If you are new to teaching, you may not be aware of how much time is actually spent outside the classroom. Here is an illustration, modified from Teachers Working Time and Duties (NUT, 2010). This teacher is teaching a typical timetable - 190 days/year plus 5 days Inset - this equates to 1265 hours of what is called directed time. Basically this means that the school management team is entitled - within reasonable bounds - to tell you what to do
An Example of a Typical School Year
You will have noticed that the bit in red in the middle is what you are supposed to be doing - teaching - and this occupies less than half of your time.
And of course, this is not enough.... There is a general acknowledgement that a typical teacher will need to do work outside the 1265 hours. This acknowledgement extends to most professionals, most schools and most teaching bodies.
The key point is that the employer can not and must not determine the amount of time needed for professional duties beyond the 1265 hours of directed time. It is down to the lucky teacher to decide how many extra hours are needed, and when and where to do the work. As we have mentioned, a typical teacher - indeed just about all full time teachers in secondary schools - will have to do this extra work, which we will can 1265-plus. It is important to understand this distinction: 'directed time' is work that the school management tell you to do; 1265-plus is work that you choose to do because you are a conscientious professional.
Many teachers will feel that this is a bit of a liberty - 1265-plus is pretty much a professional obligation, yet they will not get any management advice, guidance or support in deciding how, when or where to do it. In most large organisations, operations analysts and HR specialists would be climbing over each other to ensure efficient ways of working. In teaching, though, the opposite is true. Neither the head teacher, school management, governors, or local authority are encouraged or indeed allowed to determine or influence where the extra work is undertaken, or the number of hours necessary, or where it should be done.
This is real 'gotcha' for many teachers, especially early in their career. The work involved is part of a teacher’s job, and is therefore carried out under the general direction of the head teacher; it is also work which must conform to school policies and LEA guidance. But how to do it, when, and where? That's your problem. … And of course, it is a stressful problem: 1265-plus is by definition the part of a teacher's job which cannot be fitted into the regular working day - the stretch-target, the limits of achievement, the borders of endurance … and it's your problem.
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