What does it mean when someone is on Sabbatical from work?

Question

Is it a religious thing? Or...? i have no clue

Answer 1

It's a fancy word for "Leave of Absence"

Answer 2

Sabbatical In modern use, a sabbatical is a period (usually a semester or a year) during which a teacher or professor has no teaching duties and may pursue research or other work. Originally, sabbaticals were not granted more often than once every seven years. The modern sense is originally American, dating to 1886. In more recent years, this usage has extended to other professions and industries and it is not unheard of for software developers to be granted a sabbatical. But sabbatical has an older sense that provides the key to its etymology. It is an adjective relating to the Jewish Sabbath. The term sabbatical year (1599) refers to Mosaic law that declares that all slaves must be freed and debts forgiven every seven years. The educational sense focused on the seven year requirement, hence the term, although the imagery of being released from slavery was probably appealing as well. The word is taken from the sabbatum, which in turn is from the Hebrew shabbath, denoting the seventh day of the week.

Answer 3

A sabbatical is a release from a portion of one's work responsibilities. At most institutions, it means that they don't have to teach for a semester (or possibly a year).

Sabbaticals are awarded competitively in most universities, after a professor has earned enough time to qualify (figure seven years of uninterrupted teaching or so).

When some one is on a sabbatical, it's with the expectation (usually in writing) that they're doing something else during that time that supports the university's mission. In most cases, this means that they're devoting all of their time to some research project(s), not sitting at home watching soap operas. Occasionally, you might have some one visiting your institution who's on sabbatical from another one, in which case they may be doing both research and teaching while visiting.

...hope this helps!

Answer 4

A sabbatical is just time off. If a woman has a child, she usually takes a sabbatical from work. If you are a teacher, a sabbatical is usually 1 semester (~4-6 months).

Answer 5

A sabbatical is simply a period of time off-work to take care of something -- could be medical in nature, could be personal (like going to another state to be with your terminally ill mother), could be any number of things. The important thing is that it's an agreement between an employer and an employee that the employee will be away from work for a certain period of time, but the employee's job will still be there for them when they're doing taking care of whatever.

Answer 6

It's time off work, but not being on holiday.