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.

desperate its not you putting me off! I can see with my very own eyes at my school what extra pressures staff are put under

I can feel myself turning into the moaning teacher stereotype.

Pat
I agree it is about culture. i work in an outstanding - has just become academy comp.
Most staff arrive between 7.45 and 8.15 am. Apart from meetings nights the car park will be at least half empty by 4.30pm. Of course work is taken home, but I generally only do 1-2 hrs/night.
We all work v. hard during those hours, slt are very supportive, our Hods and slt do work stupidly hard, but most teachers can generally leave before 5 pm every day.
Our last departmental meeting was about trying to reduce our workload, in partic wrt marking - lots of emphasis on peer marking, smart marking etc.
No hods have tutor groups, they get (assuming this is average, am scientist) about 8 extra frees per cycle cf a bog standard teacher. A bog i teach 50 lessons/fortnight - 60 are timetabled. 2 of mine are tutor group so no planning/marking.

'desperate its not you putting me off! I can see with my very own eyes at my school what extra pressures staff are put under'

completely agree!

& the amount of husbands who hate being married to teachers is astonishing because of the workload!

same boat at cybil and collision also
gtp in 2012? - but I see the stress of teaching around me every day and wonder tbh if I can hack it

Marking is sampled every few weeks? Across the whole school? WTF? Haven't SMT got anything better to do with their time?!

With A-level, if they're doing timed essays all the time, can't you give them the mark scheme and get them to mark each other's? You can then quickly check their marking. This will give them a far better understanding of what the examiners are looking for - AFL and all that.

Sounds a fucking nightmare. As Head of Faculty, can't you revise the marking policy for your department?

For contrast, I'm a maths teacher. We're expected to mark 2 homeworks a fortnight for each class. That's it. We don't mark classwork - self marking is perfectly acceptable. If we have a heavy marking load due to mock exams or whatever, we are allowed to ease up on the marking for our other classes.

They do self and peer assess essays although I tend to mark them as well.Perhaps that could be my fist change. There is a standard A4 A Level sheet that all students need back with an essay that gives personal feedback and targets.

I am so glad I teach maths. Sounds like being an English teacher is hell on earth.

I think I would rather be the best HLTA I can be ( and just put up with the crapola money) than have all the stresses of 30 childrens learning that I am responsible for, every day, PLUS the parents PLUS the SMT to keep happy ,PLUS subject leader responsibilty.

I'm not sure I'm organised enough for a full teaching role....

Could the OP not take an less high profile role in education?

The op is describing my husband! His workload is shocking and i'm very lonely in the evenings!!

He is a head of department and it seems the worst role. Going up to senior management would be easier or going down of course would be easier too but would be less money.

I also think that the culture of your school sounds too pressured. We are classed as outstanding and only get our marking checked once a year and that is by the hod.
I am hod, have five frees a week, mentor two students and have a form (also teach English) and I don't work those hours! I get to school at 8, leave at 5, usually work 3 evenings a week and never at weekends.
If students have peer assessed I just tick to show I've checked it has been done. I also mark
whilst students do private reading (ks3) or practice exam papers. One trick someone
taught me is when talking to students just note
what you said in their books or if they ask u to
read something mark it as you read then there
isn't as much marking later.
I also plan lessons a week in advance and ensure all photocopying, powerpoints etc are done so that I never have the stress of needing to plan for the day after. Obviously they sometimes need tweaking after a lesson but all the hard work has been done.
Hope this helps. It would be a real shame to give it up I also second talking to union rep as it sounds like this pressure is felt throughout the school!
Saying all this when I return from maternity I am going part time to 0.6 and relinquishing hod role as I too feel that it is not family friendly and I would never see dd if I continued as I was.

I check marking at my school termly, but not all at once. e.g. focus on peer/ self marking in autumn in lit/maths, comments left in book in Spring and if they give clear targets to support learning then in summer I might do something like speak to pupils about verbal feedback and what they find most useful and feedback to staff. I think that's a useful and sensible approach. Any individuals who struggle know where I am to ask for help, anyone who takes the piss I go (e.g. I cover a lesson and notice the books are unmarked throughout) and have a word with them and monitor. I make sure the marking policy is clear and review it annually at the beginning of the year.

I started asking for planning to be in on Fridays, as I found all the staff wasted the weekend on it. The planning format is very basic, not full lesson plans and previous years planning is stored. It needs only be adapted to your class and their abilities or pace. It is easily done in PPA.

Overall I believe in a culture of trust and common sense. For example I didn't receive planning from year 5 last week, I haven't actually mentioned it, presume it will then appear soon and it's a one off. If you treat most people decently they are decent.

I do though (sorry not saying it's you) find some teachers still need to be told to go home. I'm often walking in rooms and openly telling people to go home at 5.30. At 5.45 the caretaker will turn the power off! I'm not saying it's anyone on this thread but it amazes me how many teachers gossip for an hour after school and faff instead of just getting things over with.

English, IMO, is the best subject to teach and the absolute fucking pits to mark.

I am never done. EVER.

I DREAM ABOUT MARKING.

I am so exhausted just now that I can barely keep my eyes open. Have had a shit week due to shitty incompetent idiots who seem intent on fucking up the lives of the most vulnerable kids in our school.

They'll check up on my marking though, won't they?

I love, love, love my job but when it's bad, it's 'orrible.

:(

I'm going to my bed now.