What is your opinion of the teaching profession (in regard to public secondary education)? (percentage, SAT)
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Ummm....they get at least one hour "planning time"/day, to handle their paperwork, etc. Most other professionals don't get an hour per day just to catch up on paperwork. Seems all I ever see them doing is yakking with each other, anyways!
At least? Try at most. Mine is 50 minutes.
Most professionals are doing their paperwork throughout the day. And most professionals have a secretary or assistant.
Examples:
Home Appraiser.
They show up to your house and while they are walking around your house they are doing their "paperwork" (now done on computer). They go back to their office and finish it up within their workday, unless, of course, they take on extra work and work beyond their normal workday - which they are compensated for.
Doctor.
Comes in does whatever he is going to do and does his paperwork as he is working.
Lawyer
Really, do I need to explain about their paperwork?
Accountant
When I see my accountant, I hand her the documentation she needs and, while I am sitting there, does the paperwork.
Engineers, if they do not do their paperwork as they go, have time built into their workday.
But, yeah, you're right. I get 50 minutes (If a meeting is not scheduled) a day to 6 hours of work. I guess I should feel lucky since no other professionals have that.
But, yeah, you're right. I get 50 minutes (If a meeting is not scheduled) a day to 6 hours of work. I guess I should feel lucky since no other professionals have that.
And doctors never take a 2 hour lunch so they can catch up on their paperwork.
At my school we had to go through the office to get to the bathroom. 5 "quick questions" and a potty break later, that leaves about 10 minutes to return the phone calls of 3 parents.
Again, lest somebody think teachers are whining, we are just trying to clarify some common misconceptions.
Teachers work 3 out of 4 seasons unless you want to make extra cash, they have a bunch of union-driven perks, if they suck at their job, they get to keep their job, they work from 7 AM to 3 PM, they teach kids elementary to high school subjects and usually the same subject for the rest of their careers, their lesson plans can be downloaded for a cheap price... the teaching market is over flooded with people and will be hard to find a j6aob because it is an easy career and the requirements are low but keep in mind they are hundreds of people looking for the same job.. if your kid fails, it probably isn't the teacher its probably you as the parent...
I will start by saying I love my job - not the red-tape, assessments, constant-bashing - but I do love the kids and being in the classroom with them.
Having said that, I am on my way to work now (6am my time) and will be there until 5pm my time. This will be the 13th day in a row I've done this. Typical day? Nope. Typical day is usually 6:30am - 5pm with 22 minutes for lunch when I don't have duty. I sneak away for 2 minutes to pee in the morning and again around 2:15pm when I have my planning hour...wait hour? from 2:15 - 2:35...that's not an hour. Yes I still bring tons of grading and planning home and my hubby and kids complain because my hours are so long.
But I do it because I enjoy it, I get to touch lives, I don't care if others don't appreciate me. If I did, I would have gotten out of teaching long ago.
Aon Hewitt: http://www.aon.com/attachments/human...Highlights.pdf
(Page 3)
Lowest point was 2009 at 1.9%, but otherwise never dipped below 2.4% throughout rest of recession. No more than 6% of employers instituted salary freezes.
And variable pay (bonuses) skyrocketed during the recession, breaking 12% of payroll for the first time in history. So while base pay was increasing slowly (though virtually no cuts), bonuses were increasing rapidly. Even the bottom 25th percentile of workers are now receiving average 2% merit increases.
Tower Watson Wyatt:
Even in the depths of the recession in 2009/2010, companies were giving median 3.0% merit increases int 2010 and 2.0% in 2009. 25% of companies froze pay in 2009, but only 10% in 2010. http://www.watsonwyatt.com/render.asp?catid=1&id=21843
I could not find a press release for recent years (their press release search engine looks a little broken)
But notice that across all of these surveys, raises were distributed as merit raises. Across the board adjustments were very rare. This goes back to the issue with public sector pay. Private sector workers are used to across the board raises being a rarity. They see public sector workers get across the board pay and assume they are getting lavish merit raises.
But instead it is the opposite. Public sector workers get relatively high across the board raises (compared to near zero in the private sector), but then are getting absolutely nothing for merit raises.
Ummm....they get at least one hour "planning time"/day, to handle their paperwork, etc. Most other professionals don't get an hour per day just to catch up on paperwork. Seems all I ever see them doing is yakking with each other, anyways!
How long is your lunch break? Most high school teachers I know get about 20 mins, if that. And they cannot leave the building.
And it's not playing "catch up". It's part of the regular workday. If the stuff doesn't get done during the planning period, when will it get done... over dinner? Would you rather teachers teach back-to-back-to back all day with the five or six minutes between classes as the only time to prepare?
Ummm....they get at least one hour "planning time"/day, to handle their paperwork, etc. Most other professionals don't get an hour per day just to catch up on paperwork. Seems all I ever see them doing is yakking with each other, anyways!
Something else others don't consider is the in-house subbing. In our district, if a sub isn't available, other teachers take the class during their own prep period. The same happens if a teacher is running late for some reason, or has to leave early. One year, I had last period prep, and I averaged one prep period per week to get things done. If another teacher got sick, had an appointment, had a parent who HAD to meet with them during classtime, somebody still had to cover their class.
Ummm....they get at least one hour "planning time"/day, to handle their paperwork, etc. Most other professionals don't get an hour per day just to catch up on paperwork. Seems all I ever see them doing is yakking with each other, anyways!
First, not all districts give planning time. Often elementary school teachers do NOT get any planning time. Second, it's not an hour unless class periods are one hour, but they are not. Third, planning time is often cut out when the district cannot get a sub, so every teacher in the department has to sub the class during their *planning* period. Fourth, the planning period is often mandated for calls to parents rather than planning or even if this is not mandated, teachers use it for this so they can touch base with parents who have disruptive students.
Are you seriously suggesting that teachers should never talk to their colleagues during their one free period. Are they doing that or is that being done during their short lunch period? And how are you privy to being in the teachers room during planning times?
You might also try to realize that grading 150 papers if you are a high school teacher with 5 classes of 30 students each, takes a lot longer than an hour. Also, planning has to be done to adjust the lesson if the students are not getting the concept. If you have to reteach something, you need to plan a different way to cover the material so that the students learn it.
Aon Hewitt: http://www.aon.com/attachments/human...Highlights.pdf
(Page 3)
Lowest point was 2009 at 1.9%, but otherwise never dipped below 2.4% throughout rest of recession. No more than 6% of employers instituted salary freezes.
And variable pay (bonuses) skyrocketed during the recession, breaking 12% of payroll for the first time in history. So while base pay was increasing slowly (though virtually no cuts), bonuses were increasing rapidly. Even the bottom 25th percentile of workers are now receiving average 2% merit increases.
Tower Watson Wyatt:
Even in the depths of the recession in 2009/2010, companies were giving median 3.0% merit increases int 2010 and 2.0% in 2009. 25% of companies froze pay in 2009, but only 10% in 2010. http://www.watsonwyatt.com/render.asp?catid=1&id=21843
I could not find a press release for recent years (their press release search engine looks a little broken)
But notice that across all of these surveys, raises were distributed as merit raises. Across the board adjustments were very rare. This goes back to the issue with public sector pay. Private sector workers are used to across the board raises being a rarity. They see public sector workers get across the board pay and assume they are getting lavish merit raises.
But instead it is the opposite. Public sector workers get relatively high across the board raises (compared to near zero in the private sector), but then are getting absolutely nothing for merit raises.
Very informative post. Thanks for going to the trouble of putting this all together.
I always laugh when I hear this from the private sector workers. Pre 2008, I regularly had to endure salary brags from those who were making great money and receiving significant salary adjustments. One of my husband's friends was making well past 6 figures, with only a high school diploma, designing sprinkler systems. I was fighting for 2% raises every year which was well under inflation - so, effectively - I was losing money. Some years, no raise at all. After the boom, demand for his "expertise" dropped, and he no longer is making anywhere near that amount of money and now is riding on a float in the "teachers need to take cuts like the rest of us" parade. So, when everyone else was making money, and good money, and I was barely getting any salary adjustments and not entitled to share the wealth, I am required to share the pain? Are you kidding me?
In the future, I will capitulate to taking a pay cut during the down times, if I am well compensated during the good times.
Well said. I have made this point before. When times were good, I never saw anybody go in front of our County Board of Supervisors and School Board to say, "My company is giving me a large raise this year. My 401k is skyrocketing. You should do the same for your employees. You're not giving them enough". At best we would get 2-3% market scale adjustments plus step and truthfully we were ok with that.
With some people, we just can't win. The same person who hears about low pay and says, "Hey. Too bad. You knew what you were getting into", doesn't apply the same rationale and say, "Hey. You have good benefits. Good for you for knowing what you were getting into!"
With some people, we just can't win. The same person who hears about low pay and says, "Hey. Too bad. You knew what you were getting into", doesn't apply the same rationale and say, "Hey. You have good benefits. Good for you for knowing what you were getting into!"
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