Page 15 | Teacher lunch hour!

everychildmatters · 2025-10-09T23:10:44+00:00

First off, I am glad I left primary teaching last year after 20 years in; things are only getting worse. I feel for the colleagues I left behind. It is now becoming a common expectation that, for many different reasons, teachers are now being expected to supervise children over the lunch hour. I used to avoid this by taking the time to which I was entitled but in order to do this I had to physically leave the building - go for a walk etc. In reality of course this was only for about half an hour or so as I wanted to be back in time to prepare my afternoon lessons. AIBU to think teachers should be entitled to a lunch break?!!

Eatsleepparentteachrepeat · 11/10/2025 20:18

You are joking right?!

Greenshed · 11/10/2025 21:00

BluntPlumHam · 10/10/2025 00:12

Who is supposed to supervise children? I recall there always being a teacher present. Usually they would take it in turns like some rota.

Lunch time supervisors, I believe.

BooBooDoodle · 11/10/2025 21:17

Most days the majority of our staff don’t even get to eat their lunch until the kids leave. Severely short staffed, can’t recruit and very temperamental pupils. PPA is a luxury.

jasminocereusbritannicus · 11/10/2025 22:24

At my school the TAs get paid for 30 minutes to be lunchtime supervisors - if they want to. It was added to contracts recently, although I chose not to. I need my break time, (which is supposed to be an hour, but in reality is usually 45 minutes) seeing as I do breakfast club and after school club as well. Being type 2 diabetic I need time to digest my food and de-stress before the afternoon starts! However, I very often have to cover for absences.
Most teachers get about 20 minutes if they’re lucky. Proper Lunchtime supervisors were done away with during COVID.

BlueFlowers5 · 12/10/2025 06:00

A friend of mine was employed as a lunchtime supervisor - worked 3 hours in the middle of the day, every school day.
It suited her and the school.

FlayOtters · 12/10/2025 06:17

Haggisfish3 · 10/10/2025 00:12

Teachers still aren’t paid for lunch time. It’s not part of their directed hours. So, in theory, none of them should be doing anything in that time unless they are paid extra. Anyone who knows anything about teachers knows that is absolutely not what happens in any school, anywhere. Sigh. Yanbu at all.

I mean that's just not true in all schools everywhere as you assert. At my husband's school if you (volunteer) to do lunch duty, you get paid for it. Occassionally they might ask people if they're short of volunteers. You still get paid.

Hercisback1 · 12/10/2025 07:38

@FlayOtters did you miss this sentence?

"So, in theory, none of them should be doing anything in that time unless they are paid extra.*

In your case, teachers are paid extra.

nomas · 12/10/2025 07:48

abathofmilkwithladydi · 10/10/2025 00:22

@everychildmatters I'm sure @BluntPlumHam doesn't personally expect you to supervise children in your unpaid time.

Your employers do, however. That's who this should be taken up with. My child's school have a team of lunchtime supervisors and the teachers cover the playground on a rota. It's not ideal but it works. I'm not sure what the answer is, unless we just leave kids outside knocking around together without an adult.

What's your solution, @everychildmatters ?

We never saw a teacher in the playground at primary school in the 90s. The teachers were all in the staffroom. It was always the ‘dinner ladies’ supervising, as they were called then (!) They didn’t just supervise the lunch, they supervised all the breaks.

saraclara · 12/10/2025 08:34

BoredZelda · 11/10/2025 14:51

I keep hearing this. And for sure there may be some instances where that happens. But when I pass the primary school at the top of our road at 8am, the staff car park, it’s largely empty. When I pass it at 6pm, it’s largely empty. In the middle of the day it is full. Many 9-5 professions see staff working 8-6.

I don’t think anyone should regularly work outwith their working hours, I think teachers should be able to do an 8.30-5.00 with proper breaks. I think they shouldn’t have to work in their holidays. It’s a really tough job. But the insistence that all teachers are regularly working many, many hours more than anyone else just doesn’t seem to be true, at least not in my little corner of the world.

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I'm sure that you're aware that most of a teacher's planning and marking is done working from home.

We had minimum hours that we had to be on the premises (8:45 to 3:45) and beyond that we either arrived earlier or stayed later, or both. To suit my own circumstances (because I found it easier to focus on a work environment) when my children were older I started at 7:30, worked through all my breaks, and left at 4 (apart from on the two staff meeting days each week)

Any parent would probably see me leaving at 4 rather than me arriving at 7:30, of course.

FlayOtters · 12/10/2025 09:31

Hercisback1 · 12/10/2025 07:38

@FlayOtters did you miss this sentence?

"So, in theory, none of them should be doing anything in that time unless they are paid extra.*

In your case, teachers are paid extra.

yes but you then said that's not what happens in any school anywhere?

Justamum36 · 12/10/2025 12:56

Of course that’s not unreasonable, the school should be employing lunchtime staff to supervise. Nobody should be working unpaid and of all people the teaching and school staff need that mid-day break more than anyone. I work a far less stressful job and would never dream of working during my unpaid lunch break.

Inertia · 13/10/2025 07:34

BoredZelda · 11/10/2025 14:51

I keep hearing this. And for sure there may be some instances where that happens. But when I pass the primary school at the top of our road at 8am, the staff car park, it’s largely empty. When I pass it at 6pm, it’s largely empty. In the middle of the day it is full. Many 9-5 professions see staff working 8-6.

I don’t think anyone should regularly work outwith their working hours, I think teachers should be able to do an 8.30-5.00 with proper breaks. I think they shouldn’t have to work in their holidays. It’s a really tough job. But the insistence that all teachers are regularly working many, many hours more than anyone else just doesn’t seem to be true, at least not in my little corner of the world.

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Not all of the work that teachers do is carried out in school. Once teachers have left the premises they still have other work to do which can be carried out from home.

fluffythecat1 · 13/10/2025 08:20

Inertia · 13/10/2025 07:34

Not all of the work that teachers do is carried out in school. Once teachers have left the premises they still have other work to do which can be carried out from home.

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The majority of teachers work most Sundays (50% of their weekend), planning lessons, you won’t see that.

cherish123 · 13/10/2025 23:10

BeachLife2 · 11/10/2025 09:20

I don’t think anyone would argue that teachers shouldn’t be allowed to run to the toilet or have a quick bite.

However, the core school day is relatively short, so I do think it’s reasonable that teacher time should be fully focused on students during this time.

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Lunch should be more than a bite to eat. It takes me at least 20 minutes to eat my lunch.

Baconbuttymad · 15/11/2025 13:34

Everyone should be getting a lunch break

PurpleThistle7 · 15/11/2025 13:43

CrustyBread1977 · 10/10/2025 07:18

Doesn’t happen in Scotland. Teachers are never asked/expected to supervise before school, at break time or at lunchtime. Support staff do it.

Not at our school. It’s a mix. Some of them run lunchtime clubs too. I asked the head teacher about it and he explained some complicated thing about scheduling - so since the teaching day is shorter than a standard working day there’s extra time to play with for full time staff and he rotas staff in for various activities. It’s all during paid time but yes - they sometimes work through lunch.

I have no doubt teachers go above and beyond in endless ways and I’m grateful.