The International Schools Review Forum

I’m starting this topic in order to gauge whether or not my new school is being unrealistic in terms of duties. I’ve been teaching for 14 years (13 internationally) and have never experienced something quite like what I’m dealing with at the moment.

I’m at a relatively small school – 500 students K-12. I teach in the senior/high school. Teachers are required, generally speaking, to cover 4-5 duties a week. I have 4, which means I miss out on 25 minutes of my 45 minute lunch break three times a week, in addition to missing one morning break as well. Our campus isn’t especially big, nor are our students difficult in any way. We aren't understaffed either. So, I don't quite understand what's going on.

I find this to be an issue considering that our contact time with students is also substantially higher than at any other school I’ve ever worked at. I’m presently running from one lesson straight to cover a duty to then several lessons in a row.

Any one ever dealt with something like this before? Am I being a bit unreasonable? Any suggestions on what, if anything, I should or could do? I fully understand the need for duty conver; however, 4 duties in a week seems a bit excessive to me.

Thanks for your time.

Similar demands are being made at our elementary school, safety is being cited and teachers being asked to do more and more.

Domestically in the US, both certified and support staff are being asked to do more with less. This includes both time, duties and other factors. I wonder if this is related to the economy and the fact that many are looking for a job. At this point in many schools in the US it's basically a take-it-or-leave-it mentality.

For any opening we're getting applications from both private and public sector former employees that were making 40k-50k more than the expected salary.

We are only required to do one 45 minute duty per week in the high school. I don't know about elementary/middle school responsibilities.