Is it possible to improve workload without doing supply?!

[Smerlin]

Am struggling massively with the workload of teaching since becoming a parent. Whereas before I could stay until whatever time needed in th evening to get the job done, now I have to leave at 4pm to pick up my daughter from childcare and then finish working after she goes to bed.

Am feeling exhausted and ill already through never getting a break and (along with 50% of teachers!) am considering giving up.

I am middle management (pastoral) in an inner city school with a lot of behaviour problems and just feel like my to do list is completely out of control! Despite official paperwork saying I'm doing well, outstanding obs etc, I feel like the whole house of cards could collapse at any minute as I try to juggle missed deadlines without anyone noticing.

Has anyone managed to stay in teaching and reclaim their evenings and weekends? I do love the buzz but my family and health are suffering.

Only by going part time.

I work 0.8. I've just taken the difficult decision to put DS into nursery on my 'day off' in the hope that I can use that day for marking & planning and regain my weekends.

Can you extend childcare so you don't have to pick up until 5.30? Or get to work earlier?

I work part time. I do a good enough job at work and can still pull outstanding lessons out of the bag but put less time into things I feel are less important to children -reports to governors, box ticking exercises, even reports to be honest.
I share childcare drop offs with my dh (also a teacher) so during my work days we both have one long day (in work from 7-7) and one shorter day (8-5 ish). I get kkicked out of school at 4 on a Friday anyway so that's a shorter day.

I really want to make this work for me. I went back full time at Easter (and started at a new school in June). I have the DC (3&6) in school/ childcare until 5.30 but try to get them earlier a couple of times a week. The eldest is struggling really, with not seeing me enough.

I want to do the job, I want to stay in my school. I'm watching your thread with interest because I cannot work any more hours than I do and am not keeping up. I can't and don't want to work more than about 5 hours at the weekends.

Yes, it is!

I hope! I am figuring this out at the same time as you, OP. Just finishing my first half term back as HoD with a baby and a DH who works long hours/away. Am determined to make it work.

My m.o. so far...

1. Marking - first priority, always. This is the thing that builds up and stresses me more than anything. Gives me that feeling of me doing a great job for everyone else, but if the surface is scratched...that old house of cards feeling is never far away. When your work is marked, the students are very forgiving of the odd boring lesson and my conscience is clear that they are still making progress and getting my attention in a way that has the most impact. Don't know if you use DIRT in your school, but it has changed my life! Google it or PM me and it means that your marking becomes your planning. And the kids do better. As a T&L geek, this is win win win for me.

1. Speaking of impact, match effort to impact always. Making a shit 'meet the teachers!' display for open evening used to take me hours, this year? 5 mins and a staple gun. It IS shit, make no mistake , but it is done, nobody cared, and I marked my a level essays instead. Best use of my time.

1. Beware emails! Never before realised how long I spent on them. I was far too polite and personal before. People liked me for it, but it was massively time consuming. Now admin emails, which used to be 'Hi Kelly, just me again. Sorry to bug you so much on a Monday morning blah blah blah but would you mind moving this student into this class because blah blah' have become 'morning Kelly, please move X into Y. Have a nice day!'. Seems a really stupid thing but I have hundreds of emails a week and this is a real time thief. Also - forward emails with FYI and See Below, etc where possible. Have a set time in the day (free period, ten minutes just before school, whatever, to just sit and reply/file/delete. Never 'just come back to it later'.

1. Just plan your own lessons, don't waste time searching for the holy Grail of the perfect ready made lesson on TES, etc. this takes longer than just bloody doing it, and is never as good. Share with colleagues, though, and they will share back. Keep your lessons as low tech as possible unless it is genuinely something which has an impact in engagement and progress. Gone are the gimmicks for me, but the quality is something I am refusing to compromise on. Have you seen the 5 min lesson plan? Really works for me!

1. Work at home where possible. I know most of your pressure will be pastoral stuff that you need to be in school for, but the other stuff can be done much quicker and in comfort (pjs!) at a desk at home. I used to be a real advocate of staying in school until it's done and this has been a hard adjustment for me, but I am trying to put a positive spin on it. And actually, I get so much more done with earphones between 8 and 9pm than I do in two hours at school where everyone wants a bit of me (I am also a total chatter, too, so I can't blame anyone else!!!). But have a strict finish time. 10pm is my utter cut off, at which time DH and I have a date on the sofa for half an hour to watch some drivel before bed. I aim for 9.30 and to be honest, I have had to train myself that if it doesn't get done, it doesn't get done.

1. Practise mindfulness. Sounds wanky, but it was great advice given to me by other people in the know. It just means (to me) that I fully concentrate on what I am doing at that moment. So in school, focus only on that task or that lesson. I timetable everything. Then at 4/4.30, I switch off my teacher brain and give myself permission to just think about DD until 7.30. Means I have stopped racing through until her bedtime whilst answering emails on my phone, etc. and then feeling as though everything is a horrible rat race. I really enjoy those few hours with her and I pretend j am a SAHM! Switching on again is hard, but I am getting better at it. At work, I don't think about her at all (in a practical sense). I feel happy.

1. PMA! Do you enjoy your job, if you have no other responsibilities? Then enjoy it. Emotionally detach from practical issues at work - just do it- and keep your emotions for the students. Stay away from the moaners and drainers. Be a good example of this by checking yourself every time you give an expected negative reponse 'urgh Monday morning' jokes, etc. Tell someone about the good thing that day, rather than the bad thing. It is such a relief when people do this! I have been practising and it really works. A lot of the pressure on us is very real, and a lot is perceived. Learning the difference is my big aim this year! That house of cards? What happens if it falls? Unless it is a safeguarding issue, or Y11 the day before the exam, EVERYTHING (even OFSTED!!!) can be put right tomorrow if needs be. There is always a solution and there are millions of people doing exactly what you are doing right now around the globe. All is well

I will shut up now. This whole post is for me more than you, I think! I have no work home with me because it is the weekend (at least two weekends a month like this!) and I am now going back to my cup of tea in the hairdressers.

Good luck.

I struggled hugely with this when first going back after maternity leave. I have a similar role to you. Here is what helps me

Part time if possible.

Extend childcare and work bloody hard every day I'm at school until I'm
kicked out

Delegate as much as you can

Do not sweat the small stuff, make quick decisions and focus on what really matters to the children

It's really really hard. Good luck!

darkroots great advice! I would also add, can you extend childcare even just one night a week to give you a bit of breathing space. I did one day a week after school just blitzing classroom and admin and it made me feel so much better

Wow thank you so much for the replies everyone! Especially Darkroots- I think I am going to print your email out to stick (discreetly!) over my desk!! I think sometimes when you're so tired, it gets hard to see the wood for the trees but I am usually a positive person at work!

I thought of maybe briefly noting what I am doing during my non-teaching hours so the next time SLT have a new initiative suggestion, I can ask what they want me to do less of to find time to do the new thing!

Emails are my main problem- I have around 50/day to action-most actually addressed to me regarding different children in my year group misbehaving and what am I Going to do about it!!!

Am not currently using DIRT I don't think- is this the same as purple pen time?!

Watching thus with interest as thinking of leaving teaching because I can't manage this.

Wow. darkroots Thank you. I'm going to print your advice and try to use it. I wish I worked with more people like you. You sound so positive

Smerlin it's directed independent reflection time, or some such waffle. When you mark their work, you give them a question, or a task, or to improve something during lesson time. So I let them work for three lessons, have a hardcore marking session, then give them an hour (sometimes it takes two!) to go over everything I have highlighted or asked.
They really get on board, it means marking and planning become the same thing, and it is high impact (my fav phrase!!).

Ah, ATruth. Drinking heavily helps the cheer also