Shannon is an English teacher at a high school in Providence, RI, where she is fortunate enough to spend her days with incredible Grade 9 and 10 students. Outside of the classroom, she works as a freelance writer and playwright. This means administrators are rethinking what they ask teachers to do on a daily basis and what students` expectations are. This means examining whether there are ways to use distance learning to attract a specialized teacher for virtual classrooms in rural areas where it might otherwise be more difficult to hire. This means asking the entire school community if school hours and days should be shifted. If you teach the same class for several years, teachers can use the lesson plans more than once, he added, but if you need to change grades or cover other classes, regular lesson scheduling will take more hours. Even if the average working time does not differ significantly between teachers and others, are there more teachers than others who work exceptionally long hours, while another group of teachers work much fewer hours? The quick answer is «no.» Here is a picture of the distribution of weekly working time between teachers and non-teachers. There is simply no significant difference between the two groups. While teachers mentioned the need for better pay to match the amount of work they do each week, they also said support systems are key to managing their workload. This will require logistical changes such as revising school calendars and prioritizing the social-emotional needs of students and teachers, they said. This includes all the emails from students and parents I receive during the summer or weekends, not to mention phone calls. If I worked in an office, I`m sure they would be considered billable hours, but I don`t follow them very well.
It is not uncommon for teachers to schedule overtime every day to ensure it meets students` academic and social-emotional needs. But everything from answering emails to grading documents adds up: A typical teacher works about 54 hours a week — with just under half that time spent teaching students directly, according to a new survey. But the researchers also found no evidence that working hours had increased, and the proportion of teachers who reported working evenings and weekends had also remained broadly stable. Since we have an answer to the original question, I want to tell you why the question is not so interesting for an economist. The question of the number of hours a job requires, or the necessary diplomas or other types of qualifications and skills of employees, is interesting, but not determinative. Some jobs are particularly rewarding (such as working with children); And some jobs are particularly stressful (like working with children). The key when deciding on compensation is whether you pay enough to get a sufficient supply of good enough employees. In other words, if you think we have more great teachers than we need, you should be okay with lower pay rates. On the other hand, if you think we need more excellent teachers than we have on board, then you should want to increase salaries. That`s how a market system works – you get what you pay for.
Honestly, when I have families invested in their children`s education, I`m so excited that I don`t feel like I`m working! Nevertheless, it is work. Let us therefore estimate that teachers spend at least one or two hours a week communicating, or about 40 hours in total. Another colleague in Spain worked for a school that paid preparatory and administrative hours to circumvent Spanish law: I calculated for this section, showed it to my husband and he laughed. He said my estimates were far too low. So I went back to the drawing board, with his observations in mind. Now, I know that this section can vary greatly depending on the class or subject, but I estimate that teachers spend between five and 10 hours a week on grading. My number is more between 500 and 600 hours because I am an English teacher. But I`ll keep that at 200 hours in total for most teachers. In my last blog post, I decided it would be fair to first share my own experiences with the hours I had to do in the ELT industry, and I promised that you would hear a variety of voices on the subject in Part 2 of this series. Lyon, from California, once had access to district support teachers who traveled to different schools to model lessons and share lesson plans and ideas for teaching specific classes.
This has made it possible to shorten the preparatory work of teachers in a collaborative way. But thanks to budget cuts, she said, that support and time for collaboration is over. Depending on the state you live in and your district`s particular rules, the average school day lasts between 6 and 8 hours. So, to reason, let`s divide the difference and say that teachers work 7 hours a day. A normal person here would point out that teachers have about 30 minutes a day for lunch, but a normal teacher would refute this argument by saying that every lunch is a working lunch if you are a teacher. Your lunch and planning time will be spent furiously planning lessons, grading, and meeting with fellow teachers to make sure everyone is on the same page. I know teachers who have not had 30 minutes to themselves in their entire careers. «Before the GCSE and A-level students left, I worked at least 2 hours a night during the week, one hour during the day during my 2 days off and one day on weekends. 10% of our schedule is PPA time, but it`s not enough. When I was full-time, I taught about 250 students and they had to tag their books every 3 weeks (give feedback and goals!) – 80 books a week! Not to mention the endless administration, meetings, lesson planning, parent parties, etc.
Students and staff all have iPads, so we are often contacted on weekends and evenings. Students, parents and older staff are expected to work extremely hard, but it pays off in the end. The salaries aren`t bad (although less than most of my other college friends my age), but in general, I think working with fantastic young people is extremely rewarding. We have a great vacation, but it is well deserved! While the school day for most pupils in England is around 9am to 3.30pm, the average full-time teacher started work at 8am and left school between 3.30pm and 5.30pm. Almost everyone had left by 6 p.m., according to the research. How many hours do teachers actually invest each year? Despite my fear of math (I`m an English teacher), I thought I`d dive in and take a look at my personal number of hours worked per year. This is based on a typical 180-day/39-week teacher contract. Of course, none of this is true. Most teachers sign contracts for 180 working days a year, so at first glance it may seem like a nice summer concert.
But almost every teacher (including me) will confirm that they work a lot, MUCH more – and we don`t get paid for that work. Meet with the Building Math Specialist to review the curriculum and assist with lesson planning (as part of mentoring new teachers) «(I) agree (the two respondents mentioned above). The total price fee includes everything that goes into these hours of working with clients/students. It is therefore normal that time is spent outside of class time in preparation, etc. However, if a venue offers, for example, 20 € / h and this fee includes lessons, preparation, etc. It`s probably better to keep looking. But the business/freelance approach is very different from the school approach, as BE instructors choose their fees/projects (to some extent) while teachers don`t. «But there are still many teachers who are only paid for contact hours.
But another teacher who worked for a Singapore Polytechnic had a different story to tell: «But the reality is, like almost any job in Singapore, if you want to do your job well, you`ll have to invest just over 44 hours a week. I would say that something between 60 and 70 hours a week is probably the actual average number of hours a week that Singapore government teachers work in a week. «As a teacher, you are more than just a teacher. We`re parents, we`re friends, we`re counselors, and I think we have this motivation within us that we move forward, no matter what`s going on,» Jiner said. And sometimes it`s at the expense of our own mental health and stress. «For Singapore`s public schools, most teachers have an average of about 16 hours of lessons per week.