Workload comparison high achieving state academy vs grammar school

[Esker]

I've had a break from teaching for three years now (had two children and one child has significant special needs).

I loved my job which I left, where I was second in department for a core subject. It was a top performing academy in a deprived area. Sure it was stressful, like any teaching job, but I loved my colleagues and the kids and felt well-regarded by SLT. Unfortunately, as we have moved away from the area, I can't go back.

Realistically, I also have to recognise that I am also in a different place, professionally speaking. Having been out of teaching for three years, I do feel deskilled and somewhat lower in confidence (although I'm pretty confident/ hardy in general). Also, I haven't ever been a working parent, and I don't want to underestimate the additional load (mentally/ emotionally/ on my time) of having small children.

So - thanks for making it through the preamble- my question relates to a job opportunity which has come up in a local grammar school.

It's a class teacher role, which would of course be a reduction in responsibility in terms of leadership and management.

I know all schools are their own peculiar universes, but does anyone have any experience or wisdom on how workload could compare, for better or worse, in a high-performing non selective state school (ie huge range of ability as well as some challenging behaviour) versus a grammar school? Taking into account that in my former role I had significant management responsibility whereas the new role would be as a class teacher.

I know no one can predict the future 🔮 but I'm nosey to hear anyone else's experiences!

First, I think you’re underestimating yourself! Three years is not that long to be out of the game and it really is a bit like riding a bike - you will be amazed at how quickly it all comes back.

To answer your question, it will probably all balance out in the wash but your time will be spent differently. You will spend far less time on the legwork and admin of poor behaviour. You won’t necessarily be any less tired at the end of the day but you won’t have that sense of being emotionally spent after a full day of managing and defusing volatile behaviour. There will be less pressure to plan whizzy lessons for behaviour management. There might be a bit less camaraderie amongst the staff; IME teams tend to be tightest and most supportive in the toughest schools.

Your marking load will increase and if you teach English then it will literally double. Parents will have high expectations and will be more likely to expect to hold you to account, and they will notice if you miss marking a set of books or are slow returning a marked paper to students. There will be some behaviour issues, although the kids will be clever about it! There will be pupils who were intensively hothoused to get in and aren’t really capable of keeping up, but whom you will be expected to get the results from regardless.

Finally, I would caution against taking a classroom teacher job as a measure to manage workload. It’s easy to forget just how intense a full teaching timetable is.

Thanks so much for your response, I really appreciate it.

You're right, it's naive to think that being a class teacher could somehow mean a lower workload.

It is English... Having said that, my former school had a very onerous and heavily scrutinised marking regimen, plus I mainly taught top sets, so marking was a huge part of my time.

Hmmm. Also good point re the hot-housed kids. Had not thought of that.

Yes don’t be surprised about parents spotting your mistakes or complaining because you aren’t challenging / supporting enough. Grammar parents tend to be very involved in their kids’ education. Having said that, however, behaviour is something that is often taken very seriously - grammars don’t have to tolerate bad behaviour and many won’t. Not even for kids who are really clever.

I teach English (at a grammar unsurprisingly). Happy to give some specific example over DM. I've returned to full time this year after two Mat leaves and two part time years. My department actually does quite a lot of work on minimising workload

Thanks @GrammarTeacher , I will message you!

A friend of mine moved from a comp to a grammar. He said he had so little work to do he could go to the gym at lunchtimes! Obviously all schools are different but I think the workload will be lighter.

The gym at lunchtime? Nobody at my school manages that.

If there was a full hour for lunch, I would say I could manage it. My classroom is used by another group during lunchtime so I don't get any work done, and could eat at break if I wanted to.

3 years isn't a huge break. There is research at the moment is focusing on reducing marking and using whole class feedback instead. This is a department focus for us in English at the moment.

There are grammars and grammars. The one I worked at had workload issues because classes were so huge (my KS3 classes had up to 33 and one of my sixth form classes, 27). The management and parents weren't unreasonable. Any naughty behaviour was of the intelligent 'under the radar' kind. Budgets were very tight. Apply, get the job and see what you think of the atmosphere before accepting.

Thank you for all your responses. Really helpful to have a range of views. I guess as @Phineyj says, I really need to actually set foot in there and see what the atmosphere is like.