Moving to special (primary)

[Nothappytohelp]

I'm looking for some honest advice and words of wisdom from teachers in special schools. Currently, I teach KS1 in mainstream and am thinking of moving to a special school. I know there are already similar threads, but I want to know specifically about the workload.

Currently, I'm in school 7-5, then work a couple of evenings during the week and 1/2 day at the weekend (probably average 60 hours a week). Outside of this time, I find it hard to switch off and am constantly worrying about jobs I haven't done.

I love working with the children, especially those with complex needs and enjoy working with their individual plans to meet their needs. What I struggle with is the general workload of planning, marking, meetings, data, pressures of achieving targets and all the extra time that is occupied in meeting the needs of children with very complex needs alongside the needs of the other 26-27 children in the class.

I guess what I'm asking is: is there a similar workload in special schools? I can handle the full-on, non-stop days, it's all the extra stuff that is proving too much. It's not like I'm new to this, I've been teaching for about 15 years. It's just that the workload seems to grow every year.

Any responses are much appreciated!

A friend works in a special school. The workload is much less than mainstream, mainly because there is a lot less marking (obviously), there are more adults, classes of 10 children have about 3 adults to help. These adults all help with resources and the classroom environment. However she has been bitten, hit, kicked, it's quite physical with disabled children needing physical care as well as education. I couldn't do it, but in terms of workload that you take home, it's much less and there isn't pressure to get top results etc. This is of course ourse according to a friend who has taught in both settings. I haven't ever done it myself.

Thanks very much for your response. Sadly, I've also been bitten, hit and kicked in my current school (far more regularly than many people might expect). It's helpful to hear your friends view on the workload. I think I could cope with the physical demands and busy days if I were able to switch off at the end of the day (doesn't ever feel like I can do that at the moment).