SCHOOL HOLIDAYS FROM THE PERSPECTIVES OF TEACHERS

Abstract

It is almost universally accepted that teachers have a heavy workload. Despite this, the perception that teachers have long school holidays and ample free time during the day has become a stereotype. From this perspective, teaching has been a profession that is sometimes envied and sometimes criticized. From this point of view, this study aims to reveal teachers' views about the holidays they have. Maximum diversity sampling was used to review teachers' views and a total of 12 volunteer participants, four teachers from each school level (primary, secondary and high school), were interviewed. According to the findings, the meaning that teachers attributed to holiday was mostly described with the expressions of "discharge", "clearing the mind", "making time for oneself and family", "getting out of routine" and "unplanned". In general, it was understood that some teachers found the holiday periods ideal, while others found them inadequate. In addition, all of the teachers stated that they have a mentally and physically demanding job and emphasized that there should be plenty of holidays for this profession. However, they also stated that there is a dominant opinion in the society that teachers take many and long vacations and have free time. However, it was revealed that contrary to popular belief, they could not spend the holidays offered to them (especially summer vacation) efficiently.