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Oh yes, class scheduling is about the most political aspect of high school management. My dad is a retired high school teacher, and he served as a deputy direct
by ihaveajob 6y ago
Oh yes, class scheduling is about the most political aspect of high school management. My dad is a retired high school teacher, and he served as a deputy director for several years. Part of the job is to make the schedules for everyone, and it was his most dreaded task every year.
Early in his career, it was done by hand, with large sheets of paper and moving cards around until all the pieces fit. Later, a couple of software companies came around, and they had this service where he would show up at an office, discuss the constraints with an operator, and choose among a handful options for the final schedule.
However, the crux of the problem was never the scheduling itself, but the accommodating of constraints which, given that teachers are in-class for 18-20h a week, but school is open for 30h/w, can get complicated pretty quickly. Some examples:
- Every teacher wanted to have one day with very light load, 1-2h max, so they could run other chores at home. Some people were very specific about this (i.e. they needed early Tuesday off), while others didn't care that much.
- Nobody could just have a no-class day, due to administrative and legal reasons.
- Having a gap hour without class was a big NO, because it adds to the time requirements without delivering actual teaching, so it was to be avoided at all costs.
- All things equal, senior teachers outranked their junior peers in terms of choosing class levels, lab vs lecture, etc.
- Some teachers had their own children attend the same school, and nobody wanted to teach their own kids (nor would the kids)
All in all, no matter how much time and effort he sunk into scheduling to everyone's liking, there was no perfect solution, and every single year there were aggravated teachers who would raise hell. He was called inhumane by someone who claimed the right to a free hour every morning to drop off her own kid, but only got her wish 4 days out of 5. He had peers stop talking to him over class level choices. The only reason he kept doing it was because the director was his close friend, and he asked my dad repeatedly. But he didn't wish that job on his worst enemy.
- SiempreViernes 6y ago> Having a gap hour without class was a big NO, because it adds to the time requirements without delivering actual teaching, so it was to be avoided at all costs So teachers are expected to prepare and grade on their own dime?
- galacticdessert 6y agoYep
- gegtik 6y agoteachers get a certain amount of prep time but its never sufficient and they do shit on their own time, all the time. plus they pay for school and class materials out of pocket routinely. I think in Ontario the average class is allocated like, $30 for the year in materials.
- panzagl 6y agoI think he means a gap hour for the whole school- that you couldn't just put everyone in study hall all at once.
- ihaveajob 6y agoNo, I meant a gap hour for an individual teacher. If they have 3 class hours but 1 gap hour in between, that reduces their schedule's flexibility.
- ihaveajob 6y agoTeachers (at least in Spain) get a salary that covers class time and off-class duties. Most teachers don't hang out at school unless they have a reason to be there, or they prefer to work from their office, when they have one. The problem with a gap hour (from the point of view of a teacher) is that it forces the teacher to stay in school when they don't necessarily have to. It reduces flexibility in their schedule.
- thelazydogsback 6y agoReminds me of this: https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/14ucj2/til_bill_gates_was_recruited_to_write_the_class/ https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/14ucj2/til_b... "Bill Gates was recruited to write the class scheduling software for his high school. He used that power to place himself in classes with more female students."
- heavenlyblue 6y agoIf Bill Gates was caught for stealing from a grocery shop and this popped up, he would get a longer sentence. We somehow tend to think that these things don’t matter but this is exactly the kind of small things that corrupt our governments.
- thelazydogsback 6y agoHuh??
- heavenlyblue 6y agoIf you want to get an answer to your question, you should make it clear what exactly you do not understand in the statement I made. Do you disagree with the premise? Do you think that what Bill Gates did wasn’t actually fraud? Do you think that a politician behaving like that on a daily basis is not the essence of corruption?