Do you work most evenings?

[MilkCereal]

Determined to have a better work life balance this year. But how?
I work ft. 2 DC aged 5 &7. I end up working most evenings and part of a weekend day. How do others do it? Or is there no chance of getting this done?
I have meetings 2 days after school every week. I collect children 1 day (my ppa) this leaves 1 day when I can stay until 4:30 after school. On fridays I leave asap as a friend collects them.

I get in at 7.30.
I leave at 4.50 (to do childcare pick up)
I have two hour long meetings a week after school

This last year we had one fifteen minute break and one half hour break in the day, and had to do break duty every day - so by the time I'd dropped off children in the lunch hall, I had about 20 minutes break. I could just about manage to mark a set of maths books in that time, while also eating my lunch one handed.

This year we're going back to a half hour break mid morning, with one one duty a week. We'll also have 45 minutes for a lunch break.

I never mark at home, but this last year had to mark at least one set of books after school. This year I'm hoping to get all my marking done during the school day.

I still always work for an hour or two each evening after child bedtime. I do my exercise on the way to work (I leave home at 6).

My day is a total treadmill, I hate it. Like I say, hoping to reduce my afterschool 'in school' work this year which might mean I get more chance to do things like planning and resourcing between 7.30 and 4.30.

I say the same every year though!!

Tes I feel the same. We have 15min break and half hour lunch always. Break and lunch duty 2x a week this year and sane as you 2x1 hour meetings.

Where is the work life balance!? But I'm determined I wont do another year of it.

Is it feedback that is taking up all your time? Using whole class feedback strategies (well) could pretty much revolutionise this if you are currently marking whole sets of books.

Lots of info online if you are not already using it.

What takes up my time is resourcing and adapting for SEND children who probably don't belong in mainstream.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

What takes up my time is resourcing and adapting for SEND children who probably don't belong in mainstream.

Snap

I am once again promising myself and my family that I will try to find a better balance this year. But you know what it's like.

@RuleWithAWoodenFoot

What takes up my time is resourcing and adapting for SEND children who probably don't belong in mainstream.

I teach in specialist so I can give those children the focus they deserve. The majority of mine have been driven to severely challenging behaviour in mainstream- they shouldn't have had to do that just to get their own needs met. Their teachers shouldn't have had to go through it either.

The system is so broken.

It really is. I have had a child in my class for the last two years (year 3 and 4), who is still working within year 1. He is barely verbal, autistic, ADHD and dangerous to other children. He has a 1-1 TA, but she's not trained 'properly' even though she's really good with him - she's had lots of training, but we don't have the facilities to do what he needs. Nor the money to get the resources/facilities.

He's gone to panel for specialist provision every time there is a panel, since he was in year 1. Still nothing. It's like having a big, naughty, dribbly toddler in the class.

How is that beneficial for anyone? I mean, I love him.. he's lush, but we're not doing the right thing by him.

Their teachers shouldn't have had to go through it either.

Nor should the other children. I worry about the impact on them a lot.

I've never felt so despondent returning to school. There is very little I enjoy about teaching these days. I'm utterly exhausted every day. Just when we'd had some children with challenging behaviour go to high school, we get more in from other schools.

Our new P1 teachers are overwhelmed with children with all sorts of needs and diminishing support in class.

Unless you work in a school you have no idea

I completely sympathise re SEN children. The advice we get for how to support them is completely unrealistic - would take me 1-2hrs of extra planning/resourcing daily. There is no chance a primary teacher can find that in their day. It's horribly unfair on those children who don't get the support they deserve.

I take the point about self/peer assessment above but most primaries have very strict marking policies which have to be followed. I did try to do more self assessment when I returned after maternity leave, knowing I was leaving again after 13 weeks and no one could really pick me up on my books, and I was impressed by how much it benefitted the children so worth a try if your school allows it.

I'm always, always trying to reduce my hours in school and don't have all the answers yet, but things I've found that help:

• not getting involved in lengthy chats with colleagues;
• pushing back when suggestions are made in meetings with no thought to workload. This would be normal in many other industries but a lot of teachers just try to do more and more;
• Consider how long a planned task will take to mark. For example, tell children to underline only 2 examples of adjectives, not as many as they can find or you'll be marking for hours!
• Complete your planning documents as minimally as you need to work from and the head will let you get away with if you need to hand them in.
• Cut out display stuff in staff meetings and keep for next year or cycle;
• Ask to leave meetings if it's not relevant to you. I'd never have done this in the past but I was spending far too many hours in school. Since I have done it, not once has my request been refused! It highlights to everyone how much some people talk about issues that don't need to be dealt with in that whole staff setting.
• Make sure you're not getting a raw deal with timetabling e.g. If part time teaching all English/maths/science/history whilst your job share does music and PE with no marking.

Very interested to hear others' thoughts.

I don't but only because I'm part time and I mark and plan on my days off and sometimes in the early morning before going to school. I earn peanuts but I don't think I could cope with full time - in fact I know I couldn't.

Agree self marking, etc all great if you're allowed to but at my school (secondary) you don't get any freedom over how you do it, it is a policy that has to be followed and for essay heavy subjects like my own it is onerous to say the least.

@RaraRachael

I've never felt so despondent returning to school. There is very little I enjoy about teaching these days. I'm utterly exhausted every day. Just when we'd had some children with challenging behaviour go to high school, we get more in from other schools.

Our new P1 teachers are overwhelmed with children with all sorts of needs and diminishing support in class.

Unless you work in a school you have no idea

I could have written this. I'm looking for alternatives this year - it's not fair to children that I'm still in class really, I just don't have the energy.

It's actually one of the things I hate - dictated policies. I used to have so much more freedom to manage my workload and what worked best for my classes at the time rather than doing tickbox exercises that take forever and often feels unproductive in terms of impact on students.

- not getting involved in lengthy chats with colleagues

Ha - yes that's an issue. But I sort of find we need the 'download'.

- Cut out display stuff in staff meetings and keep for next year or cycle

We're not allowed to do this, which sucks frankly.

Yes, I'd happily sit and mark during meetings but that would be seen as 'rude'. We did have one meeting a week but this year it's going up to two - teaching and learning meeting aka teaching your grandmother to suck eggs rather than dealing head on with the teachers who aren't doing their jobs properly either through negligence or through genuinely needing support and additional training.

Thanks everyone, very interesting. I think with Covid I was given some leeway when my children were home so I felt I needed to give back- the other teachers in my ks group dont have children so I do feel the pressure a bit more. I'm determined to stand my ground a bit more this year and try to use TA help a bit better for resources etc.

Honestly dreading next week already! Some good tips and issues to think about though. Thankyou

@wigglywoo I don't know if you were referring to what I said about whole class feedback when you mentioned self/ peer assessment. WCF is totally teacher led- YOU assess the children but by looking over their books (but not writing in them) to see who has done what and through understanding checks during the lesson. YOU then plan feedback for the whole class and follow up tasks they need within your teaching sequence. There is no self or peer about WCF.

However, your point stands that if there is a strict marking policy you can't bin off in-book marking unilaterally. If a staff team are drowning under pointless individual marking they could start to raise 'evidence' for WCF.

Yeah sorry think I just skimmed back over the thread and thought you'd mentioned peer or self assessment. Are you in primary though? I've never come across WCF. We're expected to use AfL to adapt all upcoming lessons anyway but wherever I've taught the focus in marking has absolutely been on individual next steps. Completely onerous and probably no better than more general feedback. Don't even get me started on working in schools that insisted on loads of written feedback the children couldn't even read....

Yes primary. WCF is absolutely being taken on in many primary schools now.

Great to hear - thanks.