To think academics are seriously entitled??

Absolutely. Different pressures but more short deadlines that cant be moved in school.

There’s no point comparing the two. They’re too different.
I’ve worked in schools and now as an academic and they are two very, very different jobs.

BTW academics also have short deadlines that can’t be moved 🤷‍♀️

I dont have short deadlines like 5 x lessons per day anymore.

Those aren’t deadlines though. They’re timetabled lessons which you know about in advance.

Academic also have lessons (lectures, seminars, labs) to deliver in a specific time slot Plenty of deadlines, short medium and long.

Not quite sure why you regard short deadlines as worse - if I’ve got three one-hour tasks to deliver by next Tuesday, or twelve one-hour tasks to deliver by next Friday the pressure and workload is the same.

I think teaching as an academic will vary a lot. Timetabled sessions are fine if you have taught the material before and you can get away with an hour's prep to update/refresh. Unfortunately, I have brand new modules with zero content and zero prep time so it's like a rolling deadline every bloody week to try and stay a step ahead. I'm over allocation and have a lot of other people to support in various capacities with my responsibilities.

I don't know that comparing teaching in schools to teaching in HE is worthwhile. It's apples and oranges.

Max 3 x days teaching vs 2 full days and 2 days of 4 lessons. I know which I prefer.

You talk as though academics are teaching a maximum of 3 days and that’s it? You’re deliberately ignoring everything else the job involves.

Academics will be doing other work on the other two days though which you don’t seem
to be aware of.

I find it much more manageable than school.

Are you still working as an academic?

Yes

And you teach 3 days a week and do nothing else?

I didnt say that. I was comparing a week with teaching in it. The other work gives you more autonomy.
Marking in HE 4 week deadline. Class of exams in school a week.

Yes, there is more autonomy to an extent but you’re still tied to a timetable.
At my institution we have a hard 3 week deadline for marking and moderation. So the reality is it’s 2 weeks for marking to allow the internal moderation to take place. And the assignments you’re marking are much larger than the work you mark in school. So again, apples and oranges 🤷‍♀️

I’m confused at this idea of supposed hours and holidays for an academic. Just like any field there are academics who work hard and those who coast or let others pick up the slack. There is a vast array of input and output and expectation - universities generally are poor at workload management. I have colleagues who get away with a fraction of others work - I’d definitely find their job easy.

I’m fairly senior and average 50 - 60 hours every week and have a week off in the summer and at Christmas with some occasional days thrown in. It’s very rare to have a full weekend off and during teaching terms I work both days on the weekend. I answer emails almost every evening.

My work is intense (mentally not physically) and the requests constant. However I certainly think there are tougher jobs but there are certainly far easier ones too. I do have a lot of flexibility over those hours though ie I can work at 3 am if I want to. I’m also not doing heavy manual labour or having to save lives.

I’m more likely to complain about colleagues who slack off though than compare across jobs as I don’t think anyone can reliably do that.

I think a big problem is academia used to be relatively poorly paid for skill level but rewarding and respected with more time to focus on the parts that drew people in. Now I spend a lot of time doing admin and managing requests and very little time actually researching and supporting students to learn. Workloads have grown hugely for many in a short space of time. I haven’t had a pay increase in years despite bringing in lots of money. We’re allowed to moan after work to colleagues!

What’s your workload like outside the 3 days of teaching though? How many hours on writing / updating lectures, how many PhD students, what’s your grant submission and capture, how many 3 or 4* papers do you publish each year, impact case studies, line management, committees, roles, personal tutees, conferences, dissertation students etc?

I’d be intrigued to know what contract you’re on eg lecturer, senior lecturer and at what type of uni.

I am still busy but its way more manageable than teaching in school. Have you done both?

You’re not answering the question.

I’ve done both and think you can’t really compare the two jobs tbh. Both are very busy and have particular pressures but when I worked in a school I actually got time off work. I might have worked a few days during the holidays but not like I’ve had to as an academic.
I get 37 days annual leave but I carry days over every year and lose days. I work most days I’m on leave too.
I also work a high number of Saturdays (teaching, open days) and travel internationally and never get that time back.

The pressure to publish just doesn’t exist as a teacher. Failure to publish means lack of promotion at best, but redundancy at worst.
As a teacher I was not held to account for the number of students in my class. As an academic I most certainly am, low numbers on my course means I don’t have a job.

Then the pressures around NSS, graduate outcomes, rankings etc. I’m not saying schools don’t have pressures around exam results but there are more pressures related to multiple difference performance indicators at universities.

I teach in an education faculty and I don’t know any ex-teacher who considers academia a walk in the park compared to teaching.

I didnt say its a walk in the park but I definitely prefer it.

You’re still not answering the question though about the other parts of your role outside of teaching.

Being an teacher and being an academic are very different jobs. I enjoy delivering my teaching and if I was comparing just giving lectures to working in a secondary school then sure, university teaching is easier. But time spent giving the lectures is usually a small part of an academic role 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh I much prefer it. It’s a far more interesting and exciting job. It’s a much higher workload though, certainly at my institution.

You were suggesting that it was a walk in the park compared to secondary school teaching which is why people were asking you questions about your role- which you’re avoiding answering for some reason.

I’m only teaching 60 hours this academic year - yet I’ll still be working 50 hour weeks!

Giving too much role specific info would be outing.

Then you clearly have a very unusual academic role that is likely not comparable to most? I could describe my typical week and no one could guess.

I tend to work 50 - 60 hours a week not including all the time I spend thinking about research and teaching whilst doing other things. No idea how that compares to teaching but I’m also not sure why is the only job to compare to.

I like the flexibility though still. Most term days I can try and work 8am - 4 and then 8pm - 10 and just do a 9 - 2 block on the weekends with Sunday night emails.

I do not like the pressure of grant capture etc where you spend so much time on stuff that then comes to nothing.

I agree I’d rather be an academic than other things but it does feel more like pick your poison these days. Doesn’t mean it’s still not tough though.