Don't forget the extended half-term holiday either:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-23970281

And we wonder why today's kids seem thick!

And it's unthinkable to have 'teacher training days' outside term time.

I got the impression that most of my teachers just couldn't be bothered, and thought they deserved a day's pay because they managed to drag themselves out of bed in the morning.
The only teachers at my secondary school who seemed to give two hoots about their jobs taught me history, geography and science in my first couple of years there, and because of that I still have an interest in those subjects today.

"Everyone remembers a good teacher!" - I remember the bad ones as well!

In all my years at school, there is only one teacher I thought of as good. The rest were variable between rubbish and cr*p. That said, most were ex-military and really hadn't got a clue about teaching, other than by bawling at you, forcing you to write reams from the blackboard or simply trying to beat it into you.

I had several run-ins with my kids teachers; frankly, I wouldn't ******* on most of them if they were on fire. And that included the headmistress, who was supposed to be one of the best in Coventry!

Having taught myself I can say that it isn't hard, you just need to engage with the students; what does screw you up though, is the endless government interference by way of how subjects should be taught and reams of pointless paperwork dreamed up to keep some muppet auditor in a well paid job.

All Professions have to keep updated. GPs get 1 day per week to do ' research '. Some do it and others play golf etc. Nurses get study days (if they are lucky) but often ( Increasingly ) they are left to as their own responsibility to make sure they get enough study days to full fill their practice requirements.Teachers must do the same except the system is utilising pupil time to do it far too much or rather making it compromise parent care verses work balance which brings a whole big other can of worms.

We called it CPD (Continued Professional Development) Gladys. How we kept up to date was our problem. I used to take the odd day here and there to attend lectures, otherwise subscribe to "learned" journals. But much of it was done in my own time.

We try to create a culture of lifelong learning, great if you can inspire people from a young age. Even though I'm now retired, I still read books relevant to my past life (lives) and try to keep up to date with developments and new thinking. - It drives Mrs Rebbonk mad!