How many hours do teachers work each day?

Question

Can a teacher hire an assistant to do the correction work and grading? I love teaching, but I just teach English overseas. Being a real teacher sounds like 10 hour days, lots of grading, and no fun at first. Is it really 50 hours a week for all of you? Any jobs that are part time, say 30 hours a week, but steady?

Answer 1

yes they can. It's a seven to 10 hr job.

Answer 2

As an elementary school teacher, I can only speak from my personal experiences and those that I've seen from collegues in my district. I don't know about the high school or college levels.

Personally, I work 10-12 hour days, not including any work I might take home. If there are adjunct duties (concerts, conferences, committees, etc.) it can go as high as 14 hours. I also go into the classroom to prep lessons and grade work every Saturday for 3-6 hours. I consistently work 60 hour weeks. While it's exhausting and the pay is not that good, I would much rather work this hard at a job I love than work 40 hours at a job I hate and make more money.

To Jaynemynx who said "teachers dont work anywhere near the hours that normal people work, and then they get months and months of paid leave its so unfair and then they expect the children to go home and get their parents to do their homework with them, work that most of the time should be done in the classroom!"

It's apparent you've had a bad experience(s) with a teacher or believe what the media is feeding you. I hope from reading these responses, you realize that the great majority of teachers work MANY hours with a significant portion of them UNpaid. Lets say a full time worker works 40 hours a week for 50 weeks a year for a total of 2000 hours a year. If I work 60 hours a week for 40 weeks a year, then I'd work 2400 hours a year. That would be 400 hours or 10 extra 40 hour work weeks than that 40 hour a week worker. Teacher are not part-time workers as the work year is just compressed into 10 months.

Perhaps you had a teacher that poured on unnecessary homework in your past. I'm sorry you had such a bad experience. However, the intent of homework is to practice and reinforce skills learned in class. Remember, the education of a child does NOT end once the final bell rings. It's a team effort between the teacher, student and parents. Failure in any of the three members, will create poor results.

Answer 3

I am in the school building 7 1/2 hours which includes a 1/2 hour lunch and a 46 minute prep period. There are times when I can get by with just school. But I also sponsor two clubs, come in early and stay late to get planning and grading done. I would suppose that 50 hours a week would be about right, not counting the days off (extra work to prepare for a sub that has no clue how to teach my subject), conferences (ditto, but also using up a Sat. or Sun.) and of course evening courses or summer courses to keep my certification or just to improve my skills. We will have a parent night soon and I will be at school from 7:30 am (my choice to come in early) until 9 PM or so (because if I leave and come back, I won't find a parking space...)
Teaching is a LOT of fun, but it's not the 6 hour day and three month summer vacation that it looked like from the other side of the big desk!

Answer 4

Some weeks I have more grading than others. There are always students who want to be a teacher aid in order to get out of study hall. I have allowed them to help grade at times, but I would rather do it myself because then I know how my kids did and I know if there is something else that I need to address.
Today I will probably put 8 hours in (Sunday) just getting some grading done, my grade book ready and my lesson plans for next week. Every night I have about 1 hour of work that I bring home. On the weekends I often have a little more. I do not mind it; after all I do get the summer off. However, people think that we do not work. There are nights that I work all night after having worked all day. I honestly believe that it evens out; busy all school year and totally free in the summer.
Part time jobs are worse. I was part time after we adopted our 4 children. I did not have a planning period so EVERYTHING was done at home. At least when I was full time I had 50 minutes to plan and grade while at school. When I switched to full time I actually brought LESS work home!

Answer 5

Depending on the teacher and your preps (# of different classes) you can spend 50+ hours on teaching related responsibilities. But that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable. If you enjoy being around students, seeing them grow, and opening their eyes to new experiences then teaching is for you. If you are not there for the students then teaching, whether it is part or full time is not for you.
The actual school day is the easy part. Preparing, research, grading, dealing with parents and other school concerns is what takes up most of your time. Add more time to that if you want to coach, run a club, or tutor. Though these activities are what some find most enjoyable. I have taught both part and full time. Part time sounds good on paper, but I found myself staying at school usually the entire day just to work with students who needed extra help or where finishing projects. In the secondary environment students expect to have full access to their teachers at any time of the day.
I will say summers are nice. Most of my summer's are spent in teacher meetings, trainings, and taking classes. But you do get some time to relax and do as you please. I'm ready to get back to school.

Answer 6

While the actual hours of student-teacher contact are usually only 5 per day, there are many hours of preparation, marking, consulting with colleagues, meeting with parents and engaging in further professional development. The nice thing about the 2 months of (unpaid) summer vacation is that teachers get a chance to "recharge their batteries" and prepare for another intensive year.

There are part-time jobs where your hours of student-teacher contact can be half of those for a full-time teacher. Your pay and benefits will be adjusted proportionately.

As to whether you can have someone else do your marking for you - it is through the marking that you learn more about your students as individuals and what adjustments to their programming are appropriate. Teachers are held accountable for the grades they assign to students and there is a clear expectation that they are the ones doing the marking. (University professors have teaching assistants who do that type of thing for them but that is a whole other type of teaching/learning situation.)

Answer 7

as far as you are a teacher you know that only you while checking tests see typical mistakes. not a single assistant can help to do such a diff cult job. quantity of work per day depends on the country. Here in Russia we have generally 24 -30 hours a week , but these are only classes. besides we do much to look after the pupils of the class. contact with parents, organize extra curricular activities and all that. so work can't be messed and counted. sometimes it takes half a night to prepare something interesting . But it's great! I love my profession.

Answer 8

I only get paid for 7.5 hours per day. I work on average about 10 hours per day--including what I take home and do after I leave school. It goes higher during report card and assessment time as well. I'm also doing prep work over the weekends. Teaching is a lot of work, but it is worthwhile.

Answer 9

There are a number of ways to show your teachers that you appreciate the efforts they put in for towards your education. Some of Teacher Appreciation Day ideas, we are listing below. Read these appreciation ideas for Teachers' Day and you will know how to appreciate your teacherss.

Write for Your Teacher:
Write poems, letters, or notes of appreciation and leave them in teachers' mailboxes. Read them at morning assembly or in the claasroom.

Organize Breakfast:
Order patties, pastries, coffee and other breakfast items one day before Teacher's Day. Arrive in the school early. Receive the foodstuff yourself in the morning and set up the whole breakfast before your teacher's arrival.

Prepare Souvenirs:
Print your teacher's names on coffee mugs, T-shirts, schoolbags, etc or to commemorate the efforts put in by your teachers.

Make Notes:
Write teachers notes like "Well done", "Thank You"," You Are The Best", "You Are Appreciated", etc. Put them on the desk of your teacher before he/she comes to the class.

Activities after School:
Plan a party for teachers at the end of the school day. Organize some light games and provide refreshments.

Decorations:
Decorate the staff room and the hallways of the school for Teacher's Appreciation Day.

Red Carpet:
Create your own Walk of Fame for your teachers. Get a piece of red carpet or put red butcher paper down in the entry hall. Make gold stars with a teacher's name on each, and have the school meet the teachers as they arrive one morning.

Answer 10

I think you'll find it to be a little bit more than 50 hours and it is a full 7 day week, if you are doing your job properly.

Answer 11

7 actual hours of teaching