But I Smile Anyway…

Feeling the tiredness of my first full academic year, I felt a repost of this particular post wouldn’t go amiss!

Life… teacher… the words don’t naturally go together, not here in the UK at least!

Why? Well, I am here to report back to you that the reality of a teacher’s existence is not what many people out there think.

There is this all important phrase bandied about ‘work/life balance’ and it is a very important principle. Your work shouldn’t be all-consuming, you need to be able to compartmentalise your life so work doesn’t overshadow your life, and your personal life doesn’t impact upon your professional one.

And for a teacher, this should be really easy, right? After all you work from 9am to 3.30pm, and you get all the weekends, and all those holidays?!

Really???

Nope, not reality AT ALL!

I have been in my new teaching job for the last 6 weeks and I am exhausted! And you know what, I haven’t even really started properly yet!  September, when I have my own first class, will herald the start of a new love/pressure on my already full life!

My day, my working day, starts at 7.30am, when I get into school. Yup, 7.30am. I bring my children to school to go to breakfast club, and then get started on preparing things for the day, alongside my team.  This involves, setting things up in the classroom, updating children’s books, photocopying or printing, having a cuppa, catching up with the team, and preparing each other for the day ahead.

Then from 8.45am to 11.45am we have the morning children in.  Apparently, lunch starts then for an hour, but in reality, we have to clean up the morning children’s mess, then prepare the classroom anew for the afternoon children’s arrival, before actually eating.  Oh and there are inevitable emails, and other bits of paperwork that need doing too, then 12.45pm doors open again for the afternoon lovelies, and we are kid busy until 3.45pm…

Yay! School day done! the kids are gone! But not the teachers… oh no. Then the fun of discussing the day gone by, any changed to plans for the week, paperwork, emails, more preparation for the next day, and depending on the time of the year, there will be reports, progress grids, and at the moment for us, the fun of home visits and new pupils, and their indecision as to whether they are coming to us or not, to contend with too!

It’s not long before the clock says 5.30pm, and on occasion it’s even been nearly 6pm before I have finally left the building.  My kids aren’t having to endure nearly 11 hours at school, I have wonderful in-laws who come to pick them up at the end of the children’s school day, and they are fed and relaxed by the time I get home!

At this stage, realise that within the day, we have had no official breaks apart from the lunch hour that ends up being the lunch 15 minutes, due to the other jobs we need to do.

So that’s more or less 50 hours a week… so far…

But I haven’t factored in the evenings or the weekend, where you may sit, researching, or planning for an hour or two a night sometimes, or updating books, writing reports and updating data, again, depending on the time of year.

So probably a 60 hour week, related to work, then obviously the time for your family is really important. I need my time with my impressionable kids, and need to try to not be tired, and ratty with them. And obviously my hubby, who is neglected, due to my exhaustion, needs time too.  I have friends who I don’t get to chat to on the phone, let alone see, because the moments I have in peace, are just that… moments… and I have learned to really appreciate them.

I’m up a 6am, I probably don’t get to bed until 11.30pm… and spending a day with a class full of children is exhausting, physically and mentally.   I say whole heartedly, that teachers deserve those holidays.  Those holidays where they spend a whole lot of time thinking about their class, and the next term, the topics and tasks they will be covering. Or they go to places and think ” Ooooh! My class would love this!” or “I wonder if they do class trips? But seriously, I do love what I am doing right now, and I finally feel I am in my ideal place, with my family and home, and in a job I love.  It’s just a shame that teaching is not actually just about teaching anymore… if the government could cut the red tape, the constant data yielding that teachers are expected to do, and actually allow them to teach, from the heart, I do believe that the results would become, themselves, amazing!

So, the next time you sit there thinking a friend who is a teacher has an easy life, please check this post out again!

( I haven’t even touched on the pay in this post!)

All images from Google Images