Teachers fear new rules' intrusion on private life

bulk funding will help no one - all it will do is divide rich and poor - and those of us who teach in lower socio economic areas, and our students will be disadvantaged. Sweet if you are loaded though.

I am a teacher, I love my job, and thrive on the success of my students but quite frankly I resent the implication that we are beyond monitoring our own behavior.

This is MORE crap being dumped on our profession from a great height.

Lets look at the real issues and deal with those.

But thats too hard, huh??

I taught in NZ for 3 years in a small school in Wairarapa. It was tough but I liked the profession. As I was 40 at that time (came into teaching from industry) I did not allow the principal to muck me around. Hence the conflict. Well, I packed up my stuff and goodbye NZ, hello Australia ! Now I am in Victoria, teaching at an independent school and enjoying it ! In the meantime, the aforementioned pricipal managed to bring the school down ! I can see I did the right thing ! NZ loss is always AU's gain.

I left NZ at the beginning of 2005 having spent 3 years as a Sec. Teacher in the Wairarapa. I felt in my bones it was the right thing to do at the time. Now I can clearly see I was right !! It's sooooo gooood here,in AU !!!

Being a teacher feels like a 24 7 thing. You are always thinking am I doing the best for my students. It is a hard job at times and we have been told our holidays are a time to work and you do (mostly paper work and resource gathering). The expectations and pressure is intense. You put in so much energy that its hard to find time for yourself. We pick up bugs fast, i spend my money on the students making up for lack of resources. We need clear out lines. The hardest thing about teaching is the politices of teaching now that is intense! Teaching has matured me, i don't drink and try to grab sleep when i can so I keep fit to fight off all the bugs out there. Best wishes to all teachers out there. Enjoy keeping in contact with people through on line sites. Ka pai!

This is simply making official something that has been in place for a very long time. Many teachers have been called to the headmaster's office to explain why they were seen at a rowdy party or a meeting of the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis party for example. Many places of employment try to force their standards onto employees off the job. Teaching is worse than most, particularly if the school is religious and wishes to have only staff who follow their thinking. Being homosexual, for example has been legal for over 20 years, however many schools do not welcome gay teachers. Any part of your life that is not on the straight and narrow may get you into trouble. I did secondary teacher training 10 years ago and after what I saw in my time training decided to never set foot in a classroom. It is a muddled directionless profession that I could not stand to be part of. I would advise anybody in the teaching profession to walk off the job and go work somewhere else - I did. I wouldn't go back to teaching for any amount of money. It is the sort of job where you wake up in the morning and regret the fact that you haven't died in your sleep.

My friend hasnt worked in three years while the teachers council decide what to do after some students found him and he partner on a swingers site , he had been teaching for 10 years and had a great record !!

To Lawrence Hill - more funding to private schools and Bulk funding will increase the quality of our children's education, which has been hijacked by the incompetent and politically correct members of the teachers fraternity.

Good grief! Yet another reason not to teach in NZ. I told my children not to become teachers. They watched me become disillusioned and stressed. The trouble is, I love my profession but I no longer enjoy it. I have been regulated, inundated with change, had the baby thrown out with the bath water more times than I care to think about, lost my rights as a professional, seen children given increased rights which the 'smart' ones twist to suit themselves, had my pay scale deleted and been left out to dry by the NZEI and told that the blood, sweat and tears I am suffering to finally get those magical letters B.Ed. after my name won't earn me another cent in my pay in NZ. I have had enough. I voted with my feet. I have moved to another country where the children love school. I am on the equivalent pay scale to NZ. I am saving money, enjoy going to school every day, teach the NZ style according to the needs of my students, work from 9 - 12.30 every day with 1.15 - 4pm for marking, prep and reporting, am not lambasted by the PC police, am not stifled by the Fun Police. I am a sensible adult who keeps in contact with family and friends in NZ and around the world through Facebook, etc. I would be lost without this form of communication. What else can you take away from teachers? Privacy, respect, authority and professionalism are already gone. There isn't a lot left is there?

I'm going to change my Facebook profile, so that I have photos of myself helping the disadvantaged children, helping the elderly and doing community service. I'll make sure I only drink sparkling grape juice and watch chick-flick romantic DVDs in my weekend.

What a great role model I am

The Teachers council is funded partially by the government but is not specifically a government department. In the teaching profession, the common tactic of bullying is not to define something, claim it is common sense and then say you are not doing it right. This is typical crap from a teacher organisation as in teaching, like life, the sh*t rises to the top. Another example of this is their use of the term 'differentiated learning' which has a plethora of definitions and is then used to fail and disadvantage teachers who have offended management. I would be a pretty crap teacher if I gave the kids a term, refused to define it, said I'd know it when I see it and then failed them for not knowing it. And it is an OE before a career change in Oz I am planning.....And it is not the students ( most days, anyway) that are driving teachers out in droves- it is the bullying and punative conditions, combined with a defective contract.