Teacher lunch hour!

[everychildmatters]

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?!!

I had to have an ultrasound on my bladder a few years ago. The sonographer asked me what I did for a living. She said teachers and nurses show the most damage to their bladders. I haven't taught for years but clearly it left a physical impact on me due to all of the missed breaks and lack of time/opportunity to have a drink.

I’m not going to join a race to the bottom in who has it worse - all public sector workers have been treated poorly for decades.

In the case of teaching, I’ve never once begrudged giving up a lunch break, or time before or afterschool, in order to support a child in crisis, or to sort out a pastoral issue, or to meet with parents. But what is worrying, and what I do begrudge, is when we are directed to work during lunch breaks for free. When a lunch duty is timetabled into the week so we’re denied a break, or when lunchtime detentions are written into behaviour policy with no regard for staff losing their lunch to implement the policy. Lots of people work through their lunch break, but I’m talking about systematic removal of a legal entitlement.

I think a lot of the problem is that so many teachers will give up their lunch break (because they feel pressured to do so) that then their colleagues feel an obligation to do so as well. Example: I don't tutor Fridays and I am good friends with an ex teaching colleague (relatively newly qualified) I suggested a quick coffee over her lunch break at a café less than a minute walk away from school. She said she is unable to do this as she has to "supervise children" and "perform First Aid if required." She simply will not accept that she has every right to leave the school site.

There were! Our school day was rearranged, the lunch break minimized, and we left school at 2.15. No sports clubs at lunchtime or after school.

What happened to dinner ladies? Admittedly it’s a long time since I was at infants’ school, but they kept an eagle eye on the playground after we’d eaten. Some of them were absolutely terrifying…

Back in the 70s when my mum was a teacher, they had to do lunch duty for a week at a time - they got a free school lunch as a perk!
Then it changed and no teachers now do lunch duties. There are lunchtime supervisors who also watch the kids in the playground at breaktimes. The DHT and HT occasionally appear in the dining hall but no teachers are expected to.

Lunch time supervisors and TAs (who take their lunch break before or after the children) in it school.

And I’m really lucky to work in a school where we teachers would never be asked to give up our lunch break to supervise the children. And if we were asked, we’d unite and refuse. And our Head would respect that.

And I’m really lucky to work in a school where we teachers would never be asked to give up our lunch break to supervise the children. And if we were asked, we’d unite and refuse. And our Head would respect that.

This. Exactly. It all depends on your school but I'm in Scotland and many things are a lot better here.
Teachers have never been expected to stand out in the playground with their cup of coffee and then not get those 15 minutes back.
I got such a shock when I started teaching in England as was told I had to do playground duty.

Another thing to consider is there are many more challenging behaviours /children with significant additional needs in mainstream than used to be the case. I can understand from a lunchtime supervisor's pov why they might find this difficult.

I would expect the teachers to have staggered lunches over the lunch hour. Does it take all the teachers in the school to supervise? I guess there does need to be at least one first aider on the playground and in the lunch hall. But yes it does seem very unfair that teachers don’t get any quiet breaks in the day or get to eat properly

Taught in Early Years and KS 1 for 40 years. Always grateful if I managed 'a tea and a wee' at lunchtime. !

Depends what you are ‘not paid’ for.

if an hour of the day is unpaid then that hour is the lunch break.

if you are unpaid for an hour of the day then no, 30 mins is not appropriate

Do teachers finish at 3:30? I know classes do but I never see teachers leaving until 4:00/5:00

That's funny in my old school I was voluntold I would be running a language club one lunchtime a week 😂 teachers were on duty rotas as standard and heavily pressured to volunteer for lunch duties, with a £5 credit towards a school lunch (sandwich, to eat on the playground) that day.

Current school is better, they do have lunchtime supervisors. Wet breaks we still get our tutor groups in our classrooms, who we have to supervise, but we are allowed to go to the loo and get a drink. Kids are pretty sensible though

I get 20 minutes break for every 7 hours I work - which is the legal minimum! To get an hour my shift would need to be 21 hours long!

But they still aren't working 21 hour days; which legally you have to work to get a hour break!

I hr in theory. 45 mins setting up resources and getting afternoon lessons ready. 5 mins to eat lunch always interrupted by a child who needs you.

“Only working 8-3.30”… I didn’t realise people still believed teachers only do these hours!

Dinner ladies

The point im making is that at my desk im not getting time away from my work stakeholders... People are still messaging me, stopping at my desk to speak to me. Im not getting an escape from that much as teachers aren't always managing an escape from the kids!

And i regularly am desperate for the loo because a meeting has run over and I cant leave it to go to the loo.

I didn't say I get half an hour to eat at my desk!
I said I do my half hour lunch duty on the playground, then I go back to my office to eat a sandwich at my desk, whilst working. If I'm lucky I might get 10 minutes to eat whilst I read and respond to emails before I have to go into a meeting, or deal with an incident or safeguarding issue, but it's usually more like 5.
I'm not complaining by the way. I think it's way more important for staff who are teaching all day to have a proper break, hence why SLT at my school do playground duty on a rota.

I was with you until this post. Why not just acknowledge that the issue of being expected to work during lunch break is not specific to teachers? No, I don’t supervise 30kids, but are you making several decisions a day that could cost your employer 100s of £ if you get it wrong? Others will be dealing non-stop with members of the public that are being rude to them. Others are having to be on their feet non stop. Etc.
We each choose our job knowing it has perks and downsides. Yes, working at lunch is no great, but definitely not specific to teacher or worse for teachers.

Love this

In most of the schools I know of in England.
The dinner ladies were put on a zero hour contract and had their hours reduced.

And the TAs all had their hours reduced as they apparently aren’t needed for the entire day 🙄

The teachers have then no choice but to cover lunch breaks.

My friend is a TA and is sometimes asked to cover the lunch break for £2 for 20mins.

Less than 5 years ago I was told as a teacher I could have a free lunch up to £2.40 to cover 30mins of lunch duty (everyone had to do at least 2 a week).

When we got our new timetable it was simply timetabled in as part of your work. Lunch and break duties.

You had to do at least 2 lunch duties and 4 break duties, as well as 2 morning and 2 afterschool duties each week.
I think primary schools are worse for it.

The teachers, who are highly skilled, are there to teach.
It's not their problem.
Midday supervision is a different thing.
Also, teachers aren't paid for their lunch break so, no, they shouldn't be supervising unless they want to e.g. for a free lunch

Parents love their children but also find them exhausting. If you're doing it well, you're also constantly 'on' as a parent.

Parents are shattered by the end of the day and there are plenty of threads on here from Parents who are burnt out, exhausted and in need of a break.

And most of us have far, far fewer than 30 children.

Teaching is a being like being responsible for the full on parenting of 30 children for the hours that you are with them whilst trying to do a demanding professional job, with high expectations and a number of non negotiables, at the same time. That why it's tiring.