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Re: [LUG] Computing in Schools..

 

On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 10:02:27 +0000
paul sutton wrote:

> On 11/01/12 09:48, Grant Phillips-Sewell wrote:
> > On Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:09:55 +0000 (GMT)
> > Gordon Henderson wrote:
> >
> >> Perhaps there is hope after all:
> >>
> >> http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16493929
> >>
> >> Gordon
> > It's a good start, but I can't see it coming to fruition easily or
> > soon. In my experience, I(C)T in schools is almost always 'taught'
> > by non-specialists - there are exceptions to the rule, but that's
> > always the case with broad generalisations - and as such there is
> > unlikely to be a body of I(C)T teachers in schools that are willing
> > or capable of teaching the 'new' curriculum.
> >
> > Getting IT specialists in to teach the subject would be the best
> > option, but that is not going to be an easy task. I, for one, would
> > be quite happy to go and teach IT in secondary schools, but it
> > would mean an absolutely massive drop in salary... and that's from
> > someone who is qualified to teach (I have a PGCE, but in "post
> > compulsory education and training")! To start out in a secondary
> > school, I believe we're talking about a salary of something in the
> > region of Â17k or Â18k... not bad to start with, but for many in IT
> > that would represent a huge drop.
> >
> > So where are we going to get these new IT teachers from? Those at
> > Uni studying IT courses will most likely not know of this proposed
> > change, and their experience of IT at school will probably put them
> > off going in to teach it anyway and those in the IT industry are
> > likely to be put off entering the teaching market by the
> > potentially significant drop in salary.
> >
> > Grant.
> >
> Surely to teach programming it would really help to have people
> teaching who have real world programming experience,  so rather than
> graduates from Uni we have graduate --> industry --> teaching that
> way you are bringing knolwedge and experience to the post.
> 
> It is like me with rugby,  I could easily undertake a level 1 coaching
> course,  having never played all i would do is teach what was on the
> course where as someone who has played can bring a different level of
> experience to that coaching.  I am just sticking with tag.
> 
> I guess its like giving a lesson on Life in china, having never lived
> there, or been to the country,  where as if you bring in someone from
> that country to give a talk in a lesson you bring a new dynamic edge
> to the lesson, with resources etc
> 
> Lets see what happens,  but yeah, why go into teaching when you can
> earn far more in industry ( what did kevin post as a salary Â25 an
> hour). 
> 
> Paul

Although an hourly rate doesn't usually convert well into a salary,
Â25/hr in Education would mean this:

Let's take an almost "worst case scenario" for a full-time teacher
(based on my experience):
25 hours per week "contact time".
12.5 hours per week "other duties".
10 weeks "holidays" (let's say unpaid as this is a worst-case scenario
(6 weeks for summer, 2 for Winter, 2 for Spring)).
20% taken off for taxes and other stuff.

Â25 * 37.5 * 42 * 0.8 = Â31,500 take home salary. A bit different to
the average starting salary of Â17k (take home of ~Â13.6k).

Grant.

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