Well I go away and look what happens?
The Government decides that teachers don't need a staffroom. Who in their right mind would take a job in a school that doesn't have a place where you can escape the madness and mayhem? Where you can enjoy a cup of tea in a dirty cup, whilst moaning about Kyle, Royce and Duane? I was supposed to be saying this on Radio 4s Today programme on Thursday morning but due to my own incompetence, I can't make it.
The Government also wants to introduce different rates of pay for teachers in different parts of the country. The NUT doesn't like this idea.
I'd go much further and allow all schools to pay their teachers whatever the hell they like and let the market set the rate, just as it does for plumbers, lawyers, hairdressers and accountants. Why not pay the better ones more than the rubbish? It's simply a case of giving the schools enough money. If we gave the worst schools a big wedge of cash to attract better staff, then we would see far more improvement than from all the endless new 'initiatives to raise achievement' and for a fraction of the cost.
9 comments:
Agreed. There should be a free market.
What is more important is that your pension should be part of your pay.
Now there are claims that your pension scheme is fully funded. If that is the case, can we remove the guarantee on your pension?
Note there is a difference between 'should be fully funded' and 'is fully funded'
I think you lost the plot at the government giving the schools a big wedge of cash. What are you thinking?
Must say I never go to the staffroom. But I'm lucky. Post 16 have our own accommodation.
But I do find the students better company at breaks than a lot of the staff. The kids are way more positive and their conversation more entertaining. Plus they make me cups of tea and will go to the shops if I ask them.
Abolish pay scale uniformity? How d'you prevent anomalies where neighbouring authorities pay different rates and are either inundated with applications for jobs or can't get staff?
Jaljen, that's why it is called a market.
Under Frank's proposal, if a school won't pay enough then they won't get people working there. They therefore have to raise their salaries to recruit.
Just like in the Real World!
"Why not pay the better ones more than the rubbish?"
On whose criteria do we decide - Ofsted's? Perhaps the "better" teachers will end up to be the management friendly nodding donkeys, while those deemed to be rubbish will, despite their excellent subject knowledge and communication skills, end up being paid less for their refusal to acquiesce in the general dumbing-down.
As far as I'm aware, there is differentiation based on location. For example, there's the London Weighting (which I don't get because I work for a private education provider). Nuff said?
No. I mean, what if you live in Northampton and work in Birmingham? Do you get paid according to where you live or your place of work?
It all sounds like the typical Tory penny-pinching and teacher-bashing to me. All that needs to be done is for the union to set minimum pay levels, and the local councils offer supplements to cater for the extra cost of their particular city.
No-one uses our staff room anymore. We only get a 30 min lunch break so no-one has time to sit about and unwind. The Student Gestapo voted against teachers jumping the lunch queue, so most of them stay in their teaching areas with a sandwich, setting up for the afternoon lesson (just the one because it was found that behaviour was far worse after lunch).
Having listened to some of the teaching union stuff they spout I have what I think is an interesting idea.
Why not give each of the three biggest unions a failing school each to staff with their members to run according to their particular slant on how it should be done. Ensure that funding is the same as for a neighbouring school and see how they get on.
After say 5 years we should be in a position to see if the ideas they have actually work.
If the pay is determined by the market, the employers who are much more powerful than individual teachers, will drive the pay down. Employers will not care about experience , knowledge or qualifications, but will pay some one to be in front of the class. 'Good' teachers will be the friends of the management. The situation above actually happened in FE, after incorporation -Ben
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