.4 TEACHING AS A FULL-TIME PROFESSION

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Finally, I would like to have teachers work a 40-hour week. That is, longer when necessary, shorter when appropriate. Right now, teachers tend to work 50-55 hours per week. That's a lot of hours. In addition to the time you spend at school, teachers expect to take papers home to grade, make lesson plans at home, and do some work on weekends. You add all that up and it ends up being 50-55 hours per week. I'd like teachers to work full-time, 40 hours. I'd like them to work full-time for the year. I'd like teachers to have about 7 weeks of spread out vacation during the year. But I want the image of teaching to be a full-time profession, not part-time, and pay teachers for that.

When I say 40 hours a week, I don't mean punching a time clock. I don't want teachers punching a time clock. I want them to be responsible for their own schedules. This goes back to treating teachers like professionals. I think it's odious to have professionals sign in and there are teachers that still have to sign in. Teachers are professionals! They are supposed to be somewhere and they can be counted on to be there. To have a system where everyone needs to sign in is wrong. Sometimes, teachers will work over 50 hours per week, sometimes they will work less than 40 per week. That's okay. Let the teacher figure out how many hours they need to work. Set up the expectation so that on average you get the job done in about 40 hours per week. If I had my way, I would have school go from probably about 8 a.m. until 5 p.m. for everybody. When the kids go home they don't have any homework to take and neither will the teachers. Everyone gets their job done at school. It's a longer school day, but when they go home, they have family time together.

	What things lead to the false impression that teachers do not work at least 40 hours per week?	Answer Here
	No ferret question