What academics really do on their summer ‘holidays’

Current academic contracts stipulate the standard 5 weeks of holiday leave, the same as everyone else... the myth about academic's long summer holidays is just that, a myth. But equally, nor is taking annual leave a badge of honour or a sign of good work ethic; there is a wealth of evidence that taking an extended break from work actually enhances not just individual well-being but also improves productivity (moreover I pity the families of those interviewed above). Perpetuating the flawed notion that real academics do not or should not take annual leave is as counterproductive as feeding the myth about slack academic working conditions. Increasingly, academics are being expected to conform to the work pattern of normal business, but with that expectation also comes the obligation by employers to honour labour law and workers' rights. As scholars, we do ourselves a disservice by giving off the impression that we are so wedded to our profession that we are willing to put up with anything and forego our statutory rights just to stay in academia. Because eventually, that will ensure that in practice we will no longer have those rights. It is actually perfectly possible to be a productive academic and take annual leave - certainly, in my department that is the norm.

'I pity the families of those interviewed above.' I took 35 days leave, went on holiday twice and had a restful summer. Best not to assume that we're all under the cosh and 'wedded to our profession.'

@JL, I would not change a single word in your comment. Just brilliant!

Apart from looming deadlines for reviewing for jounals and funding bodies, and submitting corrections for several own-written papers, we have resit courseworks and exams to mark, moderate and process. Several academic conduct cases are usually there to be dealt with. Exam boards. Master's projects are run over summer so regular meetings are compulsory. PhD supervision also requires regular meetings,revising outputs and dealing with number of other things. Then management decides we have too much time on our hand and schedules "away days", training days and other wasted days that are compulsory to attend. Clearing runs for several werks in August. We have to do internal reviews for funding proposals. We also have to write lectures etc for the next academic year. All the paperwork for modules we are involved with. And I am expected to apply for at least one grant every year. In the last 5 years I had at least 10 days of annual leave left every year as I cannot take it. No one else will meet my project students and PhD students and no one else will do the rest of it for me. So taking holidays means I will be completely snowed under whaen I come back. Next year we are switching to three semester teaching. Which means teaching through summer. Am considering switching jobs.