Teaching Sabbatical, What’s It Like?
For 9 months you’re in front of students teaching, creating lesson plans, doing labs, grading homework, attending meetings and meeting with students. Yeah, you have the summer off, but during that time you are gearing up for the new year, trying to come with new and innovative lesson plans, creating new classes, doing research. Sometimes you just need a year off to re-coup. That’s what a sabbatical is all about.
You do have to be tenured to qualify for a sabbatical and you can only take one every 7 years. You have to apply for the sabbatical, so depending on how big the school is, you are never guaranteed the time off. Depending on the type of school you teach at, you may not even need a sabbatical. Some schools are more focused on the traditional role of teaching the students, other schools are more focused on research. It is the schools that are more focused on teaching that find more teachers wanting sabbaticals.
What about pay? Do you earn anything while away? Yes. If you take a 1/2 year off, you earn full pay for that time period. If you take a full year off, you earn 1/2 pay.
So what do you do on sabbatical? Some people paint their house. Some write books or travel. You are expected to further your research whether that be by writing papers or books or some travel to another school or facility to do their research. If they are close to home, some, like my sister, enjoy spending more time with their students working on projects. With no classes to worry about, the teacher can spend any amount of time they want with the student.
My sister is currently on sabbatical. She spent the first quarter at her school year working with students on projects. Then it was time to leave home; she is currently out here in Oregon on the coast. She will spend a great deal of time doing research with various trips in between. Mostly she is spending time away from the rigors of the academic world. I guess it’s sort of like kids. You love them immensely, but every once in a while you just need a break.
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