Talk me through a teachers work load… why is it so hard?

[Mummame2222]

So, I adore my kids primary school teachers, they are all wonderful. I admire the work they do, I could never, ever do their job.

I supported all the strikes and believe teachers when they say they are overworked and underpaid.

I’m just curious how their time is spent. The holidays you have off each year does this average out your working week? So say you work 60+ hours during term time, what are you doing during half terms and school holidays?

Just trying to get a better understanding of how their job is so difficult, and like I said, I believe them and support them, I would just like to be better equipped and more knowledgeable when I stick up for them as the inevitable ‘yeah they get so much holiday’ argument always comes up when I try to!

I agree with you here. If teachers want support, people have to understand what the workload is like. The reason people are so dismissive is because they don't understand this, and they do think teaching is just 8:30-15:30, with many weeks of holiday.
I know how hard teachers work because my mum is one and I know how many hours she puts in because I saw it while growing up. I support teachers strikes and think they should be paid more.
But for someone who doesn't have that experience of a close family member who's a teacher, how would they know this? And what's wrong with asking?

I used to write reports during May half term. I would probably work 5 days over the summer holidays and one day during each of the other holidays.

When I was full time, I always had work (planning) to do on a Sunday.

Term time pre DC I would be at school 7am till 5-6pm. After DC I was part time and would do 8am till 5pm and some work in the evenings.

Class assemblies took up so much time! So many meetings (but am realising this in the case in most sectors). Ringing parents or chatting to them after school. No lunch breaks as either on duty, setting up for next lesson or dealing with behaviour issues.

Class teachers get lots of email (I didn't have a class).

I left education a few years ago and have a much better work life balance now.

OK, so I'm secondary, so not quite the same workload as primary. On any given day, Emails will be checked first thing at 6am, with my first cup of coffee. I will get into school at 8:20am ready to start at 8:30am. I'd be in earlier, but nursery doesn't open till 8am, so needs must. I'll then do tutorial time/welfare checks with my tutor group. 9am-10:15 is teaching. 10:30 is teaching again. An entirely different subject to an entirely different year group in an entirely different building. 12pm, I'll be back in the original building to teach again. Different room, of course! "Lunch" is 1pm-2pm, but 10mins of this will be grabbing a sandwich, 30 minutes of it will be doing a catch up session, and the remaining 20 will be spent either replying to emails, arguing with the photocopier, or liaising with pastoral/SEND team. 2pm is teaching again. Another room, another building, another year group, possibly another subject.
3:30pm, students can go. I will then start the pile of marking that's come in. If I'm lucky, this is 24 essays from one class. If I'm unlucky, it can be pushing 100 pieces of work from several classes. By this time, I've taught four different things in four different rooms, so my brain is fugged up. I have to get to nursery by 5pm, so it's a race to see how many I do, and how many I take home/put off until tomorrow. This plan can also be skewed by students wanting to talk to me, whether I have to write UCAS references (in Autumn term), whether I have a data drop due (student progress grades/full written reports), or whether anything else has cropped up during the day.
Once I get the child home, I spend a little time with him, bath him and put him to bed. If he's in bed at a sensible hour, I can start working again at 8pm, and do any last minute planning/replying to emails. If I'm in bed by 10pm, it's a good night.
If I'm ill, I will have to have set cover work for each and every class by 8am. The homework still needs to be set. Both of these will need marking on my return. For each class. This is why teachers aren't, as a rule, off sick very often. Until they actually break.
People I did my degree with earned less than me in the beginning. Now they earn a lot more than I do, and have the option of flexible working, so they can take their children to school, go to their assemblies/sports days/Nativity plays etc.

I work in a calm, well behaved private school. My state school compatriots have it far harder than I do.

Golly....that was longer than I intended. Sorry!

The other day I was the only regular qualified teacher in my dept. There were 2 supply teachers. Classes were causing issues, I had to call for assistance and leave my class twice. Had to e mail too- all this whilst teaching my own class. No one came for 40m. Mega stresssful.

Staff absenteeism sky high. Unsustainable.

I'm in Scotland. Primary,

We get 40 days paid holiday. The rest of our 'holidays' are unpaid school closure days. Our salary is evened out across 12 months but that wasn't always the case.

We are paid for a notional 35 hour week. 22.5 hours pupil contact. Most teachers work 45-50 hours per week. Some do much more.

Just planning, teaching, assessing and reporting takes longer than what we are paid for. It's breakneck. It's relentless during term time. And, there is so much more than simply the teaching cycle outlined above.

Imagine up to 34 primary aged kids getting dropped at your door tomorrow. You have to plan activities, implement them, assess them, plan and report on next steps and ensure you are fully resourced for each activity. Probably you have to buy the odd thing too. You then have to cope and make provision for all of the behaviour, learning and medical needs. Then before tomorrow you have to tidy it all up and get set up for tomorrow. You might also have a phone call to a parent who isn't happy with their kids reading book.

Let's face it, teaching used to be a bit of a doss of a job, the teacher taught and the kids either learned or didn't, no one was actually held to account. I finished O Levels in the mid 80s and there were kids in my school year who couldn't read.
Now it's gone so utterly the other way I have no idea how anyone sticks it. All the teachers I know put in 10 hour days plus several hours at the weekend in termtime, and spend much of their gorgeous long holidays working. The face to face teaching, I'm guessing is probably about a third of the workload.

DH is HOD in a secondary school. His school finishes at 1440, he usually gets home at 1800. Doesn't do much work at home apart from exam time. However he does Saturday fixtures, is away for a week at Easter and again May half term.

His average working day is probably less than mine.

I'm a primary teacher,.but in Scotland where the workload is less than in England. To give a glimpse, last week I:

• planned, resourced and taught 20 lessons, including totally separate learning outcomes for one of my children who has GDD meaning that they can't access the same curriculum as the rest of the class. Aside from them, I have 5 children with ASN whose needs need to be planned for as part of the prep.
• did all the associated marking for the above
• rehearsed for our upcoming Easter performance
• stayed back after school to help put up displays for the Easter performance and build the stage.
• went to collect instruments from another school for the Easter performance.
• took a group of children to take part in an event at another school (this was on my day off as I usually work part time) - this involved the usual permission forms, risk assessments, arranging lunches and transport.
• attended 6 hours of first aid training (obviously outside of my usual working hours)
• met a parent to discuss their child's extremely challenging behaviour
• wrote up the paperwork linked to the above
• prepped for parents evening which is next week
• did some background reading on supporting a bereaved child as one of my class is likely to be in this situation soon
• went shopping for food for a child who comes in without breakfast every day
• met the home -school link person to discuss a welfare concern for a child in my class.
• changed my RE display board ready for Easter
• audited the art cupboard to see what we need, knowing there's no money anyway so it's a waste of time.
• helped the NQT with interview prep
• made and laminated communication cards for a child with selective mutism (her previous ones were all tatty and she was refusing to use them. The master copy has been lost so I had to make them all again)
• went to the charity shop to look for toys for my class to play with

I think that in a list you can't really explain the way you take the kids and their problems home with you, how you think about them and research their particular circumstances and worry about them. It's an exhausting job. I will say though that I do not work the entirety of the holidays as some teachers do. I usually spend 2 days of each holiday working,.other than the summer where it's about a week to ten days of the six weeks.

The holiday one is easy.

They get a salary reflective of the 40 weeks of termtime and 4 weeks holiday this accrues.

They don't get paid for the rest of the time. In fact most teachers get kid to work about 29.5 hours a week as that is direct teaching time.

However - the hawk d a lot of weekends and holidays working. Free overtime.

And that's why the pay is bad. For what they get paid for time wise it's fine. For what the actual job is and requires to comply with government directions it's absolutely a shocking piss take.

A person who worked the number of hours teachers do and for the same responsibility would expect and rightly be remunerated approximately about £75k a year.

Heads rarely make that - unless MAT super heads.

I’m going to take this at face value …

I teach 5 x literacy, 5 x maths, 5 x reading, 2 x PE, 1 x RE, 1 x Science, a humanities , art or DT, PHSE, computing and music ( some is covered by HLTA for PPA but they can’t be asked to plan ) We have schemes for PHSE, music and computing but these still need adapting and tend to be left as PPA cover. These rest need to be planned from scratch. Takes at least half a hour lesson. Some years I’m lucky and remain in the same year group so planning only needs adapting but often am
moved around. Even adapting often takes quite a long time, especially post covid as different cohorts have different gaps.

Marking books 30 English / math/ topic etc. This is hugely shifting to live feedback which helps but still a big task.

This week we have assessment that all need marking/ data inputted and analysed. The intervention groups set up. ( these will need to be planned and resourced) IEPs to be written and implemented .

Assemblies on a rota to prepare for, class assemblies, trips to plan, I lead 3 subjects , so work to go a long with that, leading staff meetings, preparing long term/ medium term plans etc.

Parents evenings, reports to write , productions.

I’m sure I’ve missed some stuff but all that does not fit into the 2 1/2 hours PPA time I get, greatly goes over directed time. And while we are salaried professionals and expected to work hours to fulfill duties , I do think expectations are unrealistic.

Also before it’s said I’m not saying other professions do not work hard, or saying teachers have it harder than anyone else. I’m saying my experience is that the expectations mean it’s very difficult to have a healthy work life balance, and since having my own children I have been forced to make tough career choices in order to have any sort of balance.

For me, teaching, in front/with a class, is a full time, full on job. A bit like being put in a washing machine, spun round all day and thrown out, after a full spin at the end if the day. Not a minute to think about anything else, including going to the toilet. Physically and mentally demanding.

Add onto that another full time job, planning, assessment, subject leadership, monitoring, training, safeguarding, work with vulnerable families and children, keeping up with new subject content, expectations, ever changing OFSTED framework, individual pupil needs, moderation, test prep, and endless DfE guidance ( my email box shows 200+ DfE updates and changes since January), exam statutory guidance documents, letters home, troops to plan, risk assessments.…I could go on….

I work across a large number of schools and see the impact on teachers, daily.

I have 0.5 contract and work two whole days and a half day each week. I get 2 1/4 hours PPA time every other week.
I am in school working about 27 hours each week. I tend to take ten minutes to eat my lunch.
I teach in lower primary with more physical resources than photocopying but still lots of paper to print anyway, with quite a bit of laminating.
I plan, resource and teach lessons. PowerPoint slides and learning slips for each lesson. Taking photos as evidence for books that then need to get stuck in. Behaviour system points to record and slips to fill out for poor behaviour. Emails about anything from ordering more paint to raising a concern with the SENCo. Reading emails or meeting with staff about attendance of safeguarding concerns. Following up messages from parents or external visitors. Creating timetables for the week and for what support staff are doing.
I keep reading records for each child in folders and rotate the books we have in our classroom.
For the phonics scheme we have, I need to change the wall chart to show what sound we are learning and add the corresponding words. Change the weekly books that we use in class and that go home. Record which number book each child has and then chase them up if it isn’t returned.
Send reminder slips home about PE kits, permission slips and reading books.
Change children who have toilet accidents.
when I was in Reception, regularly changing nappies also needed to be done.
Alter work for the children with needs. Plan and resource for SEN children who don’t access our curriculum. Liaise with support staff. Spend a session each week during assembly time with them so they get quality teacher time.
Keep an eye on SEN targets and review, adding to documents. Meeting with parents and SENCo for annual reviews and meetings with external professionals.
Attend staff meetings that sometimes then require tasks to be done.
Keep the classroom and other areas organised with displays up to date.
When a new child arrives, making labels, getting books, pegs etc sorted.
Keeping an eye on dates on medication that is kept in the class room.
Assessing the progress the children have or haven’t made. Then input the data in more than one place. Then have meetings to discuss the data. Then make changes to what we are doing to help the children.
Remember that John needs his inhaler at 11.30, Sophie is going home with Nan at 1.30 for an appointment. Tom is feeling sad because his cat died and Jim’s older brother is causing grief at home so he’s a bit anxious. Mary is allergic to tomatoes and Tim has to go to the office at lunchtime for his cream.
firty million other things from thinking about carpet seating plans, table seating plans, who works well together, who doesn’t. Who needs support to hold a pencil, sit properly. Who needs to have regular check ins during a task. Encouraging good behaviour but being positive, who needs gentle reminders. Who needs to stay in at play because they hurt someone. Solving arguments, building confidence, helping them feel safe.
planning can take bloody ages if you can’t use the last years as a starting point. Even if you can, the cohort might be very different. It can take ages to find relevant videos or songs to enhance the lessons.
I work in a team of two classes so I don’t have to plan everything.
There are things my job share does on the other days that I won’t need to do so the list could be longer.
There is some tidying to be done, resource boxes put away or got out. Check on glue stick levels etc.
Special weeks or days crop up with extra work involved.
Planning and rehearsing assemblies and nativities also takes up a lot of time and have knock on jobs too.
I normally do an extra 2-4 hours work at home a week related to class stuff.

The holidays tend to be related to having to lead a foundation subject. Checking the curriculum, planning, action plans, books looks, pupil questionnaires.
The holidays are also a good time to catch up and look ahead.

In the summer holiday, there might be a room live which is not good. Rooms get cleaned and the stuff is all over the place so it needs to be got ready for the new term.

i know I have gone into detail. The OP asked.
There will be stuff I have forgotten for sure.

i also know I have loads of typos here. I’m on my phone. I also don’t care right now. I’m guessing you can guess what I’m on about. It also gives you an idea what reading work by young children might be like, except you don’t have to work out the handwriting.

Right now, I like my job. Two months ago I didn’t. Last year I didn’t.

It's mentally draining. It's not so much the physical acts of planning but you are effectively performing to an audience. Sometimes the audience is brilliant, sometimes they'll shout out, or cry, or vomit (it happens). Sometimes they'll ask inane questions, or be utterly confused. Sometimes they'll be exhausted because they slept badly. Sometimes they'll have stuff going on that affects their mood and focus. Sometimes they won't understand English, or have even a grasp of the age appropriate skills. Sometimes the audience will end up arguing, fighting or being unkind... Oh, don't forget to speak to the parents, find the millionth lost pencil, a spare copy for the audience member that keeps losing their programme.... Oh and sometimes they get fidgety so make sure there's movement breaks. Oh. And you need to actually teach them stuff. Oh and you need to investigate whichever playtime spat has occured and , implement behaviour strategies and then inform parents and then deal with the fallout that occurs. That reminds me, you have to justify your wage by carrying out duties you have no time for. That's why it's exhausting. That's why we're at breaking point.

My day starts with reading emails at 7.30 so
I can start write responses as soon as I'm in. 8-8.30- prepare resources for the first lesson. I'm primary so photocopying printing, apparatus they will need. 8.30- show time! Full on smiles, welcomes, deal with constant news and chatting, (which I love). Get them to assembly and sit with them. Teach a lesson, sit with them to go through their work. Playtime. Get resources ready for next lesson. Same as before. Lunchtime. I eat with the children after I've helped get them settled, cut up food, clean up their tables. Maybe lunchtime duty. Maybe go to the toilet as I can't when I'm teaching. Get resources ready for lunchtime lessons. Maybe hear readers. Teach. Home time mark books. Go home at 5. Do my other job of being a mum and wife. 8pm read emails, check planning. Do the same thing for the next four days.

Saturday. Life.

Sunday night. 2 hours planning.

Oh and this week it was parents evening for two nights till 8.

Last week it was writing reports. Three evenings.

I love my school and my job. Holidays coming up. 2 weeks for Easter. Will have a week off. One day in school to sort out my classroom, two days planning the new term.

Still answer emails from parents and colleagues.

Phew!!

I work really hard during term time and, as a result, I spend the first week of every holiday being ill. I suffer from dreadful cold sores and as soon as I stop, they come back with a vengeance. 😭
I've sat and marked a pile of books this am which took me a couple of hours. The marking is relentless. If I teach 5 lessons a day, I then have 5x30 books to mark. I mark through break and lunch, and in the evenings when I get home from school. Lots of this information needs to be added to a data tracking system (I.e. whether or not each child met the objective). Like other posters said, the admin is enormous. Emailing parents, organising trips, updating safeguarding logs, writing reports, making notes for parents evenings, tracking data, booking guest speakers, researching topics, organising coaches for said trips, organising inter-school sports events/tournaments, organising TAs interventions, updating pupil profiles for SEND children, having meeting about SEND children...
It is a lot.

Parent emails. Parent meetings.

Parent evenings are 10 min each over 2 days. Based on scores. Other meetings with parents are rare and only in exceptional circumstances.
Emails in our school are mostly handled by head of pastoral care and reception.

I believe that teaching kids is hard because of kid's behaviour. It can be exhausting. Eyes around the head. Endless reminders to ADD and calming down ADHD etc. I think a paperwork time sounds like a great time as compared to school time

Don't forget that if you have children with SEND, they'll probably not get proper support so it's on YOU to help them. As well as their peers. No excuses, everyone needs to make progress.

@Theedgeoftheabyss good point. I have a child in my class with an EHCP that says he needs a scribe. It doesn’t specify 1-2-1 so he doesn’t have one. But realistically I cannot scribe for him and teach the 31 other people in the class so 🤷🏻‍♀️

The cognitive dissonance and professional distress that you're somehow personally failing children when it's not your fault, add that to the mental load.

I think that in a list you can't really explain the way you take the kids and their problems home with you, how you think about them and research their particular circumstances and worry about them.

That's so true. I only work in preschool but I think about certain children a lot.

Also the job is so so busy that I don't go to the toilet between 8.30am and 1pm - it's non stop, no break even to drink.

It's slightly different for me as I'm not paid holidays (just statutory holiday pay) but I also only get minimum wage. There is a certain amount of prep at home, again unpaid, and buying resources out of own pocket if you want them eg. Feltips, good books.

I am a Head of Department in a medium sized school. I teach at all levels and have, as an English teacher, a big marking load. I work 7.15am to about 6pm every day. I don't really have breaks beyond a quick wee (must remember to do that more). I eat at my desk, when I remember. I keep a stash of bottled water so I can keep myself going. Mostly this is because I want to do my job well. I am always available to pupils so that takes time.

But, I bloody love it. I probably have about 10 years left in me and will go at 65. But won't go early as I love my job.

I prepare new texts in the holidays and do a lot of planning then. I don't work for about 6 weeks a year but need to travel away from home to force me to relax.

I've been asked this question loads. I'm Secondary, non core subject. I honestly think it's the multi tasking and range of tasks that can make it feel so exhausting.

For example, I was sat having my nails done and the beauticians and other client were shocked I was there at 4.30pm and that I would only do one day of work in the Easter! I explained that although they're (the beauticians) are working and would be there until, it seemed like a low stress environment.

An hour in teaching can involve managing/fire fighting 30 plus teenagers, ensuring that at least 5 SEN students are having adaptations made. That you are keep at least 3 disadvantaged kids on task. No TA support. You want to nip to the loo after this in break and walk round the corner and witness an incident, deal with that, more fire fighting. No wee, no drink. Straight into the next lesson, which is as intense at the lesson before. Make it to lunch time (unpaid time). Child appears at the door upset (bullying/bereavement/ mental health issues) deal with that, record on online platform. Realise youve had 27 emails since you checked in the morning.

Quick lunch wee and back to teaching/fire fighting/ dealing with incidents. End of the day arrives, emails now up to 40. Deal with safeguarding and urgent ones first, may include phone calls home/ referrals. Make a start on other task, filling in SEN info/marking/re drafting a letter for revision club/ trips/ and it's already 5pm!

This doesn't include meetings, training, parents evenings, open evenings, concerts etc. There is just so much to do, all the time and you have to triage what is important minute by minute.

I don’t understand the comments about “remember the holidays are unpaid”.

I think teachers are amazing. If I hired someone with that skill set and those organisational skills in my industry (where the expectation absolutely is 50hrs minimum, and often over 60hrs), I’d expect to be paying them £80k plus.

But I think the defensive comments about holidays being unpaid detract from the cause, and antagonise those who want to support teachers. If you take home eg £40k for doing a certain workload over a year, it makes no difference whether you decide that is £1k per week for 40 weeks, or £851 per week for 47 weeks. By reducing it to what is effectively pay per hour, by saying “but this work is unpaid” you are devaluing the profession.

Teaching is a professional job and I am generally surprised when teachers want to detract from that. IIRC it was me of the teaching union that wanted the holidays to be unpaid, but I don’t remember why.

I agree with you here. If teachers want support, people have to understand what the workload is like. The reason people are so dismissive is because they don't understand this, and they do think teaching is just 8:30-15:30

The vast majority of people don't want to know. I'm sure anyone can easily find many past MN threads and articles talking about teacher workload and the problems in schools. People are frankly daft if they think 40,000 teachers would have quit the profession last year if we worked 8:30 to 15:30 and were paid for 13 weeks of holiday. I'd hope that what persuaded people to be supportive would be the fact that kids are suffering because there aren't enough teachers because people don't want to be teachers.