In addition to classroom activities, teachers oversee study halls and homerooms and supervise extracurricular activities. They identify physical or mental problems and refer students to the proper resource or agency for diagnosis and treatment. Secondary school teachers occasionally assist students in choosing courses, colleges, and careers.
Teachers also participate in education conferences and workshops.
In many schools, teachers are increasingly involved in making decisions regarding the budget, personnel, textbook choices, curriculum design, and teaching methods. Most kindergarten and elementary school teachers instruct one class of children in several subjects. In some schools, two or more teachers work as a team and are jointly responsible for a group of students in at least one subject. A small but growing number of teachers instruct multilevel classrooms, with students at several different learning levels. Including school duties performed outside the classroom, many teachers work more than 40 hours a week.