New Ofsted head is a bell end. *Updated*

Teachers should have 'sabbatical' to avoid burnout and return 'refreshed', says new Ofsted head

See!

Sir Michael Wilshaw: The tough headmaster thinks schools should give teachers more time off work.
Stressed teachers should be allowed to take sabbaticals to ensure they are fresh for the classroom, the new head of schools watchdog Ofsted said yesterday.

He doesn't sound very tough to me.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said teaching for five or six hours a day is a ‘tough, tough job’ and has led to ‘widespread burnout’ in England’s schools.
Schools should find the money to allow staff to take a few months off so that they can return to the classroom refreshed, he told a group of cross-party MPs.

I'm sure that handing a bunch of New Labours modern kids can be a bit of a challenge, but it's not so tough a job that teachers need a few months of to recover on the taxpayers dime, on top of their current generous holidays.

Teachers currently get at least 13 weeks of paid holiday each year – almost three times that of the average worker.
In addition, school budgets are already stretched, with some facing the prospect of having to make redundancies over the next few years.

If redundancies are necessary then I would begin with anyone who thinks this is a good idea. I bet this Ofsted chap is on a pretty penny too. Let's bin him also.

But Sir Michael said: ‘I would strongly support [sabbaticals], because there is an element of burnout; people need to be refreshed.

That's what weekends are for. If these little daisies are that tired after a short working day and thirteen weeks paid holiday, they need to spend a month or two working for the private sector, to find out what real life is like.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of Schools and College Leaders, welcomed his suggestions. ‘We need to invest in our teaching workforce to ensure that they have acceptable working standards,’

Apparently this man believes that thirteen weeks paid leave a year is not acceptable working conditions. Well neither do I. It's far too much.

Russell Hobby, of the NAHT, said the general public underestimates how hard teachers and headmasters work.
He said heads work an average of 55 hours a week and, due to the nature of their job, cannot have an ‘off-day’ as they constantly need to ‘perform’.

Poor dears. How do the poor, downtrodden public sector cope. It's like Victorian conditions down the pit!

The NAHT is looking at plans to use part of the pension pot to fund sabbaticals so that a teacher could take six months to a year off midway through their career.

An adult worker taking a year off work and being paid to do so by their employer? It's the stuff of dreams.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said such suggestions were ‘out of touch’, adding: ‘Teachers already enjoy some of the most generous holiday allowances in the workplace, paid for by taxpayers.
‘Many of them are threatening disruptive and unreasonable strike action to retain unaffordable pensions.’
A national strike is planned for November 30 which is set to close most schools and nurseries in England as teachers walk out over a row about pensions.

These people have never had it better, yet still they want more.

It's time we brought their pay and conditions in line with the private sector. See how many of them are there to teach children and how many are just there for a ride on the gravy train.

*Update*

Millions of public sector workers will today be given a ‘take it or leave it’ offer over changes to their ‘gold-plated’ pension schemes as the Government tries to head off a national strike.
Ministers will tell teachers, nurses and civil servants that even after reforms are implemented, they would have to pay a third of their salary to get equivalent benefits if they worked in the private sector.
Instead, the five million state employees in public sector schemes will be asked to contribute just 10 per cent of their salaries on average.

Teachers are going on strike because of changes to pension schemes which noboby on thier wages in the private sector could hope to get. These people really do need a dose of reality.

Despite the generosity of the offer, unions are threatening an attempt to bring Britain to its knees with industrial action on November 30. Unison, the biggest public sector union, is expected to announce later this week that a million staff have voted to walk out.

I think the public sector over estimates it's usefulness. You go on strike, let's see what happens....