Unless you are married to a teacher, are a teacher or know one you will not realise how much overtime they do. My wife goes at 7.30am gets back at 5.30 then usually carries on working untill 9.30 ish. Then also plans on a Sunday for the Monday. Holidays are a joke. May half term is spent doing reports, I actually take my daughter away to give my wife peace and quiet to do it. Again she works silly hours to do it. Summer holidays usually means she gets about 3-4 weeks off as the rest is spent getting the new classroom ready etc. I know what you will say bigger fool her but she is a damn good teacher and conscientious, not all are mind.
They also work morning, noon and night during term time.
I've just finished my teacher training and have a teaching assistant role to begin with.
Frequently I was planning for four different groups per lesson, extension work. Then creating resources for each lesson. Coupled with assessing completed work.
Creating, tailoring individual education plans. Dealing with parents. Mid term planning. Ad infinitum.
I would say I only really had one day off a week where I didn't do anything school related, but that was soon absorbed by essays.
Remember also that staff in education don't have the luxury of picking and choosing when they want a break.
Teachers get longer holidays because they do far more than the average 9-5 employee does on a work day. I have worked in an office, a supermarket, a call centre and as a teacher. I can tell you now that the teaching job does far, far more hours over a year than any of the others by some distance.
Oh do give over ! I was married / lived with a teacher for 19 years, have a sister who is a teacher and a cousin who is a teacher - I recognise they put in long hours but to dismiss that fact that many many workers also put in long weeks ( mine average around 55 hours ) but without the holiday perks is ridiculous.