4.5 day week.

[Bitter_Dave]

A bit ridiculous to be getting angry about a proposal that nobody of any significance has said as far as I can tell.

Move towards being in education, training etc until 18 simply moves us to what most of the industrialised world do. People need skills, literacy and numeracy for god sake!

Reducing class sizes and dealing with the root causes of poverty and social decay that teachers have to deal with on a day to day basis would be a good place to start.

And as someone who has teachers in my family, I know how damn hard they work. And if someone says 'well I know some who doesn't' does not disprove that general rule (lots of evidence teachers work crazy hours).

 

[Leon103]

Kids should have school 6 days a week.

 

[An Ankoù]

Kids should have school 6 days a week.

Troll.

 

[Laner]

Bank holidays would be part of that 28 so only 20 where you can actually choose when to take.

If you exercise the legal right to a ‘flexible work’ agreement then bank holiday entitlement can be taken at a time of your own choosing

 

[Laner]

Welsh language

OK. I presume the Welsh have no need of grammar? Or did google do a poor job of translating to English?

 

[Bitter_Dave]

Teaching functional maths and English to 16 olds who have, for whatever reason, failed it at GCSE seems like a pretty sensible thing to be doing to me. It might help them become successful roofers, etc etc. And there are already alternatives to being in formal education at 16-18. We underfund them in the UK, but that is a separate issue.

 

[Clint]

Teaching basic maths is essential. The applied stuff,algebra and all the rest is only applicable if its understood and combined with higher education.
A lot depends on whether the person actually WANTS to do such stuff.
You can't force even the brightest kids to do clever stuff if they don't want to as you can't force clever stuff into kids that can't grasp it.

 

[Leon103]

OK. I presume the Welsh have no need of grammar? Or did google do a poor job of translating to English?

Os ydych chi'n darllen fy swyddi eraill yma, byddech chi'n sylwi nad Saesneg yw fy iaith gyntaf.

But you are correct, Welsh grammar is significantly different to English grammar.

 

[Stu]

Teaching basic maths is essential. The applied stuff,algebra and all the rest is only applicable if its understood and combined with higher education.
A lot depends on whether the person actually WANTS to do such stuff.
You can't force even the brightest kids to do clever stuff if they don't want to as you can't force clever stuff into kids that can't grasp it.

I was in a restaurant the other day. There were 6 of us. The bill came to £179.60 including service charge (so no tip necessary IMHO)

We said to round it up to £180 and we'd split it 3 ways - £60 each.

I jest not, the girl had to get out her phone and calculator.

 

[Stu]

My point exactly except they'd be better served being on the job.

So they can.

That's exactly what an apprenticeship is. You learn and get qualifications whilst working and being paid.

And you can do that from 16.

My son is a chef. He chose to do an apprenticeship rather than go to college.
He has the same qualification either way. Did it in the same timeframe and earned money.

 

[Kerby]

I’m going to stick up for teachers seeing as 3 of my siblings are teachers.

People who have no clue think they work from 9 x 3:30 and get 13 weeks holiday.

My brother is head of department, so let’s look at his day.

He is in school usually around 7:45 to prepare for the day. He then teaches through to lunchtime where he is often expected to monitor young people. If not, he’s marking in his classroom. He then does the afternoon before running after school clubs. He usually finishes around 6 by the time he’s packed up and goes home. He eats and then has to do marking usually until around 9. He keeps Saturday free, but Sunday normally involves more work and planning.

In the holidays, he has lesson planning to do. Christmas and Easter holidays, he’s spending maybe half the working week doing it. And in the summer holidays, he spends around 3 weeks planning the 2 music and drama productions he’s expected to produce and run. In addition, he’s helping A level students with their UCAS applications and dealing with exam results.

On top of all that, as a 50+ year old, he doesn’t earn stupid money, despite having 5 years at university and slogging to become head of department. He also can’t take any time of during term time, even by paying a paltry fine like parents can.

Even if you think he does get 13 weeks off, he still does 55 hours a week compared with the average worker who only gets 6.4 weeks off (5 weeks plus 8 bank holidays)

Yes, he chose to do it. No, it’s an absolute slog of a job. Constantly on your feet and having to deal with absolute a**eholes of kids who are being dragged up by chavvy parents.

Most of my family were teachers, several good friends are teachers and I myself taught (admittedly not at school level) for over a decade and I can testify to this.