I would quite like an evening off once or twice a week instead of having to do my marking (“Overworked clock up #163;7bn of unpaid labour”, 8 March). I do it, however, because I accept that it is part of the job and I want to do my job as well as I can.

What I find frustrating, however, is the assumption a) that I am not entitled to any semblance of a personal life during term time; and b) that the endless tasks don’t serve any purpose.

I’ve been given four versions of essentially the same thing to fill in this week, all for different people in school and all taking up time when I should be planning, marking or perhaps spending some time with my own children. OK, I was reusing the same information so it took 20-30 minutes per sheet, but it was still annoying.

It’s also the pressure to add “extras”: after-school revision, holiday and half-term boosters etc. If you don’t or can’t do them, you’re “not a team player” and others look down their noses at you for being lazy. But I object to spending two hours after school teaching children who have done nothing in lessons and who haven’t done their homework.

I average 60-70 hours per week during term time, and I’d say at least 10 per cent of that time is down to pointless paperwork or new initiatives. Another 10 per cent is doing extras that I “need” to do to prove how hard I work. That’s not something I signed up for.

secretsiren, via the TES website.