Teacher Training days........

[joeluke]

............What I want to know is what do teachers actually do on the increasing number of 'teacher training days' that tend to pop up each term?

Yes, I know the obvious answer is 'teacher training' but why can't these days be incorporated into the quarter of a years hoilidays teachers get each year?

Working parents have a hard enough job arranging childcare during the aforementioned quarter of a year school holidays without having to arrange more for these days

[EngTeach]

This is why I would take Buenchico on a desert island! LOL

[chelle7272]

Lol teach.
science -teacher - I wish you were at my son's school!
My commetns were a tad off topic, so thanks for the responses all.

[chattykathy]

Well said, Buenchico!!!!!!! Perfectly explained as usual! Let's now hope that all the moaning parents ask the Government not to train/update the teachers anymore and give them their 5 days back.

[twix123]

A lot of people seem to forget that teachers are often also parents and have to arrange for childcare whenever they are on an Inset Day; they do not have the option to take the training day off as leave! These problems are often further complicated when their children are at different schools to those that they teach in.

[annie0000]

My heart bleeds twix - so they have to arrange childcare for 5 days a year - while the rest of us have to do it for the other 12 weeks. I am not saying the problem is caused by the teachers, but they seriously need to get a grip and experience what life is like in the real business world before spouting the "woe is me". I am not saying that it is always an easy job, but it is comparatively well paid and secure and if it was that bad, then people wouldn't stay in the jobs for 20 plus years and there wouldn't be hoards of people waiting to take their place. There are teachers that are well worth their pay and benefits and others that are not. Maybe if the authorities starting to address the latter, then the job would be easier for the rest and there would be vacancies for those coming through the training system.

I am not sure how we address the problem of incompetent parents who allow their children to disrupt classes, but maybe if ALL teachers were able to instil sufficient discipline in their classes, the problem wouldn't be handed on and may be nipped in the bud earlier.

[pink-kittens]

" £30,000 a year now"

HAHAHA - where do you live? I'll bring my NVQ which enables me to be a reception 'teacher' and earn that please, if you tell me of course =)

[joeluke]

Annie, your last paragraph there says a lot about what is wrong with some of our schools - lack of teacher discipline

Teachers have no powers of discipline these days......When I was at school in the late 70's/early 80's unruly kids did not rule the roost, they dared not swear or disrespect teachers like some of the 'ASBO pupils' do these days, kids in those days were actually scared of some teachers (which was no bad thing), and knew if they misbehaved they would be in detention (which kids did actually attend), on report, or for serious offences received corporal punishment.

Parents of these 'ASBO pupils' make things worse because they don't seem to care whether their kid gets a decent education or not........when the said parents' precious angel comes home from school moaning that he has been given detention or was 'being picked on' by a teacher, the parents first reaction is to go down to the school to 'have a word' with the teacher, instead of realising their 'angel' has probably been disruptive at school.......if any kid of mine was obviously being a brat at school I'd give him the verbal b0ll0cking of his life and tell him to start knuckling down because he needs a decent education.

[EngTeach]

JoeLuke, Thank you for that last response. I wonder how this change in parenting spreads around the world. Some of my colleagues come from Jamaica. I always hear how strict the schools are there and the students from there will talk about physical discipline. However, my teacher friends from there say that while it is better there as far as discipline, it has changed over the years and some parishes no longer allow the same levels of discipline as in the past. Their performance levels have dropped as the standards of discipline have been lowered. How does no one see this direct link? Or if they do, how can they ignore it?

[EngTeach]

Pink Kittens- What is a reception teacher?

[annie0000]

I agree joe - when I was at school as much as we were scared of the teachers we were more scared of what would happen if our parents found out we had misbehaved. There were always teachers though that could hold discipline without threat - an admirable quality.

I wouldn't tolerate my kids misbehaving at school either. They wouldn't see the light of day or their screen games for a very, very, very long time.

[joeluke]

EngTeach......reception class here is the first year a child attends school (aged 4/5)

Where I live it's:

1st year at school - Reception
2nd year at school - Year one
3rd year at school - Year two

Confusing huh?

[annie0000]

Eng Teach - I think in England that is a teacher of 4 year olds - roughly the same as primary 1 in Scotland and maybe the equivalent of kindergarten in the States?

[EngTeach]

Thanks- To start Kindergarten, usually the child must turn 5 by Dec. 31 of that school year. (The date varies, but that is general rule) BTW I live in the town that had the first free Kindergarten in the US! At least that is what the Historical Society says.)

Do teachers of different grade levels make different pay?

Here it varies by school system/district, but a teacher of 6 year olds would make what a HS teacher makes if they were in the same system. They are arranged geographically. However, the NYC school system is very large and unique in its structure, but pay is the same across the board and only varies due to years in and degrees earned.

[Buenchico]

For EngTeach. (2-part post):

In England, formal education theoretically starts at the age of 5. (i.e. one year earlier than in the USA). A child who is 5 years old on 1st September will go into 'Year 1'. (That means that your 'grades' and our 'years' are out of step by one grade/year, since a 6-year old here will be in Year 2, rather than in Grade 1).

However children actually enter formal education at the start of the school term (= US 'semester') during which their 5th birthday occurs. So a child who is 5 in February will start school in January, meaning that he'll have two terms of formal education before he enters Year 1. The class he goes into is called the 'Reception' class.

(It's worth noting here that most children attend 'nursery school', 'pre-school', 'play school' or 'kindergarten' prior to the start of formal education but their staff do not come under the same pay structure that applies within formal education, and they don't have 'Qualified Teacher Status').

[Buenchico]

Pink-Kittens post might be slightly misleading because the states that she's got an 'NVQ' (= 'National Vocational Qualification') enabling her to work within a reception class. That's completely separate from the qualifications required by teachers (with QTS) within the main body of formal education. All such teachers (irrespective of whether they're teaching Year 1 or Year 11) must have a university degree, and are paid according to the same national pay structure. (Those who teach Years 12 and 13 will be on the same pay scale if they do so within a school, but they'll be on a different pay scale if they do so in a Further Education college).

The lowest paid teacher (on 'Point 1') gets £21,588 pa. That pay level refers to a newly-qualified teacher, working outside of the London area. (In central London the equivalent pay is £27,000pa. There are two intermediate zones as well). That teacher's pay will then rise by annual increments until he reaches the top of the scale 5 years later. He'll then receive £31,552 pa. (£36,387 in central London).

However there are also additional allowances for those who have posts of responsibility or who work with children with special educational needs. Headteachers and deputy headteachers have their own pay scales.

Any clearer now?

Chris

[EngTeach]

Thanks a lot Buenchico. Why are all these systems so convoluted?? ( I do know-b/c the government runs them.) In NYC public schools (free) a starting teacher with a 4 yr Bachelor's degree earns $40,000 (USD), top pay is $100,000 after 20 years and a Master's Degree plus 30 additional university level credits. In the surrounding suburban areas, the pay is quite a bit higher with the ability to earn more salary with up to 90 additional credits.

I believe our (NYC) Assistant Principals start at $120,000 and a Principal at $150,000.

I love my students (...well, most days LOL) but hate all the nonsense that goes along with it.

[sophie_1003]

To answer the original question- yes it is training, for example when the new government decide on a curriculum and various initiatives a training day may include stuff on those, also, if the school buys new kit there may be training on how to use it. Long term plans may be drawn up (these often cover the whole school so teachers can't do them on their own).
Also- although teachers do ten to take the woe me approach and I can see why this annoys some people it is more in response to people who think that teachers work the same hours the children are in school then lounge about during the holidays (yes some do) but many teachers arrive at school between 7.30 and 8.00 then leave at around 5.00 taking work with them. I've never seen a teacher spend the whole of lunch time in the staff room, there is always stuff to be done. Also, many teachers (speaking about primary now) will devote at least one week of summer holidays to going into school to plan with their classroom assistants and get stuff ready for their new class e.g. peg labels, drawer labels, Learning Journey Books, work books, cleaning and organising storage and toys. And will also spend many other holidays planning, making assessments getting records up to date etc.
Also- in response to arranging childcare, if you don't want to have to arrange childcare don't have children; surely having been through the education system yourself you know that there are holidays (which may I add children need, it's not just so teachers can have time off)?

[EngTeach]

Thanks Sophie. I have been taking courses this summer break, just like in other years.

[sophie_1003]

I think a lot of people assume that once you're trained to be a teacher, that's it nothing's going to change, and I suppose at one time it was like that because (in England at least) teachers used to have much more autonomy but now with curriculums, initiatives and what not changing every few years at least teachers constantly need to be told how to teach this stuff so the 'experts' (and Ofsted!) will be happy!