Spinning out of my News thread, where there was a routine swipe at "idle teachers"
http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/News/Question1235297-2.html
Back in the late 1980s and early 1990s I had a lot of friends who were teachers (secondary and primary). Families did not routinely have more than one car in those days and many of my teaching friends were 'stuck' at school until a non-teaching partner finished work & they could share the trip home. So they did their marking and preparation whilst they waited.
The general opinion then was that if a teacher arrived at 8:30 and worked solidly through until 5ish (ie a normal working day for other jobs) then they would have no work to do at evenings and weekends, apart from occasional bursts to do exam marking and reports.
Essentially teaching could (if you wished) be a "9 to 5" job - but with much longer holidays than any other professional career.
Is this still the case - or has the load been increased to the point where it's just not feasible any more and significant evening and weekend work is impossible to avoid?