I'm really tired of all the criticism against teachers, tbh.
I've been teaching for 20 years. Prior to that I worked in various office jobs.
I don't assume that I know what the environment, workload or conditions are like in other jobs, professions, work environments. I don't argue with people when they've had a tough day at work. I don't dismiss or minimise their experiences.
But people do that with teachers all the time.
The only reason teachers need to defend themselves is the stupid beliefs demonstrated on threads like these.
Our core hours at my school are 8.30am - 3.45pm. Apart from one day a week when they are 8.30am - 5pm. But if we were only in school or only worked during those hours we wouldn't he able to do our job.
We are in lessons for 4 and a half hours a day so 22 and a half hours a week. Each lesson needs to be planned, PowerPoints need to be created for the teaching, resources need to be designed, printed and photocopied or sourced in some other way. This takes around 60 mins per lesson depending on the subject and the resources required (it can take longer). That's around another 40+ hours work on top of the teaching. If you work in a 2 form entry school, this is halved but, if you teach in a 1 form entry school, you have to do it all.
Sometimes, you can use previous years work but, tbh, it takes just as long because you have to adapt it to account for curriculum or pedagogical changes and just for the children in your class.
On top of that, you have to find a way of making content that isn't accessible to some children accessible to them and provide appropriate work for them. No one minds doing that obviously but it isn't as simple as creating an 'easier' resource (it must be linked to their targets - so can be different resources for different children) and isn't often easy to achieve. That takes time.
I spend the first hour or so after work every day updating CPOMS with behaviour incidents or safeguarding concerns.
We have termly reviews for SEND children. Updating systems, preparing paperwork and the meetings for each of these takes around 3-4 hours and has to be up-to-date so must be completed in the week of the meetings with parents. I'm lucky because, this year, I only had 2 children who required reviews but they weren't the only children who have SEND. Just the only ones who needed reviews. My colleague had 9 in her class. That was 27-36 hours of extra work over 2 weeks on that alone.
In each lesson, we are told to 'live mark' because its more effective for children and is intended to cut down on marking time but we also have to have a teacher focus group of children and work with them and evidence progress. You can't live mark with the whole class and have a teacher focus group at the same time. We are supposed to update the online tracker during the lesson too for the most accurate assessment for learning.
So I'm supposed to sit with my focus group, discuss and set work for them, leave them to work independently for 5 mins while I live mark with other children and update the online tracker as I go. But you get back and find out your focus group haven't done anything without you there, or have gone off on a complete tangent. Meanwhile, you've managed to live mark one book and the ipad wouldn't connect to the Internet so no tracker update. You address the misconception in the focus group, they all understand - phew - so you attempt to live mark another book. The ipad still won't connect to the Internet. You discover that the child whose work you are live marking hasn't understood so you help them. That's two books live marked and a focus group who really needed you there the whole time at the same time (this model is the one our school wants us to follow)
You don't even attempt to live mark the work of the children who are secure, greater depth, or could be pushed to greater depth, because you at least know that those children will get the basics right but you also know they could be challenged and you need to get at certain % of your children to greater depth (regardless of the cohort) and you know this will be questioned in your performance review meetings or pupil progress meetings and you feel you're letting those children down.
But it's OK, because all the children are at least sitting at their tables, engaged and trying their best. Except they're not because someone is writing racist comments on their whiteboard about another child, or yanking the blind cord until it breaks, or hitting someone etc. One child is sensory seeking and rolling all over the table and shouting out which is upsetting the sensory avoidant child who is now sitting under the table pinching other children.
So you leave your focus group and abandon the live marking to deal with it.
And then the Head or Deputy Head pops in and asks you why you're not live marking or with your focus group. You explain so they ask why the sensory seeking child still doesn't have their own work station and you must provide it except that, no, there are no spare tables in the school to enable you to provide this and there isn't the funding to provide one but they'll look into it (they dont because it's May and theyve been saying that since September) and, even if there was, your classroom isn't big enough because you have to have the tables set out a certain way as a school non negotiable.
All the time, you're aware that you have more curriculum to cover than there are hours in the week and you know book monitoring is coming up and some of the children haven't underlined their date and learning objective with a ruler and you'll be picked up on that. A couple of the children haven't even finished writing their date and LO.
Oh and the reason the HT/DHT popped in in because they were doing an unannounced 'Learning Walk'. You don't know they're coming and you don't know what the focus is.
It's OK because today it's inclusion and you're following all the advice given by the Ed Psych and the lovely woman from Pupil Support Services who observed a couple of the children last week. Great. Pat on the back for you. But hold on, the following week, the focus is behaviour and expectations and now all those reasonable adjustments you've put in place are a problem and a sign that you have low expectations of behaviour and outcomes. And so you get called into a meeting to discuss professional standards.
It's OK, though, because it's morning break now. You can go for a wee.
Oh but then the behaviour lead bumps into you in the corridor and wants to spend the whole 15 mins discussing the behaviour of one of the children in your class who is on an IBP. But it's OK, you might still get to the loo before the bell goes. But just as you're having a wee or changing your tampon, you hear the bell go. You finish up as quickly as you can and get outside to find the children already lined up.
This is unacceptable, so you are reminded again of professional standards, expectations and setting an example to the children. All of which, you're supremely aware of at all times but you desperately needed a wee and you could tell your tampon had leaked.
So you bring your class in for the second lesson of the day and it starts all over again.
And that's why I'm exhausted when I get home at the end of the day.