School holiday now?

If in the future it becomes common practice to take children on holiday during term time. With the head teacher's permission of course. Surely those children could catch up on their missed subjects by keeping schools open with volunteer staff during the standard children's holidays. Those volunteer staff could then take their holidays during term time and benefit from off peak holiday prices.  A Win Win situation all round.

k

an  interesting idea but totally unworkable in practice and very expensive. A typical school runs at 95% attendance (90% was the yardstick used in the famous court case) so in an average school would have about 50 plus pupils off throughout the year. So we bring them in during the holidays. Now unless these absent pupils all took their time off in exactly the same weeks, AND they were all from the same class AND all had the same ability range, AND they were all from the same year group, imagine what this group of children would be like to teach. Pupil A took a week off in October and is year 8 lower sets missed fractions, rivers, sentences....pupil B off in April year 11 higher set missed simultaneous equations, a character sketch of Atticus Finch, atomic mas , pupil C off in June year 9 middle sets.... You get the idea, how could a teacher possibly cover all those subjects. Ofsted are quite keen that each subject is covered by a subject specialist. Mixed ability teaching went out decades ago, and mixed year teaching was never even tried.

And then there's the cost? A teacher takes a week off in April, their timetable will need covering, no you can't ask other teachers to cover a forseen absence so its supply teachers at £800 per week.

If in the future it becomes common practice to take children on holiday during term time. With the head teacher's permission of course. Surely those children could catch up on their missed subjects by keeping schools open with volunteer staff during the standard children's holidays. Those volunteer staff could then take their holidays during term time and benefit from off peak holiday prices.  A Win Win situation all round.

k

You mean they wouldn't just give up their time for free.....as a sort of pay-back for all those holidays they get?

I am always wary of showing up people's lack of knowledge but teachers do not get paid holidays. While we are paid over the year we are only paid for attending for 195 days a year. Those other days when away from school we are not paid for. We could get another job or of course go away in the caravan.

If in the future it becomes common practice to take children on holiday during term time. With the head teacher's permission of course. Surely those children could catch up on their missed subjects by keeping schools open with volunteer staff during the standard children's holidays. Those volunteer staff could then take their holidays during term time and benefit from off peak holiday prices.  A Win Win situation all round.

k

You mean they wouldn't just give up their time for free.....as a sort of pay-back for all those holidays they get?

Write your comments here...Ha Ha Nice one Ian I like your logical thinking !!  -

- but unusually that was not my suggestion, The volunteers would come from existing teaching staff who would be delighted to give freely of their expertise by teaching slightly larger classes and for just one extra hour per day. This would make up for the obvious diminution of staff due to the volunteers taking their holidays. Obviously department heads and Head teachers would be glad to spend teaching time at the chalk face.---- so as I said ---A win Win situation all round.

K 

If in the future it becomes common practice to take children on holiday during term time. With the head teacher's permission of course. Surely those children could catch up on their missed subjects by keeping schools open with volunteer staff during the standard children's holidays. Those volunteer staff could then take their holidays during term time and benefit from off peak holiday prices.  A Win Win situation all round.

k

You mean they wouldn't just give up their time for free.....as a sort of pay-back for all those holidays they get?

I am always wary of showing up people's lack of knowledge but teachers do not get paid holidays. While we are paid over the year we are only paid for attending for 195 days a year. Those other days when away from school we are not paid for. We could get another job or of course go away in the caravan.

You think anyone else would employ someone with so little real life experience?

Anyway, the hours would probably kill them......

Maybee they were mind readers at the club. hence why they extended the peak periods to catch those taking early holidays.

If in the future it becomes common practice to take children on holiday during term time. With the head teacher's permission of course. Surely those children could catch up on their missed subjects by keeping schools open with volunteer staff during the standard children's holidays. Those volunteer staff could then take their holidays during term time and benefit from off peak holiday prices.  A Win Win situation all round.

k

You mean they wouldn't just give up their time for free.....as a sort of pay-back for all those holidays they get?

I am always wary of showing up people's lack of knowledge but teachers do not get paid holidays. While we are paid over the year we are only paid for attending for 195 days a year. Those other days when away from school we are not paid for. We could get another job or of course go away in the caravan.

You think anyone else would employ someone with so little real life experience?

Anyway, the hours would probably kill them......

well of course there are jobs and jobs, Funnily enough I do have some holiday work planned this year, writing exam questions for next year's exam papers, its really well paid and a few hours a day should get me about a hundred or so a day. Of course anyone could apply to do it, you just need the right qualifications and experience

Ok and Kennine did you hear about that Scottish teacher who gave out what what on the exam paper before the exam? story here I'm surprised you didn't post on that, after all you're so quick to post on English educational issues? You must have missed that one

K - did I read the following correctly in your "request for friendly discussion" thread -

"The reason for this thread is to look forward to a nicer forum, not to continue age old opinions and prejudices."

And yet here we go again with the same old same old! I guess, then, that I'm allowed to say the "terrible twosome" are at it again!! 

Diverting the discussion by trying to run down another  nations education system is interesting. ---------In My Opinion. There is no.difference both are as good or bad as the other. 

Why should parents not take their kids out of school with the Head Teachers permission. ( head teacher's discretion )   --------now where have we heard the word discretion before

Why should schools not make this possible  by reforming their educational coverage.  Education and family life go together hand in hand.  this can mean parents taking their family on holiday during traditional term time.   

School staff, if they care about education, should bend over backwards to embrace the 21st Century and changes in family circumstances. . What was good in the 19th century is not always applicable now.

k

K - did I read the following correctly in your "request for friendly discussion" thread -

"The reason for this thread is to look forward to a nicer forum, not to continue age old opinions and prejudices."

And yet here we go again with the same old same old! I guess, then, that I'm allowed to say the "terrible twosome" are at it again!! 

+1

 We could get another job or of course go away in the caravan.

You think anyone else would employ someone with so little real life experience?

Anyway, the hours would probably kill them......

well of course there are jobs and jobs, Funnily enough I do have some holiday work planned this year, writing exam questions for next year's exam papers, its really well paid and a few hours a day should get me about a hundred or so a day. Of course anyone could apply to do it, you just need the right qualifications and experience

 

You think I would work for such a pittance? Anyway, I would probably die of boredom........