I am going to be very clear that my mod hat is not on as I post this reply. These are my personal opinions and do not represent anyone or anything else but me.
As a teacher, I found this post very offensive and misleading. In looking at Australia's government website, I read that the school year is broken into four terms with the country's "summer break" being around December. In-between the other terms there is a break period of about two weeks. When one adds this information up, students attend school in Australia for about 200 days; teachers, who are required to attend days beyond this for professional development, training, meetings, etc. go beyond that. This sounds comparable to schools here in the United States.
Teachers - in Australia and the U.S. - are NOT paid during the summer. They have the option to take their salary for the school year, subtract a percentage of it, and then collect that amount during the summer break. Teachers receive no other funds and may not collect unemployment at this time. Many teachers work one, two, and some even three additional jobs throughout the entire year just to pay the bills. Those bills, by the way, often include the supplies needed to do their jobs at school - books, curriculum materials, manipulatives, pencils, glue, paper, etc.
As far as late nights, weekends, and other professions, studies have shown that teachers work, on average, 15-20 hours extra on top of a 40 hour work week. Many I know go beyond that. In fact, I belong to two teacher groups in which every participant works between 60-80 hours per week. My day at school is typically between 10-12 hours, not including the time spent tutoring before and after school and advising extracurricular activities, only to go home at night to grade papers, plan lessons, make parent phone calls/emails, and work on paperwork. There is no such thing as additional work being done "
at times." It is our reality.
Teachers are caretakers by nature. When the school bell rings at the end of the day, we don't have a magical switch to flick and not think about our students. We refer to them as "our kids" because in that year together we accomplish more than what is written in textbooks. We nurture, support, coach, inspire, praise, and fight for our students. Likewise, we are constantly using what you might consider to be free time in order to brainstorm new ways to reach those troubled children; this could be a teaching method or time spent outside of the classroom during home visits. It is an all-consuming profession and extremely difficult to turn off even in the middle of the night. Our kids are constantly on our minds.
During the summer and holiday breaks, teachers are also working, and most of the time doing so without being paid. Professional development seminars, graduate courses, revamping curriculum to the ever-changing state standards, curating and developing units, lessons, and activities, learning the latest technology, teaching summer school or tutoring, meeting with administration or department heads, cleaning and organizing classrooms for the next set of learners, and so on are necessary to help our students and school communities. Again, this is also a time when teachers are doing what they can to supplement their income. I'd love to hear of another profession in which someone holding a Masters or Doctorate degree works those hours
plus an additional job(s) because the salary is not feasible for a comfortable living.
I don't think there's any other way to close this than to post a short video that I encourage you to watch until the very end. After doing so, are you still tired of teachers "complaining" about something they chose? about being charged more for those precious moments when they can actually take a break to clear their heads? about doing a job which one perceives as being just as demanding as any other? One would think they should be celebrated for what they're doing, not ridiculed for doing the work that is more of a calling than decision.
I hope that this has shed some light for you. Now I'm off to write lesson plans and grade papers...at 8:33 PM...before getting up tomorrow at 5 and starting my day. I can't wait to see my kiddos and help them learn something new. I wouldn't have it any other way.
: Since that was a long time ago, I'm sure it's MUCH worse now, I have not been back to find out.
