“This has been made into an argument about whether teachers are valuable and whether society could operate without them.

Of course they're valuable, as are many other professions and like many other professions society would be the poorer without them.

But thats not the question.....
the question is whether it was wise to send 80 teachers to Spain for a training course rather than do that in any number of suitable locations nearer home.

On financial and environmental grounds the decision makes no sense whatsoever.

Teachers are obviously very sensitive of criticism about holidays and I can only assume that this over sensitivity has lead to a knee jerk defense of the indefensible.

Don't talk of jealousy, it's commonsense that's led me to see this as crazy.

Put talk of whether teachers are valuable to one side.. they are.

Don't debate whether teachers should be trained.....they should be.

Don't question whether this can be better done out of the workplace......it can be.

But do question, whether it was necessary or wise to travel to Spain, rather than to a UK conference centre of which there are many, some within the City.

Can anyone defend it now?”

“I take the view that we should all do own jobs to the best of our abilities and leave others to do likewise. I try and avoid criticising people in other professions because its a case of a) I couldn't do it myself and b)I didn't want to in the first place. There seems to be a growing culture in this country of trying to tell everyone else how to do their job instead of getting on with our own.

I would agree with what Bill and James have said, without teachers we'd be in alot of trouble. Joe, how are James and Bill hypocritical? No logic to that comment whatsoever and certainly no sign of hypocrisy - I would therefore ask you to define the word. And as for Bill disagreeing with Dave, come on, who commented first? Yes teachers have perks, but like they've both said as a society we'd be in trouble without them.”

“David, the voice of the people. Apart from these clear teachers themselves who have shouted you down for voicing your level headed opinion.

That quotation is a bit of fun and I doesnt matter for this debate, what matters Bill and James is the fact you have hypocritical written on your forehead. Teachers have a motivation to go to school, e.g. the money, the satisfaction etc... Kids however need more motivation, they need free text books, they need computers and other tools to help them visually, audiently and kinesthetically. They need people to come in an teach them about thier career options or about knife crime or sex education. Do you not think £18000 could be better spent on making the quality of life better in Stoke on Trent.

Most jobs have perks, as I have mentioned earlier the perk of teaching is helping kids, passing on information and not only watching the evolution of young lives but having a direct impact on it. I sit a desk all day, sure I get a few perks such as the occaisional football ticket, but in all honesty its nothing on a teachers job.

Why get catty about it "whinged about, by the many who can't to do it themselves", there is no argument there, you dont know Dave, you dont know me either, we could both be investment bankers earning £2m a year. Again the reason why people winge is because they care about how thier kids are taught and if they get educated properly, so this goes back to why I think you are being so hypocritical criticising a guy who is saying that taxpayers money designated for the children should be spent on the children.

What a sad world we live in for people to disagree with you Dave.”

“Unfortunately David without those who can't, teaching, most people would end up illiterate, a burden on society, useless to industry and it would all result in us being flooded by even more foreign workers.”

“"....by the many who can't to do it themselves.."

Sorry, I thought the quotation was...

"Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach"

Get off your high horse, even if it wasn't in any way a jolly it's still indefensible on a number of grounds.”