I guess as a teacher, I would just answer here. I know it won’t add up to a spreadsheet, but a lot of it isn’t really suitable for us.
Basically, I work 166 days a year. As I have an indefinite term contract, I get paid for holidays. In my early years of teaching, I didn’t do that (there are different contracts. With long-term contracts, you get paid holidays. With temporary contracts, you often don’t, though it depends on the details) and was technically unemployed during those years.
I make some plans etc. during the Christmas and Easter holidays and mid-term holidays. In the summer, I don’t know because I rarely know what classes I have until or around mid-August of the next year. I do corrections for state exams in July, but that’s a separate job for which I get paid by the State Exam Commission. On top of my holiday pay.
I get up to 6 months of certified sick leave out of 4 years. Certified means I need a doctor’s note. I also have 7 days of uncertified leave in two years. This is when you can just call and say, “Sorry, can’t come today. I’m sick.”
I can take up to 5 personal days a year but this is subject to management approval and unlike any other holidays, we have to arrange cover ourselves with colleagues, so taking 5 days each year would not be normal. In fact, most years, I wouldn’t take anything. Basically, you ask a coworker to cover your class and they don’t get paid for it, although it’s common for the teacher to give them something like a chocolate bar as a thank you on personal day.
I generally experience very few sick days. Maybe two a year? I don’t fall ill often.
We are unionized and negotiate with the federal government.
Things like length of service are not relevant in teaching in Ireland as unions and the government negotiate the rules that apply across the sector.
