There is a belief, and it is often said too, that because teaching hours are usually short and there are long vacation periods between each school year, being a teacher is easy and very light work.
But the reality is very different, since teaching is more than just teaching, and according to a new report, Spanish teachers work more than Europeans.
According to the "Education Overview 2018" report of the National Institute for Educational Evaluation, based on the indicators of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Spanish teachers spend more hours a year teaching than the average of OECD and EU teachers22 (the 22 OECD countries that are members of the European Union).
In Babies and more The great reflection of a teacher who explains why teachers are lucky (and no, it's not for summer vacations)According to published data, on average within OECD countries, teachers teach 784 hours of class per year in Primary Education, 703 in the first stage of Secondary Education and 657 in the second stage of Secondary Education. Within the EU22 countries, the values are similar although slightly lower, with 762, 668 and 635 hours per year, respectively.
As for the Spanish teachers, class hours per year are higher than the average for European teachers, because they give an average of 880 hours of class in Primary, 713 in the first stage of Secondary Education and 693 in the second stage of Secondary Education.
The unseen work
But remember that direct teaching hours are not the only thing teachers do. On average, for OECD countries, 44% of the hours of regulatory work hours are dedicated to direct education. Of these, Spain is among the countries that dedicate the highest percentage, 50%.
And the other 50% of your work schedule? They are the hours dedicated by teachers for everything that involves teaching their students, from preparing everything necessary for classes (such as the development of educational materials or planning them), teacher meetings, meetings with families, the time they spend correcting and reviewing their students' work, and so on.
Being a teacher requires a true vocation, and contrary to what it might seem at first glance, it is something that requires more time than is usually thought, because Behind those class hours, there is a whole process of work, planning and preparation.
