|
| Comment | Total | Positive | Negative | Name |
| My mate whos a teacher spends every school break travelling - either overseas or domestic. Im sure she works hard and deserves her breaks and pay. But I just cant believe teachers who say they work during the school holidays | 126 | 153 | 27 | Manuka416 |
| Teachers talk about their 12-14 weeks holiday a year as if its irrelevant and that they âneedâ it. They forget the rest of us get by on 4-5 weeks a year. Its not irrelevant its a massive perk of the job that shouldnt be ignored. | 119 | 139 | 20 | mickrodge |
| Every worker has a poor me story , usually doesnt equate to a pay rise unfortunately | 85 | 94 | 9 | Spit Murphy |
| A real world, unbiased view from a person who has worked in the private sector & as a teacher. The ideas presented are real solutions. Unfortunately the union & most teachers are unlikely to give them the time of day. No amount of money will make teachers jobs any better. If they dont enjoy their jobs, they should move on to a greener pastures. Most wont because they know they are already are in one of greenest pastures. | 78 | 94 | 16 | Ardvark |
| Exactly, just ask our firefighters currently deployed in the US and Canada, 14 to 16 hour days, 14 straight days, two days off and repeat for an additional 14 days. Just one of many jobs people undertake in this country where people go beyond the call without complaining. | 75 | 84 | 9 | JW67 |
| I know 4 teachers as personal friends. All great hard working people. But the reality is they would be lucky to spend 20 hrs working in those paid school holidays. ON enormally goes skiing for two weeks, the others tramping or spending quality time with their kids. Not something normal employees get to do 4 times a year without taking annual leave or leave without pay. | 71 | 83 | 12 | Unstructured |
| Agree. I spend a full day organising during the holidays, and thats it. People who do a lot more than that need to take a look at how they organise themselves, and whether they are efficient. | 67 | 83 | 16 | icemouse |
| I work 14 to 15 hours 5 days a week and 16 hours every weekend....for minimum wage. I clean at schools. | 64 | 68 | 4 | DoctorSpock |
| At last someone telling it how it is and before any teacher starts to argue, this person has worked in the real world & knows what he is talking about. | 59 | 76 | 17 | Boney |
| Ive similarly walked away from a six figure salary and 20% bonus to spend more time with my family. Ive never been a teacher so cant comment on their workloads, but I can absolutely relate to evening and weekend work being the norm in the corporate sector. 60-70 hr weeks wasnt unusual during major pieces of work, even for the most organised of time managers. Despite working with some wonderful people whom I still miss to this day and the money being great, the time demands were simply all consuming.I remember a colleague who finally took a two week overseas holiday... he took his laptop so he could at least work during the 16 hrs hed be spending on a plane there and back. I dont begrudge teachers asking for more. The vast majority do a great job. But so do the vast majority of nurses and police officers. In a world of finite public service budgets, how do you fit in what everyone believes theyre worth? | 56 | 60 | 4 | 40/20 |
| Well said. Im an experienced teacher and agree with everything he said. I should be in a classroom today teaching kids. Not inconveniencing the much of the workforce with arranging alternate childcare arrangements. What the NZEI needs is better negotiators. I pay $24.22 a fortnight to the union, and they cant negotiate a better deal without a strike. Not to mention the pay I wont receive for today. Let me go back to work to do my job and for negotiators to do a better job of negotiating. | 56 | 72 | 16 | chm |
| I lived with a teacher for 13 years. She probably worked 4 of the 12 weeks of holiday. I talked to a mate last week who thinks he works 4-5 weeks of the school holidays. Yes, they worked hard in term time but get better holidays than I do in the private sector. My pay rises over the last 3 years have been minimal so its not just public jobs that havent seen a lift. A big week for me I work 60-70 hours but its not the norm. I got annoyed when there was a teacher in the media claiming they worked 60 hours every week, 52 weeks of the year. While they do deserve a pay rise some of the stories are getting a little silly and lacking reality now. | 52 | 65 | 13 | cartezze |
| It would be interesting to see the differences between the teaching sector and the nursing sectors. I do not know of any teachers working night shifts.As the article said, most jobs have their difficulties, it is how we cope with this that can determine how we like or dislike the role we have chosen. Thats my 10 cents worth. | 47 | 56 | 9 | radio4 |
What a fantastic point of view that Im sure a lot of us outside the education sector suspected all along.
I personally know of teachers that have been in the profession under 5 years out striking today. They knew what they were getting themselves into!
Im sure that teachers do work hard including working outside of their core hours. But so do the majority of us in the private sector.
| 47 | 72 | 25 | Mike_Hunt |
| Well- lucky you didnt go into nursing then. Try working a mix of mornings, afternoons and night duty- oh - and on 9 weeks less holidays per year! | 44 | 45 | 1 | LizziesGirl |
An honest teacher at last , I cant remember having a pay rise in line with inflation they have made out they have not had pay rises and in fact they have one every year. Add to that 3 months paid holiday and theyre overworked, yeah right!
| 42 | 73 | 31 | bluemarlin |
| The sad part is this is just posturing from union officials who want to make a name for themselves. I know a few teachers who have said they voted to strike because they thought they would be outcast for not being a sheep in the flock. You cant expect to be paid like other professionals if you cant form independent thoughts.
No support from me for the pay argument.
I do support the need for teacher aides and properly funded classrooms though. Is a strike needed for that, nope. | 42 | 55 | 13 | Cry me a river |
I cant speak for secondary teaching, but as a polytech teacher I can say that yes, intrinsically teaching is hard yet rewarding and I loved the job. But what makes it stressful is not the job itself but continuous micro-management, passive-aggressive supervision over every little thing, and other things that petty little management minds dream up to make our lives miserable.
| 38 | 39 | 1 | MichaeMorris |
| Ive got a degree but would like to do an extra year study to get qualified as a teacher so I can move into the industry which is crying out for staff, out of my current industry which is shrinking. Wouldnt it be great if the fees were free for such people instead of just all new University entrants, plenty of who will be doing a degree that will be little use to society. | 38 | 40 | 2 | hedgefund |
answers. need more?
