Workload

This morning, whilst on holiday with my family for the weekend I opened an email sent to my work account about 'Tackling teacher workload'.  The irony of this particular email having been scheduled to arrive at 9am on a Saturday morning is not lost on me.

For as long as I can remember, when I was working in school the term 'work-life balance' had been thrown around when anyone was feeling particularly overwhelmed, stressed or generally run down.  We talked about getting a 'work-life balance' and what we were doing to achieve it without really knowing what it was.  

Having moved into HE (and in getting older) I have been able to identify more of what I need to do to enable myself to have a successful career whilst also enjoying my time at home.  However I believe this is due to the more flexible way of working within HE and the increased amount of trust bestowed upon us.  Yes, I am still sitting here working on my laptop on a Saturday morning on holiday with my family but it is because I want to write this blog, as an addition to my other work responsibilities rather than because I have to plan, mark books or do any other work-related tasks.  

Those in teaching, I believe, are not given the trust they deserve to complete the work that they have been trained to do.  It was a revelation to me when I moved to HE that I was trusted to organise my time as I saw fit; working from home was fine, as long as I checked my e-mails at the start and end of the day, and scheduling meetings during the day off site was perfectly normal.  It was only then that I realised the restrictions which had been put upon me whilst I was teaching.  For example, not being able to leave the school gates until 3:30 (the teaching day finished at 3:15) even if you weren't on duty.  This meant that there were some staff members who literally sat in their cars, or stood just inside the school gates until the time allowed time to leave.  Booking doctors or dentist appointments during the schools day (even if you weren't teaching) was not allowed (or, at least in the five years I worked there I wasn't aware of it being allowed) and so all 'life admin' tended to be done either during the weekend or during half terms and holidays (whilst having moans and groans from my non teacher friends about 'all the holiday' I got). 

I don't think there is a cover-all answer to dealing with workloads, whether they be in teaching, HE or any other teaching related profession.  However there is no escaping the ever increasing numbers of pupils in our schools and the much talked about recruitment crisis within teaching.  Working on a Saturday is not the answer but supporting new teachers in how to manage their workload, plan efficiently and giving appropriate support for mental health within workplaces is a very good place to start.