Unwritten Expectation
For most educators, summer is not a true break. It’s a time to recharge for the upcoming school year and stay ahead of the demands that will be waiting once students return in the fall. Educators often spend hours reviewing and updating curricula, designing new lesson plans, attending workshops, and sometimes even teaching summer school or tutoring. These tasks, while necessary to stay effective in their role, are time-consuming and rarely compensated. The so-called “summer vacation” is often a necessary period of catch-up, allowing educators to continue their professional growth and avoid burnout in the following school year.
Furthermore, the pressure and workload that builds during the school year don’t simply vanish when the students leave for the summer. The emotional and mental labor of teaching accumulates throughout the year, and many educators find themselves needing the summer months not just for work preparation, but to recover from the toll that the school year exacts on their well-being. Without this time to reflect, rest, and reset, many educators would be unable to return to the classroom with the same level of energy and enthusiasm that their students need and deserve.
The broader question here is why the system, both at the school and societal levels, treats educators' time as something that can be taken for granted or assumed to be a “break.” The reality is that the educator’s calendar does not account for the full extent of their workload, both during the school year and beyond. And the summer months, while valuable, are far from a true vacation. Educators work tirelessly year-round, often sacrificing personal time, family obligations, and their own self-care to meet the ever-expanding demands of the profession.
Teaching is a profession that demands far more than what is often reflected in compensation or societal recognition. While the official workday might be limited to classroom hours, the reality for most educators is vastly different. Educators routinely work more hours per week than other working adults, often clocking in at 50, 60, or more hours a week when you factor in lesson planning, grading, parent communications, extracurricular responsibilities, and professional development.
These additional hours are not always acknowledged, and the expectation that educators will give up their time to support students and perfect their craft is implicit rather than formalized. What’s even more troubling is that despite this significant time commitment, educators often find themselves underpaid compared to other professions requiring similar levels of education and expertise. This disparity raises a crucial question: why do we pay educators the way we do?
Educators consistently work beyond the typical workweek, but their salaries don't reflect the extent of their commitment. While many adults work a 40-hour week, educators often work far more hours, with those extra hours being largely unseen by the public eye. This overtime isn’t always recognized by schools or systems, which leads to a deep sense of inequity. The lack of compensation for these additional hours, coupled with the emotional and mental toll of the job, contributes to burnout and disillusionment in the profession. It’s a stark reminder that educators are undervalued, and it's long past time that the compensation structure mirrors the extraordinary commitment they make to their students, their communities, and the profession.
So, what can we do about it? The first step toward change is visibility. Educators need to start tracking the hours they work beyond the classroom. By documenting the time spent planning, grading, attending meetings, and engaging in other professional duties, educators can provide concrete evidence of their time investment. This data can be used to advocate for better compensation, reasonable workload expectations, and policies that recognize the realities of the profession.
Tracking hours is not just about proving how much work educators do; it's about advocating for systemic change. When we bring attention to the true scope of an educator’s responsibilities, we make it harder to ignore the need for fair compensation and support. Schools and districts should be aware of the full extent of educators’ workloads, and compensation models must reflect the long hours spent outside of class. Until we address this imbalance, and provide adequate compensation and recognition for the significant hours and emotional labor educators contribute, schools will continue to face challenges in retaining talent and sustaining educator well-being. The current system simply doesn’t acknowledge the whole of the work educators do, and it’s critical we move toward a more realistic and fair model of support.
