Do teachers work less hours?

[andrewsmith]

Originally Posted by Owenski

Nope, not me.
I get 3 days self diagnosed, removed from the further 25 days if signed off by a doc, after that its at company discretion. (Basically if the gaffer thinks I'm full of it then he'll pay me squat).
Im not one of the luckiest but it sure as hell beats been self employed.

I get 6 months (3 full 3 half off the top of of me head) on a long term, 5 days self cert, we do get some renumeration on overtime (pre-agreed or call-outs).
Catch 22 call outs can be 24/7 365 if its a major incident and the wages are okay (Not going to say company)

Originally Posted by Bibio

work lees hours than what?

my mate that starts work at 7am and finishes at 8pm 7 days a week.. errmmm no

a police man/woman.. again no

a doctor/nurse in a hospital.. again no

list could go on and on..

is a teachers job easy.. well compared to some, very easy.


schooling. too many bureaucrats forgetting what they are meant to be doing, which is teaching.

[Biker Biggles]

Originally Posted by widepants

lets ask another question then , just to poke a stick at it .How many people here get 6 months sick on full pay ,and 6 months on half pay ?

Thats certainly an advantage if you are seriously ill or dying as it keeps you on pay for much longer than most,but it gets overplayed as a perk.Try actually taking that sort of sicky,and you will rapidly find yourself down the jobcentre.Employers both public and private soon "terminate" those who take sick above a much much lower level than that

I wouldn't say a teacher salary is amazing, it's decent at the top end but not amazing (the pension on the other hand is bloody brilliant, wish we were all as lucky).

Thanks for the replies.

Comments on 70 percent of teachers working through the night are as daft as the Daily Fail headline they derive from. If you read the article text thats not actually what it says.

Lots replies say that lots if jobs require lots of hours. I've always worked a Mon - Fri office job since I left Uni.

In that world 50 hours per week is 10 hours per day over a 5 day week. That means arriving at 8am and leaving at 6pm without stopping for lunch, or doing your 8 hours in the office, then getting your laptop out and doing another two in the evening, say 8 until 10 pm. 50 hours is (I think from memory) the working time directive legal limit and in the office world is about as much as anybody does regularly. In most cases they do that off thier own back, not because bosses expect it of them.

60 hours per week means 7am til 7pm with no break for lunch, or working 8 until 11pm in the evening on top of your normal 8 hours, or working weekends too.

To average 50 or 60 hours that has to be EVERY DAY, EVERY WEEK.

I've spent my career as an IT consultant working in other peoples offices and have worked in literally hundreds of different offices. I have NEVER seen one on normal 9-5 hours, that isnt practically deserted at 7am in the morning or 7pm at night.

I believe lots of professions have busy weeks and on occasionl hit 50+ hours. I dont believe lots of professions do that week in week out.

As for the other list of 10 professions in the article they all attract twice the salary of a teacher, if not 4 times in some cases.

Police constables, nurses, paramedics, firemen, etc though they have a very tough job work a shift, get changed, and go home. My perception anyway, maybe its as wrong as many of the teacher perceptions on here.

Manual workers or uniformed workers often do 12 hour shifts, but its usually 4 on 4 off, keeping them jhst under the 50 hour legal limit. Manual workers doing more usually get overtime.

My wife (Secondary languages teacher) is currently doing 60 hours per week, every week. She is perhaps abnormal because she puts so much into it, but then in her first year of teaching her students GCSE results were 20 percent higher than the previous year, and 12 percent higher than the school had ever achieved in languages. Now shes applying for office jobs like she used to do as neither her nor me can take it ant longer! (I have weeks that hit 60 hours for periods of time through the year too), and its not fair on our son. What a loss to the profession, because schools fail to recognise what the staff are having do and distribute workload accordingly.

Wouldn't you have liked your kid to have a teacher that improved his/her GCSE grades by 20 percent? :

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[pookie]

Its a shame good teachers leave but I believe there is a time and place for people in certain careers. I don't fancy knee deep in the middle of winter digging holes.
Are there other schools that provide better / flexible environment for teaching staff. Certainly the physical abuse is something teachers shouldnt have to deal with. I'd love a 9-5 job and one that doesnt involve being on call and weekend work. If there is one with a pension then drop us a line

It does get easier!! NQT year is a nightmare. Eventually you stop doing every single thing for every single person and only focus on your own kids and lessons. I now also try to only work at work as we are supposed to be on work to rule (although I could never get down to 32.5 hours a week). As others have said all jobs are hard, no one ever notices in teaching though if you do 30 or 70 hours a week they only want to know about results.

PS: After a 3 day residential trip where shes had 24 students in her care, which were awake from 6am and didn't settle to sleep until half midnight both nights despite several bolockings, Ive just hot home (7:50pm) and shes not here - parents evening.

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Pookie and Jackie, she used to do sales support for export companies, fulfilling orders and dealing with customers in French and Spanish speaking countries. She had a desk computer and phone, no laptop, no mobile, no remote access. She worked her contracted 37.5 hours and then walked away. Had a pension too. Earned the same salary as she gets now.

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Originally Posted by Messie

I knew I should've kept out of this thread!!

I get bothered by the my job is harder/longer/more stressfull etc etc etc stuff that gets spouted about (I'm guilty of it sometimes too)

As has been said earlier, lots of people work very very hard, sometimes for decent remuneration, sometimes barely.
It really shouldn't be a willy waving competition. We all (well most of us) do all we can to get by and progress in often trying circumstances.
I hate divisive threads

All of this. But to comment on the salary and pension side of the profession (and I know everyone has taken a salary hit recently) ours has been frozen for the last couple of years, and more to come, and the pensions have been completely restructured meaning that we pay more for longer and get less back. And we're about to get another knock too. With the retirement age rising to 65 and more, I know I won't be working to get my full pension. I signed up to a profession offering security through salary and pension - where's that gone?