Cycling UK Forum

hubgearfreak wrote:good luck to those teachers who've gone to work to teach
good luck to those that are out of school on strike, doing no work and getting no pay
both groups have my sympathy/understanding as they're only standing by their principles
...
so they've gone to work depsite the majority decision of their union to strike? i think there's a word for that, yes.

thirdcrank wrote:IMO, The sad aspect of a thread like this, is that it's not really about teaching, but rather the subsidiary role of schools which is to provide childcare. Let's suppose that teachers had decided to take industrial action by not teaching, but had decided to continue to report to their workplaces and look after their pupils. The apparent impact of the industrial action would then be zilch so it might run undefinitely, just so long as teachers could exist without pay. The real result of anything that went on for longer than a day or two would be harm to the children, especially 'deprived' children, and it would increase as the 'strike' dragged on.

In the meantime, top people's children would benefit from 'charity' meant for the poor in an earlier age. Teachers may not be poor, but I doubt if there is another country in the developed world where they are treated so badly as in this country, simply because the people most able to raise standards opt out of the state system.

Edwards wrote:Some of those that are on strike are marking and doing the planning so that they do not have to do it at home on Sunday.

thirdcrank wrote:In the meantime, top people's children would benefit from 'charity' meant for the poor in an earlier age. Teachers may not be poor, but I doubt if there is another country in the developed world where they are treated so badly as in this country, simply because the people most able to raise standards opt out of the state system.

hubgearfreak wrote:thus there's two hours every day for them to do admin, let alone the week's holiday they get for every 2 days we have.

thirdcrank wrote:Let's suppose that teachers had decided to take industrial action by not teaching, but had decided to continue to report to their workplaces and look after their pupils. The apparent impact of the industrial action would then be zilch so it might run undefinitely, just so long as teachers could exist without pay. The real result of anything that went on for longer than a day or two would be harm to the children, especially 'deprived' children, and it would increase as the 'strike' dragged on.

stewartpratt wrote: Two hours a day is nowhere near enough for the amount of work they're expected to do outside of teaching time.

hubgearfreak wrote:

Si wrote:Surely you had the same opportunity as everyone else to become a teacher

perhaps not. he could be good with children, intelligent, concientious and all the rest of it. but no english 'O' level, or a minor crime on a drunken night out as a student = no chance

Stupidly i spent 23 years serving my country in the armed forces then started an engineering company providing employment, pension contributions, cyclescheme and training for 30 staff and 20+ contractors ...silly me

so they've gone to work depsite the majority decision of their union to strike? i think there's a word for that, yes.

hubgearfreak wrote:sunday, my bum'ole. my son goes to school between 9 and 3.15. for the rest of us to either start at 9 would mean finishing at 5, or to finish at 3.15 would mean starting at 7.15. thus there's two hours every day for them to do admin, let alone the week's holiday they get for every 2 days we have.

meic wrote:It would not be unusual for a conscientious teacher to spend only a third of their working time in "contact". For every hour in the class they would do another hour in admin, preparation and externally imposed time wasting. Then another hour in marking, assessment and appraisal.
It is after all a profession rather than casual work paid by the hour.

From the echelons of top finance the distinction between "highly paid teachers" and poor workers would be unnoticeable.

hubgearfreak wrote:and the 12 weeks holiday? they must be able to make a dent in it then?

Si wrote:In the case of the O level, then he has an inferior ability to those who have qualified as teachers thus they are better rewarded.
you cannot hold working teachers responsible for his not becoming one of them and not having the correct abilities to do the job.

stewartpratt wrote:Yeah, all teachers' work can easily be saved up until the end of the school year and done then