Experienced teacher and the workload is just ridiculous

[BG2015]

I'm in my 28th year of teaching and apart from 2 maternity leaves I've always taught fulltime. I'm experienced and not easily phased but it never seems to get any easier, the workload is relentless.

I teach in KS1 and the lessons we have to cram into a day are ridiculous. These kids are 5 yet there is no let up.

I teach in a good school, with a realistic SLT. I've taught there for 22 years and I'm looking to retire in the next 2-3 years but a colleague and I were talking today and saying how ECT cope is beyond us. No wonder so many leave.

Slowly falling out of love of teaching.

Things need to change for primary teachers... it looks like a very unsustainable career

I teach in a small rural primary and co-ordinate history.

Im lucky as I only have one subject but a few of my colleagues have 2 or even 3 subjects to manage. They don't get any extra money but they get some management time to work on their subject.

@ValancyRedfern I'm actually doing a whole school musical at the moment on top of my usual workload. So I do get it. I'm not saying you don't work hard. I'm just saying that English does, objectively, have the highest mark load of any other subject. And it does piss English teachers off when other subject teachers deny our reality. We are given no concessions for our marking load compared to other teachers with very little, and I do think it is unfair that the amount of time it takes us to mark the work students produce in our subject is not factored into our timetables. Just one extra free period a week would make an enormous difference.

You do realise that English teachers are teaching two GCSEs at once? So we have double the mark load of other subjects at GCSE anyway, with the fact it's compulsory and an entirely essay based subject on top of that. When I set mock exams, that's four different papers I'm marking, each of them probably about 6 pages long. 12 pages of writing x 32 students = 384 pages of writing to mark. Can you honestly say your mark load for GCSE Drama is the same?

I wish we could have this discussion about workload kindly and respectfully without people becoming defensive and aggressive. We ALL work hard, and we all work more hours than we should for not enough pay. But the reality is, some subjects in secondary get shafted with more time consuming work than others with no compensation factored into their timetable, and it isn't fair. I think we would retain more English teachers for longer if we had extra marking time, but the fact that no one wants to accept that English teachers have the roughest deal when it comes to marking means nothing ever changes.

Schools should help English teachers more with the marking workload...Ultimately we all work too much for not enough pay. As a new teacher I know that it takes me longer than an experienced teacher to mark and work but the pay isnt amazing even when I will reach UPS?
Do you all think there will be more strikes?

What happens if you don’t cover all of your objectives? Does anyone check? I understand that ofsted are pretty thorough, but how do people know what’s been done? If you need to spend more time on an area in maths for example, which means you’re behind on another area, what happens if you don’t catch up?

Subject leaders carry out monitoring through book looks so if there was something that had been completely missed e.g. teaching about addition and subtraction then yes that would be picked up on but if there was some evidence of it being taught and the children's outcomes weren't being negatively impacted by having a shorter time on it then it shouldn't be a problem.

Why are Primary subject leads not getting TLR payments?

No money

Then don't do the work.

I've been teaching for 28 years and I had a TLR once during that time.

That was years ago. No one is paid TLR's in many many primary schools.

I'd rather have my TA in my Y1 classroom every morning than have a TLR, that benefits the children much more than me solely having a TLR

There is no money. In small schools you are expected to lead on multiple subjects-which might all be subject to Ofsted Deep Dives.

And then ofsted come in and want to deep dive a subject and you say nah sorry we don’t have a subject leader for that cos we don’t get tlrs (like every primary in the country) and then you’re inadequate and life is even more miserable than before.

Its long past time Primary and secondary had separate frameworks.

After 26 years in primary teaching I have come to the conclusion that in many cases we are our own worst enemy.

There are many people who come into primary teaching who are young, enthusiastic, energetic, commitment free and for some stupid reason willing to throw away their right to a work/life balance.

They work all.the hours god ends - and more - then often leave after 6/7 years when family commitments arrive. Their legacy is a workload that is unsustainable and a culture where heads expect vast amounts of additional work o be done for free.

I totally agree with this. Some of my colleagues do far, far too much. Often it's some sort of competition, or they don't want to be seen as being lazy.

I just do the bare minimum now to get through the day.

I still maintain I am a subject coordinator and not a lead as I am on no extra pay to be accountable for the results of my core subject.

I think in primary management should be the ones accountable for data and subjects and class teachers allowed to focus on teaching. With half a days PPA a week in a primary school this leaves no time to do anything for a subject if you want to teach your class well.

I agree completely.

No head teacher I have ever worked with will though. And there's the problem.

It is just unreasonable the pressures UK teachers are put under and it is unsustainable. I think more and more teachers will simply leave the profession.
I now teach in the US and whilst it is still a hard gig, no one even stays after school say if a meeting runs over, without being paid overtime. Many people leave 5-10 mins after the bell. Clubs, you get paid to run them, covering a colleagues class, you get paid to do that too and still the teachers complain we are all underpaid-the state I am in teachers earn between 60 and 120k$ a year so if you stick around you can get decent pay not based on performance either. It is still a hard job for all the reasons that are the same in any country but no one checks your books, you might get observed once every few years, no Ofsted. I really think the conditions in the UK are very unfair and over time teaching will become a profession that no one will want to enter.

I do see the younger teachers seem to be more efficient with the technology so they will set up assessments that are all automatically graded so they do not even have to grade them and they do seem to work less hours I notice. Anyway what is being asked of you is unreasonable, students are lucky to have you all toiling away for their benefit.

I've begun to change my mindset now. I've dropped a day and have removed all teaching groups from Facebook and Instagram. I used to use those groups for ideas and to ask questions of other teachers but the world of school was constantly 'there' whenever I went on Facebook etc so they are now all gone.

I'm also not doing an after school club. I'm refusing. I've done my stint of them over the years but I'm using my health as a reason to say no more.

I now need to bring myself to take school email off my phone.

no one checks your books, you might get observed once every few years, no Ofsted.

I wonder what happened to make things so different here. It’s the constant micromanagement/always being watched/being checked up on -whether it’s by slt or Ofsted, that is so utterly exhausting. Other countries have school systems that clearly function without being complete pressure cookers-why do we have to be?!

Exactly this. They do no trust us to do our jobs at all so they constantly micro manage.
A friend of mine works in a school where teachers are observed at least twice a week the school has an open door policy where people just pop in to " take the temperature " the school justifies this by saying it helps teachers " improve". I say it creates a lot of stress...

I'm not a teacher but reading this thread makes me so angry and worried for the future - both for children and teachers.

I look at the schools my kids go to (one in Y8, youngest two DC still at primary, one in Reception and one in Y2) and I think that they're great. I'm a class rep for Reception and see first hand how much work the teacher and TA put in.

However, I think the curriculum is beyond insane. It just doesn't work for most children from what I have seen. It is utterly demoralising for the children.

I've had parents complain this week because I've not stamped or acknowledged their children's homework. I presumed my TA was doing it as she was putting the following weeks in, so totally my fault as I should've checked.

But, honestly 🤷‍♀️ it's homework completed at home of which I have no idea how much help has been given.

I've had to send a grovelling, apologetic message.

I'm totally done with it.

Gah! I bet the kids haven’t noticed!

I run a maths booster club after school on one day and I’ve had parents ask me to change the day, send home sheets instead of coming (it’s not sheet based as I’m teaching the basics and I the point is the back and forth between us.) and ask me what they should do if they’ve got another club that day - actually wanting me to make the decision for them…

@BG2015 as a parent, I really wouldn't care!!