Mid term hols... What's the bloody point

  • Thread starter Thread starter vkurup
  • Start date Start date
V

vkurup

Guest
:sbox::swing: Another mid term hols already upon us. Kids seem to spend only about 5 months in school. Parents have to take holidays just to accommodate this ritual. In the days gone by, school would give this time off so that kids could go and help out in the fields; now this is only for Butlins to make money.

Can someone change these holiday pattern so that kids stay and learn something; with parents back at work, our national productivity will go up automatically too.

Rant over..:sbox:
 
Dont forget inset days - we have got 5 before Christmas....on top of the 'normal' school breaks. For two working parents, it is a nightmare!
 
And the teachers are always moaning about not having enough time to teach
As the pupils get nearer leaving school age, they should get less and less holidays to prepare them for the real world when you only get 28 days holiday a year. (unless you're a teacher of course)
 
bobmac said:
And the teachers are always moaning about not having enough time to teach
As the pupils get nearer leaving school age, they should get less and less holidays to prepare them for the real world when you only get 28 days holiday a year. (unless you're a teacher of course)
Click to expand...

I like the idea... Would you have Mr Gove's email address.. This might have more impact on the economy than whatever Osborne's Plan A...
 
snaphookwedge said:
Try 20 days holiday a year Bob....pretty standard nowadays.
Click to expand...

20 plus stats =28:thup:

Agreed there are too many hols at too many intervals, plus our school teachers stack on their in-service days (what on earth are they for) either side and suddenly the kids are off for nearly 2 whole weeks...........we struggle all the time to accomodate and if you decide to go away and make a holiday of it the robbing travel agents double their price.......cause they can!
 
to be fair re the teachers rant, i agreed until my mates Mrs qualified and is now a secondary school geography teacher. god damn she works hard long hours.. In school for 7.30 prep for the day, home at 6 then she does a few hours work every evening and saturday is taken up by more work! i think she is in the minority though, the system and the "old school" of teachers will soon break her.

I dont know what i am gonna do when all 3 of my kids are at school and the wife is back in work though......
 
What puzzels me greatly is why the teachers dont have their in house training days or parent teacher meetings during the mid term , instead of closing different days for them .. nope close for another day.. bad organisation ..
 
vkurup said:
:sbox::swing: Another mid term hols already upon us. Kids seem to spend only about 5 months in school. Parents have to take holidays just to accommodate this ritual. In the days gone by, school would give this time off so that kids could go and help out in the fields; now this is only for Butlins to make money.

Can someone change these holiday pattern so that kids stay and learn something; with parents back at work, our national productivity will go up automatically too.

Rant over..:sbox:
Click to expand...

So they didn't have school holidays when you were a kid then?:ears:
 
both my niece and her husband are teachers (deputy heads) and if a teacher has to spend hours on a night marking work then they are not using their time correctly,my niece never brings work home as she does it in school hours,same as setting work for the following lessons all done in school hours,they should do away with the 6 weeks holidays and adopt the systems used in other countries,too many holidays and they school day is getting shorter.
 
In school for 7.30 prep for the day, home at 6 then she does a few hours work every evening and saturday is taken up by more work!
Click to expand...

But surely if they had less holidays they wouldn't have to cram it all in.
Less stress on the kids and teachers
 
If I had stayed working at The Cooncil at my grade/age I would have be entitled to 42 weeks holiday and about 16 statuary days.
Nearly 1/7th of a year paid holiday. Small wonder the economy is stuffed.
When I was self employed it cost me over £500 a week in extra staffing costs every time I took a break.
 
Serious, this has come up? I work in education, but to say the old "6 weeks and another holiday" is just pure crap. The amount of time and effort that has to be put in to teach the younger generations is ridiculous. Meetings, lesson planning, marking, report writing and not to forget actually teaching the students, it equates to a silly amount of hours. I don't think anyone can comment on it until they actually have, or know someone that has, taught full time for a number of years.

Regarding INSET days, they are decided by the LEA (or county council), and they are normally held at the beginning of a new term, but it can vary. I would challenge anyone to do a teacher's job to see how they can manage it.
 
just checking do ye not teach to a curriculum [sp] so realy what you teach your class this year is the same as you thought the class last year , & same as you teach the next class next year ?

anyone could throw down that challange to do thier job .. whats being discussed here is the ammount of time off , doesnt suit parents who work etc
 
Unfortunately, you would think that what you teach now is the same as last year...but it changes all the time. It evolves!

The amount of time off hasn't changed in decades, so why does it cause such an issue now?
 
Thats a fair answer , thanks ..

id say the time off issue is mainly because now most families need both parents/guardians to go out working , hence the time off is an issue .. who minds the kids etc?
i have no problems with the mid terms and holidays etc its my opinion tho that the training days & parent teacher meetings etc should take place within these breaks .. & not additional days out of school
 
bladeplayer said:
Thats a fair answer , thanks ..

id say the time off issue is mainly because now most families need both parents/guardians to go out working , hence the time off is an issue .. who minds the kids etc?
i have no problems with the mid terms and holidays etc its my opinion tho that the training days & parent teacher meetings etc should take place within these breaks ..
Click to expand...

I can't really answer from a primary school point of view as I work in a secondary, but by the time they are in secondary, surely students (at least in most areas) are within walking distance of home, or there is some sort of transport that carries students to areas that are then within walking distance, thus allowing parents to work. Primary school is a different matter entirely though, and I can appreciate that. Training days do, by and large, take place during the breaks. There are normally 2 or 3 before students return in September, one before students return after Christmas, and one before students return after Easter. As previously mentioned though, these are set out by LEA/County Councils, so vary from one area of the country to the next!
 
Wabinez said:
Serious, this has come up? I work in education, but to say the old "6 weeks and another holiday" is just pure crap. The amount of time and effort that has to be put in to teach the younger generations is ridiculous. Meetings, lesson planning, marking, report writing and not to forget actually teaching the students, it equates to a silly amount of hours. I don't think anyone can comment on it until they actually have, or know someone that has, taught full time for a number of years.

Regarding INSET days, they are decided by the LEA (or county council), and they are normally held at the beginning of a new term, but it can vary. I would challenge anyone to do a teacher's job to see how they can manage it.
Click to expand...

So effectively what you are saying is that it's difficult to match business requirements with available time as it is and so having huge amounts of time away from the business (in this case the school) is beneficial?
Now I'm no analyst - no wait, I am - but that seems a bonkers response and only one that a "put upon" teacher could come up with. "I don't have enough hours in the day/week to accomplish all the tasks I have... I know, I'll take 6 weeks off, that'll help!".
To add that the time off hasn't changed in decades yet the curriculum evolves is nonsensical as a rationale, why should the time off not evolve as the curriculum, and indeed society as a whole, evolves?

If you always do the same as you have always done, you will always get what you have always gotten. It's an old saying but it's survived for a reason - it's true.

6 weeks off in any profession is ridiculous in my opinion. I get 7 weeks in total for a year and only because I have 15 years service. New starts get 5 weeks - you get more than that in one instance.

I appreciate that teaching youngsters is not easy but that's why you get paid more than, say, a checkout operator at the supermarket (not singling out checkout operators, just an example of difficulty/skill requirement to remuneration).

As you may have guessed, I am not in favour of the volume of school holidays.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

U
Skiers - Ski trips Alps, holiday shares views or advice
Replies
3
Views
820
Old Skier
Old Skier
Liverbirdie
Inverness 2014, Royal Dornoch, Castle Stuart and more
2 3 4
Replies
76
Views
12K
2blue
2blue
Top