Survey: Teachers work 53 hours per week on average

Francie Alexander:

Teaching is a much talked about yet often misunderstood profession. Educators frequently hear well-meaning comments from parents and friends like "It must be so sweet to spend your days with children" or "How wonderful to be done for the day by three o'clock." Are they serious?

Teaching is joyous, but it is also hard work! It is fast-paced, multi-faceted, and complex. I should know. I spent many years as a teacher and it is the hardest and most satisfying work I've ever done.

A new report from Scholastic and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, called Primary Sources: America's Teachers on the Teaching Profession, finally quantifies just how hard teachers work: 10 hours and 40 minutes a day on average. That's a 53-hour work week!

These numbers are indicative of teachers' dedication to the profession and their willingness to go above and beyond to meet students' needs. It never was, and certainly isn't now, a bell-to-bell job.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at March 22, 2012 2:01 AM
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