The International Schools Review Forum

What does 7/8 or 5/7 or 4/6 mean in this debate? Does someone out there really think that every school has lesson lengths that are exactly the same? I've worked in schools with 35 minute lessons, 40 minute lessons, 45 minute lessons, 50 minute lessons, 60 minute lessons, 75 minute lessons and 90 minute lessons. The only sensible way to compare contractual terms is to count the weekly minutes of teacher/student contact time - excluding supervision, tutorials and all of the other ways that we consume adult time in schools.

I am the principal at an American style AP school in China, and my teachers are contractually obligated to teach 30 hours per week, but the usual work load is around 22 hours per week. We do have one teacher who has 26 hours per week, but that is a special case and in the next term she will be down to 20 hours per week. I am the principal and I also teach around 15 hours per week. I do this because it lessens the teaching load for my teachers, as I am not contractually obligated to teach.