Teachers Work Fewer Hours than Other Professionals (And We’re Not Counting Summer Vacations)

October 5, 2011 | 6:00 AM

By Molly Bloom

Ohio’s Teacher of the Year skipped breakfast.

Worthington middle school teacher Tim Dove had a cup of coffee at home and was in his classroom by 6:45 Monday morning. Twenty minutes later students began to wander in. Some chatted with Dove, the 2011 Teacher of the Year, about everything that happened the night before; others made a beeline for him to get help with last night’s homework. It’s not uncommon for him to be with a dozen kids by 7:15 a.m., Dove said.

About twelve hours — and one cafeteria lunch — later, Dove would pack his bags to head home to his wife and dog and three hours grading practice research paper citations, a set of essays and a geography quiz and preparing for Tuesday’s classes.

Dove says work days like this are standard for him and his colleagues at Worthington’s Phoenix Middle School, which has a longer school day and a different model than most traditional public schools.

But they’re not the norm.

National data shows that on average teachers work fewer hours per week than people in other professions–nearly three hours a week less. That’s according to this 2008 analysis from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (brought to our attention by the Buckeye Institute). The analysis is based on interviews from 2003-2006 conducted as part of the American Time Use Survey.

The data includes both time in the classroom and time spent grading papers at home. It doesn’t include vacations and doesn’t account for the intensity of different types of work.

Rachel Krantz-Kent / Monthly Labor Review

About the study

The data is drawn from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey. The survey provides nationally representative estimates of how, where and with whom Americans spend their time.
The data used for this analysis covers nearly every day of 2003–06.
Survey respondents were asked to account for how they spent their time during the 24-hour period from 4 a.m. the day before the interview to 4 a.m. on the day of the interview.
Survey data was collected for all seven days of the week, so it captures time spent working on the weekend, early in the morning and late at night.
For this study, “teachers” refers to people whose main job is teaching preschool-to-high school students.
The other professions to which teachers are compared include health-care professionals, business and financial operations professionals, architects and engineers, social services professionals and managers, as well as legislators, news reporters and podiatrists.

Jeffrey Keefe is on the faculty at Rutgers University’s School of Management and Labor Relations. He’s also a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank that supports public policies that “protect and improve the economic conditions of low- and middle-income workers.”

He says the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ findings are in line with other research on how much time teachers spend working.

“The study is showing you what the average teacher does. And the average teacher is probably showing up at 8 a.m., leaving around 3:30 or 4 and, later in the day, grading and preparing and putting in a couple more hours at home,” he said.

The required work day in the Cleveland public schools, for example, is 6 hours and forty minutes, including a 40-minute lunch break.

There are a couple reasons why the national data clashes with some teachers’ experiences, said Rachel Krantz-Kent, the author of the BLS study:

Because teachers are more likely than other professionals to hold more than one job, when some teachers talk about working long hours, they could be factoring in the time they spend at all their jobs combined.
And, because the data just accounts for one’s main activity during a particular time, a teacher who graded papers while watching TV at night might identify TV watching rather than school work as her main activity.

“It’s easy to argue that if one was mainly watching TV than this is how it should be recorded in the data. However, if the teacher was also providing some attention to grading papers during this time, she may not feel like she had much of a break from work,” Krantz-Kent wrote.

And, of course, there is individual variation: Just like some office workers come early and stay late while others clock out right at 5 p.m., some teachers work long days, while others only put in eight hours.

Compared to teachers in other countries, U.S. teachers work more hours per week, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an organization including 34 countries founded in 1961 to stimulate economic progress and world trade.

But the OECD survey just asked teachers how many hours they worked in a typical week on school-related activities and then multiplied that by the “typical number of instructional weeks per year.” That’s a less accurate way of measuring how people spend their time than conducting telephone surveys, the method used in the BLS analysis.

When we got Tim Dove, the Teacher of the Year, to describe his day to us that Monday evening, he stepped us through it, hour-by-hour, as accurately as he could.

Dove has been teaching for 31 years. As an Ohio State University adjunct professor, book author and educator, he’s not the norm, and his work day isn’t necessarily either.

“All I can tell you is what I do and the people I work with here do,” he said.

But Dove said his schedule—and his job—suits him.

“I like coming to work. It’s my vocation and my job and my work: It’s all three,” he said. “It always has been.”

Tomorrow: See how two different teachers spend their days, hour-by-hour.

Note: A previous version of this story misstated the how data is collected for the American Time Use Survey. Data for the survey is collected through telephone interviews.

Topics

How Much Do Teachers Really Work?

Comments

jamieteacher

There are many more Tim Dove’s than this article suggests. Yes, there are the “time clock punchers” but most teachers I have worked with over the course of my 19 years in education have been more like Tim Dove than not.
Harrisd6

There are teachers who see it as a “job” but for the majority of us it is a “passion” and we spend many hours of outside time in the evenings and weekends away from our own kids planning and grading so we can provide the best possible learning experience for our students!!
http://americansocietytoday.blogspot.com/ American Society Today

Teachers Work the Same Number of Hours as Average U.S. Worker: http://americansocietytoday.blogspot.com/2011/06/teachers-work-same-number-of-hours-as.html
j keirn-swanson

This study also doesn’t appear to make much distinction among different teachers. Tell me what homework a PE teacher takes home to grade? What about the music teacher and the art teacher? Teachers in those fields aren’t taking home 150 5-page research papers to grade, typically, so there’s a scale of things within the profession.

Anonymous

Yup, you’re right that the BLS data doesn’t account for different types of teachers, either by subject (art teachers vs. English teachers, for example) or by level (middle school teachers vs. high school teachers, for example).
MIRINGS

I was a teaching assistant in graduate school, a teacher in a regular high school, a teacher at a voc-ed school, a long-term sub in an art class, and both of my children are active band members. I am the child and grandchild of teachers. My experience is fairly varied.

They work hard — all of them. The art teacher orders and stocks supplies, prepares materials, cleans up paint and clay, loads the kiln, hangs projects in the halls, knows the names of hundreds of kids, monitors behavior, sends home notes with report cards, provides materials to classroom teachers, etc. They may not grade as many papers — their job is different — and JUST AS IMPORTANT! Our band director (in a small system) works in two different buildings. She maintains equipment, teaches all of the kids how to play about a dozen different instruments, teaches 6th, 7th, and 8th grade band AND high school band, runs a band booster group, organizes trips (band day at a college, Florida at spring break, 8th grade trip to Chicago for a seminar at a college), takes three of the bands to festivals, individual students to solo & ensemble festivals, runs marching band camp in the summer, directs marching band at every home football game (which involves getting kids into and out of expensive uniforms), directs a pep band at every home basketball game, directs the band at graduation, leads the band in two parades, spends time with students after school if they wish to switch instruments, ETC, ETC, ETC Teachers are likely to be stopped at the grocery store or a restaurant by parents who want to talk about their child.

Teaching is often like herding cats! A loose tooth in a third grade classroom can disrupt that child’s whole day. Girls learning how to deal with their periods is frought with trouble. Every age group is characterized by various difficulties in social development with which the teachers must deal. IT IS A CRAZY, WONDERFUL JOB AND THEY ARE THE UNSUNG, EVERYDAY HEROES IN OUR COMMUNITIES!!

Ms. J

I’m an art teacher at two schools. I see about 450 elementary students per week grades 1-5. With nine weeks in a quarter, I usually have several learning goals to address in 4 standards for each grade. So at report card time, I’m inputting about 1800 grades. Those grades are based on marks from quizzes, projects and observation. So how can you say art and music teachers aren’t grading as much?
As for the rest, for teachers in general , I just don’t know where to start with the wrongness of this study. Is its purpose to refute the claims of teachers that they work long hours, as suggested by the headline? I would like to see a better study plotting real hours rather than “official” hours, plotted over a semester or year. So much was left out of this one: not only intangibles such as how much time spent grading and prepping, but how much “other” uncompensated time is expected of teachers, whether that be serving on teams that meet outside school hours, publishing websites and newletters, serving as detention monitors, writing letters of recommendation etc. etc. As mirings said, there are so many aspects to teaching that can’t be measured in hours per day, because they change day to day. I don’t need sympathy or special praise – I love my job – but I really don’t like to be told I’m not working that hard.

Soliveri

As a new college instructor and doctoral student, I spent roughly 12-13 hours a day on campus, in my office, teaching, or taking classes. My office has been called “homey” by nearly everyone in our department, since I am always there and live an hour away, i need to make it nearly as comfortable as my home. My two coffee makes, the milk I keep in the Department fridge, the two secret snack locations my office mate and kleep (She’s also there 12-14 hrs a day), all help us ensure the successful completion of an 8am-10pm day. Work less my ass. I make $12,000 a year-some one do the math for me: 14 hours a day, 5-6 days a week, 2 semesters a year= pennies an hour. But hey-guess what? Teachers don’t do it for the money, we do it because we feel compelled to. It’s a passion not a career choice. And if you think there is a big difference between college and primary school teachers-guess again. When was the last time anyone other than a teacher spent all their “spare” time doing something for their class?

HSTeacher

Although I do agree that being a graduate student and a TA is intense, I have taught both college (as a TA and adjunct) and high school and can say that K-12 teaching is much more intense than higher education. College instructors do not have to meet with parents, deal with discipline issues, and spend 30+ contact hours per week in front of a classroom full of children. Many K-12 teachers also pursue graduate degrees while teaching full-time, which is even more difficult that your current role. Remember that you are only “working” part-time, which is why your compensation is lower and you are probably also getting a tuition waiver for the coursework you are pursuing.

Duckmonkeyman

When I worked in the private sector at startups, we worked longer hours. As a teacher, I am still working well beyond 40 hours a week, but not as many “face time” hours at the school as was expected in the office. But in private business, the work was different – not as intense every minute of the day, more flex time, long slow meetings, more co-worker socialization time. In teaching, the work is more intense dealing with students all day long and meeting theirs and the demands of administrators and parents. I have little “break” time and seem to spend endless hours outside of class on preparation work or paperwork issues not directly related to teaching. Certainly for newer teachers, the hours are very long and the work exhausting.

I would not take study’s like this at face value (“lies, damn lies, and statistics”) but look deeper. Are teachers unreporting their hours or private workers over reporting? Is private sector travel and endless meetings considered work time? Are teachers reporting supplemental contracts, school activities, contacting parents? Are private sector workers reporting 24/7 on call duties?

One thing that is for sure. If we continue to demonize the educators, the best will leave. The war on teachers in Ohio is divisive, vindictive, and serves no purpose.

Anonymous

I think your point on the intensity of the work is a good one. There are definitely some jobs where much of your work day requires your full attention–whereas some jobs allow you more slack. And it’s harder to account for that in this kind of survey.
ctteacher

As a middle school teacher, I also agree with the comment about the intensity of teaching work. My sister is a doctor, and the intensity of her work certainly equals mine in terms of “never knowing what child (and thus what situation) will walk through the door” in the next 10 minutes. (However, no one in classroom teaching gets doctor’s pay; nor am I necessarily suggesting that they should.)

However, having the emotional flexibility to attempt to meet these students where they are — not to mention 16 of them at the same time, class after class, and then move directly from that to meetings, clubs, or what-have-you, is certainly what both energizes AND exhausts me.

I would add that I work at an independent (read “private”) school, work approx. 8 – 4:30 or 5 most days, and do approximately 3 hours of homework per night, more on weekends. I may be a bit above the norm at my school, but I am certain that I have plenty of company.

http://www.facebook.com/stephanie.huffmanfulton Stephanie Huffman Fulton

16 kids seem like a small number anymore
Steve

Are you serious… Did you really just say the intensity of being a doctor matches that of a teacher? You are a nitwit, I am a teacher and the intensity matches that of a librarian at times. I do not know how my fellow teachers are even arguing, we get paid lunches, a prep, a summer off, and holidays! Not to mention regardless of the work we do at home we can get done on preps or an hour at home!

cjmeyer

Well, you should recap your grading pen. If you are accomplishing your daily tasks during ‘prep’ than you should be doing more. If you have summers off, you’re not doing justice to your students. You should be taking continuing education classes. And holidays? So what? Most people get paid holidays. Not teachers. I am contracted for 180 days of work. I only get paid for those days. Holidays are not included. Dear Steve, please do not try to ‘teach’ in my corporation. Your teaching style, or lack thereof, wouldn’t fit in!
Bewildered High School Teacher

I don’t even understand you. I work 10 hours every work day and at least 12 hours every weekend. How do you even manage to scrape by? I just don’t get it.

Kashmir840

Thank you. You make necessary and valid points.

Greg

My wife works the hours that Keefe describes: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., plus a couple more hours grading and preparing for the next day. But that comes to 10 hours per day (she works through lunch–usually, she’s attending meetings that the school has scheduled).
Mary

You must living in Disney World. My son is a teacher and the day is not over when the bell rings. Who do you think plans the lessons and grades the papers and call the parents. My son does not have any biological children but he does have twenty -three children ( down from thirty ) during the day.
Gail

You must be kidding me. I teach high school, and I work at that job seven days per week. Find me a doctor or lawyer who sees 100+ patients or clients in a day. As teachers, we are responding constantly to student needs as well as parents and colleagues. We are constantly assessing students and their needs, preparing differentiated lessons, and delivering curriculum, and the list goes on. This is laughable.

Howard

A doctor treats those with illness and injury. A lawyer sees clients with liberty and or property in dispute.

The last time you made a mistake grading a paper, did you get a malpractice suit charged against you and your school district?

Your argument is that responding to students, parents, and colleagues and curriculum is more demanding? Okay.

Bob

To answer the question regarding a suit against grading a paper…In the district where I teach a fellow teacher this past summer was brought to task regarding the grading of a test, the threat being made that legal action would proceed (with the aid of a lawyer who has billable time to do more than protect the liberty or property of their client) were the grade not changed…it was changed. And this is not an uncommon practice.

Each of us in our own professional fields who are conscientious at their job tend to feel that we spend many more hours than our official job description states. Problems occur when we begin to judge others outside of our own fields, since we tend to experience their positions anecdotally or via a news story, which are easily interpreted so as to foster our own prejudices about those fields.

So, it’s off to Starbucks to sit and grade papers for the next few hours…boy, it’d be neat if they were billable hours. (see how easy it is?)

Lazy_beach_days

Well stated Bob!
sam

go back to school for a different career!!!

steel

I wonder where doctors and lawyers were empowered to pursue such noble endeavors? Possibly a teacher had some influence. Most likely that influence was solely the marks that the teacher put on the students homework and exams. Okay. I feel that you grossly underestimate the responsibilities that teachers perform every single day they interact with students. I wonder if you ever had a great teacher?
RayMondo

Yep, it is more demanding. Have you tried? Do you know what the difference between and effective and ineffective teacher is? Can you focus 34 – 12 year olds and help them develop understanding and knowledge?

It’s JUST AS DEMANDING as your job. Get off your high horse.

http://www.facebook.com/chipsdigitalpc Troy Alexander

I agree, it is every bit as demanding. A doctor or lawyer has the luxury of seeing clients who either have or want to be there. A teacher gets 30-36 kids all with varying degrees of interest in what you are trying to get across. Typically, you will have 3-5 high achievers who want to be there. Then, roughly about 10 who accept being there, 7-10 who drag themselves through your class agonizing over every thing they have to do whining the whole time, and/or trying anything and everything to go to the restroom every 5 minutes or play on their iPhone, etc. Then, there is group of the 4-5students who take great pleasure in making your day as much as a living hell as they possibly can and/or trying to ensure that the rest of the class learns as little as possible.
Sure, you call their parents, but soon find out that the parents are the mirror image of the kids–so the ones you really have to talk to either never call you back, blame you, or whatever imaginary illness (re: ADD) that they have.
THEN, your job performance is based on tests (standardized tests) that mean absolutely nothing to the kids in terms of grades and/or college. Thus, you consider it a miracle when you can get 1/2 the kids to actually try to take the tests seriously rather than filling in the bubble answer sheet so that it looks like a middle finger or marijuana leaf. (rant over. . )

Shazza

Regarding malpractice suits: teachers are on a short (and punitive) legal leash; it’s called the No Child Left Behind Act. (This law, of course, is currently under review with the proposal that teacher evaluations be based on student test scores).

Pisk

Yikes, we are now accountable for doing our jobs? That’s not fair!

William Siedler

Based on someone else’s–a child’s no less, and multiple at that– motivation level and ability. That is not accountability for a job. That is an attempt by politicians to sell their support of education to the masses for votes. And you bought it. Brilliant. Go back to your cubicle and try to do your job without doing something a teacher didn’t teach you. And then when you can’t, shut up.

teacher

No, as a teacher, I was not sued. However, I do know that every last time and every future time I talk to a student I’m aware that I’m molding that student’s impression of himself or herself within the framework of academia, thereby potentially shaping or destroying his or her future…..

Kathleen Nichols

And we are assessed by the scores our students receive on their standardized tests. Our jobs are on the line depending on these results.

Howard

The conclusion I gather from the data is that teachers in Ohio work less than other professionals.
observer

In the graph, I cannot find any reference to the variation amongst samples. There are no error bars (standard errors or confidence intervals), so it is entirely possible that there are no statistically significant differences between the teachers and the other professionals. Without that information, the title of the article may be misleading (and it certainly is misleading by saying fewer ‘hours’ than fewer ‘minutes’ as it is written in the graph). The title of the article does not match the balance of the article.

In addition, in the graph it appears that, on average, teachers work just over 7 hrs per weekday. However, in the text there is a quote which reads:

“The study is showing you what the average teacher does. And the average teacher is probably showing up at 8 a.m., leaving around 3:30 or 4 and, later in the day, grading and preparing and putting in a couple more hours at home,”

Even with a long 1 hr lunch break, this seems to add up to a work day that is at least 8-8.5 hrs long and maybe as long as 10 hrs.
Gayle

I would like to add for consideration that many teachers are also advising/coaching/supervising students during after-school hours, oftentimes for which they are not be paid. There is also an expectation in most schools that teachers attend their students concerts, plays, dances, games, arts shows, etc. on weekends and evenings. Furthermore, teachers must continually earn credit to renew their certification. These graduate classes are taken in the evenings and summers. Although these are not direct teaching hours, they all factor into the expectation of what makes a teacher effective and professional. There will always be people in any profession who do the minimal amount possible, so please keep that in mind when making sweeping judgments about teachers’ work ethic.
Sjfone

Does this mean the teachers should get real jobs?

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=27707944 Nick Porter

What would you define as a real job?

Dalbin

And the point of this data is what…to validate turning the teaching profession into another low-paying service sector job?

These are the people who educate and provide the groundwork for our next generation of citizens and workers and who additionally, spend thousands of dollars on their own education in order to merit a position. The dedicated professionals who spend their days ensuring that little Johnny and Susie are not functionally illiterate…who open the doors to the world.

The work can be grueling…try spending the day with a room full of students, many of whom would rather be texting their friends, playing a video game…well, just about anyting other than learning.

I tried substituting and trust me…it’s a profession you have to love.
Lizwisniewski

This article just adds to my frustration as a teacher regarding the misunderstanding of preparation. Teachers do not just spend extra time “grading papers” (although I am spending this Columbus Day weekend doing just that.) A much greater non-classroom time is put into preparation – planning lessons, developing curriculum and units ands and tracking down resources. Every minute of lesson time takes about 10 minutes of prep time. This is a huge part of a job, it is done after school and on the weekends. It is enough to drive me crazy when those who report on education seem to assume that teachers walk in at 8:00 in the morning saying “Hi kids, what should we do today?” It is a teacher’s job to make sure that all of that 6 hours of instruction time is filled with enriching, differentiated and standards based learning – do reporters of such stories understand this?

I worked for twenty years as a rates developer in the energy industry that was very male dominated before changing careers in midlife to a career that is very female dominated. The time spent and the stress involved in the two jobs I have held is about the same. Strangely, no one ever, truly ever, considered my job as a rates economist and negotiator a walk in the park.
homebuilding

One must ask WHY this ‘story’ was done.

Was there someone of influence needing to prove the ‘unworthiness’ of teachers?

Was this done by a cabal of persons who exclusively define life’s value in terms of the number of hours spent on the clock, behind the desk?

I guess this would mean that truck drivers and child care workers were among the
BEST PEOPLE ON EARTH ! Sure. Why not?

Compared to ‘bankers hours’ they are saints.

Any overtime spent by Wall Street Bankers has been on schemes to cheat the rest of us.

Meanwhile, teachers are asked to educate kids that have been nurtured, exclusively on
an entertainment and amusement culture
WiGal

What? ! taught second grade for 33 years and put in 50 hour work weeks during the school year. And sometimes 60 hours during the first week of school, the last quarter working on grades, the week of parent teacher conferences, the two weeks before Christmas vacation b/c of Christmas program. Worked at least 2 days during my Christmas vacation, put in 60 hours before the first day of school to prepare classroom. And many of my colleagues put in more hours than me.

la3173

I’ve lived with a teacher. He has never had to work the crazy hours–many more than 60 per week–that many professionals–myself included–put in regularly. I’m sorry, but he would get to work at 7:30, get home around 5 (having gone to the gym after work), shower, take a nap, and when I’d get home he’d be glued to the TV.

Nicole

When did he grade, lesson plan, contact parents? When did he go to faculty meetings, sports events, concerts etc? When did he get professional development time in? I am a 3rd year high school teacher. This year I averaged no less than 18 hour work days prepping for 3 different subjects. I also worked at least 10 hours a weekend.

WiGal

And forget eating lunch by yourself. I ate lunch with my kids. And in my younger years had difficulty even getting a bathroom break for myself.
Sb33162

I teach. This article does not represent reality for me or for my fellow educators.

la3173

Nor does this represent reality for me or for my fellow accountants. Hours worked per weekday? Less than 8? Never in my life.

Kerm

This ideas in this article are wrong. I cannot speak for every other school district. However, from moment I walk into my building, to the time I leave, I am WORKING. Teachers do not have secretaries. They run off their own copies and fix the copiers as best they can when they break. They deal with more than 100 students a day at the secondary level, and then must e-mail or call parents. We go to board meetings at night and faculty meetings during the day. We prepare lessons at night and grade endless mounds of paperwork. We are expected to learn and incorporate technology into our lessons with little or no training. Our classrooms are often badly ventilated/heated. There is limited access to computer labs. We are thwarted in our desire to teach critical thinking skills because the unbelievable amount of standardized testing requires drilling in test prep. Testing is the end-all and be-all; statistics are everything. Students of infinite degrees of ability are all expected to pass the same homogenized tests, even if they are classified as special ed., or do not speak English. We do not have the freedom to ease into our days with a cup of coffee or confer with co-workers on subject matter, or anything else, for that matter. We cannot enter the building before a certain hour because there are electronic locks in place that are on a timer and our key fobs are useless-for the entrance, to our classroom, and even the bathrooms. There is no way that I could spend time checking my Facebook account (not that I want to) but it is my understanding that those in other professions often do. I do not read a newspaper at work- no time. There is no designated lunch hour in our day. In my district, we have not had a raise in over three years. (I realize many people in the private sector are experiencing this as well; I am simply trying to put the misconception of constant, automatic pay raises for teachers to rest.) I have been in the position of breaking up fights in my classroom and in the hallways, been bled on, vomited on, hit by errant punches, etc. My summers are spent taking extra coursework to try to stay current. If you think a teaching job is so cushy, go get your degree and come join our ranks. Why wouldn’t you, if we have such an easy time of it?

sam

if you think it is so bad……why are you still doing it???

William Siedler

And there is where you do not understand.

p/o’d by teacher bashing

Comparison of the first pair of bar graphs indicates that Teachers on average work 7h15m on weekdays vs 7h30min for a selected aggregate of other professionals. There are no standard error bars, and I’ll bet the original data indicate no significant difference between the individuals aggregated.

The graphs for whatever reason don’t include the obvious fact that teachers do prep and mark homework on top of their 7+ hours, weekdays.

Finally, after you correct teacher salaries vs doctors, engineers, architects, engineers etc, you’ll find that teachers are working equivalent hours for far less money.

The appropriate headline would be, Teachers work 15 minutes less a day than other professionals (and that’s not counting marking)

Anonymous

FYI, the differences in hours worked were only noted when they were significant. Not sure what you mean by “the original data indicate no significant difference between the individuals aggregated.” Can you clarify? However, the graphs do include all time that people reported “working,” whether in the classroom/office or at home. (Data here: http://www.bls.gov/tus/)

One thing to note: some teachers (and people in other professions) might have, say, graded papers (or done other work) while also watching TV at home. They could have reported that time as TV watching rather than work, which could be part of the reason why the hours worked clashes with some people’s personal experiences.

Milly Bloom

Who is paying for these incendiary attack articles on teachers? The title of this piece is inaccurate and wrong. Teachers work 6- 8 hours then return home to grade papers for 3 or more hours? Others provide after school supervision for science clubs, band, language clubs, sports, coach, etc. I then look at the list of article titles and the list includes attacks on teacher compensation. Do teachers get $100,000 bonuses, million dollar bonuses? Please, and I reiterate, who is paying to support these messages?
(Mr.) Laurie Norton

As a middle-school teacher, I worked constantly & had to take summer jobs because the teaching pay was so poor. (Tens of thousands less annually than those in most other fields requiring a masters degree.) For years my friends considered me a running joke because I never went anywhere during the school year without papers to grade, lessons to prepare, and bookwork to do.
Also, an hour of teaching 30 thirteen-year-olds, many of whom have no desire to learn Spanish (or much else), is something you have to experience to appreciate. I’d like to see some of those with MBAs and engineering degrees give it a shot for a couple of days. (Likely to end up in tears!)
I could have done anything (summa cum laude from college and grad school), but I’m proud to have taught for thirteen years and to have eventually become a good teacher. Don’t ever think it’s easy!
We seriously undervalue these people we charge with caring for and educating our youth.

Howard

“I’d like to see some of those with MBAs and engineering degrees give it a shot for a couple of days. (Likely to end up in tears!)”

Sir, there is no logic in your statement. Your discrimination against engineers is not fair. You should be proud that you graduated your master of arts with honors, but I am most sure that it did not include four semesters of calculus or any other advanced mathematics.

Laurie Norton

You miss the point of my comment if you take it as an insult against engineers, whose academic abilities are generally impressive and whom I greatly respect. I used engineers and MBA’s only as examples of professions that require advanced degrees, as my NYS teaching position did, but which are much better compensated in our society. I could have added doctors, lawyers, architects, and a host of other professions. (I shouldn’t have mentioned my academic record; it’s irrelevant. I probably hoped it would make people take my comment more seriously…)

The comment about crying was not meant to impugn engineers’ emotional control, but rather to emphasize how difficult and emotionally wrenching teaching can be. I believe you’d find very few middle-school or kindergarten teachers, whatever their background, who during their first years of teaching had not ended up in tears more than once after class.

In my case, when I began teaching, in additional to having my exemplary academic credentials, I was married and had raised two children, one of whom had graduated Harvard with honors in three years. Having all this experience and sharing the condescending/unappreciative attitude toward teachers many Americans have, I assumed teaching would be easy for me. It wasn’t! More than once during those first years, I, myself, cried tears of frustration and emotional exhaustion at the end of the day!

I was working seven days and seventy to ninety hours a week creating lesson plans, tests, and worksheets; grading papers, doing book work, organizing my classroom, and calling students and parents. That doesn’t count the time struggling to get thirty kids at a time to pay attention, not shout out and not throw things in class! I had no life other than my work and would have left teaching immediately if we hadn’t needed the money desperately at the time.

Teaching is much more an art than a science, and it’s a difficult one to perfect. While a teacher’s knowledge of the instructional content is important, such knowledge by no means prepares one to be an effective teacher. Effective teaching requires excellent organizational and communication skills, patience, self-control, understanding, empathy, along with a willingness and ability to put students’ needs and egos ahead of your own. One has to utilize all these abilities to have any real chance of reaching the many students who come to school to socialize and who have no particular interest in learning. (Many of these students come from homes where the parents themselves hated school and have a disrespectful attitude toward teachers that they transmit to their children.)

Teachers change lives. I don’t know about you, but now, at over sixty years of age, I still think frequently of several who changed mine. They play a huge role in our children’s upbringing, and we should want teachers to be the very best people we can possibly get in the job. Instead, too many of us cling to the idea that “those who can’t do teach” and, recently, people have even complained that teachers are overpaid because they earn more than the average American worker! (The “average” figure they quoted includes many professions requiring no more than a high school diploma…)

Consider the fact that we’ll pay four or five dollars an hour to have a babysitter just watch our kids and keep them out of trouble, but many of us say teachers are overpaid when we ask them to take thirty of our children at once, not only caring for them all day, but also teaching them both instructional content and social responsibility!

The bottom line is that we need the best teachers not only for our own children’s sake, but also so future generations will be able to compete with nations where only the best students go into teaching (eg., Japan). We need to value teachers, pay them well, and make teaching a profession for only the best and brightest if we want the best for our children and want America to remain a world leader.

Ginger Riddle

Even if this data were correct (and I certainly put in a lot more hours than described here), here’s how I interpret it—teachers work about 7.5% fewer hours than the “other professionals” described here, yet make something like 14% less per hour worked than other college graduates according to an article I read recently. We will not entice intelligent young people into the profession by paying them less than they can earn in other professions.

Howard

Please keep in mind that the majority of teachers are government employees. They earn a slightly lower salary versus private sector employees, which is consistent with other government employees, because they earn pensions as well.

Jack

I am a high school teacher and I love my job. I will not speak for other professions. I arrive at school at 6:30 every morning and go non-stop until 4:00 when I pick up my child from day care. After my child goes to bed at 8:00, then begins all of the grading, writing tests, emailing parents, writing college letters of recommendation, and lesson planning. I work 10-14 hour days during the week. I work weekends. I do it because I care about my students and take pride in what I do. I acknowledge that the teaching experience differs by district and individual, but C’MON!!! I know that my experience is not the exception. This negativity about teachers has gone far enough. I used to laugh, but now I am losing my sense of humor.
Justin

One must take into consideration the intensity of the K-12 teaching profession. Unlike many executive jobs, teachers do not have much alone time in their office to prepare presentations and meet with other colleagues. Teachers are always “on duty”, as student needs can be very demanding and discipline problems can take up a lot of time. Good teachers never feel “caught up” in their work and are always “on stage”. To the previous blogger who stated that there is no difference between college teaching and K-12 teaching… yes there is.

CSmiles

I may be late on the draw here but I have to support the statement: “Teachers are always “on duty”, as student needs can be very demanding and discipline problems can take up a lot of time.” I have worked on all levels and Pre-K through 8 is by far, in my humble and experienced opinion, the most challenging, physically and mentally.

Anonymous

Seems pretty stupid to be attacking teachers in the middle of an education crisis.

By and large, those other professionals you cite are making 3+ times the income of a teacher, and they have less demanding work to perform.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=27707944 Nick Porter

When did NPR start crediting right-wing think tanks like the Buckeye Institute? The title for this article should have been “Low Pay Forces Teacher to Work Multiple Jobs” OR “Teachers Work 24 Minutes Less Per Day Than Other Professionals. Does This Justify Their Low-Pay?”

I expect more thoughtful analysis out of NPR. Shame.
Teacher Man

Yeah, put up the statistics of what we teachers are paid compared to other professionals and this article seems a lot less accurate or important. I work 6:30am to 3:30 pm, five days a week. I don’t grade papers or lesson plan at home because I am not paid to do so. It may be true to we teachers work less hours per week but we are not paid for the hours we do work, we are under appreciated, and seen by many as the root of all evil. My wife is an adjunct professor, teaches online, puts in about two hours per week and makes three times what I do. Reading this article and thinking about it- I just might show up late tomorrow.
RayMondo

I have 137 seventh grade humans to teach mathematics to. If you think it takes less time than other professionals to do my job, yoiu must not have had a decent math teahcer because your ignorant. I have held positions in Sales, Management, and engineering. None of those professions are as full on engaged as a teacher, because there are never 33 clients all at once.
No thanks to NPR for posting that headline-and making a generalized statement that I now have to defend my postition against. Like the political climate doesn’t already beat us up. I could have simply read FOX news if I wanted to now how easy people think my job is….
Tmort03

This is a ridiculous argument. As a teacher in a very small rural junior/senior high school of about 125 students in grades 7-12, I spend WAY more than 8 hours a day working with and for my students.

I arrive at school by 7:30 at the latest, and our first bell rings at 8:05 AM. I teach Agricultural Education courses for 7 periods each day, seeing about 75 students in one day. Our class periods are 50 minutes long. We are given a 25 minute lunch period, during which I monitor the lunchroom while nearly inhaling my sack lunch. After school, I work on grading, planning and preparing lab-based lessons for my students until at least 5:00 PM.

On a good night (usually Wednesdays only), I get to go home to my family after that. On a more typical night, I leave my classroom to go run the scoreboard at a volleyball game, take tickets at a basketball game, or run the concessions stand at our football games. Many days, I attend meetings at 7:00 AM or 5:00 PM for our school’s SPED department, steering committee, school improvement committee or the Science education committee.

I do not coach any athletic team, but I am the advisor for our FFA chapter. This means meeting with students when they have time to practice for competitive events – before school, after sports practice, sometimes even on the weekends. I wouldn’t even attempt to make a reasonable guess on how many hours I work on the FFA program – it doesn’t matter to count the hours, I just do what needs to be done.

In addition – when we talk about “summer vacation,” let’s not forget all the teachers, coaches and activity sponsors who work all through the summer months at camps, activities, and summer school. We don’t run out of the school in May and return in late August without having done a huge amount of work over the “vacation.”

And I love every single minute of it. I don’t think I need a raise, or the recognition or praise that many teachers seek. I do my job because I love it, because I see the vital importance of educating our youth in the world of agriculture – food, fiber, natural resources, sustainability, leadership – to help prepare them for a college career and a productive adult life.

It doesn’t matter to me how many hours or minutes I work in a week. I know that I work hard at my job and I know that my students benefit from that hard work. It’s ridiculous to try and quantify the time that teachers put into work. All good teachers know that even if we did or could count the minutes we put into work, that’s not the point. The point is educating students.

Now, if we want to talk about a profession that REALLY works more hours than any other, let’s explore the life of a production farmer/rancher.
Matt

Wow. I have 215 students. I get to work no later than 6:45 am, and I do not leave school until 7:00 pm. My job is 24/7.

My high school is dealing with 2 lawsuits at the moment for specific teachers’ failure to differentiate instruction for students with special needs (or rather, take the time to DOCUMENT that they are making accommodations). Out of the 215 students I see, at least 60 of them are special needs.

This article is almost offensive.
tchrmom

“(and we’re not counting summer vacations)” because summer ‘vacations’ time is UNPAID.
amy

Poorly timed article in my opinion. Of all the problems in our schools we focus on this? Educators across the country are teaching in underfunded school systems while being antagonized by the American media and one-sided documentaries (Waiting for Superman anyone?). In North Carolina, teachers are working with larger classes than last year with a 46% cut in their supplies budget. They can’t pick up the financial slack in their classrooms because many counties also cut dental insurance, and medical insurance was cut substantially across the state. How about writing an article that focuses on why teachers are being forced to seek out part time jobs to make a living wage and how that affects their students?
amy

And where’s the fancy bar graph that shows the salaries of these other professsionals as compared to educators? Or that shows how many other professionals have had to seek out part-time positions because their salaries are paying the bills? I think that graph might shed a different light on this argument.
Tepmahler

More accurately, the title of the article should read, “Teachers Paid for Fewer Hours than Other Professionals (And we’re not counting summer vacations).” Teacher salaries are based solely on contact hours with students. Nowhere in the equation is grading papers, lesson preparation, research, etc. taken into account. For example, I teach in a charter high school with a 6-period day. This year my schedule was cut back to 4 classes of 6– four different classes, so I need quite a bit of preparation to be effective– and since the hole in my schedule is in the middle of the day, I now receive 80% of my former salary for being at school from 7:30 to 4:30 every day with a 15 minute lunch. I still spend hours at home and on weekends preparing to be the best teacher I can be for my students. Somehow I don’t feel valued like much of a “professional.”
Kashmir840

I am a high school teacher, and I can’t imagine working any more…it would be physically impossible.

http://profile.yahoo.com/T2YURJ6JKEXW4PEIL6GO7RH53E Ryland

For as much as all of you teachers say you work. You have an awful lot of free time to write these arguments online. I am a junior architect and I work 50 hours a week at the least and make 25,000 a year. Stop complaining. Thats all the time I have. Back to work.

Anonymous

In answer to some of the questions about whether or not the differences between the hours teachers work and the hours other professionals work are statistically significant, here’s what the study’s author, Rachel Krantz-Kent, says:

A couple of the comments questioned whether the differences were statistically significant. All of the comparisons that I made in the visual essay were tested at a 90-percent confidence level and only those that were significantly different (at this level) were mentioned in the essay.

john k

I think that in this day and age we should be able to put together a poll that will get hundreds of thousands of teachers feedback to answer survey questions to get a realistic view of the actual work hours of a teacher. Just reading this “http://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/pdfs/Gates2012_full.pdf” shows that of 10k teachers say they are working 10h and 20m a day on average. This researcher Rachel Krantz-Kent did in this article is either completely false or a VERY poor job of researching and reporting and I hope needs to answer for her poor job of it. My wife is a teacher, and this is simply disgraceful! Myself and my kids put in many hours during the year help her so that she is able to spend some time with us. Here, let me do a couple quick (false) reports. All police officers can be found at doughnut shops. All Americans are fat, lazy, and stupid. Anyone can perpetuate a stereotype, and that is all this report is.

Anonymous

“real teachers” put a considerable amount of time off the clock in preparation, grading papers(class and homework), before and afterschool tutoring, policing after school events, meetings etc. teachers in schools with mandatory extended days get a 30 minute lunch(only free time),preparation time is used for parent conferences, meetings and whatever comes up. private industry people get 3 free breaks in 8 hours and most don’t have to take work home with them.
Abwleos

I teach special education in a middle school and my “work” includes hours spent writing IEPs(personalized education plans),gathering and preparing materials for lessons/lesson planning, grading papers and assessments,contacting parents,meeting with my assistants and peers at lunch because there is no other time to do it,researching new ways to meet my students high intensity needs etc. and most of my fellow teacher also do all these things. Our days are not measured by the clock but by the work load and programs where we must meet the standards laid out for us while trying to meet the students needs. Get grip folks some “jobs” are not just jobs!
Jnewport49

There is a significant difference between “average” teachers and those who are good and great. Thes folks work significantly longer days than those who are “average.”
Anonymous

There is a glaring error in this report: ATUS is a time-use survey, not a diary. It is a telephone interview in which respondents receive advance notice, and they are not required to do any pre-work (no diary!). Check out the ATUS FAQ.

Also, the two considerations expressed by Krantz-Kent is based on what data exactly? It seems to be a bit of a leap from the original data. The reporting here seems a little biased.

The headline is certainly attention-grabbing, but may do more harm than anything else. When drawing a conclusion, you don’t rely on one or two studies or incomplete data. There aren’t enough factors parsed out here (some have been echoed in the comments) that could potentially impact findings.This article isn’t doing anyone justice, and the topic deserves a lot more coverage (and study, probably) than it’s given.

Anonymous

You’re right about the description of the survey–thank you for catching that. I’ll correct that today.

The two considerations expressed by Krantz-Kent are her conjectures about why the data in the essay might contrast with some teachers’ experiences.

StateImpact is an ongoing reporting project–this isn’t the last word on the work that goes on inside (and outside) Ohio’s schools. But taken together with the linked stories, it’s a start at looking at these issues. If you have other studies to suggest or avenues you think we should pursue, by all means, please post links or send them to ohio@stateimpact.org.

http://ohio15th.blogspot.com StubbornLiberal

I find it amazing that just before the Issue 2 vote goes before the voters you come up with this flawed survey. You say that teachers only worked seven hours/day? Really? When I taught school, I worked a total of ten hours per day teaching, grading, planning, calling parents, etc. My weekends were spent on grading and preparation. Teachers also are carrying a load, especially in middle/high schools, 100-180 students per day, and facing various behavior problems. This survey/poll is bogus and a clear attempt to make teachers look lazy. I guarantee that many people who’ve never been in a classroom are the first to criticize. They don’t have the guts to teach, especially in our inner city schools. Go visit a classroom.

Anonymous

What specifically about the Bureau of Labor Statistics research do you think is flawed? Farther up in the thread, people have mentioned that it doesn’t take into account the intensity of different kind of work. Is that the kind of thing you mean?

Millermarzke

I am just reading this series of articles and responses now, as an exhausted teacher wondering if anyone making education policy understands what it takes to be a good teacher. If teachers “worked to rule” and put in only contract hours, lessons would be off-the-cuff, papers would not get graded, and the kinds of engaging hands-on activities that require hours of prep would be replaced by worksheets. That’s a mathematical reality, and I don’t understand how even as cursory a methodology as phone-call surveys could miss this. I have read the BLS study, and it strikes me as time for BLS or some other research organization to take a more refined and sophisticated look at how different kinds of teachers use their time. The results of the BLS study are so contrary to what I have experienced myself and observed in my colleauges that I have a difficult time believing the results capture reality. Clearly many teachers share this reaction. We need more data from a variety of sources–most of it is still anecdotal and/or superficial.

However, even if we were able to document objectively what so many of us experience, the fact is, our country knows it can’t afford to pay teachers for the hours they really work. Doctors experience this all the time–especially the ones who take a lot of medicaid patients. There’s only so much people are willing to spend on public goods, and most people have very limited understanding of the complexity of what teachers, physicians, and others who provide public goods actually do. Teachers are not alone in being poorly compensated by the public for services rendered, though we do seem to be alone in the level of vitriol directed our way. Doctors aren’t getting the blame for the epidemic of obesity, so it’s hard to understand why teachers are getting blamed for the epidemic of lazy-mindedness among youth.

Everyone keeps hoping enough caring and passionate teachers will continue to donate their personal (and family) time to meet the increasing demands placed on teachers. They keep hoping we will make up for what families seem unable or unwilling to provide for (and demand from) their children. That’s a pretty risky policy, and it’s clearly failing. Good teachers flee the field after a few years, and gifted college students pursue careers more likely to reward them with both respect and wealth. We can bury our heads in the sand and call teachers whiners, but at the end of the day, we all lose. I hope I can ignore the nonsense and just teach, but thanks to stories like this and the general tone of the political discourse around education, I may end up taking my skills somewhere else.
C. Bernardi

Arrive at school at 6:45. Often have students waiting for tutoring or retaking assessments. Other students want to chat about personal things. If no students present, I photocopy items for the day, prepare classroom, including posting daily objectives, etc. If that is not necessary, I continue grading items that have not been completed. If that is not necessary, I read/answer parent E-mails or other internal E-mails. Start to make plans for upcoming lessons. There is no minute that cannot be used for school type work. I teach one class and then have a planning period. Every moment of planning period used to take care of school business. Sometimes parent meetings or staff development issues are planned for this planning time, but every minute is used for school-type business. Sometimes I have a snack while I work. I never stop working, even if I’m eating. Then two more classes to teach before my designated lunch period. Every other week, first 25 minutes of lunch period is spent on duty checking students who are leaving and entering the cafeteria. Trying to find out if they are where they should be. Then I work while I eat during the next 25 minutes of my lunch period. On the off-week, where I don’t have duty, I work through the whole period and stuff some lunch in…maybe. Often students come to my room for tutoring, retaking assessments, and more answering E-mails, calling parents, taking technology courses, grading, etc. Teach three more courses. When official school day over, tutoring, spending time with students working on assessments, preparing for the following day’s lessons, grading. Often I leave the building between 5:00 and 7:00. Arrive at home, prepare dinner for myself and my husband. After dinner, sometimes I grade papers, plan for lessons. Planning? Aside from writing down what the class will actually do the next day, reading tons and tons of websites. Always searching for more resources. I teach French, so I look for resources to provide authentic materials to teach my language. I listen to French songs that could have discussion and grammar pertinence, watch Youtube videos to help with teaching (cannot review most of the items in school due to time and blocking of most sights having to do with French as they are classified as travel, music, shopping and/or other problems). In order to teach foreign language as related to what people do, these websites should be available to teachers during planning times. This is something we are forced to do at home every night, during the weekend and during the summer. If I haven’t been able to finish grading in school, this is when I complete it. However, largest amount of time spent at home is in the creative mode. Finding and creating interesting ways to teach my subject. Textbooks no longer provide this service to foreign language teachers. So after another 3-5 hours spent during the evening. I get some rest and turn around and do the same the next day. I would say that I work 12-17 hours daily, adding 7-8 hours each weekend and countless hours during the summer. By the way, much time and money spent most summers to learn more to train more and to achieve more to make my lessons more interesting during the school year. Who are the teachers who are working less that most professionals? I don’t know them.
Ann

I’m absolutely offended. Unbelievable! I have no idea how this data or research can be accurate. I currently teach first grade in Texas. I am in my classroom by 6:30 everyday. At 7:35 the students begin coming into the classroom. I literally have to use an egg timer throughout the day in order to get everything done. Our day begins with announcements and then Number Corner/Calendar Math. At 8:20 I begin Reading Workshop. While the students are independently reading I either pull Reading groups over or I conference with individuals about their reading. At 9:00 we have a Phonics lesson. At 9:15-10:15 we begin Guided Reading. I work with an additional 3 Reading Groups. As soon as Reading is over, I begin Writing Workshop. After a quick mini lesson, I conference with individual students about their writing. Next we begin Math. After the lesson, students work at Math Stations. During their independent work time, I am usually testing or tutoring individual students. After lunch, the students are given 20 minutes of recess. After recess, I teach Science or Social Studies and then I have an additional 30 minutes where I work with small groups or individual students that are not meeting expectations. On most work days, I have to use the restroom at 7:30 before the students arrive, and I don’t get another chance to go again until my lunch break at 11:35. Even if someone watched my class while I took a quick break, I wouldn’t be able to get everything done in our day. It would throw us off schedule, because it is so rigid. We have so much to do in a school day. When 2:50 arrives, I have an after school duty. We have meetings after school nearly everyday. After our school day and/or meetings, I have a host of duties: Lesson plans, copies, documentation on the computer, emails, grading, conferences, etc.. I’m not allowed to check or answer emails while students are in my classroom. I’m not allowed to grade papers or do any other job related task. My cell phone has to be on silent, and I’m not allowed to answer it if it rings. While students are independently working, I’m required to conference with or tutor individual students. I rarely leave the building before 6:00. I go home to dinner and a quick workout. Then it’s back to work until it’s time to go to bed. On the weekends, I average around 3 hours of school work on Saturday and Sunday. I am not the exception either. This is what is expected. There are no shortcuts. I never truly have a break either. During my 7 weeks of summer vacation last year, I spent 4 hours a day for 4 weeks on a classroom project. My holiday breaks are similar. I worry that I do my job at the expense of my family. Should I have to sacrifice my family to do my job? Fewer hours than other professionals? I challenge and welcome someone to step in my shoes for a couple of weeks. Then report your data. I bet it would read differently!
http://twitter.com/arwilson Tony Wilson

I’m a little concerned about my colleagues’ knowledge of plural versus possessive. I have 206 students, not 206 “student’s.” We dont need any more ammo for the teacher haters.
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_AZ2FHSYBUPVUYTYJDYFT3H4YRE jenniferu

I don’t know where they did this study, but it is definitely not true! Before becoming a teacher I worked in retail management for 5 years, as a secretary for 2 years, and in fast food. As a teacher I work much longer hours and ten times harder than I ever did in any other job. The entire time I am at work I am working. I must wait until recess to use the restroom, I don’t get “coffee breaks” and I can’t play on the internet like most of the other professionals I know. I have to get an entire room full of rambunctious kids sit, listen, and participate at the same time. I deal with students who bite, hit, and pick their noses and must do it all with a smile. If I want to take a day off I have to leave a detailed description of what I want the kids to do while I am gone. As if that wasn’t enough, I spend 2-3 hours per night working on curriculum and/or grading papers. If I have “special” children in my class who aren’t capable of performing to our ridiculous state standards on a test I am now a ‘bad’ teacher, I can’t just fire them. I must find a way to make every child, parent, and administrator happy in order to be successful. The reason teachers get holidays and *summers off is because no sane person would do this job all year long! (*our summer break is actually only 6 weeks – 2 of which I spend in workshops or taking summer classes) Why am I still a teacher? Because every hug, handmade card, and successful child makes it all worth it. While teaching is by far the hardest job I have had it is also the most rewarding!
Vee

Excellent article. Well written and very informative. Teachers are overpaid, under worked, and are not well educated. I am personally very insulted by the term so loosely used when referring to teachers, “Professional”. Teachers are not Professionals, they are just teachers. They work part time, there is not one Professional, myself included that works part time. On average teachers work 154 days per year. And usually, on 4-6hr during that day. I work the entire year, only taking 3 weeks vacation, and putting in 12-16hr days. Depending on the case load I may not get out of the office for days, I often have to sleep in lounge.

In the future, please do not refer to a teacher as “Professional”. It’s very insulting and offensive.

NCJD

If you want to give it a shot I’ll trade you for a month.

Brandon

Teaching is an easy job to do poorly and a difficult job to do well. I have only been student-teaching for about 2 months now, but I put in no less than 45 hours a week at school. This doesn’t account for time I spend at home researching possible future activities, collecting worksheets, or brainstorming ways to help my struggling students. It can be exhausting, and the extra 15-30 hours I work at my other job eat up any possible free time I may have.

Anybody who believes teaching is an easy gig has a) never taught or b) only observed teachers that don’t put in the extra effort to make each minute in class as productive as possible for his or her students. I’m not saying that teaching is the most difficult or stressful job in the world, but it’s hard to understand the anti-educator sentiment that seems prevalent at the moment.
http://www.facebook.com/richard.nygaard Richard A Nygaard

You guys kill me. None of this was a surprise. If you don’t like it find another career. I can count the number of teachers that I had who I considered to be great on one hand. Getting a voucher system in place would be a great start. I NEVER thought I would consider home schooling but after just two years of my child attending public school I’m seriously considering it.

NCJD

You need to do more of your homework on vouchers and the public education system. It’s not that teachers are bad it that their hands are tied so much.

Bailey

I would welcome the author of this article to follow me around for just 1 week as a High School English teacher.

Please, I formally invite you to shadow me during my 65+ work hours a week.

So little of what teachers do is actually in front of the classroom. If I only worked 10 hours a day there would be NO graded papers, NO parent phone calls, NO letters of recommendation, NO tutoring after school, NO writing conferences during the day, NO extra credit, NO answered emails, NO parent contact in general. I would NOT be there as a friend, mentor, counselor for my students (which is a lot of my work day).

I think it is truly amazing where these statistics come from. How many of these individuals who come up with this information have actually been in front of a classroom?

This is amazing.

Invitation is still there – you can come teach with me anytime, folks!

Ida Lieszkovszky

Hey Bailey,
I’d like to talk to you about your offer. I’m not sure it’s feasible for me to follow you around for an entire week, but I do have some ideas. When you get a chance, please email me at ida@stateimpact.org.
Thanks!
Ida Lieszkovszky
IdaZL

Hey Bailey,
I’d like to talk to you about your offer. I’m not sure it’s feasible for me to follow you around for an entire week, but I do have some ideas. When you get a chance, please email me at ida@stateimpact.org.
Thanks!
Ida Lieszkovszky

Kathleen Nichols

Who ever wrote this article must be delusional. Teachers may have more days off than those in other professions but during their time off, they are often getting ready for their students. Additionally, they are grossly underpaid and disrespected. How can you possibly expect students to respect their teachers when society is constantly running us down by complaining about having to pay us and your misconceptions about how much we work or in your opinion, don’t work.
http://www.facebook.com/stephanie.huffmanfulton Stephanie Huffman Fulton

I understand teaching is a huge time consuming job.I’m sure you knew that going in. I’m also pretty sure you knew the pay scale too. I do believe pay should be higher. Class sizes below 16. It should also be easier to fire crappy teaches

NCJD

The problems exists in the fact of: What makes a crappy teacher crappy? No one can decide on that.

CSmiles

The title of this article is misleading as it states an opinion rather than a reflection of the true study. Im my opinion, the title is another negative blow towards the teaching profession. We work 40 hours plus within a 10 month calendar year, not to mention I have had as many as 2 addtional part time jobs. You also have to take into account the emotional imapact of teaching, especailly in low-socioeconomic areas….This also adds to the hours we work. There are times that I have thought aobut a solution well into the early morning hours….
CSmiles

….And WE ARE NOT PAID during the summers so it is a good thing that it is not counted….
Henry

As a science teacher I work approximately 80 hours a week, covering 45 weeks of the year. This works out to 3600 hours a year. I get 2 paid days off per year, and haven’t used a single sick day in my last 3 years.

I normally get into school at just before 7 and leave at 5, where I go home and continue to work until about 7 or 8 at night.

On the weekends I plan for the following week, and grade, usually for 10-20 hours during the weekend.

During the summers I attend classes for my teaching field, as well as for general education, (all unpaid) as well as volunteer time to coach or to help with school-related activities.

And I do this for less than $45K a year, or about $12.50 per hour. With a first Master’s Degree completed, and the second one on the way.

Want to know how to get better teachers, and keep the good ones? Treat them like they matter, pay them like their professionals, or at least just leave them alone.
Mr.UnpaidOvertime

Lets not forget about automatic step increases (raises) and cadilac benifit packages and the awfully generous match the state makes towards their retirement either.If you want to know who’s really ruining this environment, you need not look any further than your union. In a community where the average house hold makes around 44k and the average teachers salary is 55k NOT counting benifits/retirement which would come out around 80k. They still cry and call the community cheap for not passing a levy. They claim “it’s ALLL about the kids” but when the levy fails the first things that go are for the kids…ie.. bussing/sports/arts..?! The unions have been used to getting their way for a while but now we’re in a recession and tax payers cant afford to keep just handing out money to a district who spends frivolously and wants more every time you turn around. I’ve also heard teachers complain about having to share hotel rooms when they go to labs or trips… I’ve been a financial advisor for three years and EVERY dime has come out of my OWN pocket. My travel expenses, office supplies, my own personally paid health coverage and my personally funded unmatched retirement…I mean at what point are you just happy with what you have? I’m going back to obtain my masters in education so I can feel how living easy, never having to worry, having all summer and major holidays off is like. When you’ve lived off the public dole your whole life and never had to make it in the real world, it’s easy to be discontent. Just be happy you have a job. A lot of your taxpayers dont.
mt

i have been a teacher for 24 yrs
i love my job, my career choice
but teachers work MORE hours than any other profession
if you think it’s easier than your job then you made a bad choice, eh?
katie

And in the same survey, it stated that teachers are almost 50% more likely than other professionals to work on a Sunday. The survey also showed teachers are more likely to have a second job, that is in addition to the time teachers spend in their primary career as a teacher.
katie

Here is where you can find the research: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2008/03/art4full.pdf
Spouse of HS teacher

My spouse has taught high school foreign language for over 20 years in the “reddest of red” (politically speaking) areas of Ohio, the location of the “Buckeye Institute” a “club for growth” style anti-union and pro-corporation “think tank”. My wife works a very stressful day attempting to teach resentful, rude, disrespectful and ill-prepared teen age students. The stresses of her job far outweigh anything I face on a regular basis in my own stressful job as an enterprise level information technology professional. I note that there is no measure of workplace stress mentioned regarding a teacher’s workday. How incredibly foolish! Teachers face some of the most difficult workday stresses of any worker in America. To claim that “teachers work fewer hours” without pointing out the conditions of work is ludicrous! I find the claim that teachers work fewer hours highly unlikely. My wife works over 8 hours every day. She works at her school and takes work home every night and when she isn’t grading papers and entering grades online, she is creating class materials and uploading material to the several web sites she has used her own money to purchase accounts for her students. Over the course of weekends and summers, my wife attends training sessions, workshops, classes to maintain her licensure and remain knowlegeable in her field. Most of her work is unappreciated and ignored by administrators fixated on their own self-interest. The amount of work she does includes a massive amount of record keeping required by initiatives such as No Child Left Behind. Under no circumstances would I ever recommend teaching as a propfession . In fact, I use my wifes situation as amn example of what not to do when discussion careers and professions with my children
Chris R

This is crap. I work my butt off to make a heck of a good living, and when I am done with my day, my wife, a teacher, is still working for. On weekends she is working. I finally told her it was not worth the loss in family time for the 36k a year – before accounting for the tuition we pay for our own child to go to the school. I would say they work a ton more hours…. The good ones anyway.

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