Whenever I play around in a teachers' subreddit, I encounter lots of posts including "teachers pay teachers." TpT is an online website where teachers can buy or sell educational resources. A thing that astonished me was that some teachers spend lots of money (more than $5,000 an academic year) to buy educational resources (e.g., course materials or teaching plans).
This made me think following questions:
1) Is it illegal if someone shares paid TpT resources with other teachers?
2) Most teachers pay their money to buy resources TpT. Given that educational practices should be supported by collaborative efforts in school, do schools should provide funds for teachers? If it is, does it ethically correct?
This is wild! I mean I shouldnʻt be surprised, but thatʻs a lot of dough! I would be asking the same questions. How do you even start to apply ip/copyright laws here? I imagine for schools, they would have to assess the materials before paying for them? Which could be a barrier for teachers. Interesting! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is the first time I'm hearing of this subreddit but I guess for most professions there will always be work expenses incurred by the staff. However, the amount quoted here is really high, it makes me wonder what's the reason teachers have to pay so much out of pocket. Is it a lack of support from the school, or other reasons.
ReplyDeletethere's some literature about TPT -- people are researching it. I can share the articles if you're interested.
ReplyDeleteThat would be awesome! Please share the articles :-)
DeleteThank you for all great thoughts and ideas!
ReplyDelete