Comment | Read Comments (1)

MY teachers never had training days off. We were well taught, even as evacuees, for three years.

Teachers had two weeks holidays, but now they have strike days, voting days, Bank Holidays when do they teach?

I have friends who are teachers.

They are sick of having so much paperwork, not enough time to prepare and teach. I have friends who studied for three years, came out of university in June 2007, and still can't find teaching places.

We really need a government that knows what goes on on the street.

Bill Bailey, Consett.

STEPHEN Beaton (HAS, May 3) seems to have no idea of the hours teachers work or the level of their salary.

A father wrote in recently to state that he had divided the salary of his daughter, who is a young teacher, by the number of hours she worked and the answer was less than the recognised living wage.

Most teachers work a 60 or more hour week and much of their weekends and holidays are spent recording, marking and planning work. The general public seems to think anyone can teach. Why don't they try it?

J Else, Marske-by-the-Sea.

CHILDREN'S Secretary Ed Balls should be targetting the 638 secondary schools, including 22 in the North-East and North Yorkshire, with poor GCSE pass rates.

For many years under-performing schools have blamed poor staff/pupil ratios, overcrowded classrooms, low capitation allowances, inadequate buildings, lack of resources, political interference, social engineering and poor catchment areas - everything, it seems, except global warming and the phase of the moon, for poor examination results.

Everyone agrees that teaching is a challenging job - even motivating talented pupils and maintaining, let alone raising, standards is demanding in the best of schools, but after years of investment at considerable public expense, politicians, parents and employers are tired of excuses.

If a radical overhaul of the system is needed then so be it, and if this results in closing schools, amalgamating schools, creating "federations", or putting headteachers on fixed-term contracts, then do it soon.

We can no longer tolerate examination results which hinder a pupil's prospect of worthwhile employment or further education.

Or am I being naïve, mistaken, and grossly unfair? Are we really to believe that all pupils in Stockton and Middlesbrough are uneducable morons, physically and mentally incapable of achieving a Grade C in any subject at GCSE level?

P Holmes, Barnard Castle.

9:49am Saturday 10th May 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login