Teachers how many hours do you work - is there light at the end of another tunnel?

[desperatelyseekingsnoozes]

I have been teaching for about six years, am now a head of faculty.

I am in my late thirties with three children. I worked as a solicitor before giving it up to be a teacher, thinking it would be a more family friendly career.

I enjoy teaching, I am very good at it and teach in a successful school. However I think I have made a huge mistake. I start work at 7 in the morning and leave at around 6pm. I then take hours of work home. I usually work between 8pm and midnight almost every week night.

I have been asking other teachers in my school and it seems a common experience especially amongst middle managers and teachers who teach subjects that require a lot of essay marking. I am a little relieved that it is not just me and that I am not just terribly ineffective.

I am wondering if it is just the school in which I work. It is a very high pressured school and we are about to become an academy so I suspect it may get worse not better.

I have been lurking on the TES forums and there seems to be some teachers who work very long hours and those who work nothing like me.

I have decided I am going to make a change and hand in my notice. I have not decided if I need to try a different school or go back to law.

My husband thinks I need to give up on teaching because either the demands are excessive or I am just not very efficient and therefore should choose a career that suits me and my family.

I am sure I am going to get lots of people telling me that teachers have it easy and that I should put up or shut up. Well this teacher is finding it hard, I am trying to find out about the rest.

Sorry this is very long, but what hours do you work and do you think I should just give up or move school.

I'm with strawberrycake on thus one - am also a heAd of faculty (ASIs my DH) and if you've got 3 members of your faculty in tears you've got problems. I'm not quite as militant about workload - get in for 8, leave about 5 ish and will do a couple of hours probably 3/4 days a week. I do
nothing Friday night/Saturday and, like strawberrycake, they get 1 day during the holidays.

I could work every hour in the day but I choose not to - pick what you mark and, whilst you make what you do
mark good quality, don't waste time as a tick or flick exercise. You will always have weeks which are busier than others so thus isn't a hard and fast rule, obviously!

I love teaching. The key is managing what you do so you still love it on a Friday night. I just think you have to be ruthless (and honest) about what you can achieve in the time you've got. However well planned and marked you are, I still think I'm better for being enthusiastic and not knackered.

(nb I realise this is easy for me to say after a glass of wine and a mumsnet session and at the start of the half term!)

They were not memebers of my faculty. I was visiting another faculty to get a feel of how they felt. I have had someone in my faculty in tears though!

I agree Pottering it is no use being fully prepared if you are two tired to deliver the lesson you have planned.

Oh God I am starting a PGCE next year.

I am hoping this is unique to my school, I can start scanning the TES rather than leaving teaching altogether.

Sorry, just realised I cross posted with about 4 different people!

It could well be culture of your school - the stamper seem like a really sensible plan to me but that's no use if it's being frowned upon by the powers that be. I imagine there are lots of other schools where it's seen as lateral thinking.

The asking you to head up a working party for work/life balance did make me smile for the irony of it though!

Look back of the week - regardless of all the other shite perfectly reasonable requests, have you had one 'alight with the joy of teaching' moments? The sort that make you feel all warm
inside? Just don't forget that. And make sure you're signed up for TES job alerts!

Sorry, but I thought legally they had to let you go pt if you have dc under six?

Yes I also had an inward smile and admired the irony potteringalong.

thelennox - no, they only have to consider your request.

Oh right, I just had to phone hr, and went down to 0.8. Lots of us at my school are pt, four at last count. Don't do nearly as much as the op, as have learned not to. Love my job and not willing to have it take over. Work 8.45 to 5.oo during the week, an hour or so in evenings and nothing at weekends. Don't stop when at school but not doing anymore as with 3 dc under 10, and a dh who worlds 12 hours a day, I can't do anymore without seriously compromising my health, and my family's quality of life. However, sounds like there is more pressure at ops school, and know it is difficult to move against the crowd. Really don't feel this level of work is sustainable in long term, op. Have been teaching since 2003, in primary in Scotland though, and think our system is v different to England.

I work as a TA in school and everyone has told me that I should train as a teacher!

No way on God's earth would I do it!

Way too much stress and levels levels levels seem to be the key thing! Children are not seen as individuals but need to be a 1A by the end of Y1.

The teacher I work with is 24, single and no children but she can often be in tears with the extra demands made of her. ICT Coordinator, Africa Club, drama etc and 30 kids to get to expected levels.

I am lucky that even though the money is CRAPOLA she lets me do more than the average TA and lets me take some lessons under supervision and I have a lot of responsibility which I love.

But no way would I be a teacher.

I work in a secondary school. Once a year, we're allowed something called Work Life Balance Week. This means no meeting on a Monday or Wednesday. Oh, and we have to fill in an extra bit of paperwork explaining exactly what we did with Work Life Balance Week. Never fails to make me laugh. Larf, larf, larf.

Collision please do not think my experience as typical.

I do see children as individuals.

We have to account for every hour of gained time when our exam classes leave. I must spend an hour of my gained time explaining what my faculty is doing with their gained time!

I think other posters have a point about the culture in your school.

Nobody gets in before 7.45am at mine and most people have left by 5pm, except on meeting nights. We are an outstanding rated secondary, just about to become an academy too. We have an excellent, supportive SMT and many AST's amongst the staff. We don't have any A-level though, perhaps this makes a differece and maybe you should check out 11-16 schools if you search the TES.

I do not go into school at all during the holidays, I am part-time (0.76) and I work my arse of in my N/C or PPA time to avoid taking much home, maybe a set of books a few times a week. I also don't have a tutor group which significantly decreases the length of time that I used to spend dealing with parents, phone calls emails etc.
At our school the heads of English and Maths also do not have tutor groups.

What sort of ratio of non-contact time do you get? Is it fair, within the workload agreement?

I also think it may depend on the culture of the school. I am Assistant Head in a Secondary. I have to drop my son off every morning, so usually don't make it in before 8.10. 4 nights a week I leave at 4.15 to pick him up by 4.30 and one night a week I stay until 6 for SLT meeting. I don't manage to achieve half of what I need to during the day. I work most evenings once DS has gone to bed, for a couple of hours. I don't mind this too much as I have had a good three hours with DS before bed time. I work while DS naps on a weekend (luckily he still has 2 hour naps) and for a couple of hours on weekend evenings if I need to. During the holidays I go in to school one day per week while DS is at nursery, so I catch up on all my outstanding tasks. Although I do work quite a bit at home, this is only ever when DS is sleeping. I was determined I wasn't going to let work affect time I spent with family. If I add up the total time I work per week, it's probably the equivalent of an 8-6 job, just that some of my hours aren't in those hours. It's tiring certainly, but worth it and I have learnt since DS has come along that certain tasks that once upon a time I might have put my heart and soul into, I now just get them done to an acceptable standard, in the shortest time possible. As another poster saidm I am learning to say no as well. I used to say yes to everything, but have had to stop! Reading back this post, I don't know if it sounds encouraging or totally off-putting!

I taught English for 10 years. I loved it and I was good at it. I had to leave though as the work load was impossible.
My dd was the first child dropped at nursery in the morning and the last child collected at night. I got home, put her to bed and began working again. I would also have to work at the weekends. The majority of the work was marking although there was obviously also planning and preparation.
I miss the kids and making a novel or a poem come alive for them but I don't miss the stress and I do enjoy having a life again.
There is a vast difference in work load depending on the school you work in. The difficulty is that once you have given classes that much it is hard to then give less to another, even if a different school is not itself pressurising you to do so.
The constant changes to curriculums and the extra analysis work etc is utterly crippling as well.
I totally understand your situation OP.
I do think there is a difference in work load depending on subject though. eg PE teachers are under greater pressure to attend evening and weekend competitions etc but have less marking to wade through.
Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

I have five free lesson a week and get one extra free a fortnight in return for spending time at lunchtime and afterschool providing revision sessions. I then expect to do one cover a fortnight.

I have a tutor group. I teach 19 lessons a week.

ooh no OP I didnt think that of you.

Just the way it has become for some.

We do not cover except if it is gained time (classs in exam etc, as they were today) or in a real emergency. We have a full-time cover supervisor who was a highly trained HLTA
A standard full-time teacher at my school gets 9 frees a fortnight (one which must be used for academic tutoring). HODs get far more than this.

We do have quite a strong union presence in our school, the head is quite hot on it. virtually insists that staff need to be in a union.

Maybe these things are related

That's not 'rarely cover'!

We had the Union people in to discuss the terrors of converting to an Academy and his definition of 'rarely cover' was one a year. He was from the NASUWT btw.

School management must be terrified of something if they can't trust their teachers - they check your marking every few weeks

I'm getting angry here on your behalf. very angry

Who is your Union rep in school? If it is just this senior chap then join another Union and get Regional Office involved.

I agree Lucycat, we have marking scrutiny but it is NOT once a fortnight.

I really think it's your school TBH.

I am not a teacher, but know several very well, and they tend to work (secondary) from 8am to about 5.30pm. Not a huge amount of marking and limited weekend/holiday working.

NOt sure though from reading this whether they're slackers! They don't seem to be to me, and one is currently a Head of Department.

Saying that, until 10 years ago my mother was a part-time (0.6) English teacher at secondary level. A level and GCSE sets. She used to get to work for 8 at the latest. But did tend to get home at about 4.30pm on the days she worked the full day. Tended to do about 5 days during the summer hols and at least a weekend per shorter holiday/half term. She hated hated hated the marking and the relentlessness of it. BUt then while she was a great teacher, it wasn't the love of her life - she did it to keep us going (single mother, SAHM while marriage going, nothing else to fall back on when).

collision I am in a similar situation to you I am an HLTA and love the teaching aspects of my job but could not bear alll the planning, assessment and targets blah blah blah

Was going to do GTP September 2012, but really not sure if I want all the extra work load. At the moment I get to teach children in whole class, small groups and 1:1 situations and although I get paid peanuts it's that that I love.

I almost feel that once I am qualified my destiny is out of my hands, however it galls me to see others becoming teachers before me

I'll stop now, as am railroading thread

I do not want to stop people going into teaching. This is why I never post about education issues as I do not want to put people off.