Expensive holidays during school breaks. What do we think.

I once spent a miserable year teaching (or trying to teach) in a sec-mod about-to-be-comp in rural Norfolk. During the summer term, exams or no exams, a considerable number of senior pupils decamped to go strawberry picking. Oddly enough a couple of the farmers who employed them were school governors. Presumably this no longer happens, though when, out of curiosity, I looked up the said school in the league tables, I wasn't too sure about that!

Teachers salaries are not high as compared to other people with other Master's Degrees though.

granjura, you are obviously a dedicated and caring teacher. I wish you had been in charge when my daughter went on a sports school trip to Spain age 13 - they were mostly left to their own devices as the teacher in charge took her husband, daughter and daughter's friend. And the extra sports coaching never materialised (although we paid extra for it). That was many years ago now though. And I think things have improved greatly at her old school.

Precisely granjura - and the hours my OH works are awful, he gets up at 5.30 to do his marking because he is too tired when he gets home at night, which is usually at around 6pm but of course there are so many things that take place in the evenings, including away sports matches and concerts. He has to be at school by 8.15. He goes to bed at nine just to stay sane. He gets calls all weekend - nowadays the parents phone and email. He has after school hobbies most nights, and as for the holidays - courses to keep up to date and lesson preparation, room shuffling, and he loses at least two weeks in the summer holidays from meetings and stuff like that. Plus if a child is really behind through sickness, he tutors them in the holidays. He wouldn't do that if it was because of a holiday. Maybe if the parents paid him.

That is the sort of thing margaretm74 and I could tell a tale or two, (but will not in this public arena), about how that kind of thing can go pear shaped.

There was an abrupt cessation of applications to go on expensive school trips as soon as we brought in the new rule that said taking your own children not allowed.
The MD of Centerparcs was on R4 lunchtime getting asked about their pricing policy. I think he said that it cost them £250,000 to do the building etc before they opened their doors. Hence it is not a cheap holiday.

Be careful what you wish for. When the unfairness of retirement age was discussed, itt was assumed that the age would come down for men, even by some of you on here.
If you wish for equality of holiday pricing, you may find the prices go up in the term time.

Yes, they will, they will never come down!
But the discrepancy is very large at the moment.

Do teachers working in state education in the UK have to have a Masters' degree now? I thought it was only quite recently that they were expected to have first degree.

No, absent. Some do post-grad diplomas. Depends what area of teaching.

QTS Qualified Teacher Status

www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching/faqs/becoming-a-teacher/qualified-teacher-status

Routes into Teaching

The path to becoming a qualified teacher is dependent on the qualifications you currently hold.

A-levels, BTEC or equivalent: you can gain teaching status through an undergraduate BA or BSc degree.
Undergraduate degree or equivalent: you can take a Postgraduate Certificate or Diploma in Education (PGCE/PGDE) through a university-based course or School Direct Training Programme.

When I qualified there was only 2 routes- A Bachelor of Education Degree- I chose the 4 year Honours course, or a Degree + a Post Graduate Certificate in Education (PGSE) - again 4 years minimum.

Same here Granjura. I'm not sure whether having so many different routes into teaching is a good thing. There must be pros and cons, I guess, but I do wonder whether there ought to be some standardisation of training. Would be interested to hear what others think.

Having just watched Tough Young Teachers, I am definitely against their training scheme, Teach First. "Some of our brightest graduates get the shock of their lives when they discover teenagers do not want to listen to them" should be the subtitle.

I think I read somewhere that 1 in 5 newly qualified teachers leave the profession within one year. Sadly, it's all too believable. Bad for recruitment and worse for the thosevpupils who do want to listen to them while the others muk about.

Thanks for that clarification. I thought granjura must have been mistaken when she talked of comparing teachers' salaries with those of people with other Masters degrees.

Miaow?

Was that addressed to me Aka and, if so, why? You seem to be rather cross with me at the moment and I am at a loss to know why. I have a great deal of respect for teachers but was surprised by the suggestion that they had to have an MA or MSc which seems absurdly over-qualified to me but I am very well aware of how successive governments have been obsessed with "qualifications". I have noticed how a requirement for A levels in my day has been transformed into a requirement for a first degree, and a requirement for a first degree has now become a need for a PhD. The nature of the jobs, however, haven't changed substantially.

I don't think Alevels were ever an entry requirement for teaching Absent but they were an entry requirement for Teacher Training, if that's what you mean.

Sorry to sound grumpy, I merely thought I was being pedantic. Must apologise if that was the case. Not feeling very well.

Many teachers (my peer group trained in the 1960s) did not have a degree, they took a 2 or 3 year course and the Certificate in Education.

durhamjen When you say "having just seen" Tough Young Teachers, when was it on? I saw it last week but couldn't find a listing for this week and I really wanted to know what happened to the young woman trainee teacher who was having such problems that there was a question as to whether they'd let her continue.

Re OP my DH just commented that, speaking for the childless, he is subsidising the lifestyle choices of those who do choose to have children, and has done so very heavily over the years, via the tax system. So why should he not at least benefit from the occasional cheaper holiday during term time!

JessM you made me laugh- As said we never had a posh holiday abroad with our kids- but now we can afford to go away from time to time, off-peake and at a good rate- I'd like to enjoy it wihtout having kids karoeke and the lambada by the pool, and screaming kids. If one day we ca take our grand-children, it will just have to be in school holidays- and we will be happy to put up with the noise and disturbance then

Aka I didn't mean A levels were ever a qualification for teaching – I was just talking generally about jobs. I hope you are feeling better.

Thanks Absent