Call to extend the school day

For those of you (im talking about the parents here) who seem that its a good idea then i think that all your thinking about is yourself. You obviously dont care about your childs needs all you care about is getting more cash in your pocket. take some damn responsibility, suck it up and take care of your child

I have been a teacher for 30 years and mostly successfully I think. I would like to make a few. salient points here. Had I completed a Law or Accounting degree like some of my friends, and taken up one of those professions, I would presently be at the top of my profession and earning 300-400% more than I am now. I would also be respected and highly for my experience and knowledge. I would be probably be considering semi retirement but still to enjoy an excellent income. Teachers at this stage (and age) can often be starting to feel the heat as they get older and have still the same teenagers to deal with. These are teenagers who have become increasingly liberal, and outspoken as a result of the society we have created and the way we have raised them. Ask any Principal of an average State Secondary School and see how many good applicants they get when they advertise a Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Technology (the list goes on) job. It is not unusual in many areas for there to no suitable applicants. What does this tell you? It has been going on for years and years. I myself have taught doubled up classes in 2 of these subjects on more than one occasion because there has been simply no teacher in NZ willing to apply for the job. There are plenty of Philosophers (being paid vast sums) far from the chalk face who will declare ad nauseum that its not about teachers pay or teachers conditions or even about teachers. Sorry friends, its ALL about teachers. The ONLY reason that the education system in this country stays afloat at Secondary level and definitely at Primary level is because of the women who work in it. They are a fine bunch who do a fine job and put up with the poor pay and conditions because this is the one job where they can be at home to take care of things in the School Holidays, a major problem for many working couples. Ask yourselves; How many men work in the Primary Service? I am a male! This is my observation. If the conditions of service are changed in any radical way, particularly with respect to hours of work, this country may find that some of these folk start to vote with their feet and turn the job of staffing a school from very difficult to impossible. I leave you with this thought. How many people do you know who are successfully working at a career who have a burning desire to get out and go teaching ( taking a salary cut) I on the other hand can name instantly several young highly successful Science/Maths teachers, all personally known to me who have "pulled the pin" and said enough is enough.

Every body in this country has an opinion on education and teachers.

It is so discouraging that so many are so quick to criticise.

No wonder these young ones leave.

Do you get my drift? There will a short test tomorrow to make sure you have understood. If not you will have to come back to a tutorial in the lunch hour!

thanks for reading

Bill

Whilst I certainly don't have the answers, I do believe that change to the current school system is necessary, and long overdue.

Society has changed dramatically over recent years, and single parent families, or families where both parents are required to work, is a far more common situation than it once was.

As a single working parent to a 9 and 11 year old I am constantly juggling priorities and child care. I'm fortunate enough to have some flexibility in my work that enables me to drop my children at school in the morning, and the school provides a programme of care until around 6pm each night.

When my daughter starts college next year, I will be faced with the additional challenge of children at two different schools. No college that I am aware of provides after school care, yet legally she is unable to be left at home alone until she is 14.

Our current school issues frequent reminders to parents who drop their young children off at school from as early as 7:30am (to enable them to commute to work), and these children are left unsupervised for over an hour creating safety risks for themselves and others.

I fully understand and support the need for teachers to achieve balance and non-contact time in their vitally important roles, however I would be a strong advocate for sensible change as the existing school system seems to be genuinely out of sync with how most people need to live and it would seem that this isn't working well for anyone - the parents, the children or the teachers.

I have been to school in both New Zealand and in Europe. The schooling system in Europe works well and as a student, I found it much easier to deal with. Classes were a good length, I had the opportunity to take more subjects that were of interest to me, the breaks between classes were better. Here in NZ I found that too much was being crammed in to too short a space of time, making it tiring and ineffective. In addition, because kids had an empty home to go to after school, they were more inclined to get in to trouble. To the poster who said it's a stupid idea, that the day is long enough already for them - well wouldn't it be better to have those kids being supervised and taught something useful rather than just hanging around doing nothing, getting in to trouble? Do you even realise that doing nothing in itself is more tiring in a lot of cases than doing something? Having longer school hours doesn't necessarily have to translate directly in to sitting in a classroom longer. One of the problems with school in NZ is that the teachers spend so much time trying to cram so much information in to a short class period that learning stops being fun for a lot of kids, regardless of their age. Perhaps if teachers had more time to spend with the kids, they would actually get through all the information and the quality of our education system would improve. Double edged sword - better education and keeping kids out of trouble. It's a proven system elsewhere, yet backwards little NZ baulks at the idea... how typical. And we wonder why we are starting to lag behind in the educational sector...

I wonder how long it's been since some of these people worked in schools (if indeed they ever did). I'm a secondary school teacher. I start work at 7am and finish (and by that I mean 'go home') around 4.30pm. I'll then work at home as required. I'm not complaining. I enjoy my job and the supportive, positive working environment that a NZ school offers (so much more optimistic than I ever found UK schools). I also enjoy the autonomy I'm afforded. It's nice not to have to teach to assessments, but instead to focus on student needs.

I think its a stupid idea and would not be happy with my children having to spend longer at school everyday!

The school day for primary is too long. Morning sessions from 8-1 would be more beneficial to childrens learning capacity. Most are very tired in the afternoon.

The real problem with education these days is not about the length of time - it is about attitude that students have towards their studies. That comes largely from their parents and it is ruining our education system. I often encounter parents who show no respect for the schools and the teachers and do it in front of their children. This has a very detrimental effect and a lot of it is simply ignorance about the job. That is apparent here with the constant accusation that teachers don't work 8 hour days. Lets get behind the teachers and our schools and instill some respect for them in our children.

I finished 7th form not so long ago. Due to constant fatigue disorder and stressed, unsupportive teachers in key subjects(through no fault of their own), I finished school failing NCEA Level 3 and just barely gaining UE. I am now about to start my masters degree, a year earlier than I had expected.

I didn't go to a low decile school and unlike some of my classmates, I did recognise that the growing carelessness towards students was fueled by the already long hours they endured. It is ridiculous that teachers that started their degrees with such an apparent passion for education are now being ruined by a system run by under educated delinquents.

I'm also appalled by the amount of parents expressing relief at getting rid of their kids for longer during the day or even the prospect of eliminating parent to child homework time. What are you people doing having children? Gone are the days that education went 50/50 - teachers AND parents. No wonder our children are loosing out.

If you don't have time for your kids, why did you pro-create? Ridiculous, really.