Is your school adequately resourced?

happywithlife

had a conversarion at lunch today over how run down our school has become. It badly needs a good once over - both structurally & cosmeticaly. Had hoped my room would be painted over the summer but nought done and I know a few others put in requests for similar but principal said money just isn't there for it
also saw a post online with primary school kids still expected to bring a washbag to school and supply their own toilet paper
. then there was the school bus debacle.

for me my personal gripe is being expected to have lovely colourful artwork on display yet zilch resources provided to make them. Guess it annoyed me more than usual.today as open night planning has started for next month and principal was pushing for " lots of posters and a good display" to promote the school / your subject area. But yet there's no kitty for supplies. Now don't get me wrong I've gone out and bought the fancy markers and posterpaper for this year. I supply my own materials in class for the students but are we muggings? should we not be able to go the office and replinish whiteboard markers? or glue? If we want a printrich classroom should there not be a budget to order posters or the holy grail - print in colour?

Do you think your school is adequately resourced/funded?
What would you buy for your classroom to aid teaching & learning if you had a generous budget?

doc_17

happywithlife wrote: »

had a conversarion at lunch today over how run down our school has become. It badly needs a good once over - both structurally & cosmeticaly. Had hoped my room would be painted over the summer but nought done and I know a few others put in requests for similar but principal said money just isn't there for it
also saw a post online with primary school kids still expected to bring a washbag to school and supply their own toilet paper
. then there was the school bus debacle.

for me my personal gripe is being expected to have lovelylentils colourful artwork on display yet zilch resources provided to make them. Guess it annoyed me more than usual.today as open night planning has started for next month and principal was pushing for " lots of posters and a good display" to promote the school / your subject area. But yet there's no kitty for supplies. Now don't get me wrong I've gone out and bought the fancy markers and posterpaper for this year. I supply my own materials in class for the students but are we muggings? should we not be able to go the office and replinish whiteboard markers? or glue? If we want a printrich classroom should there not be a budget to order posters or the holy grail - print in colour?

Do you think your school is adequately resourced/funded?
What would you buy for your classroom to aid teaching & learning if you had a generous budget?

It’s one thing buying an odd bit of gear now and then. But buying the supplies for your classes? I mean this in the best possible way - cop yourself on!!

happywithlife

we are given 5 whiteboard markers at start of the year and that is it. I kid you not. They are not stocked in the school after distribution in Sept. What are we supposed to do? I must replace my clicker for the projector and will have to do so myself At the jct cluster mestings last yr I remember it came up then too and one girl said she prints all the colour posters she has at home herself. The conversation moved onto laminators and several had a discussion of where they'd bought their own one. Maybe as a sub I was never in a position to query costs but I'm defintely not alone. Showed the deputy last year where water was dripping across the ceiling from a leak in the guttering outside and his response was to keep the nearest light off. I've seen huge differences between etb & voluntary sectors.
Anyway I'm curious in a more light hearted way to know what people would buy for their classroom if money wasn't an issue?

evolving_doors

happywithlife wrote: »

we are given 5 whiteboard markers at start of the year and that is it. I kid you not. They are not stocked in the school after distribution in Sept. What are we supposed to do? I must replace my clicker for the projector and will have to do so myself At the jct cluster mestings last yr I remember it came up then too and one girl said she prints all the colour posters she has at home herself. The conversation moved onto laminators and several had a discussion of where they'd bought their own one. Maybe as a sub I was never in a position to query costs but I'm defintely not alone. Showed the deputy last year where water was dripping across the ceiling from a leak in the guttering outside and his response was to keep the nearest light off. I've seen huge differences between etb & voluntary sectors.
Anyway I'm curious in a more light hearted way to know what people would buy for their classroom if money wasn't an issue?

Most teachers don't understand this sentence.

RealJohn

My school is adequately resourced. Not well resourced (in my opinion) but definitely adequately resourced.

I wonder though, how many of you are claiming the teachers’ tax credit?
Or have they done away with that and I didn’t notice?

byhookorbycrook

Can't speak as to secondary, but primary certainly isn't. Most of us would prefer not to have to bag pack, hold cake sales, sponsored this and that, non-uniform days etc. or to ask hard pressed parents not to contribute, but we have to. Unlikely you will see gardaí fundraising for a squad or nurses asking for people to buy bandages.

evolving_doors

I'd love to see politicians at the end of checkout in Dunnes offering to pack my bags so they could pay for photocopying paper in the Dáil.

mirrorwall14

Not sure about adequate but definitely better than some. There are markers available all year for example! However almost everyone still spends their own money to function, depending on their subjects/needs

If you take my room over the past 8 years (music/maths teacher) I’ve bought:

-two laptops (new one just last year needed due to screen crack). Can not function without one in second level but teachers buy their own. Go figure
-iPad Pro (we were given iPad 2’s six years ago before we became an iPad school. That is unusable at this stage. I bought the pro abroad last year so I can record/render video lessons particularly for maths solutions)
-Apple TV (we were given iPads with no way to connect them to a projector. Then when the school remedied it we got a cable. For a tablet....)
-Digital piano and my own light keyboard (there was no music equipment at all when I started teaching it. there were third years. And no instruments in the room)
-Bluetooth soundbar (Christmas present from my husband and invaluable in a room littered in cables when keyboards etc are in use. Also critical for school show rehearsals as easily portable)
-four ukuleles (cheap from aldi, to work with students not doing instruments outside school in particular)
-guitar (my own from childhood. Has been played more in the last 8 years than I could have played in a lifetime)
-10 sets of drumsticks (for rhythm work)
-Yamaha PA and microphone (bought for gigs before teaching and used throughout the year in the music room and school wide for events)
-rolling metal locker (needed for storage and it’s lockable)
-15 maths sets (for obvious reasons, they’re just about depleted at this stage after three years)
-too many calculators to count (they go walking...)

That’s apart from the disposable stuff, journals, paper, pens etc. And some instrument repairs (school has funded bigger ones) but strings, picks etc

It’s worth noting
-I did apply for the music room grant when I realised there was nothing. It took months to organise. I worked hard to get good value quotes. Turned out I shouldn’t have bothered my head since the department took the lowest of the quoted and only granted us 75% of it. That only gave us enough for a piano, small keyboard and a percussion set. If I hadn’t bothered we’d probably have been able to get a lot more. I resent that massively. Additionally the list for a music room doesn’t actually include enough equipment to teach students an instrument and is completely classical orientated with no allowance for guitars or drums or similar for example

-I have requested funds from management and donations through the years. This gave us money for repairs, a mismatch of about three extra second hand guitars and a second hand drum kit which are all well worn at this stage. I did NOT know drum heads were expensive lol

-we did get a grant for sound equipment a few years back which gave us a bigger PA (mine is really for a room not a hall), cables, sound desk and two microphones

-the music dept took on a big event three years ago. We have gotten the school show to break even with a lot of work and finally got a full class set of Ukuleles out of the balance for it. I cannot wait to teach with them, having all students actually have access to an instrument and be able to teach them all at once is going to be a revelation!!


The biggest issue we have going forward now is maintenance and storage. There is no budget for maintenance and with ukuleles, sound equipment and pianos to maintain it’s going to be necessary to carefully mind everything. Storage is an issue because a music room is a ‘normal’ classroom despite the need for instruments. Add a piano, keyboards and ukuleles to a standard classroom and space is tight!

Edit: Oh and I’d be afraid to tot up what I’ve spent musicnotes.com for sheet music for current music in particular. It’s about 5 dollars a pop and I’ve got a LOT

happywithlife

what? mirrorwall that is insane !! bet the pe dept weren't expected to teach without gear!

mirrorwall14

happywithlife wrote: »

what? mirrorwall that is insane !! bet the pe dept weren't expected to teach without gear!

I couldn’t believe it when I took over. It had been a progression of unqualified/part timers so nothing had been organised for those third years. The syllabi for music requires a practical performance based on 3 or 5 years classroom tuition. However the building grant list for a music room doesn’t actually include enough of anything to actually teach all students an instrument without fundraising for a class set of something. A class percussion set (on the list) Is not remotely sufficient for a JC or LC practical exam.

Until this year practical classes have been tough going for us as generally you have to have students on rotation. Singers are fine for obvious reasons. But you usually have 5-6 guitar players for three guitars, similar for pianos/keyboards-there are never enough of them. And if you can imagine noise is crazy! But the alternative would be to have one student at a time performing and the rest watching maybe which wouldn’t get much done. It works for those who play an instrument, it’s much harder for those who don’t. We set up pair teaching and TY teachers for those students to try and work around the limitations. At least now everyone will learn ukulele and if they chose to do something else that’s fine.

I know almost every school who have a class set of equipment have fundraised themselves for it. Oh and the kick in the teeth from the department? Announced music grants last February BUT not for mainstream? Wtf? We have no equipment! The minister is clearly well tuned in.

PE departments suffer differently from what I hear, there does tend to be money for resources but in many bigger schools there’s a ton of teachers and it’s nigh on impossible to keep track of equipment like footballs that go missing

Blaizes

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

I couldn’t believe it when I took over. It had been a progression of unqualified/part timers so nothing had been organised for those third years. The syllabi for music requires a practical performance based on 3 or 5 years classroom tuition. However the building grant list for a music room doesn’t actually include enough of anything to actually teach all students an instrument without fundraising for a class set of something. A class percussion set (on the list) Is not remotely sufficient for a JC or LC practical exam.

Until this year practical classes have been tough going for us as generally you have to have students on rotation. Singers are fine for obvious reasons. But you usually have 5-6 guitar players for three guitars, similar for pianos/keyboards-there are never enough of them. And if you can imagine noise is crazy! But the alternative would be to have one student at a time performing and the rest watching maybe which wouldn’t get much done. It works for those who play an instrument, it’s much harder for those who don’t. We set up pair teaching and TY teachers for those students to try and work around the limitations. At least now everyone will learn ukulele and if they chose to do something else that’s fine.

I know almost every school who have a class set of equipment have fundraised themselves for it. Oh and the kick in the teeth from the department? Announced music grants last February BUT not for mainstream? Wtf? We have no equipment! The minister is clearly well tuned in.

PE departments suffer differently from what I hear, there does tend to be money for resources but in many bigger schools there’s a ton of teachers and it’s nigh on impossible to keep track of equipment like footballs that go missing

Fair play to you, didn't realise music was so underfunded, it's disgraceful really.Taught in UK for a while and schools have amazing resources and facilities, some with campuses like universities.Covered maternity leaves here till I had my own kids and once or twice had to buy all the course books as I was expected to share the books with another teacher.It wouldn't work for me as I needed to bring the books home to plan my classes.No where near the investment you've made in your music room but still I spent close to a hundred euros each time buying the books.I didn't complain as the way I saw it it was an investment in my job and enabled me to do my work properly but still this shouldn't be the case.In the Uk we were given all the books and exam papers we needed and forking out from our own pockets would have been unheard off.Back subbing again this year and already am making a list of books and papers I need to buy, the papers for my two subjects at two levels will work out at around forty euros and then I will try to buy some good course books as well.Subs have to teach on the hop and I need to have the stuff I need because it's not always readily available in the school.But again nowhere near your situation.Hope the kids and parents really appreciate how much you are personally investing in this when the fact is you shouldn't have to do so.It's beyond belief really!

mirrorwall14

Blaizes wrote: »

Fair play to you, didn't realise music was so underfunded, it's disgraceful really.Taught in UK for a while and schools have amazing resources and facilities, some with campuses like universities.Covered maternity leaves here till I had my own kids and once or twice had to buy all the course books as I was expected to share the books with another teacher.It wouldn't work for me as I needed to bring the books home to plan my classes.No where near the investment you've made in your music room but still I spent close to a hundred euros each time buying the books.I didn't complain as the way I saw it it was an investment in my job and enabled me to do my work properly but still this shouldn't be the case.In the Uk we were given all the books and exam papers we needed and forking out from our own pockets would have been unheard off.Back subbing again this year and already am making a list of books and papers I need to buy, the papers for my two subjects at two levels will work out at around forty euros and then I will try to buy some good course books as well.Subs have to teach on the hop and I need to have the stuff I need because it's not always readily available in the school.But again nowhere near your situation.Hope the kids and parents really appreciate how much you are personally investing in this when the fact is you shouldn't have to do so.It's beyond belief really!

Can you get the books from the suppliers as a teacher if the school you are subbing in uses them? The only school ones I’ve had to pay for were the privately written and published Music ones by two music teachers. I never pay for my maths books

To be fair, while it looks an awful lot when you write it all down it was very much over time and luckily as a piano player I owned my own digital piano, keyboard and PA before I started so it was more a repurpose in that case (total value well over 2k). For anyone curious, this is the ridiculous list of what they think is sufficient for a music room https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/Furniture-Equipment/pbu_music_drama_equipment1.pdf

Blaizes

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Can you get the books from the suppliers as a teacher if the school you are subbing in uses them? The only school ones I’ve had to pay for were the privately written and published Music ones by two music teachers. I never pay for my maths books

To be fair, while it looks an awful lot when you write it all down it was very much over time and luckily as a piano player I owned my own digital piano, keyboard and PA before I started so it was more a repurpose in that case (total value well over 2k). For anyone curious, this is the ridiculous list of what they think is sufficient for a music room https://www.education.ie/en/Schools-Colleges/Services/Furniture-Equipment/pbu_music_drama_equipment1.pdf

Yes, I will try that, at the moment I am only day to day subbing in my subjects.If I am lucky enough to get something longer term I will definitely try to get them from the suppliers.Money was less of an issue before having my own kids but now with what they need for school as well budget is tighter.
Know someone who is starting first year of a music teaching degree this year and will certainly be showing him this list and telling him what to expect, looks like he should start planning now as to how he will kit out his music room.As I say the Uk had amazing facilities, purpose built rooms, heaps of equipment so different to some schools here. Fair play to you again.I wonder have you ever tried asking parents to donate old musical instruments lying around at home or are there any sites where people give away stuff for free.There used to be some I know mostly around Dublin area. I know in my kids primary school principal asks parents for donations of old books and toys especially needed for Junior classes. We have a heap of toys here that kids won't part with but I plan on giving some of them to the school as soon as they will.Want to support my kids school ( as they are underfunded too) and maybe parents in your school would feel the same way.Just a thought.

mirrorwall14

Blaizes wrote: »

Yes, I will try that, at the moment I am only day to day subbing in my subjects.If I am lucky enough to get something longer term I will definitely try to get them from the suppliers.Money was less of an issue before having my own kids but now with what they need for school as well budget is tighter.
Know someone who is starting first year of a music teaching degree this year and will certainly be showing him this list and telling him what to expect, looks like he should start planning now as to how he will kit out his music room.As I say the Uk had amazing facilities, purpose built rooms, heaps of equipment so different to some schools here. Fair play to you again.I wonder have you ever tried asking parents to donate old musical instruments lying around at home or are there any sites where people give away stuff for free.There used to be some I know mostly around Dublin area. I know in my kids primary school principal asks parents for donations of old books and toys especially needed for Junior classes. We have a heap of toys here that kids won't part with but I plan on giving some of them to the school as soon as they will.Want to support my kids school ( as they are underfunded too) and maybe parents in your school would feel the same way.Just a thought.

If you get a nice VP or dept head in a school you are subbing in chat to them about getting books for you. Folens used to require headed paper faxed from the school. Gill & Mc Millan were less picky but it’s a few years since I needed stuff

Yeah we got a keyboard and a few guitars that way. Keyboard kicked the bucket unfortunately and one guitar couldn’t be repaired but the other two are still going.

He won’t need to panic, it does depend on the school and the history/standing of music is the school. In our case it was a new subject so there was nothing. Which in some ways was also great because it was ‘my department’ and ‘my job’ rather than essentially waiting for a music teacher to retire!

Blaizes

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

If you get a nice VP or dept head in a school you are subbing in chat to them about getting books for you. Folens used to require headed paper faxed from the school. Gill & Mc Millan were less picky but it’s a few years since I needed stuff

Yeah we got a keyboard and a few guitars that way. Keyboard kicked the bucket unfortunately and one guitar couldn’t be repaired but the other two are still going.

He won’t need to panic, it does depend on the school and the history/standing of music is the school. In our case it was a new subject so there was nothing. Which in some ways was also great because it was ‘my department’ and ‘my job’ rather than essentially waiting for a music teacher to retire!

Remember that one.Worked with a home ec. teacher some years back we were both subbing she had very few hours and was constantly hoping a home ec. teacher would retire.Fast forward to 2018 not enough home ec. teachers.

honeybear

No

fall

School budgets are tight but no one should be buying the stuff that is being detailed here. The money is there for basics like coloured paper, markers etc. I know we also discuss with departments what they need and what they would like. We can't afford everything but do our best. No one has to buy board markers that for sure! Our staff have also all being bought a tablet in addition to having a computer and projector in each room.

happywithlife

fall wrote: »

School budgets are tight but no one should be buying the stuff that is being detailed here. The money is there for basics like coloured paper, markers etc. I know we also discuss with departments what they need and what they would like. We can't afford everything but do our best. No one has to buy board markers that for sure! Our staff have also all being bought a tablet in addition to having a computer and projector in each room.

we have no internet in parts of our building
and then there's grants coming in from different sources (deis school) but it's so tight as to how it can be used it makes a mockery of the system

fall

There have been huge grants specifically for I C T . Do you know how they have been used? I worked in a Deis school for a long time. We had to fill in a requisition form and give it to the secretary who would place our orders. We could order stationary and if we needed something like extra storage in our room we could order shelves or presses. I would suggest that people stop spending their own money.

mirrorwall14

Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s no ongoing maintenance grant for all the ICT?

We have two lines coming into the building asfaik and the staff WiFi is constantly going down

evolving_doors

mirrorwall14 wrote: »

Correct me if I’m wrong but there’s no ongoing maintenance grant for all the ICT?

We have two lines coming into the building asfaik and the staff WiFi is constantly going down

There was another round of grants announced back in February... for some strange reason they don't really advertise it much.

https://www.pdsttechnologyineducation.ie/en/Technology/Grant-Information/

there is actually a group who work for the dept. of ed. that advise any school on their infrastructure etc. They can make recommendations on what to look for (and omit) when negotiating contracts with companies. The head is Tom Lonergan and he seems helpful as he's probably seen a lot of schools contracts. They can do up a report on your broadband usage too.

ictadvice@pdst.ie

Schools could potentially save a fortune by switching their phone lines to VOIP (contact above email if you get a few quotes from the telecom companies, he knows all the ins and outs). Of course your broadband connection would want to be solid.
There's also a danger that if you switch companies the previous company can just up-sticks and leave a trainwreck behind. Go local seems to work for a lot of schools.

mirrorwall14

evolving_doors wrote: »

There was another round of grants announced back in February... for some strange reason they don't really advertise it much.

https://www.pdsttechnologyineducation.ie/en/Technology/Grant-Information/

there is actually a group who work for the dept. of ed. that advise any school on their infrastructure etc. They can make recommendations on what to look for (and omit) when negotiating contracts with companies. The head is Tom Lonergan and he seems helpful as he's probably seen a lot of schools contracts. They can do up a report on your broadband usage too.

ictadvice@pdst.ie

Schools could potentially save a fortune by switching their phone lines to VOIP (contact above email if you get a few quotes from the telecom companies, he knows all the ins and outs). Of course your broadband connection would want to be solid.
There's also a danger that if you switch companies the previous company can just up-sticks and leave a trainwreck behind. Go local seems to work for a lot of schools.

Our principal is very good luckily enough but again looking at that grant list our issue isn’t equipment (by and large) it’s maintaining the systems in place. Between staff devices, two computer rooms, iPads across multiple year groups, three WiFi networks, printers, photocopiers etc I would hate to see our maintenance bill and honestly we should probably have a technician on site

ethical

"what? mirrorwall that is insane !! bet the pe dept weren't expected to teach without gear!"

I think every teacher in the country has put their hand in their own pocket and paid for some resource or other. Sometimes its easier to buy with your own money,at least you have the necessary stuff then for class to go on.Infact I know a PE teacher who has bought all the bibs,footballs etc (its a fcukin joke and its an ETB school! They have money for all sorts of sh1t,conferences,Lackeys expenses for interviews etc,etc!).
And in another school the GAA dresses the Gaelic dept in our school with the most fashionable and up to date gear,the Basketball buy their own and the soccer never have anything other than what the teachers buy them,swimming pay their own as do golf students.Nothing is going to change anytime soon either.For Fecks sake the fckun Dept cannot pay teachers equal wages never mind fund their need to make sure class goes ahead......................and you know what the people of Ireland will come out and vote the same bloody sh1ts in to office again come the next election rather than fight and make all this AN ELECTION ISSUE!

fall

There are other budgets that can be used. It's up to school management to decide how to spend the money. I would not expect any of my teachers to buy the stuff you are talking about.

mirrorwall14

fall wrote: »

There are other budgets that can be used. It's up to school management to decide how to spend the money. I would not expect any of my teachers to buy the stuff you are talking about.

Interesting. I guess the other side of the coin is we don’t tend to ask or kick up a fuss as much as we should. I did get the short throw projector with HDMI in as requested and finally got blackout blinds (I have two walls full of windows so you can’t see when the suns out)