazy teachers, drunk teachers, eccentric teachers, good teachers etc etc. The same can be said for nurses, police, footballers, the army, banking, retail, nuns, estate agents, bar staff and milkmen.
2) Lazy teachers work a short day. Usually 9.00am - 3.40pm or equivalent. These 'teachers' are disliked by other teachers for their shoddy attitude.
3) All the rest of the teachers work more hours. Some arrive early and stay late after school and maybe do a long shift every day to avoid working at home. Some take their work home with them and do it in the evenings or the weekends or both. Personally, I tend to turn up at school at 7.30 each day and work through to anywhere between 4.30 and 7.00 (Probably 5.30 on average). I then tend to do marking at home if I haven't had a chance during this time - though admittedly, this is rare.
4) Teaching is a job that requires a number of very specific skills - eg Subject knowledge, ability to communicate ideas, understanding of those with a lack of understanding, behaviour management, crisis management, enthusiasm, patience, diplomacy, leadership, discipline and many more.
5) Teachers have mental breakdowns, crises of confidence and extended periods of wondering if they were cut out for this. This happens a lot because the mental pressures of teaching are enormous if a teacher takes their job seriously. Teaching requires an incredibly thick skin because of the (usually) unfounded abuse or disparaging remarks dished out by ill-informed students and parents alike. Teachers are sworn at, threatened and humiliated by students on a regular basis because they cannot respond in any way without fearing for their job. Teachers receive abuse from parents that in any other situation would legally be considered harrassment, bullying or wilfully harmful. Teaching requires an ability to recognise that you are, for some kids, the only positive adult role model they have. The responsibility of this is immense.
6) Sometimes, teachers are twats. Sometimes, parents are twats. Usually, teachers or parents become twats due to a student or students being twats. This is generally true.
7) Teaching is physically exhausting. A very wise teacher once told me that teachers were like actors, but they have to write all their own material, direct, produce, deal with the paymasters, talk to the press (parents), write reviews, set up technical areas, edit and be prepared to ad-lib at will. Oh, and Perform for 5 hours a day rather than 2. Now go and see what an actor says after a 6 week run at the Theatre Royal. (I guarantee the word 'exhausted' or the words 'I need a rest' come up).
8) Teachers don't go into teaching for money. They do it to teach. Admittedly, some teachers go into teaching because they like the idea of long holidays, but you'll struggle to find a teacher of any experience who doesn't think those extended holidays are necessary.
9) 6 weeks summer holiday is well earned and well deserved. Some teachers irritate the rest of the world by constantly harping on about it, but not many in my experience. I spent 10 years of my working life in retail management, working Saturdays, late shifts, early shifts, 6 day weeks, 9.00am - 5.30pm days and I only got 4 weeks holiday a year, (plus bank holidays) until I'd worked there a few years, at which point I got 5 weeks. I now get 13 weeks holiday a year, yet I have never had a more challenging or difficult job. Those holidays and half terms are ABSOLUTELY vital to my wellbeing and sanity. But, despite all this, I love it!
And finally,
10) I haven't even mentioned administrative tasks until now. Paper pushing, jumping through hoops, filling out requests for stationery or a day at a course or a school trip, career development files, citizenship, PSHE, government or school initiatives, after school clubs, homework clubs, league tables, performance management, disciplinary meetings, staff meetings, INSET, OFSTED visits... the list goes on. This is the area that, in my opinion, pushes some teachers over the brink. A constant stream of bulls**t that is a thorn in the side of most GOOD teachers. We all understand that some sort of review system is necessary, but in teaching, it's just ridiculous.
So there you go. 10 things to consider about teachers. The list is not exhaustive, by the way.
The thing is, I appreciate why people give teachers such a hard time. Before I studied to be a teacher, I shared a flat with one. I used to rib him about how early he got home from work and how much holiday he got. He would get defensive about it and it's only now that i understand why. What I didn't understand back then was how easy i had it in my job at the time.
It's easier for people to criticise what they don't understand than it is for them to value it.
Lennie Lawrence was a teacher... his footballing experience was no higher than Carlshalton I believe, possibly some of the myriad of skills teachers have that are described above, helped him to win promotion with us, and keep us there for so long.
Comments
Not sure I'd do it for 20 weeks holiday - the teaching that is.[/quote] or 12 weeks, plus a lot of teachers work in the school for some of the time the kids are not there. My wifes school, staff have been going in for the last week and a half and were going in for a week after the end of term
worth every penny teachers.
I dunno. You make up your workforce largely of women of child-bearing age and then they go and get pregnant. There should be a law against it.
Of course there are good and bad teachers, just as there are good and bad parents. The difference is that you can work to improve the teachers and ultimately there are procedures for getting shot of them. Unfortunately, you're stuck with the parents, and more to the point so are the kids.
There's no doubt teachers come under a lot of pressure to produce results and this spawns a great amount of bureaucracy that can be counter-productive. However, I can remember teachers in the 70s - at primary and at grammar school - who were bloody useless and didn't make any effort to do the job, but nothing was done about them because nobody was checking up at all. Don't think that was fair on the kids, with hindsight, and they are what matters most.
I hated school whereas my 2 literally love it.
It is ludicrous the amount of pressure schools and staff are put under during some of these inspections, and some of the hoops we are expected to jump through in the name of education are quite frankly laughable if it was not such a scandalous waste of our time.
As you rightly say, in the end, it is the children who matter (as well as the staff) but no child is better served being taught by stressed teachers who simply run out of energy needed to do the job in the way it needs to be done.
I have a great deal of respect for har working teachers and much sympathy for those who deal with the general public who put f**k all into their parenting but want everything forr their kid's at school.
"I knew a teacher once and she got drunk a lot and was s**t at teaching her kids to cross the road etc etc blah blah."
Consider these points:
1) All industries have members of the workforce that do their colleagues no credit whatsoever. There are bad teachers, lazy teachers, drunk teachers, eccentric teachers, good teachers etc etc. The same can be said for nurses, police, footballers, the army, banking, retail, nuns, estate agents, bar staff and milkmen.
2) Lazy teachers work a short day. Usually 9.00am - 3.40pm or equivalent. These 'teachers' are disliked by other teachers for their shoddy attitude.
3) All the rest of the teachers work more hours. Some arrive early and stay late after school and maybe do a long shift every day to avoid working at home. Some take their work home with them and do it in the evenings or the weekends or both. Personally, I tend to turn up at school at 7.30 each day and work through to anywhere between 4.30 and 7.00 (Probably 5.30 on average). I then tend to do marking at home if I haven't had a chance during this time - though admittedly, this is rare.
4) Teaching is a job that requires a number of very specific skills - eg Subject knowledge, ability to communicate ideas, understanding of those with a lack of understanding, behaviour management, crisis management, enthusiasm, patience, diplomacy, leadership, discipline and many more.
5) Teachers have mental breakdowns, crises of confidence and extended periods of wondering if they were cut out for this. This happens a lot because the mental pressures of teaching are enormous if a teacher takes their job seriously. Teaching requires an incredibly thick skin because of the (usually) unfounded abuse or disparaging remarks dished out by ill-informed students and parents alike. Teachers are sworn at, threatened and humiliated by students on a regular basis because they cannot respond in any way without fearing for their job. Teachers receive abuse from parents that in any other situation would legally be considered harrassment, bullying or wilfully harmful. Teaching requires an ability to recognise that you are, for some kids, the only positive adult role model they have. The responsibility of this is immense.
6) Sometimes, teachers are twats. Sometimes, parents are twats. Usually, teachers or parents become twats due to a student or students being twats. This is generally true.
7) Teaching is physically exhausting. A very wise teacher once told me that teachers were like actors, but they have to write all their own material, direct, produce, deal with the paymasters, talk to the press (parents), write reviews, set up technical areas, edit and be prepared to ad-lib at will. Oh, and Perform for 5 hours a day rather than 2. Now go and see what an actor says after a 6 week run at the Theatre Royal. (I guarantee the word 'exhausted' or the words 'I need a rest' come up).
8) Teachers don't go into teaching for money. They do it to teach. Admittedly, some teachers go into teaching because they like the idea of long holidays, but you'll struggle to find a teacher of any experience who doesn't think those extended holidays are necessary.
9) 6 weeks summer holiday is well earned and well deserved. Some teachers irritate the rest of the world by constantly harping on about it, but not many in my experience. I spent 10 years of my working life in retail management, working Saturdays, late shifts, early shifts, 6 day weeks, 9.00am - 5.30pm days and I only got 4 weeks holiday a year, (plus bank holidays) until I'd worked there a few years, at which point I got 5 weeks. I now get 13 weeks holiday a year, yet I have never had a more challenging or difficult job. Those holidays and half terms are ABSOLUTELY vital to my wellbeing and sanity. But, despite all this, I love it!
And finally,
10) I haven't even mentioned administrative tasks until now. Paper pushing, jumping through hoops, filling out requests for stationery or a day at a course or a school trip, career development files, citizenship, PSHE, government or school initiatives, after school clubs, homework clubs, league tables, performance management, disciplinary meetings, staff meetings, INSET, OFSTED visits... the list goes on. This is the area that, in my opinion, pushes some teachers over the brink. A constant stream of bulls**t that is a thorn in the side of most GOOD teachers. We all understand that some sort of review system is necessary, but in teaching, it's just ridiculous.
So there you go. 10 things to consider about teachers. The list is not exhaustive, by the way.
The thing is, I appreciate why people give teachers such a hard time. Before I studied to be a teacher, I shared a flat with one. I used to rib him about how early he got home from work and how much holiday he got. He would get defensive about it and it's only now that i understand why. What I didn't understand back then was how easy i had it in my job at the time.
It's easier for people to criticise what they don't understand than it is for them to value it.
This may be for youth club organisers to do, but teachers are there to teach.
Send your kids to the Boys Brigade or Scouts and let the teacher do his/her job.