Chilli Con Kearney wrote: » We were told last week, at the in service, that they were to be done in school time, school day, call it whatever you want. The reality is that it was portrayed as being done inside the normal day. But schools will not have s&s money to use to free us up together. So the reality is that we will be expected to do it after school. I'd consider splitting it into blocks then. Maybe 40 mins at lunch one day, then another period where we might all be free, then possibly a shorter block after school. That'll rack up the two hour SLAR and get the work done.
Mardy Bum wrote: » The SLAR coordinator training is very comprehensive.
km79 wrote: » Mardy Bum wrote: » The SLAR coordinator training is very comprehensive. Are you being sarcastic?????? I attended one a few weeks ago. It was a joke. Waste of 2 hours. I was well informed going into it anyway and it was a good job as I learnt nothing. Couldn't get concrete answers on what I wanted . The facilitator was unable to control the room which didn't help matters.........
Mardy Bum wrote: » Control the room? What was in it? Rowdy second years? Pity we can't act professional. Mine was much better than expected and it illuminated a lot of grey areas.
km79 wrote: » That would be a disaster
Chilli Con Kearney wrote: » How so? I'd rather do 2 hour sessions during the day if possible, than 2 hours after school. I mean, who the hell negotiated that?! More evenings on top of personal Croke Park hours, staff Croke Park hours, parent teacher meetings and extra curricular sports.
km79 wrote: » Oh I’d rather do it during the school day as well don’t get me wrong I meant splitting it over 3 days just won’t work Anyway it has to be one 2 hour block so it’s a non runner
Chilli Con Kearney wrote: » Maybe not three, but certainly 2 hours would work. Say the department are all off during the day but not last class, they MUST wait until after school? That's mad. Like, just nuts. Start it and then pick up after school. That'd be absolutely fine. And realistically who is going to know or care?!
solerina wrote: » We actually had a union meeting about this very issue today. Our school steward said the local branch of the union directed that SLARs must at the very least start within class time, and really should be done totally within class time. He said that we need to stand firm or whatever happens will continue for future years. This wasn’t my understanding of what was to happen but it has really caused a bit of a furore among the staff.
joebloggs32 wrote: » solerina wrote: » We actually had a union meeting about this very issue today. Our school steward said the local branch of the union directed that SLARs must at the very least start within class time, and really should be done totally within class time. He said that we need to stand firm or whatever happens will continue for future years. This wasn’t my understanding of what was to happen but it has really caused a bit of a furore among the staff. It really is a mess. It was my understanding that the professional time allocation meant that we now do slars on our time. If possible to start during school but otherwise it would be after school. As our school operates a four and a half day week we could do it on our afternoon off so at least your out by 3.30
Mardy Bum wrote: » That is exactly what the professional time is for along with administration. Is it enough? Definitely not. Did the ASTI capitulate and agree to it? Yes I don't understand the unions on this now. The TUI didn't even try to stop this when it had the chance. The ASTI are trying to save face clearly following the coup. All a little too late.
joebloggs32 wrote: » The real can of worms for me here is the teachers in a small school where they are the only one with that subject. They have to travel to another school and in some parts of rural Ireland that could be a considerable journey. Will they be subbed free to be able to travel and will they get proper expenses. What if they don't drive and there is no public transport?
picturehangup wrote: » In addition to SLARS, we have also now to deal with new JC webinars after school hours. Had one in my subject a few weeks ago, between the hours of 7-8pm. Surprised nobody has raised this one already. This is more CPD time creeping in under the radar, unpaid, of course, with no thought or concern for those who may have other family commitments, young children etc. Sorry if I am off-topic, but did the unions agree to this? I think we are being pushed and pulled in every which way and direction, and it is very, very unfair.
Brynlee Prehistoric Sister wrote: » People whining about having to do a SLAR after school need to acknowledge the 33 FREE CLASSES they had shaved off their timetable this year!!
PureClareGold wrote: » picturehangup wrote: » In addition to SLARS, we have also now to deal with new JC webinars after school hours. Had one in my subject a few weeks ago, between the hours of 7-8pm. Surprised nobody has raised this one already. This is more CPD time creeping in under the radar, unpaid, of course, with no thought or concern for those who may have other family commitments, young children etc. Sorry if I am off-topic, but did the unions agree to this? I think we are being pushed and pulled in every which way and direction, and it is very, very unfair. The recordings and resources they used are all available on their website that we can use to HELP us in our job. We can watch them during school time with our colleagues if we wish to improve as teachers.
Moody_mona wrote: » I appreciate that, but then why have the department indicated that some meetings may run after school time, indicating that some may take place during school? I'm not looking for an argument, I'm genuinely trying to understand how these, slars should be organised. The ASTI have a document (I posted a few pages back) that organising the meetings entirely outside of school contravenes the agreement. How are we supposed to organise the meetings to suit this?
km79 wrote: Asked and ignored at Facilitator training He was not aware of the union guidelines Only the circular
Brynlee Prehistoric Sister wrote: » Moody_mona wrote: » I appreciate that, but then why have the department indicated that some meetings may run after school time, indicating that some may take place during school? I'm not looking for an argument, I'm genuinely trying to understand how these, slars should be organised. The ASTI have a document (I posted a few pages back) that organising the meetings entirely outside of school contravenes the agreement. How are we supposed to organise the meetings to suit this? There’s 7 in our English Dept I was landed with the ‘coordinator ‘ gig. In relation to the 3rd year English Collection of Texts,I’m planning on doing the following: (A) Ask each colleague to supply me with 1 text for each of the grade descriptors. I appreciate not every teacher may have a text for each category. (B) Choose 7 texts to photocopy. These should try and cover the range of student ability.Every teacher should have one of their chosen texts scrutinized. (C) In order to save time at the meeting,each of us should grade the texts in our own time BEFORE the meeting. (D) Take vote on each of the 7 texts at meeting.This shouldn’t take longer than 30 mins unless there’s a 4/3 vote on a certain text.. Any thoughts? Would this be fair/dumb/clever/delusional!
happywithlife wrote: » I've raised it before and raised it online on Twitter too and got a quick and fairly smart reply back that all info will be uploaded to view at my convenience. I agree NO consideration to those with other commitments
PureClareGold wrote: » So let me get this right, you can't attend from 7-8pm. No issue with that. JCT are recording each webinar and putting it up on their website along with all the resources they use on the night. You contacted them about it and they responded quickly to you informing you of this and you still think there is no consideration for people with commitments even though they are doing everything possible to make it available to those of us who can't log in on the night. Nothing they do can please some people.
happywithlife wrote: » Yes I still consider it an I appropriate time. Edchatie is hugely popular and begins at 8.30 for example. This allows those with other commitments - be it family/training/farmwork etc -- to get those jobs out of the way first. Looking at something online afterwards is wholly different than being able to.participate in the live chat. I will always think 7pm is unsuitable. I am very active in personal CDP and attend many other courses in my own time and gladly do so. I engage with many online commentators etc in my subject area. However I not like the element creeping in that to be seen to be on board with the new Junior cycle you MUST be on Twitter etc. I believe it is distancing older members of the profession and putting them at an unfair disadvantage. I don't like the official promotion of CDP in this way. Official CDP should be available to all. My fear is that as this is very much an evolving change the ultimate end product is still being moulded and formned. Too much influence from one area may be disruptive to that end product. I am not against change. Far from it. But speaking from personal experience having been involved in subject reform at senior cycle - albeit on the fringe at the time - I retain the impression that sometimes the enthusiasm of the younger teachers needs to be tempered with the experience of those who have been in the profession longer and can foresee the wider implications of change in an area. I may be a little vague here as don't want to be too personal. I dontg mind engaging with webinars etc but certainly in my subject on the day of inservive it was very much a "keep an eye on Twitter for updates" approach which is too narrow in my opinion and alienates a huge amount of experienced teachers who are not and imo should not have to be engaged with Twitter to be able to "up to speed" with the new reforms
