Discussions

I'm just wondering if anyone else finds the amount of time our kids get off to be getting silly?  
I'm not knocking the profession by any means, teachers work hard, but is anyone else seeing that much down time for the students as being a little bit excessive? Here's the break down:  
 
Sept. 7 Labour Day  
Sept. 25 K-12 Professional Development Day  
Oct. 12 Thanksgiving  
Oct. 23 Professional Development Day  
Nov. 6 K-8 Administration Day  
Nov. 11 Remembrance Day  
Nov. 20 K-12 Parent/Teacher Conferences  
 
From Oct. 12th on They have literally one full week of school with the rest being four day weeks until Nov. 20th. After that there's four full weeks and than Christmas break.

I don't have kids, but isn't there a certain number of days that kids are in class, which doesn't change between years? Is it 200?  
 
Edited to add:  
I found this on the Manitoba Education website (http://www.edu.gov.mb.ca/k12/schools/gts.html):  
 
School Year  
Over the next 10 years, the number of days in the school year will vary from year to year within a range of 194 to 196 days depending upon the date of the first Tuesday following Labour Day. Up to a maximum of ten non-instructional days can be used for teacher in-service, parent-student conferences, administration and pupil evaluation. Of these ten days, five must be used for teacher in-service. The instructional time per week from kindergarten to grade 8 is approximately 1650 minutes.  
 
Edited by curlysister, 2015-10-06 17:10:05

Three of those days that you point out are holidays not of days. The other for p/t interviews is pretty important. So really only two pd days before Xmas.

Generally teachers get one PD day a month it's been that way for years.  

Teachers in the SW were at a 2 day I service last week. There are some individual teachers that are also away a lot to extra conferences and sometimes sick teachers have trouble getting a substitute as they are pre booked for conference goers. I think that is a bigger issue.

I, personally, am glad that our teachers continue with professional development.  
Better teachers are better for our children.

gimmeAmin said "I, personally, am glad that our teachers continue with professional development.   Better teachers are better for our children. "

Fair statement to say as I really hope Manitoba can increase their education marks. What if though they were able to take in these classes either before school starts or after it ends? I would be curious to see an average of teaching classroom days vs non-instructional class days.

Sept. 25 K-12 Professional Development Day  
Oct. 23 Professional Development Day  
Nov. 6 K-8 Administration Day  
 
 
There, I fixed it. One PD day per month, the bsd has no say in holidays, can you imagine paying time and a half to all the support staff on holidays!?  
 
And parent/teacher conferences are hardly just 'time off', firstly kids should be attending their conference, and it's at this time you meet as a team (that's what we (parents, teachers, and kids) are, a team though too many chose to see their kids teacher as an adversary) to talk about your child's education.

This amount of PD days are the same as they usually are. Even back in the 80's/90's this is what we had, and we also were done school at noon on the first Friday of every month too.  
3 of those days listed are holidays, so of course there is no school.  
This year school went back (k-8) on the Tuesday after the long weekend. It is usually the Wednesday. So there is an extra school day. Also this year there is only one day in nov and one day in March for parent teacher interviews. Usually there are two days in both nov and mar for interviews. So there is now another 2 extra days added back in as school days. The children go to school till the very end of a June this year as well. So it all balances out. They go to school the same number of days every year.  
 
Edited by Cheezies, 2015-10-06 21:48:14

I was talking more about how they're grouped together than anything else, I am aware of the number of days, however it's actually 200 minus the pd days.  
No one thinks a month worth of four day weeks with the holidays factored in is kind of excessive?

As someone who is studying education.. I only have a few words to say: if only you knew..

Can you please explain to me what teachers do on professional development days? I was under the impression that teaches already had their education and training.

Do explain...

So you're telling me that you're actually "under the impression" that people who get certified in their profession at age 22+ are actually so smart, that for the next 30+ years they don't need to learn anything new whatsoever? In any profession employers are still making employees up their training, even if it's as simple as furthering safety training. As well as to assume there is no advancements in ways to help educate the FUTURE of our race is beyond ignorance. If everyone had the same anti learning mindset, we'd still think the Earth was flat and gravity wasn't constantly accelerating at 9.8m/s/s.

In any profession, people get training to learn new skills and stay up to date. Teaching is no different.

The grouping may not be ideal, but as I said before, the school division has no say in when holidays fall. They still need the PD days whether there is a holiday in that month or not.  
 
Some PD days, like the one on the 23rd offer informative sessions/learning opportunities to teachers, some may be more about administrative issues within individual schools, they vary, but they are needed.

I have run into that complain about this are usually needing the school to be open for child care reasons.  
 
I have not been in school since the 90's but it looks like it's pretty much the same now as then.  
 
I'm sure there were lots of folks complaining back then that there were too many pd days too, so things haven't changed lol.

I stand corrected. You are right. I've seen and had the pleasure of employing the so called FUTURE. More training is needed. Maybe just do it during the 8 weeks off in the summer. Or maybe during the 2.5 weeks off at Christmas. Or 2 weeks at spring break.

swmb said "I have run into that complain about this are usually needing the school to be open for child care reasons.     I have not been in school since the 90's but it looks like it's pretty much the same now as then.     I'm sure there were lots of folks complaining back then that there were too many pd days too, so things haven't changed lol. "

Nope, childcare isn't an issue for us, so in that regard this thread is again more about how these days off seem to run together, as a parent it strikes me as kind of odd that the grouping worked out the way it did.  
Thinking outside the box, why couldn't professional development days not be moved to the summer months? There's plenty of time between the end of June and the Beginning of September to offer professional development seminars no? If they get ten a year why then can they not just have two weeks worth over the summer? That would give the students two weeks more in class time to actually be learning.  
 
 
 
Edited by Degenerate108, 2015-10-07 00:20:42

Because teachers aren't paid to work those two months of summer break. Any time they put in over the summer is all volunteer time to get their classrooms ready. They as paid from sept-June, they can opt though to have their salary spilt over the 12 months so that they aren't going two months with no income. They don't get two months holidays, they aren't paid for that time. I personally like the days off. I think it's beneficial to our kids to also have that extra time at home. Kids learn a variety of different ways not just in classroom settings.

Can you please explain the 2.5 days at xmas and 2 weeks at spring break that has been stated as time off?  
 
First, that is determined by the government AND My kids only get 1 week at Spring break and 2 at xmas. Not sure where in MB it's 2 weeks at Spring Break.  
 
I'm more concerned about the 12 days of lost instruction days for Senior High schools last year because someone feels these students need 5 days for final exams and 5 days to have the individual school Grads!  
 
Edited by ruralmb, 2015-10-07 07:44:11

I just wish they would have their PD days before or after the long weekend. Then families could book the extra time off for an extra longer weekend. Likely more quality family time that way then random days during the month where kids end up going to daycare

in some ways i do find that the kids and teachers do get lots of time off, yes the pd are supposed to be educational but as suggested they could run on days the kids already have off, whether the teachers are paid or not on those days is irrelevant because we are still paying for their pd days  
 
for ease of life and family they could give an extra winter break like SK and do their in services then but part of the issue with that is speakers might not be available, especially if the whole province does theirs at the same time, or we would have to pay for travel to winnipeg with a facility large enough to host every teacher in the province, not that practical either  
 
the other side of the coin tho is that the students are just kids, we do not need them having a full time job and conforming to the system just yet, there are many unconventional learning experiences through play ect and most of the year is reteaching the same stuff as last year with only a few added concepts so int no big deal that kids have more of a slack year then the work force imo

traveller said "in some ways i do find that the kids and teachers do get lots of time off, yes the pd are supposed to be educational but as suggested they could run on days the kids already have off, whether the teachers are paid or not on those days is irrelevant because we are still paying for their pd days     for ease of life and family they could give an extra winter break like SK and do their in services then but part of the issue with that is speakers might not be available, especially if the whole province does theirs at the same time, or we would have to pay for travel to winnipeg with a facility large enough to host every teacher in the province, not that practical either     the other side of the coin tho is that the students are just kids, we do not need them having a full time job and conforming to the system just yet, there are many unconventional learning experiences through play ect and most of the year is reteaching the same stuff as last year with only a few added concepts so int no big deal that kids have more of a slack year then the work force imo "

I'm confused by your first paragraph. The pay would be relevant as they would have to pay them for more days, if they did these pd days on days the children are already off. Yes they are paid already for pd days, and the children don't come to school. But then you would still be paying them to teach anyways on those days, then would have to have additional pay to do it on a day they don't normally get paid for. Eg summer. Where would the excess money come from?  
 
And yes this year may look like days are more clumped together, but that's in part of sept long happening later this year. They tried to have school start before the long weekend in the past, but parents complained that they wanted the long weekend as the end of summer, to still go away with their families. But at least they removed the extra days at parent/teacher time, and started school a day earlier to try to compensate. Just my opinion.  
 
Edited by Cheezies, 2015-10-07 10:46:33

It 's been 10 years since I've had a kid in his school. But...for years & years they always had P/T interviews after school hours .  
Parents are expectd to tak time off their work to attend . This iseven harder if you have 2 or 3 kids. Most teachers are quite accommodating will try & at least have them all on the same day so parents may only lose one day of pay each. Sadly,some parents are just not able to attend.  
Guess this is progress.

braid said "It 's been 10 years since I've had a kid in his school. But...for years & years they always had P/T interviews after school hours .   Parents are expectd to tak time off their work to attend . This iseven harder if you have 2 or 3 kids. Most teachers are quite accommodating will try & at least have them all on the same day so parents may only lose one day of pay each. Sadly,some parents are just not able to attend.   Guess this is progress. "

Parent/teacher interviews are still  
during the school day. At least at our school anyway. So time off work is still necessary. But they used to designate the Thursday AND Friday at report card time for interviews for k-8. Now they are just doing the Friday! They eliminated the extra day off on Thursday.  
 
Edited by Cheezies, 2015-10-07 12:20:11

I think the person who first put this post was just saying that kids DO get more days off of school, then us 'ol folk' from back in the day.  
 
I remember when I was young, we started school at the end of August, not the end of the first week of September. And yes, there does seem to be more Professional Dev. Days too. But? If the teachers need them? there's not much we can do now is there.  
 
Also, in response to Harry Potter - I know plenty of Teachers and EA's that get Employment Insurance throughout the summer months, so they (technically) are paid through summer if they choose to apply. Yes, there's a 4-6 week waiting period, but hey? it is (again) their choice - either way, no one can say they "don't get paid" as they can certainly apply for those benefits.  
 
Lastly, my daughter is 16 and wants to be a Nurse when she finishes high school. She started this year taking Grade 11 Biology, and ONE WEEK IN the Biology Teacher told her, "Give up on your dream because you are not good at Biology." No support, no assistance via tutors, nothing. Just "forget about it, you're no good" a week in to school.  
 
How's THAT for "professionalism" in the Teaching world? But I digress ......

The_Real_Deal said "I think the person who first put this post was just saying that kids DO get more days off of school, then us 'ol folk' from back in the day.     I remember when I was young, we started school at the end of August, not the end of the first week of September. And yes, there does seem to be more Professional Dev. Days too. But? If the teachers need them? there's not much we can do now is there.     Also, in response to Harry Potter - I know plenty of Teachers and EA's that get Employment Insurance throughout the summer months, so they (technically) are paid through summer if they choose to apply. Yes, there's a 4-6 week waiting period, but hey? it is (again) their choice - either way, no one can say they "don't get paid" as they can certainly apply for those benefits.     Lastly, my daughter is 16 and wants to be a Nurse when she finishes high school. She started this year taking Grade 11 Biology, and ONE WEEK IN the Biology Teacher told her, "Give up on your dream because you are not good at Biology." No support, no assistance via tutors, nothing. Just "forget about it, you're no good" a week in to school.     How's THAT for "professionalism" in the Teaching world? But I digress ...... "

I am not sure about EA's but a teacher would not receive EI during the summer months unless they were not guaranteed employment in the fall.  
 
http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/information/teacher.shtml  
 
 
 
Edited by CommonTater, 2015-10-07 14:51:42

There are way more days off now for the kids (maybe not for the teachers) than when I went to school many years ago. Do you work with young people who can't put in a 5 day work week? We have a few young people on staff and they don't work many 5 day weeks in a row without needing a sick day (unpaid day). Wonder if this is related to how they grew up and not having to put in 5 day school weeks. School doesn't seem to prepare them for life anymore! Think the education system needs an overhaul!

Lol, "why don't they just do it on spring/summer/winter break?" Teachers have families, kids and lives too.