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If you're a teacher, what does a typical weekday evening look like to you?

50 replies

SeeMoreStars · 12/02/2019 17:18

Just that, really. Married, partnered, single, what is your typical evening like- can you even say you get a 'typical' evening? I see my DC teachers always look (and are) so busy. I'm very supportive of teachers so would prefer teacher-bashers to go elsewhere.

OP posts:
adelias · 12/02/2019 17:26

Since working part time I don't often work in the evenings anymore. I work half a day to a full day off a week though. Depends on the marking for that week.

Idontmeanto · 12/02/2019 17:26

I get home about 5.30 most evenings, Dh will have already made tea and I’ll flop and talk to kids for an hour or so, do bedtime with ds and then sit down to work at about 7.30. I work until 10 ish then go to bed. One day at the weekend is also committed to school work.

Japril · 12/02/2019 17:29

Same as idontmeanto. Collect kids from after school club and ferry them around to activities/do bedtime until between 7.30 and 8 then work until 9.30ish. Sort out dishwasher and unwind until bedtime (10/10.30). I often end up eating a sandwich and crisps for tea as I can’t quite fit it in.
I am feeling very rebellious tonight because I haven’t brought any work home even though I should have done!

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IlsaLund · 12/02/2019 17:30

I'm only home at this time because I've been on a course today. I usually get home between 6pm and 7pm on three nights a week - on the other two evenings I aim to be home by 5pm.
Things like parents meetings/GB meetings/fund raising events mean longer hours - up until 8pm. These probably happen about twice each half term.

I work 3 or 4 evenings a week for about 2 hours and then on one day at the weekend for a few hours.

In the interests of clarity I should add I am a headteacher with a teaching commitment. When I was a Class Teacher I probably worked slightly shorter hours.

stayingaliveisawayoflife · 12/02/2019 17:32

I don't bring work home but I don't get home till 6.45 most nights and am in school by 7.30 am so feel I do enough. I am 20 years in so do have planning etc stored.

IlsaLund · 12/02/2019 17:34

I'm in school between 7am and 7.30am most mornings - I often find the first hour of the day when there aren't many people around the most productive of the day.

Youmadorwhat · 12/02/2019 17:34

Arrive home with DC at about 3.45/4.00. Sort out house, dinner, play with kids. Dinner bath bed etc and SOMETIMES (like once/twice a week max) I will do an hour of work from half 7 and half 8. Chill out, make lunches, set out clothes etc spend time with DH. Go to bed at 10. But then again I am in Ireland where being a teacher is not as stressful/demanding.

YoureAllABunchOfBastards · 12/02/2019 17:36

I get in anytime between 5 and half 6 - fifteen minute commute. I have massively cut down on working at home, but will have books to mark some nights and regularly have emails etc to deal with. I am aware that I am not doing enough, but I am too old to care.

LittleMachine · 12/02/2019 17:38

I don’t work after school unless I have a meeting, so I leave between 3:45 and 4. Pick the kids up from after school club, sometimes I go for a run first. Home by 5/5:30, cook the tea if it isn’t in the slow cooker, while the DSs play on their iPads. We eat together, then homework, shower and bedtime for 8/half 8. I do any house jobs that need doing then. I don’t work at home during the week. I sometimes do at weekends. I get in early every day and work then. I work in SEN, I repeat activities a lot, so don’t have loads of planning to do.

KeptTheBeachesShipwreckFree · 12/02/2019 17:44

I get home anywhere between 4 & 5 p.m. depending on where I was and which year group I was teaching. I collect my dc, go home, do tea, supper, bath & bed with them and tea for us (dh also does his share) and then either do my hobby or sit and vegetate in front of the tv.

I'm a supply teacher.

When I work more long-term, for example when I cover a maternity leave or an extended sick leave, then I'm more like stayingaliveisawayoflife. As much as I hate getting up, I'd rather start and finish early than work into the evening.

Weetabixandshreddies · 12/02/2019 17:51

Not me but my son, in NQT year. Gets up at 5.30am, in school by 6.30 am to do a couple of hours work before school. He usually leaves by about 5pm, depending on what he's needed to do after school - staff meetings, detentions etc. He then works for a couple of hours at home too, so no he doesn't get "evenings" really. When he has parents evenings he doesn't get home until 9pm and as he teaches from yrs 7 - 13 that's a lot of parent evenings plus option evenings, prospective yr 6 and sixth form evenings also.

Teachers work incredibly hard.

parrotonmyshoulder · 12/02/2019 17:58

I work in SEN so my marking load is minimal. However, there is a lot to prepare, many meetings, lots of reports and so on.
I get in at 7.30 after dropping DC at childminders. Always work throughout my lunch break. Leave at either 5pm (3 days) or 3.45 (2 days) to collect DC. Emails from 7.30-8pm. No work Saturday. 8-12 Sunday.

MotherOfSuburbia · 12/02/2019 17:58

Full time Teacher. Got to school at 7. Just arrived home. Sitting down messing around on my phone for 15 mins then time to cook dinner. Then my own kids' homework/revision and music practice. Kids dispatched to bed by 9.30/10ish then a quick clean up and probably about an hour of work (sometimes worse). Then up at 5.15 tomorrow to do a little more work before the kids are up.
Parents' Eve tomorrow night so get to stay at school till 8pm! (As do 2 of my kids...)
Love my job though and it's almost half term!!!

Youmadorwhat · 12/02/2019 17:58

@Weetabixandshreddies Jesus Christ you’d struggle to find a school in Ireland open before half 7/8 THAT is insane!

PotteringAlong · 12/02/2019 18:02

Get into work for 7.45. Aim to pick my children up from nursery by 4.30pm. Activities / homework / tea / bath and bed then start work at about 7.30 and do about an hour.

I don’t socialise at work. I don’t leave my classroom and try to squish stuff into lunch / break if I’m not on duty.

febel · 12/02/2019 18:02

Agree with all of the above...get home, tea, lesson prep/marking. Weekends sometimes lesson prep. This half term...some of it will be school work, and some time I will keep back for myself and my family. Teaching is definately a vocation...nobody would do it who didn't really want to...it's a lifestyle more than a job! But..for me..very rewarding. However, I know of many who have left because it's too stressful/full on

itssquidstella · 12/02/2019 18:03

I'm engaged, no kids, teach in a private secondary school.

Typically: leave school at 5.15, go to the gym, come home, have dinner, chill out.

Once a fortnight on average I stay at school until 8 or later for a parents' evening or school event.

SagelyNodding · 12/02/2019 18:04

Varied! I'm married with 2 DC. I get home at around 5.30 most days, barring meetings which can go on until very late. DH usually cooks while I deal with homework and life admin, then after putting the kids to bed and dinner, I spend about 2 hours marking and planning or making resources. So, 8ish to 10ish, sometimes more. I use my holiday time to plan ahead as much as possible. If I'm really on top of my game I can take a few evenings off per week.
It's hard, but not unbearable where I am.

creativeusername · 12/02/2019 18:04

Married with a 2 year old and 4 year old. Leave at 7:30 am, in work for 7:50. Leave at 4pm 2 or 3 nights per week, pick the kids up from nursery. Play/dinner/bedtime. Kids are asleep for 7 and then DH and I do the housework and get lunches and bags ready for the next day. I work again from 8-9:30, shower and in bed for 10/10:30ish
The nights I don't leave at 4, DH picks the kids up, I work until 5:30 and only work for 30 minutes or so in the evenings.

Work does take over in term time, but I get quality time with my kids in the school holidays so it balances out.

itssquidstella · 12/02/2019 18:05

I get into school at 8am and work pretty solidly between 8-5.15. Sometimes I get half an hour for lunch.

I wouldn't teach in the state sector.

Weetabixandshreddies · 12/02/2019 18:06

@Youmadorwhat

He's assured me that he gets in before the cleaners but the caretakers have opened the school by then. He's also not the only teacher in at that time.

Talking to him it's apparent that there is too much work to and not enough time. The only way to do it is to extend the working day.

He is also a form tutor but doesn't teach them so that's another 30 children that he has to deal with on top of his teaching duties. Answering parents phone calls, e mails, following up pastoral issues - these all take time.

DrMadelineMaxwell · 12/02/2019 18:06

I get home at about 5 to half past. I never bring marking home but might do a bit of planning or research online for our topic. I do some housework, read my book. Out at half 6 for an exervise class 2 or 3x a week. Chill and chat with dh and the teen dc and this is when I might plan it research something if he's watching something I'm not interested in.
Bed about half 10. In the next morning by 8 and get prep done before it's time to get the kids in off the yard.
I plan online and am pretty good with IT to be as efficient as possible. I'm also very quick at typing and can get some jobs done in a fraction of the time my partner teacher can. New in my year group and things are taking longer than usual.

Jackshouse · 12/02/2019 18:13

I have left teaching now OP. But when I was struggling to balance family life I asked around teachers who were also parents in my school and and many were regularly getting up at 5 on both days a weekend to do marking and some even getting up at 3.

GMtoBe · 12/02/2019 18:16

I used to be teacher until I went on mat leave and I didn't go back but DH is still a teacher. We have one DD aged 16 months.

He gets in from work about 4.30pm but only works 10 minutes away from home. We all have tea together then they play while I tidy up and do breakfast (smoothies for me and DH) and lunches for the day after. Then I run DD's bath and DH brings her up and does bath time while I tidy the living room. They then go downstairs to watch in the night Garden and then I take DD to bed and breastfeed her to sleep at around 6.30pm while DH starts planning/marking etc. He then works until at least 9pm, usually until 10/10.30pm and comes to bed when he's finished.

I try and facilitate as much time as possible for him to have with DD in the evenings. He always works at least one day a weekend too.

Fizzyhedgehog · 12/02/2019 18:46

I'm on a 0.9 contract, but work four days a week (I do before and after school stuff, which I get paid for). I pick up DS from nursery at 5pm. We're home at 6pm. We have dinner, bath and bedtime at around 8pm. I don't work at home anymore...not during the week. On Sundays, I do perhaps 2 hours of prep, if I haven't managed to do it Friday afternoon.
However, I work at an independent school abroad and that has vastly reduced my workload.