A Mini Conference to round out the 'Holidays'

Over the years as a teacher, I have often received flak for the amount of holidays teachers receive. Like they are just for us. Nothing about the kids needing a break. And like teachers actually take the whole time as a holiday. A lot of preparation and Professional Learning occurs in this time too, and in other non contact times during the term - more than the average punter would know.

Not that I am saying that as teachers we don't get more holidays than most. But it is swings and roundabouts; if you're not actually in a job, any job, you don't actually know what it entails, and therefore cannot judge. If the holidays were a clincher, teaching would be a career of choice for many more than it is. In a way the holidays could be considered our company car, annual bonus, or 'work lunches' on the business. 

Today the holidays ended for our staff, and the staff of 4 other schools in our ICT cluster, with a one day Mini Conference. Whilst we had a keynote speaker and some guest consultants, most of the workshops were delivered by our own teachers from the cluster, sharing the great things they are doing in their own classrooms in their own schools. Why? Because they are passionate about it. If great learning is occurring in their classrooms, they want to let others in on their ideas, journeys and successes. And you can bet they spent a significant amount of their holidays and non contact time preparing for it. I am sure that conference delegates and presenters alike saw the values of spending the last day of the 'holidays' in this way. I know I did.