Teachers strike?

[egg&chips]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Thats a very poor way to look at things

Just responding to Guiness comment on secondary teachers being overpaid childminders J, and keeping in mind that there are lies, damned lies, statistics and the ability of any interested political (small "p") party to make numbers say exactly what you want them to say.

[jaysay]

Originally Posted by egg&chips

Just responding to Guiness comment on secondary teachers being overpaid childminders J, and keeping in mind that there are lies, damned lies, statistics and the ability of any interested political (small "p") party to make numbers say exactly what you want them to say.

Sorry just though you looked on yourself as a childminder

[egg&chips]

Originally Posted by jaysay

Sorry just though you looked on yourself as a childminder

Not a problem sir. Actually I did think of myself as a childminder, but only my own two.

[churchfcrules]

Originally Posted by egg&chips

Hmmm. I thought that I would have to add my two penn'orth here, especially in view of Guiness' second and third paragraphs.
Firstly the claim that teachers do not live in the real world. In my school I have dealt with three families with children subject to systematic sexual abuse from family members and many more with children who have been physically and emotionally abused. Many have undergone trauma in countries that they have fled from and have the mental scars to hinder their integration into our society. In one two month period three parents were murdered as a result of a drugs war. Several occasions of children bringing knives into school in order to attack classmates have been dealt with in the last few years. As a result of the deficiencies of the community I work in, at least one member of staff in my school is kicked, punched or spat upon almost every working day, usually by children, very occasionally by parents or carers. This is before we start to think about educating.
In my life I have taught for 15 years,prior to which I have worked in offices, banks, petrol stations, pubs, holiday camps, rubbish dumps, shops, bookies and a hostel for recovering alcoholics. I consider myself to have spent some time outside of the classroom. Oh yes, I sold advertising and financial products for a time (not my finest hours).
Do I moan? Of course, I think everyone who does a tough job does moan and furthermore should moan. Hopefully, I keep such moaning to colleagues,family and friends whose reciprocity in the art of grumbling is a given.
I won't go into the issue of teachers' hours and holidays at length, but suffice to say that several teachers in my school arrive at 7.30 and leave at 6 then go home to do planning and marking for the next day. On our pay slips it says 32.5 hours per week, if I work less than 50 hours, it's been a soft week.
As for teaching by rote and crushing creativity, I cannot deny that rote teaching can be effectively employed for some learning objectives, but know that the emphasis put on different learning preferences even when trainee teachers are being coached means that this is a technique which is dying out.
I suspect that because we all(presumably) went to school at some point in our lives, and have had experiences which weren't always positive, those experiences are carried around for many years and colour our perceptions. It is understandable that people carry these opinions around and that they feel obliged to offer such opinions freely to all who would listen. It's their right and they are correct in exercising such rights no matter how misguided their beliefs are. I suppose it's all a question of how effective their education has been for them.

solid points