Recently there was a protest that was held by teachers to argue for an increase in pay. On Facebook, photos were shown of teachers of all ages and walks of life with red banners and posters. I decided to read the comments and was extremely surprised by some of the cometary from the public. ‘They get paid holidays every 10 weeks and they are complaining?!’ ‘I wish I could finish work everyday at 3pm’ ‘They don’t have to work weekends’, blah, blah, blah well I am here to expel some of those ‘facts’ and see that they really are ‘teacher myths’.
Jump To
- Myth 1: Teachers finish work at 3pm
- Myth 2: Teachers get so many breaks
- Myth 3: Teachers only read from a textbook and get students to copy it from a whiteboard
- Myth 4: teachers are glorified baby sitters
- Myth 5: Students sit and listen in class, what’s so hard about that?
- Myth 6: teachers are so lucky, they get everything provided for them.
- Myth 7: Teachers get two lunch breaks
- Myth 8: Teachers rehash the same lessons over and over again
- Myth 9: Teachers don’t write assessment tasks, they are given to teachers by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority)
- Myth 10: Teachers finish work and the day ends for them
Teacher Myth 1: Teachers finish work at 3pm
Lets be honest, SOMETIMES teachers leave at 3pm and that could be to pick up their kids from school, have outside commitments that need them to leave earlier on some days, but more often that not, teachers will catch up any time they missed by leaving early, at home after dinner working on class lessons and assessments.
It’s also important to note that most teachers get to school between 7am-8am and are working also during these hours (some have a morning playground duty)
Teachers have a range of things they are involved in after school that are mandatory or voluntary that start at 3pm and can finish or range from times between 4-6pm. Some of these things include,
- Weekly meetings (KLA (subject meetings), whole staff meetings or pastoral care meetings) some teachers across multiple KLAs with have multiple meetings every week. These often go for an hour. In which most teacher stay back afterwards to catch up on work
- Extra Curricular Activities, where teachers volunteer their time to organise groups for kids such as after school sports, arts groups, photography and video groups, chess or teach moloch based groups, homework help, drama groups etc.
- Volunteer meetings, some teachers have staff based groups they are also a part of such as well-being groups, religious meeting groups etc these are all student focused.
- Staying back to finish any work such as creating lessons, marking exams, creating exams and assessments, lesson plans and worksheets or presentations.
- Setting up classrooms for a lesson, this is especially for creative arts and technology based where to save class time, teachers may set up a room they will be in the next day (art materials, supplies etc) something I have done on multiple occasions!
- Setting up or working during lunch times, many teachers work through their breaks, especially if they have a jam packed day full of lessons
- After school bus duties (supervising students catching a bus or going home via a car) safety supervision.
- Parent teacher interviews, which can span over a week and last until 8pm
- Playground duties
- Exam marking (if every teachers class was involved in an exam in a term, that’s around 140 exams to mark.. plus sometimes teachers co mark meaning they may even mark other classes work also)
- HSC exam preparation classes which are often held during holiday time. Teachers go into school to teach voluntarily or help students working on major HSC work.
Teacher Myth 2: Teachers get so many breaks
It’s true, we do get many breaks, but what we do during those breaks is what matters. And I know we have weekends (which teachers sometimes do work during as well) but for those teachers with children who have their own kids commitments on weekends (sport for example), the holidays are an extension to school terms where teachers work on a number of things such as,
- Marking exams (in high school I mean HUNDREDS of exams during the break)
- Working on new programs for the next term ahead
- Engaging in professional development days
Being honest, we do spend some days catching up with friends for a coffee or going to the beach, but considering all the extra hours put in the work term, there’s nothing wrong with that.
Teacher Myth 3: Teachers only read from a textbook and get students to copy it from a whiteboard
Good teachers hardly solely read from a text book. Education and teaching styles have evolved dramatically overtime and it is always highly recommended (almost mandatory) that teachers use different teaching styles in the classroom. Students learn in different ways some are visual learners others learn better in group settings, other prefer video and audio or are more hands on.
Teachers must cater for different student learning styles and cater to the different student dynamics in the classroom. Plus it would just be plain boring to copy information from the board. There is a huge term used in teaching called ‘Pedagogy’ (how teachers teach) and it is important that teachers refer to this when organising their lessons. Plus part of the Syllabus explains the integration of these pedagogical ideas such as implementing technology in the classroom.
Teacher Myth 4: Teachers are glorified baby sitters
No not exactly.. I’ve never heard of a baby sitter especially in high school look after 100 students in one single day.. I think this myth comes around the idea of casual teachers who are sometimes seen as being baby sitters of classes when teachers call in sick, but even then casual teachers are still expected to teach students (if they are in the same field or subject area) or at least attempt to assist students, check work, mark rolls, discuss worksheets and questions and sometimes even go through examples of responses or answers.
Classrooms need to be interactive, safe and fun environments catered to learning and in order for that to happen, a teacher cannot be simply ‘babysitting’ but rather be involved in that environment for the students.
Teacher Myth 5: Students sit and listen in class, what’s so hard about that?
Whoever believes this myth clearly hasn’t been in a classroom for a long time! Any class that does that is a miracle! There has been I do admit during my teaching career where I have had a small handful of classes where students are attentive almost 100% of the time. I can count that on one hand. That was just the luck of the draw in relation to the types of students in the class and classes sizes and the subject (being an elective) for example. Majority or a huge chunk of a teachers job involves behaviour management and catering to the needs to students
Teacher Myth 6: Teachers are so lucky, they get everything provided for them.
This one is a bit of a grey area. Some schools offer certain supplies to teachers such as whiteboard markers, elastics, erasers, pens, staples, batteries, glue etc but more often than not, teachers still supply all their own materials. Some teachers like to buy teaching aids such as posters for classrooms, coloured paper, paints, markers, pencils for students and a lot more.
The way most schools work is that a certain budget per subject area is allocated usually at the end of the year. This is reviewed by the finance manager of the school where they determine how much money is going to be allocated per subject area depending how reasonable they think it is. It can be often a very tight budget depending on the school. I had a budget of only $2000 for my photography class (which literally could buy me two DSLR cameras) and around $3000 for Visuals arts, across 7-12. Which is practically nothing. Some other schools who can afford larger budgets can pay to splurge or materials and equipment for students.
A teacher friend of mine working at a prestigious school told me how the school had $2,000,000 allocated to spend on visual arts that year. I have to admit I was stunned! I could only image the amazing materials and equipment I wish I could get my students with that amount of money! Unfortunately for those teachers who do work at schools with lower budgets do spend some of their wages on materials for their students.
Teacher Myth 7: Teachers get two lunch breaks
Let me dispel this one for you. Yes we do get two lunch breaks but are they really breaks? There were many times me and other teachers would sit around a whole lunch time at a table and eat and socialise together but there’s also times where teachers sit and eat, then get up halfway to go and catch up on work.
Some teachers would work half of lunch and join the table the second half of lunch etc. There are also a number of factors why teachers don’t technically get a full lunch break,
- Preparing for next lesson scheduled after lunch
- Setting up an exam
- Setting up a classroom
- Printing material
- Having meetings with other teachers
- Sending emails
- Meeting with students
- Lunch duties
- Marking exams
- Creating worksheets
- Sport commitments with students
Teacher Myth 8: Teachers rehash the same lessons over and over again
Not necessarily, sometimes teachers may use the same worksheet or lesson idea they have created for other classes of a year group and reuse it from year to year or class to class, but the same lesson doesn’t happen exactly. There are a number of reasons why this is a teacher myth,
- Each class and every student is different. Teachers have to change, modify or adapt different elements to the lesson to cater to the students
- Syllabus points or curriculum content may change that guides a teacher to what needs to be taught in class
- New information or updated information change from year to year about topics (Pluto being removed as a ‘Planet’ is one of the ideas that come to mind)
- The lesson may have not worked well in class so they may decide to change it or remove it from their teaching entirely
- New media or better resources about the topic become available
Teacher Myth 9: Teachers don’t write assessment tasks, they are given to teachers by NESA (NSW Education Standards Authority)
Definitely a myth. NESA does have on their website some example ideas of what can be in an assessment task but they don’t write or hand down assessments to teachers. Teachers as part of their profession are expected to write exams and assessment tasks. Some schools may divide or delegate these duties between staff to help ease the load or balance the load between teachers.
Usually, coordinators place a TIC (Teacher in Charge) who is in charge of a whole subject year group. So for example, if there are 4 Year 10 photography classes shared between 3 teachers, one of those teachers will be in charge of writing the assessment, modifying and adjusting the assessment for special needs and printing the assessment.
Teachers are also required to make adjustments and modifications of assessments and exams for students with special needs. This is a long process where collaboration needs to be done with teachers of special needs who can help teachers make those changes to help students who need extra provisions.
Teacher Myth 10: Teachers finish work and the day ends for them
On of the first statements I heard from my uni lectures was ‘Once a teacher, always a teacher’. It was hounded in pretty hard at the start that once you enter this profession, you have a standard to withhold. What I mean by this is that once a teacher finishes work, they are expected to act in a professional manner outside of school hours.
A teacher yelling at the checkout clerk at woolies only to be seen by a parent or student of the school they work at isn’t a good look. Of course there are times teachers don’t follow these rules and they are not perfect at all times, but in a professional manner they need to act accordingly in public.
One of the stories I heard about was of a teacher who organised a drunken party with some other teachers on the weekend had photos of the event leaked on social media. Monday morning a staff meeting was planned and the staff was basically blasted for their behaviour as parents had seen the posts and made various complaints to the school. Not a really good look for the school..
So there you have it, a full list of teacher and teaching myths! What do you think about this list? What other teacher myths are there that parents think of that I may have not mentioned? Do you think teachers really do have it too easy and this list of myths is rubbish? Feel free to comment below and we can continue this discussion!
Want to read more of our blogs? Check this one out – 16 New and Untraditional Jobs of the Future – What You Can do to Guide Your Teenager’s Career Choices
