11 Plus Exams Forum

I've been out of the classroom for a couple of years so I accept that I'm out of touch but I'm surprised about the hours that the teachers in my schools work.

Is it now normal to be in work for 10-12 hours per day and work at weekends?

Yes that seems about right !

I leave between 7 and 8pm and there are often still teachers in the buildings.

Most of ours (primary) seem to be in until 5.00/6.00, depending on whether they have DCs of their own, and tell me that they spend a lot of their evenings, weekends and holidays working.

Definitely!

I'm in school 8-6 everyday. Then at least 2 more hours at home. All day on a Sunday.

I take Saturday completely off!

All my colleagues are the same

My two friends work 8.30-5.30 and reckon they do an extra hour an evening, unless there is a theme week, or inspection. Neither of them work for school weekends, except collecting things together on a Sunday. In fact one of them does private tutoring at weekends. They are both good teachers. My other two friends are head and deputy head of schools, again, nothing at weekends, they do stay in school until 6pm and start at 8am though.

Perhaps it is to do with country school v town school, as they all four work in small local schools.

Emails have made it far worse imho because you can receive several 'requests' from various people who all think that you have the time to do everything immediately. In the past, staff had to wander about the school for a bit in search of others which in turn gave teachers some breathing space. Obviously, there are other issues too, but I find that nowadays expectations aren't always reasonable.

southbucks3 wrote:My two friends work 8.30-5.30 and reckon they do an extra hour an evening, unless there is a theme week, or inspection. Neither of them work for school weekends, except collecting things together on a Sunday. In fact one of them does private tutoring at weekends. They are both good teachers. My other two friends are head and deputy head of schools, again, nothing at weekends, they do stay in school until 6pm and start at 8am though.

Perhaps it is to do with country school v town school, as they all four work in small local schools.

So there is still hope!

I know two teachers. They both work in secondary and they are usually home by around 4.30 (they have a 20 minute commute). One puts extra hours in on a weekend/evening when needed, the other doesn't.

I guess it also depends on which subject you teach, together with how much effort you put into it.