Home Politics & Debate
If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.

Teachers to Disrupt Lessons...

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
The Nation Union Of Teachers (NUT) has voted today to refuse to teach in classes where there are more than 27 pupils and to disrupt classes in protest as the increasing roles for Classroom Assistants..

Story Here

Opinions?

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I really get annoyed when teachers complain about their workload. They should try doing my job for a week. Teachers get so much more holidays than anyone else, surely that compensates for having to work late. Anyway, say school finishes at half past three, they have a full two and a half hours until 6pm (when I normally knock off) in which to mark stuff. Workload? What workload?

    Disrupting the education of children to satisfy their own laziness is very bad indeed.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Captain Slog
    I really get annoyed when teachers complain about their workload. They should try doing my job for a week. Teachers get so much more holidays than anyone else, surely that compensates for having to work late. Anyway, say school finishes at half past three, they have a full two and a half hours until 6pm (when I normally knock off) in which to mark stuff. Workload? What workload?

    Disrupting the education of children to satisfy their own laziness is very bad indeed.

    For they amount they get paid (considering they've also graduated), they work an awful lot.

    It's definitely not as simple as you've portrayed it...aside from marking, their homework also involves planning lessons (which I've seen to be a major pain in the arse).

    Anyway...I don't think there should be any strikes about class size. Smaller class sizes are wonderful, and they shouldn't be so large, but disrupting the education will do more harm that good:
    It won't teach the same amount of children in smaller groups, the only solution is more teachers.

    Nor do I agree with classroom assistants teaching a class on their own. I believe they should be given the opportunity (they may already be) to train as a teacher (a lot of classroom assistants are teachers-in-training doing their work experience, anyway).
    Sure, some classroom assistants will have great experience of the classroom, but they probably won't be able to plan lessons and mark work as well.

    A good thing to do would be to offer part-time academic training for the assistants, which would fit well alongside the practical experience they're gaining.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Captain Slog
    I really get annoyed when teachers complain about their workload. They should try doing my job for a week. Teachers get so much more holidays than anyone else, surely that compensates for having to work late. Anyway, say school finishes at half past three, they have a full two and a half hours until 6pm (when I normally knock off) in which to mark stuff. Workload? What workload?

    Disrupting the education of children to satisfy their own laziness is very bad indeed.

    Workload? Their workload is far too much. It's not just marking; there's planning, reports, the literacy and numeracy preparation etc. My mum is only a supply teacher and she has a ridiculous amount of work to do. Plus the stress of teaching and being underpaid. Teachers aren't the happiest of people.

    No they shouldn't disrupt the education of children - but they're making a point. Look inside the majority of classrooms and you'll find the education of pupils is already being disrupted and compromised - by fellow unruly pupils, over-sized classes and poor facilities and equipment.

    I agree with bad seed about teaching assistants - give them the opportunity to train and further their qualifications and experience, but don't use them to cut corners and save money. If you are using people who are not properly qualified to teach you are denying children a decent education (not that I'm saying teaching assistants are incompetent).

    I don't believe striking is the best possible action but it is symptomatic of our education system.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    The primary school I went to has been closed because class sizes were "too small" and the teachers complained that their efforts were for too few children. :rolleyes:

    Also, I know three teachers and they're laughing their backs off. They know they are paid well and they know they get fab hols and two of the three very rarely mark any work.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It is true there are not enough teachers around these days to teach the huge amount of students in each class at school.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Captain Slog
    I really get annoyed when teachers complain about their workload. They should try doing my job for a week. Teachers get so much more holidays than anyone else, surely that compensates for having to work late. Anyway, say school finishes at half past three, they have a full two and a half hours until 6pm (when I normally knock off) in which to mark stuff. Workload? What workload?

    Disrupting the education of children to satisfy their own laziness is very bad indeed.

    Stop talking out of your fucking arse. Are you actually retarded or is it only in certain cases?

    An average teacher will teach six lessons in a day, thats six lots of homework. Quick maths: 6x30=180. say half the lessons fdidnt have homework, just for arguments sake. Thats 90 pieces of work to mark. Say it takes 5 minutes to mark a piece of work. That 5x90. Thats 450 minutes. Thats 7.5 hours of work. Thats every night. Just for homework. And then another 60 minutes planning the next days lessons. And then another 60 minutes filling in all the paperwork for the work theyve just done that day. Ten hours of work after a ten-hour shift. Weekends are spent doing the paperwork they couldnt do on a weeknight, plus whatever other work they have. A teacher wouldnt get home from work until 5pm. A teacher is often female, so often has domestic work to do as well. And all that for a whopping £18,000 a year. Greedy? You still so sure?

    And as for the strikes- surely its good in the long run for the kids? A class of 27 kids is too large, and is damaging education and standards severely. And then classroom assistants- they are having to do the job of a teacher because the classes are too large, but guess how much training they have to have? A'Levels? GCSE? Nothing, is the answer.

    Now tell me theyre wrong. Check your facts before you open your mouth, it just makes you look stupid and proves that you know nothing.

    [Edited cos I was so annoyed I decied 180/2=60 :rolleyes:]
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Kermit
    [Edited cos I was so annoyed I decied 180/2=60 :rolleyes:]

    Thus proving that teachers are too busy to teach basic maths. :p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think teachers have a heavy workload but then lots of people do. Its just they're not as well paid. Give them another 5k and they wouldnt complain so much.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Man Of Kent
    Thus proving that teachers are too busy to teach basic maths. :p

    Ah bugger off:p
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Originally posted by Van The Man
    The primary school I went to has been closed because class sizes were "too small" and the teachers complained that their efforts were for too few children. :rolleyes:

    Also, I know three teachers and they're laughing their backs off. They know they are paid well and they know they get fab hols and two of the three very rarely mark any work.

    Thats odd, I know two teachers, one of whom is permanently stressed and one who was premanently stressed until he had a nervous breakdown.

    And its actually LEAs that vclose small schools because they are uneconomical, apparently. Not teachers. But youd know that because youre so well informed.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can't blame the NUT for striking. I can see this classroom assistant proposals being more of a hinderance than a help. Basically class sizes will double and the teachers will have to liase with classroom assistants, telling them what they want done and when thus increasing their workload further. An additional classroom assistant is more like an extra pupil than an extra teacher because as keen and willing as they usually are, they don't have the skills to manage a class and thus require the teacher's help increasing the pressure on the teachers. Encourage the classroom assistants to become teachers and don't just use them as cheap labour,
Sign In or Register to comment.