Charter and Important Links - Updated 27/03/2015

Toto Wolfcastle

If you are new to Boards.ie or if you just have a question and you need an answer, the Boards FAQ should be your first stop.
If you cant find the answer there, contact one of the Teaching & Lecturing Moderators. (Armelodie, Gaeilgebeo and Spurious)

The following is a list of rules that should be followed when posting in Teaching & Lecturing. This list is not exhaustive. Failure to comply may result in a warning,infraction or ban. Mods don't take kindly to squabbling over the wording of the charter, keep within the spirit of the rules and everything will be fine.

Keep it civil

Usual Boards.ie rules apply. No trolling, flaming/flame baiting or trying to get a rise out of people. Please do not comment on the spelling,syntax or grammar of other posters. Do not call another poster a troll. No need to announce that you are putting someone on 'ignore', just do it and move on. If there is a problem report the post.

For non-teachers, you are welcome but please appreciate that certain topics may be disallowed as they have been discussed ad-nauseum and might only serve to derail a thread (public sector vs' private sector, pay related performance, getting rid of bad teachers, teachers holidays,comparing teachers to other professions etc).

Fair comment and constructive criticism about unidentified teachers, schools or lecturers is permitted in this forum. However posts with general sweeping statements criticising all teachers, all teachers trained in certain Universities, schools or lecturers, or, those naming or abusing particular individuals or schools, may result in the post being deleted and/or the poster being actioned on.

Stereotyping aligned to the 9 groups mentioned HERE is discouraged.


Personal Information

Please do not post personal information about yourself or about anyone else, including e-mail addresses and phone numbers. Posters are reminded that if they post a very specific set of circumstances they may be liable to be identified in spite of anonymous usernames. This is especially important to note in the case of legal proceedings. Also posting about unfair treatment due to a school incident usually winds up with people needing more information to comment objectively, especially if you are a parent/relative and you only have a child's perspective of the incident. You may not want to reveal too much specific information.

A good practice is to change non essential info e.g.

" I was speaking to a parent yesterday and she said that I accused her daughter of..."
to
" A colleague was speaking to a parent last month and he said that he accused his son of ..."

Profiling would be considered as the gleaning of personal information, or, unfairly taking statements made in the past on other threads/forums and using them to attack a poster (as opposed to attacking a post). Profiling of other members is generally frowned upon so try to keep debate to the topic and within that thread, anonymity is important to every member as it allows a freedom to express an opinion without unwarranted recourse.

Problems With Posts/Posters

If you have a problem with a post or a poster, use the Report Post button (the little red triangle) and let the moderators evaluate it. Back seat moderating is not permitted. Do not reply to moderator warnings on-thread. PM the moderator if you have a problem with a moderator decision.

Criticising how the forum is moderated on-thread is unfair to mods who do this job voluntarily. As above, if you have an issue with a mod take it up by PM or report the post. Try another mod or c-mod if you are still unhappy. Mods are also entitled to post as individuals and give their own opinion to a thread (whether it's right or wrong).
The use of Bold text for mods varies across boards but generally:
MOD speaking as MOD = BOLD TEXT
MOD speaking just like any other poster = NOT BOLD


Off-Topic Posts

Please stay on topic. Off topic posts may be deleted. If you continue to post off-topic, after a mod request not to do so, you may be infracted or banned. Sometimes a thread may drift a bit, this may be allowed if the original post has run it's course. You can PM a mod if you feel the thread needs to be split or else maybe start a fresh thread yourself to disentangle the issues from the OP.

Get your facts right

If you are posting something as fact, you may be asked to back it up. For example, 'there are loads of bad teachers' can be open to question. Neither is 'Irish teachers are the highest paid in Europe.' If you're going to post it, you need to prove it (Please note that there is a difference between opinion and fact, also remember that a lot of teachers don't start off on the full salary amount, but sub/part time for many years before realising a full salary (unlike other countries) . Other members are free to ask for links/sources to 'facts' put forward. If clarification is not requested it doesn't mean that mods or boards.ie necessairily endorse this post.

Advertising

Advertising of products and/or services is not allowed. Spammers and shills are also not tolerated. If you wish to buy ad space, contact hello@boards.ie.

Help With Assignments/Research

Please don't discuss or offer the answers to specific assignments or questions. This is especially relevant to those offering help for financial reward.
If you are undertaking research please remember that boards.ie is primarily a discussion site. It's polite to give your own opinion or thoughts first to get a discussion going rather than naming a few topics and expecting posters to do your research for you. Similarly, posting research surveys is not allowed.

Grinds

Please do not offer/look for grinds in this forum. There is a sticky in the Leaving Cert forum for this purpose. Also for Maths/Stats etc. there is a grinds sticky in the Science/Mathematics Forum, this caters for 3rd level too (HERE).

Thread Prefixes

From time to time teachers will start threads looking for advice. These threads are to be used to give constructive advice only, not for soap-boxing, etc. These threads will be obvious because the title may have an ADVICE prefix. Similarly threads which are specifically for debate may be labeled with DISCUSSION. Threads with important information can be labeled with INFORMATION. Please don't berate a poster for not knowing what you think 'every teacher should know', we're not here to judge and it may be someone's first time on boards.ie seeking advice.

Search Function

Because of the nature of this forum, many questions are asked over and over again. Please use the search function before starting a new thread.

Posting in languages other than English

Posting in Irish or other languages is fine, however you should accompany it with an English translation if you are going to do so. Posts that are not translated to English may be deleted.

Normal boards.ie rules also apply.

If you have a problem with a mod you should follow the Dispute Resolution Procedure. If you go there the first question you will be asked is if you have exhausted the stages outlined in the DRP.


Some Important Links
Subject Choices for Teaching

Teacher Salary Scales

Education Jobs Available

How to become a lecturer

List of important links

Haddington Road (Post 2013) info can be found HERE