Can I make working 4 days a week 'work?'

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Without it being a case of doing 95% of the work for 80% of the pay?

I really want to go part time but can't afford 3 days.

It does rather depend on your job but I do a 3.5 day week which works for me and my employer. I did have to give a bit but I have a rather special and family friendly manager.

I do 4 days - my day off is today which is why I'm on here! You'll only do 95% if you allow yourself to. I make sure I don't do ANY work on my day off.

I'm expected to do all parents evening (regardless if they fall on my day off) & write all reports as it is a legal requirement to provide reports to parents. I also have to attend all open evenings & presentation evenings. I do however only have to attend a % of INSETs.

I didn't want to do 3 days as I'm in a position of responsibility & would have had to give that up if went down to 3 days. I love my day off with DD & I feel I have a greater work/home balance. I especially love having a mid week day off to break up the week. Here's hoping I get Wednesday come Sept!!

I work 3.5 days as well. I take the half day as a morning and go in late as I found when I took it as an afternoon I worked a full day. And I have 1full day off and don't really care which one it is. You will only work 95 % if you allow yourself to do this.

I work 4 days and in all honesty it is like being a full time teacher that doesn't teach for one day. I know that sounds a bit daft but you have to do everything else for the class. The preparation for the day you're off, all assessment, all reports, all responsibility!!! So in a way it's like condensed working hours. Fit 5 days into 4. However, it is something I've been doing for 4 yrs and I wouldn't change as I love my time off with DS.

I dropped 2 afternoons a week the year my DS went to secondary school. I made a point of never taking my lunch in on those days and very rarely stayed more than 20 minutes beyond the end of the morning. It meant I still felt like the class teacher (in fact at the end of the year one of the less observant girls said she thought I'd been spending the afternoons in the staffroom...) but got a better work life balance and was home when he got in from school.

Mind you, I did spend a number of those afternoons in Starbucks marking writing... But it meant I didn't have to do it at the weekend

I would say it partly depends on your PPA arrangements. If you still get a full, proper half day of PPA on 4 days a week so you only see your class 3.5 days and your PPA is crossed over with a job share, then yes, I think it could work.

However, if they pro-rata your PPA so you only get a couple of hours and your day's cover is done by some randomer, or a patchwork of PE/ TA cover, that you feel you have to plan for then, no it may not improve your work-life balance that much!!

Are you primary or secondary? I think it can be harder to get a full day off if secondary unless you have a great timetabler. I'm in a sixth form college and we sort the TT put amongst ourselves in the dept so I can get a full day. Into last school it would have been impossible. Two week TT and someone rubbish sorting the TT.

I think it all depends on the person doing the final day. They need to be coming in as 0.2 teacher rather than 'cover'.

Ideally they should plan (or at least prepare resources from your planning) for the literacy and numeracy that they are doing. They should plan for any other subjects.

They should contribute to the reports, if there has been a subject that they have taken responsibility for during the year.

They should take responsibility for some of the displays within the classroom.

I have been on both sides of the coin - sometimes it has worked really well, other times it has been a disaster!

I also think that you should get childcare for that final day to get your planning etc done, then at least you have your weekend properly free.