In this month's issue of Professionally Speaking, a magazine put out by the Ontario College of Teachers, there was an interesting article based on the findings of large-scale survey conducted by the Work and Lifelong Learning (WALL) network.  This survey compared working conditions and learning activities of different occupational groups, including teachers. 

I found that the data for teachers to be quite true.  For example, the survey found that teachers "are the most likely occupational group to say their jobs require a great deal of thought and that they have a great amount of choice in doing their jobs".  For me, it's one of the reasons why I love teaching.  I am always constantly learning and I am allowed to be as creative as I want to be in my teaching.  It is what drives me everyday.  I get excited if I come up with a good idea for a lesson and it works with the kids.  This is the thanks I get from my job-- I put lots of thought and energy into a lesson, and if it the kids respond well to it and the  lesson was effective, then I am happy.

The survey also found that teachers are more likely than other occupational groups to have high levels of stress.  DEFINITELY agree with that one!  If you are a regular reader of my blog, then you should remember all my stressful experiences with difficult parents and students.  The stress also comes from having so many duties placed on me.

In terms of work hours, the survey found that full-time teachers work an average of at least 45 hours per week (a Canadian norm).  I always knew that I worked longer hours but I never realized how many hours I worked per week, on average.  I work about 10 hours each day, so multiply that by 5 days, means that I work about 50 hours a week!  However, about 15 hours of that is unpaid, overtime work!  Everyday, I always get to work about an hour before school starts and I usually work for another 2 to 3 hours after school ends.  So, that's three hours unpaid, overtime work per day, multiply by 5, and multiply that by about 190 days of school... you get the point!