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Is this normal?

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    #32
    DavyD_83
    Registered Users Posts: 1,992 ✭✭✭DavyD_83


    corklady wrote:
    Your teacher is giving up his/her free time to help you and your classmates. They're not getting paid for it. They're doing this for you! For god's sake be grateful and take all the help you can get. You'll be glad of it next year. You're in a lucky position, a lot of teachers wouldn't give a sh*t! :o


    IMO this would only be valid if these were EXTRA classes, as help for students having difficulty with the course. In which case i would agree, fair play to teacher and it would be up to the OP to go if he felt it was worthwhile.

    As far as I can see though, these are compulsory, and the teacher is going to be covering the main course in them, so anybody who misses is losing out.

    So, no the teacher isn't really helping, he/she should be covering the course in the time provided, or should be leading the charge in getting the timetable reworked as suggested above.

    Also, you have no idea whether this teacher is getting paid extra as a result (unless you are personally involved in the situation,wich is possible. its not stated in this thread though.)


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    #33
    JC 2K3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,794 ✭✭✭JC 2K3


    claire h wrote:
    Teachers have to teach a certain numbers of hours a week - this teacher may well be counting that early morning class among them, particularly if it's a compulsory class. I wouldn't go on too much about how students should be kneeling in gratitude for this teacher; you don't know whether the morning they're giving up for this is being compensated for (might mean they're not teaching a class later on in the day, which could leave them free for an afternoon). The timetable should be able to accommodate these extra classes; whether it's a minor or major inconvenience for people, the point is that compulsory classes outside of school hours is not a situation that should ever arise.
    Every school sets its own hours and these hours do not have to be the same for every class.

    If these classes are compulsory then they ARE inside school hours.

    Also, I still fail to see how this is inconvenient. It's not like you'll be doing anything else in the morning anyway....


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    #34
    claire h
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭claire h


    JC 2K3 wrote:
    Every school sets its own hours and these hours do not have to be the same for every class.

    If these classes are compulsory then they ARE inside school hours.

    Also, I still fail to see how this is inconvenient. It's not like you'll be doing anything else in the morning anyway....

    I would agree with your first points except that this extra class isn't being compensated for elsewhere - if the school decided that all 5th and 6th years started early, but then finished up early, or something along those lines, that would be a case of hours being reallocated (if potentially problematic for staff in terms of supervising, etc). But this is something additional.

    As for convenience - well, it depends on the individual. How far they have to travel to school, how they travel, what the traffic is like, etc. Obviously if you live down the road or get a frequent bus the only inconvenience is having to get up a bit early, but depending on circumstances it could be a lot trickier. I can understand why for some people it would be quite disruptive to have to turn up early one day a week, even if not for everyone.


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    #35
    PurpleFistMixer
    Registered Users Posts: 5,851 ✭✭✭PurpleFistMixer


    JC 2K3 wrote:
    Also, I still fail to see how this is inconvenient. It's not like you'll be doing anything else in the morning anyway....
    Sleeping!


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    #36
    highlydebased
    Registered Users Posts: 7,469 ✭✭✭highlydebased


    Before school is a bit rediculous

    For the JC (ok only JC) this year we didnt have the course covered. And so she organised a class after school thursday, from 3 to 4.30! Most of us learned nothing in it, and we got in trouble with her if we didnt go.

    But, outside of normal school hours, you shouldnt be foreced do anything


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    #37
    gaeilgegrinds
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,376 ✭✭✭gaeilgegrinds


    Are you all being forced or is it optional? That makes a huge difference.


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    #38
    JC 2K3
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,794 ✭✭✭JC 2K3


    claire h wrote:
    I would agree with your first points except that this extra class isn't being compensated for elsewhere - if the school decided that all 5th and 6th years started early, but then finished up early, or something along those lines, that would be a case of hours being reallocated (if potentially problematic for staff in terms of supervising, etc). But this is something additional.
    Why does it need to be compensated for? They're simply extending the day.
    claire h wrote:
    As for convenience - well, it depends on the individual. How far they have to travel to school, how they travel, what the traffic is like, etc. Obviously if you live down the road or get a frequent bus the only inconvenience is having to get up a bit early, but depending on circumstances it could be a lot trickier. I can understand why for some people it would be quite disruptive to have to turn up early one day a week, even if not for everyone.
    Ah come on, the only inconvenience for the vast majority of pupils in a normal school situation is what Purplefistmixer just pointed out; you won't get an extra hour in bed. Sure, it's a bitch getting up earlier, but not a major injustice and it's only one day a week.

    I can't believe that this is being made such a big deal of. I mean, I personally would hate it, since it would have been no benefit to me and I like my bed, but such is life.....


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    #39
    spurious
    Moderators, Category Moderators, Education Moderators Posts: 27,226 CMod ✭✭✭✭spurious


    claire h wrote:
    Teachers have to teach a certain numbers of hours a week - this teacher may well be counting that early morning class among them, particularly if it's a compulsory class.

    That is very unlikely.
    To officially timetable a teacher for a class at that time would require union agreement at a national level.


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    #40
    claire h
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,056 ✭✭✭claire h


    spurious wrote:
    That is very unlikely.
    To officially timetable a teacher for a class at that time would require union agreement at a national level.

    In which case, to officially timetable a compulsory class at that time is surely not on, then?

    I just find the argument that a teacher is doing this as a kind offer for which all the students should be grovelling in thanks for a bit unconvincing, as it's not a case of extra classes coming close to exam time if students need them, but something that's clearly been timetabled for, which makes me think that hours are being reallocated within the school in some fashion, or some duties are being reallocated, or it's falling under hours allocated for a post they have, or whatever. I might be wrong, of course, but to me this sounds like a case of either: it's really a compulsory class, in which case the teacher's probably being compensated in some way, officially or unofficially, or it's an extra class which they're going to punish students for not going to but really shouldn't be, and would stop if the parents kicked up a fuss. Actually I suspect it's the latter, and I think it's pretty unfair to students to have a situation where part of the course is being covered outside of school hours right from the beginning of the two-year cycle.


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