Work load and well being

[Bessie19]

I teach English and I’m 2ic. The workload for teachers in the dept has doubled this term. We’ve been making 12 week units of work with ppts that must have key vocabulary and definitions on every slide plus the usual objectives etc. We have to make and prepare a booklet of resources and get it printed well in advance for the whole team. As 2 ic I had two 12 week units to prepare this term plus I’m heading up the ks3 marking online (scanning all pupil work and uploading for marking) plus a hefty amount of Ofsted pressure. They’re due any day. The planning has taken me over 50 hours so far and I’m half way through!
We’ve got a policy of live marking in class which isn’t realistic. I get through a few books in class per week as I’m teaching not marking. Everything is building up as a result and I have no control over my work anymore as everything is dictated to the letter and the level of micro management that has been enforced.
I hate my job now. I used to love it. It’s not the teaching- it’s this crazy regime I’m part of. I am deeply unhappy. HOD is also unstable and snappy. Very difficult person.
I’ve raised a lot of these issues and it falls on deaf ears. Something will be adjusted - say a deadline- for one occasion but then it continues and the hell that we’re working under is inhumane. I’ve worked in tough schools and I’m sad to say this is no longer my forever job. I can’t look after myself properly because I’m so overworked and constantly stressed.
I’ve looked for teaching jobs since September and there’s nothing. I’m looking to get out of teaching but terrified as I’m single and the pay cut I’d have to take to start living a normal life doesn’t seem to be practical.

Is anyone else in a similar position? It’s always been a hard job but this is another level!

Not right now but I have been. It is tough especially as it seems that you don’t have a supportive HoD.
Can you not share some of your workload with other members of the department? Seems like a lot has been put on you to be honest.

Do you have a union rep in school and could you discuss this with them? Your workload does sound really unreasonable. Why are you scanning things just for them to be marked online?

Totally understand why you want to leave though! I'm sure you know after Christmas more jobs will come out for September if you can hold on that long!

Alternatively, English is a subject where people really often want tutors. Would doing supply and tutoring work for you as a stop gap whilst you figure out what to do next?

We had Ofsted this term. They did not care that most of our departments have a no marking policy for exercise books and only mark assessments. They did not care remotely whether the lessons they saw had fancy PowerPoints or any powerpoint at all. The main thing was that they wanted to see in the classroom what the HOD had told them they would see. Your HOD is potentially going to cause you issues with Ofsted because they have policies that people aren’t able to keep up with. They will have an issue with not seeing live marking if that’s what the HOD tells them happens.

Are SLT sensible? If so, book a meeting with someone in SLT and tell them you are worried that your department has policies that are impractical to implement and that you think that with Ofsted potentially imminent, it would be sensible to ensure that department policy reflects what people are actually able to achieve. The only small issue we really had was in a department that had a much more onerous marking policy that the staff couldn’t keep up with.

Needless to say SLT will be reiterating to HODs that marking policies should be as simple as possible and stepping in to intervene in any department still insisting that books are marked every X weeks, verbal feedback should be written down or any other pointlessly onerous stuff. Always better to under-promise and over-deliver.