I didn't see the programme but as this is my first year to have a child going to school I am surprised at the amount of holidays they receive. This is not an anti-teacher rant. I just think in this day and age when both partners in a couple work, the amount of time the kids are off doesn't help.
Technically no. The taxes that publicly employed people pay come from the tax pool in the first place. This means that from an accounting point of view they do not increase the tax pool.Really?? Public Sector workers don't pay any taxes?
I agree with the main thrust of your post. Unions should not be protecting under performers at the expense of the people who actually want to do a good job.
Technically no. The taxes that publicly employed people pay come from the tax pool in the first place. This means that from an accounting point of view they do not increase the tax pool..
Technically no. The taxes that publicly employed people pay come from the tax pool in the first place. This means that from an accounting point of view they do not increase the tax pool.
I had this discussion with a teacher a while back, who said it would be impossible to make fair judgments because classes can be so different. Where I agree is that you cannot base teachers performance simply on average class performance. But this does not mean that a school principle cannot grade a teachers performance taking into account the difficulty of the class.
The company I work for reviews my performance every quarter. This review takes into account the complexity of the project, the experience of colleagues and how cooperative other project teams are. It is largely subjective, and I have to make my case at review time, but this does not mean that outside influenced beyond my control necessarily have an impact on my review. I simply do not see why this would not be possible for teachers, resulting in performance based pay.
In fairness, teachers aren't there to babysit the kids for working parents. If you feel the school year is too short for the children then that's a fair point, but not the fact that school holidays are inconvenient for childminding arrangements
Technically no. The taxes that publicly employed people pay come from the tax pool in the first place. This means that from an accounting point of view they do not increase the tax pool.
Technically no. The taxes that publicly employed people pay come from the tax pool in the first place. This means that from an accounting point of view they do not increase the tax pool.
I had this discussion with a teacher a while back, who said it would be impossible to make fair judgments because classes can be so different. Where I agree is that you cannot base teachers performance simply on average class performance. But this does not mean that a school principle cannot grade a teachers performance taking into account the difficulty of the class.
The company I work for reviews my performance every quarter. This review takes into account the complexity of the project, the experience of colleagues and how cooperative other project teams are. It is largely subjective, and I have to make my case at review time, but this does not mean that outside influenced beyond my control necessarily have an impact on my review. I simply do not see why this would not be possible for teachers, resulting in performance based pay.
I had this discussion with a teacher a while back, who said it would be impossible to make fair judgments because classes can be so different. Where I agree is that you cannot base teachers performance simply on average class performance. But this does not mean that a school principle cannot grade a teachers performance taking into account the difficulty of the class.
The company I work for reviews my performance every quarter. This review takes into account the complexity of the project, the experience of colleagues and how cooperative other project teams are. It is largely subjective, and I have to make my case at review time, but this does not mean that outside influenced beyond my control necessarily have an impact on my review. I simply do not see why this would not be possible for teachers, resulting in performance based pay.
I read something about this happening as part of the Dept's inspections now - not sure if it was a pilot or for all inspections.Perhaps the real customers here (the pupils) should have some say in the performance review?
I read something about this happening as part of the Dept's inspections now - not sure if it was a pilot or for all inspections.
According to Wikipedia:
"The academic term [in Ireland] usually lasts for a minimum of 183 days in primary schools and about 168 days in secondary schools."
This puts our school year well behind many emerging economies.
What amazes me is the number of half-days my kids get, completely unannounced, and the school expects hardworking parents to pick up the slack from them.
As for accountability, I think what Pat (sort of) showed was that teachers are virtually unaccountable.
A great teacher should be paid very well indeed, but the unions constantly kick and scream against any form of open performance related pay.
Sad for both the good teachers, and for the students of poor teachers. And, as so often in Ireland, it is the hard pressed private sector worker and the small businessman who is left to foot the bill.
Any one remember Sen Joe O'Toole and his sneering attitude towards taxpayers?
I haven't the link but it was reported recently that we have fallen behind in education, particularly maths and reading so having children in school and extra couple of weeks a year can only be a good thing IMO. Certainly 4 one week breaks on top of the 9 weeks summer holidays is plenty for primary schools.
The fact remains, there are many families that have both parents working compared to 20 or 30 years ago. I don't see what's wrong with reforming the school year if it benefits both children and parents.
You could say the same about all employees of private sector companies who rely on state contracts/funding so its an irrelevent argument.
I do agree that teachers can be performance reviewed. And there are some instances whereby the performance is clearly below par - such as those teachers who are frequently late for work, absent for work for frivilous reasons etc. Most schools have a couple of teachers who seem to be always out or late.
Sounds good. There would be obvious difficulties with some pupils having favourite teachers and others they can't stand, but if the sample was large enough and the questions very clear it could be good.
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