Richard Hawley

Some questions, MerseyBeatle:

1. What exactly do you do at this school?

2. Do you say these things to your colleagues?

3. Did you have a very bad experience with a teacher whilst at school yourself, hence the chip on your shoulder about all teachers?

the only point i'll concede to you is the one you make about iraq, the police and the nurses. the rest is beyond belief. all i can say is that the school where you work and your girlfriends colleagues must be on special measures from ofsted operating like that.

what about meetings after school? what about differentiating work to different levels and abilities in each class? what about child protection and sen? after school clubs? if that's the level of care your girlfriends school delivers then thank god i'm not in the catchement area.

i could go on but i think i'll be wasting my breath here. like rita says, you're being a bit coy over what you actually do? what is it then? with an attitude like that, please let it be something that doesn't involve the kids.

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don't strive for happiness, it'll make you miserable. just be content.

Don't do free periods - i work at primary so we don't get them.
I would love to chat in the staffroom - I get 45 minutes for dinner which is closer to 25 minutes if you count seeing straggling kids out and setting up for the following lessons. i stay until at least 5, have a tea break, then do my planning, marking, curriculum work, subject coordinator tasks, etc. I finally settled down to spend an hour with my partner last night at about a quarter to 10. A few late nights is grossly oversimplifying. When pretty much every night is a late night, it becomes easier to say a few early nights.

If after hours marking is an urban myth, when the hell do you expect teachers to mark? We don't all teach the kind of lessons where you can just put a tick at the bottom.

I have been a teacher since 2003 and i'm still planning from scratch, having rewritten the curriculum. Next year I will be teaching a mixed class, so will have to redo it again. Things do actually change in schools, you know.

The only reason people would possibly say the same as you is if they had never taught in their life, were deluded, or did the bare minimum possible. The majority of teachers in my experience are not like this.

The reason we need 'so many' holidays is because you can't sustain that level of stress for long periods of time or people start to get ill.

Yes, soldiers, nurses and police do have a difficult job - we're not questioning that. But a lot of people have much easier jobs, too. Maybe they don't get paid as much - it's swings and roundabouts.
The whole point about teaching is that it is a professional job - although these days, there is no status that goes with it and you just provided a great example of that.

It's very easy to take in a couple of soundbytes and spout rubbish, but the only way you will ever know is to try it, then you will understand. i don't know how you think your limited experience is reflective of the entire teaching profession. Very lazy. By the way, are there any jobs going? 8-30 - 4 sounds great.

I've been asked a few questions, so I'll answer them all in this reply. Boltonlass, I wasn't actually talking about primary school teachers, so there's nothing more I can really say on that, although paraphrasing my points as 'soundbytes and rubbish' doesn't make that true; if I did want to skirt into talking rubbish I would have said something like "how long can it take to mark a five year olds schoolwork about the three times table, what are you doing next week; I'll be in work" etc etc. I digress. None of what I said was anywhere near that obvious or tired so please, don't insult me. I don't have a chip on my shoulder about teachers, I wouldn't date one otherwise. I just don't buy into the 'hard done to' teacher mentality, for the reasons I gave.. I'm sorry you're so upset mph and the others, it's nothing personal, maybe some of you have some sort of complex about not being taken seriously? I don't know you, you don't know me, that's just my opinion based on personal experiences in the school and from time spent with teachers, amongst other things. "Having not taught in a school" doesn't invalidate anything I've said.. people had differing opinions on the dockers, on the miners, on the workers in the British Car Industry during the trade union years, they might not have necessarily worked in any of those fields but they could still have an informed opinion based on other things than employment in that sector. The same applies. If you don't like it, then that's fine, but there's no need for a character assasination, it's just a debate/exchange of opinions. I didn't get personal towards any of you.

No I don't say these things to my colleagues, why would I do that? Do you tell people you know everything about them that irritates you, or things that are negative about them in your opinion? Of course you don't. I don't dislike them as people just because they're teachers like you imply, it doesn't really bother me that much, I just thought I'd voice my opinion seeing as the subject was being discussed, before you went ultra defensive; at that point I thought I'd give my full opinion, which has obviously hit a nerve.

And why me having a contrasting opinion to you about you or anyone elses line of work means I should be kept away from children is beyond me, and to be honest a completely irrelevant and cheap shot.

I'm an IT technician, it's nothing secretive to be honest, just overlooked it in my response before. First job after uni, decent money, going to get some experience in the area and move further up the ladder, hopefully. And Rita, whatever makes you feel better. I could teach if I wanted, I'm a graduate in computing, (I do also teach classical guitar of a night, and I'm qualified to do so.. not that I'm comparing this to teaching in a school before people get upset, more in response to the intelligence jibe) I just want to see if I can progress in this (technicians) sort of field, which in the long run might be better paid than teaching.. if not, I've always got other options, and at least I've tried. Making massive assumptions about me and/or my intellgence because you don't agree with what I'm saying is just childish, and assumption usually, as in this case, leads to failure. I don't really care what you do, you're entitled to your opinion, although I can hazard a pretty good guess...

Right, I think this needs to be dropped now, don't you?

It's fine by me to drop all this.
You were the one who started all the negative stuff in this thread, Merseybeatle. All comments in the thread before your imput were positive.

I didn't say anything negative on a personal level, that's my point, I just gave my opinion, then some people, yourself included, went a step further in some sort of attempt to score points off me purely because you disagreed.

YAWN!

Well I'm glad you have nothing more to say. Let's leave it there. I guess the thread did live up to the "RANT!" moniker.

it's the only way!

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don't strive for happiness, it'll make you miserable. just be content.

On the subject of strikes........funny about the police suddenly thinking it might just be a good idea....

Hmm, wonder who'll beat them up on their picket lines

Sadly, I fear that however short we are of "bobbies on the beat", miners are an even rarer breed these days.....

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Eat y'self fitter!

Send the teachers to beat them up, it'll give them something to do once they've knocked off at 3.

Aye but there's still plenty of ex-miners.

'kin class. You wouldn't let it lie....

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Eat y'self fitter!