Poll: academic holidays, fact or fiction?

By Nancy Groves. Is the idea that academics take a month off when their students do a myth – or do you owe it to yourselves to have a break?
"The fact that my students are now on holiday does not mean that I am." So writes Caroline Barratt, lecturer in health policy at the University of Essex. Having survived her first term in the post, Caroline has earned herself a nice lie-down till mid-January, right?
Wrong. In her blog debunking the notion of holidays in (or from) academic life, Caroline says the most she aspires to is a few days free from email. With essays to mark, chapters to read and even write, a month off would be a miracle. When we asked our Twitter followers (who incidentally increased steadily to 25,000 by 25 December), you seemed far from idle. Read more...