i love juice

At a recent Headteachers conference in Liverpool it was said that the 'back to work culture' in the UK is responsible for the neglect of children's education in primary schools.
As the government erg parents back to work after child birth, it is becoming more common that children are been put into childcare at a young age for large periods of time, and this continues into primary school where breakfast clubs are available and parents can drop the children off into school at earlier times. With this in mind and the obvious after school clubs that are pushed onto children it is seen that children only get a short amount of quality time with parents at home before its time for bed.
With the recent controversial pay disputes and strikes by teachers, it seems that teachers are now not only having to add more time to their school timetable but this has a knock on effect as to how much time they have left to do the prep work for lessons. Surely this effects the quality of teaching and life of a teacher as they continue to give up more of their personal time for the sake of the kids.
Im all up for parents getting back to work but should it be at the cost of the children's education? and if parents are working all day, do they have the time or energy to spend with their children in the evening to support home learning?
Beverley Hughes Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families seems to think that this is not the case and that there are only a small minority that abuse these services, although she was present at the conference and the concerns she received from the Headteachers seemed to be water of a ducks back, as her infinite wisdom dismisses the first hand experiences from schools.
In a recent discussion on another blog, it was argued that previous generations had better educations at home than they get now in school. This went on to blame the quality of teachers in school's. I have to say that today's generation of parents have less interest in education and knowledge of the subjects taught in schools, further to this parents have less time to spend with their children or are blatantly less interested and use school as a child minding service while they nip to the pub. As today's generation of parents become younger, so young in fact that they are barely out of education themselves let alone have the real life experiences to cope with parenthood, is it any wonder why education is in disarray. Education can only be effective if the children are getting equal support outside school, parents need to put in just as much effort and interest as teachers to ensure their child's successful education.

I should have posted Thursday but unfortunately i was rather busy putting the car in for an MOT. So this week saw the teachers go on strike over pay, this has caused quite alot of arguments in whether or not they should receive better pay.
Personally i feel that they should be given a better deal than the 2.4% rise that was negotiated however 4% maybe a little unrealistic. I have some mixed feelings about striking in that, this profession has a knock on effect that is wide spread, as parents need to take time off work or find sitters for their children it cost those parents money in some way or form. And for those parents that cant afford? well im sure one or two children were left home alone on Thursday which is concerning to say the least.
What i know is that teachers work 12 hour days and weekends to ensure that they keep up with their responsibilities as a teacher. I know that when i was an engineer i got paid overtime and by the hour but this is not so for teachers. The media reports that teachers earn on average £32,000 a year , well id have to say that this number can not be right as a majority of teachers in schools are on the main pay scale and that only goes up to £29,000. It is only when teachers take on management positions do they start to earn this kind of money.
Teachers do have very good holidays but this is not always a good thing as unlike those parents that take their children out of school during term time to go on holiday, teachers have to wait and pay the peak prices to go away. Also i am aware that this time should also used for planning to ensure our children are taught exciting new subject topics unlike those days of boring copying out of a book.
One out of the six unions took part in the strike to get better pay, however im pretty sure that if a better deal is negotiated that those other five unions will accept that money. Its just a shame they all didn't stand together on this as im sure this issue would be solved more quickly instead of it resulting in another strike in the near future.
And lets face it, their are not many people out their that truly want to spend their days with badly behaved children, you don't that's why your glad to get rid of them in the morning.
Plus as this government insists on filling our country with the filth, well this also must enter our school where teachers have try and teach modern day values to children that do not want to be taught and do not speak English. A typical School in Manchester or London can have up to 13 different languages and high level of pupils that do not speak English and that will be their one day and shipped out the next. All in all teachers have a shit job at the best of times with this government fucking this country up, so is it not fair that they at least get paid fairly? The job may not be rewarding enough as the novelty wares off and your left with the cheap unqualified teachers from eastern Europe teaching your children, but i guess that just another step into this countries inevitable future.