[etni] Teachers who work in more than 1 school
- From: David Graniewitz <graniewitz@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2009 12:14:30 +0300 (IDT)
Dear ETNIERs,
I have maintained radio silence, more or less, over the
summer due to a number of reasons mainly the Bar mitzvah of
my youngest son that kept me rather preoccupied.
Anyway, I followed with great interest the debate that took
place over the new literature module. In keeping with union
sanctions, which, I understand, have not yet been lifted, I
still have not done the course. I work in two schools in
which none of the teachers have done the course yet and I
have no idea how we are supposed to be ready for the changes
but that is another matter. The letters posted on this list
were most informative and I can see that while this new
module may be necessary there are still a lot of unresolved
issues, ones that unfortunately, seem not to be getting
enough attention from the powers-that-be.
It occurred to me though that there is one aspect of this
debate that had not been brought up. It is unfair to relate
to the entire population of English teachers as a one
homogenous body facing the same problems.
There is, for instance, a group of teachers who work more
hours than what is considered the norm and are employed in
more than one school. I, for example, taught 32 frontal
hours in 2 schools last year. In one I am the permanent
coordinator but I also acted as the stand-in coordinator in
the other as the regular one took a sabbatical. This year I
will be working slightly fewer hours but still more than
what is considered a full-time position and I will be
teaching two 5-point 12th grade classes.
Whilst I cannot claim to be this group’s official
representative, of course, I have spoken to a number of
teachers who are in the same position as I am and have found
that we all have the same difficulties and possess the same
misgivings about the changes to the Bagrut exam.
The reasons why some teachers take on such hefty workloads
are, of course, financial. More hours means more pay.
However the Israeli educational system is set up in a way
which makes it almost impossible for teachers to find full
employment in one school. I am afraid that there are those
who might accuse me of sexism here, but in my experience
this problem seems in the main to be a male one. The trouble
starts with the fact that a teacher’s salary is considered
the “female salary” i.e. the second salary of a family and
is kept low. Men working as teachers who are the main
breadwinners in a family have to get as many hours as they
can in order to make a living. (I fully expect to get a
reply from a woman teacher telling me how she works 40 hours
a week in four schools, has seven kids under the age of 10
and still finds time for her housework and is waiting with
her husband’s pipe and slippers when he comes back from a
day down the mine ;) ) I suppose that I am slightly luckier
than most as my wife earns more than I do. I always tell
people that I get the “woman’s salary”.
Many of us in this position are religious men who work in
Yeshiva High Schools in which secular studies are taught in
the afternoon. This has the advantage of freeing the
mornings up so that we can supplement our paltry salaries by
working in other schools in the mornings, yet means that we
have little time to take “Hishtalmuyot”. I had to wait till
I was on sabbatical a few years back to be able to take the
NBA course and I still don’t know how I will be able to fit
in the literature course when the union’s sanction are
eventually lifted.
Working so many hours and in different schools creates all
sorts of problems. Firstly, there is the fact that you have
to get to know so many more pupils. I have found that
remembering names gets harder for me each year and that I
get to know them less well as I am spreading myself very
thin.
Secondly, there is the obvious increase in the teacher’s
workload. More classes means more exams and papers to mark.
The direct result of this is that the teacher, in order to
preserve some modicum of sanity, will look for ways to cut
corners. In the case of the English Bagrut, anything that is
not checked externally is likely to fall by the wayside out
of expedience. A further result of this is the fact that I
am hesitant to try anything new. If I have been using a book
that works for which I have made up worksheets and tests, I
try not to choose anything new. Whilst this has its
benefits, it also means that I find that my teaching is
getting stale. But when I have so much to do I prefer not to
experiment as much as I used to.
In addition, working in more than one school means that one
has to divide one’s loyalties between them. Hardly a year
goes by in which I am not accused by one principal of
favouring my other school as I have to decide which
pedagogical meetings to take part in. Each year, I get sick
with tension as the new timetables are sent to me, hoping
that there won’t be clashes between them. This year, I have
a so-far unresolved problem regarding a clash. As ever, I
feel like a ping-pong ball as each school sends me to the
other claiming that there is nothing that it can do to solve
the issue. I have been doing this for almost 20 years and,
quite frankly, I am getting fed up with the situation.
There is also the problem of travel. There is nothing more
that I would like than to come in to one school at the
beginning of the day and leave at the end without having to
rush to another school in the middle of the day. (Often my
timetable leaves me with little or no breathing space
between lessons.) Pay me for my free hours in which I could
do all my work and I would be a happy camper. This is the
way things work in other countries. I know that various
reform proposals have tried to address this problem, but
either they haven’t gone far enough or have been vetoed by
the unions.
I envy those teachers who can work in one school as they can
settle for fewer hours or can fulfill different tasks in the
school to supplement their incomes. One of my problems with
the principals I work with is that they don’t understand
this problem. They are lucky enough to be able to work in
one school. Unless the situation is drastically changed I
and many others like me will continue to overload ourselves
with work and in the process drive ourselves and everyone
else crazy.
What I would like to know is whether and how the number of
hours that work and the number of schools in which we work
affects our attitude to change and to the way we do our
work. For instance, are teachers who only teach 12 hours a
week in one school (and there are many of you out there)
more willing to accept the new literature module than those
of us who work 24+ frontal hours a week? Perhaps a poll
could be posted on the ETNI site. I really believe that this
issue must be addressed in some form. The educational system
which is based on small schools in the whole (at least in
Jerusalem) cannot supply teachers with full-time positions
in one school and has caused this problem. I can’t see it
being resolved any time in the near future but I think that
it is about time people were made aware of it.
Enjoy the rest of your holiday
David Graniewitz
Jerusalem
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