From Stuart Brady:-

IT WAS with great interest that I read of the £47,000 payout to Mrs Muriel Benson, a former teacher at Prenton High School for Girls (Globe, last week) for stress.

I expect that the general public were surprised and shocked to hear that Mrs Benson often worked a 66 hour week and was not given adequate non-contract time in school to complete her duties.

It saddened me to think that the profession has lost yet another good teacher. Mrs. Benson's case is just the tip of the iceberg. Every teacher works just as hard as Mrs. Benson.

Let me give you one example: I am a primary school teacher, now in my third year of teaching. I arrive at school each day at 7:30am (there are already colleagues in before me) and work until 5:15pm, when the caretaker must lock up.

When I get home, I work for at least another 3-4 hours in order to complete the essential tasks of marking, assessment, recording and preparing resources for the next day.

I allow myself Saturday off before working for approximately seven hours on Sunday. I must plan thoroughly for the 10 subjects I will teach in the coming week and ensure that I have all the resources necessary.

Despite spending hundreds of pounds of my own money on resources (as all teachers do), I often have to make my own. In calculating my weekly hours, it approximates to 70 hours.

But what about holidays, I hear you ask? Schools are busy places during the holidays. My Summer holiday was spent changing classrooms, making resources and preparing equipment for the subject which I co-ordinate. Most primary teachers co-ordinate subjects in their schools, for which they receive no extra pay. My only week's holiday during the Summer was as a result of the caretaker's holiday time.

Half-term holidays are spent planning for the next half-term, mounting work for display and catching up on assessments. We also provide extra-curricular activities such as football, netball, recorder club and homework clubs.

For this, I am paid £17,400 per year. Despite the constant denigration of this profession and the ever-increasing pressure and workload, I still love my job and the effect I have on many children in the Birkenhead area.

Tony Blair thinks that loving the job and seeing a child achieve something is a bonus on top of our salaries. Dream on, Tony! Mrs. Benson's case has set a precedent. I hope that Wirral Borough Council has set plenty of money aside for the £47,000 to which all Wirral teachers are surely entitled. Where do we get our application forms?

Address supplied.

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