Is It Ok To Damage Education For Holidays?

[ToraToraTora]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-29744465
i know the holday firms take the *** but surely education is more imprtanat than a jolly? Would you take your saucepans on holiday in term time?

[factor-fiction]

Yes, but they do tend blame the teachers though if the results are not what they hoped for

[pixie373]

Really? I wouldn't do that either.

[sherrardk]

I will blame my children if they don't achieve what they should :)

[factor-fiction]

I take your point, Pixie, but it's much easier to manage a situation where everyone is out of lessons at the same time than trying to catch up on several students who have missed a week or so here and there.
The work still has to be covered at some point if teachers and schools are to meet the targets

[sherrardk]

In FF's defence, a lot of parents can be complete nightmares, they truly believe that little Jonny is destined to be a brain surgeon and are surprised when he turns out to be thick as bricks. I went to a meeting on Monday for 6 year old thing 1 - she needs extra help with her maths (and reading), the only other mother there just wouldn't have it that her little darling had been correctly identified as needing extra help, she was convinced that because she was an accountant her daughter should be a maths superstar. It gets worse as they get older.

[gness]

A school year with a poor teacher....and I saw more and more coming in to the profession.....is far more damaging than a week off.....

Then there is the other side of the coin......our holidays went a long way to creating an interest which has led to a fantastic career for our daughter...

[factor-fiction]

I wish there were more like you, sherrardk and pixie, but it's the teachers that often get the blame. Progress is monitored rigorously and there is huge pressure to achieve what are sometimes impossible targets

[jourdain2]

sherrardk I understand what you say about children with normally good attendance who are working their hardest in school. You are probably right about the effect of the occasional week off in those cases. But I taught children from homes where education was not valued (and not only in the state, but in the public sector) and there attendance does matter.

How about my headmistress (I taught for 2 years in an independent school) who went to book her Summer holiday at the local travel agent's. Ahead of her in the queue was one of our parents. They were discussing dates and the mother turned round and asked my Head when the end of term date was. She responded accurately and said parent promptly asked the agent to book the two weeks before that!

I give up! I stick to my point that children should be in school during term-time without good reason. I agree that some recent cases seem to be nonsensical and punishments draconian.

[Slapshot]

We took the kids out of school for at least a week every year until they sat their exams, made no difference and we made certain they caught up with anything they missed. The onus was on us to sort it out mind you looking at some of the Teachers our kids had they may have learned more with us. I hate to say this without offending the brilliant teachers that there are in schools but some of the new generation are a waste of space, spend too much time complaining rather than get on with the vocation THEY CHOSE!! No one questions that it's a hard job but at times everyone's job is tough, we just have to get on with it.

A week off school still learning and maybe expanding horizons is better than weeks off school while teacher strike to protest about league tables and pay and pensions and cirriculums etc etc etc

[sherrardk]

I taught those kids too - I was usually glad to see the back of them :)

[maggiebee]

When my grandchildren moved to Dundee, my daughter in law went to register them for a local school. Was told it could take 3/4 weeks! She replied that if she kept the children out of school for 3/4 weeks she would be fined so they'd better get a move on. Places allocated the following week.

[jourdain2]

I'm not offended, slapshot, I'm of the old generation of teachers! You know, the ones who made children learn things.

[factor-fiction]

I've never had a day off through strikes, slapshot, and don't know of any teachers who've had weeks off striking- just the occasional day (unpaid) maybe.

[jourdain2]

Congratulations to your daughter, maggiebee!

[jourdain2]

Slapshot - I've never been on strike, although now I sometimes wonder if I should have joined in with the protests about the changes. When strikes happened I worked extra hard covering lessons - not for striking teachers, but for those off ill, because there were fewer of us to do so.

[jno]

so holiday firms are wicked for putting up prices when demand is high? Some people just don't understand the market economy (except when it works in their favour, I suppose).

[Hypognosis]

@factor-fiction

Stop helping them catch up! Give them the title and chapter of the relevant book and tell them the school library is always there for them.
People's taxes pay you to teach; it's not your fault if some of the kids are taking their turns skiving to save their parents a few hundred quid.

Or, if holidays are educational, have them do a 'show and tell' to spread the benefit of what they've learned to their classmates. The holiday firms would appreciate the free PR this gives to the destinatons involved.

[Slapshot]

Thanks Jourdain, I'm glad to say that the Teachers I had at school were actually there to teach, had a pride in what they passed on and enjoyed the interaction with kids. In fact, I was still in contact with and becanme real friends with some of my teachers well after I left school, through Uni and beyond.
Then I look at the Idiot my son had in primary seven, a chit of a girl pushed into a difficult class, who was given a target by a dither of a head. Tpo gain her target she ignored the top third of her class, " they didn't need teaching" was her line... but they did need preparing for secondary school and she couldn't have given a damn about them. Unfortunately, I believe there are more and more teachers like her through our education system

[factor-fiction]

Anyway, I'm on holiday (apart from that car boot full of crates of books and exam papers to mark and all those individual student development/action plans to write for loads of students next week), so I'm going to have a glass of wine and forget about school issues for a couple of days.