It may be the holidays but not all teachers are sunning themselves on a beach in the Caribbean you know. What with the recent announcement that I'm going to have to find an extra £400 per year for my "fantastic" pension (the reason it's "fantastic" Mr Gove/Osbourne is because we don't get paid as much as the private sector workers and don't receive any bonuses, you muppet(s)).
In fact I'm actually working for a couple of days each week on quite an exciting project to do with learning via the internet and children in remote parts of the world. It has legs and I'm being paid very well for it, although I would like to point out, not the hourly rate of £30ish per hour that the unions suggest we get paid, but I'm grateful, not only for the cash but also for the opportunity to be part of something that I believe could be truly revolutionary in the world of education across the planet. I can't say too much at this point (dear oh dear, I sound like a poor man's James Bond), but if it gets off the ground, and the signs are good, I will no doubt bore the pants off you all about it.
I would like to say that it's really nice to be working with people who actually value my opinion (and I have a few gems amid the piles of rubbish I throw out on a daily basis) as opposed to being told by certain members of my leadership team and Ofsted that I'm essentially worthless on a regular basis. Please, put those small violins away, I don't want sympathy, I'm just making the point that perhaps your staff, Mr/Ms Headteacher, would be more productive and open to your ludicrous ideas about pushing the school "forward", if you actually praised them on occasions when you didn't actually want something from them in order to give you more leverage when you go for your next, better paid job. Just a thought.
Anyway, I digress.
It's funny but the first thing you hear from people when they talk about teaching is "great holidays". What people don't often realise that a teacher's day doesn't begin at 9am and end at 3.30pm, and the 13 weeks (yes, I know it's a lot) holiday isn't always spent on a sunbed with the latest Jilly Cooper novel, or whatever may float your particular boat.
When I first startedteaching all those moons ago, I spent most of my holidays labouring on a building site of a friend of mine. The money I was paid was essentially what I got for being a teacher - so it was "double bubble" for those weeks. The great thing with the labouring was that I didn't have to do anything outside of my working hours, I'd just turn up, break stuff up/wheelbarrow/shovel stuff, and go home. Plenty of tiredness but no stress. I'm not saying that all teachers should give up teaching and become labourers, but I'm just trying to convey the fact that teaching is not just about your contracted hours - 13 weeks holiday is often not 13 weeks holiday.
Unless you're the headteacher, when you can actually afford to pay for holidays offered by travel agents during school holiday time, and you can just tell your 100 or whatever staff to essentially do your job for you.
Who's the mug?
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