Insane Workload

[PrimaryTeacher987]

Anyone else suffering with an insane workload? It's just crazy. We are teaching 6 lessons a day. All books need to be marked, some days it's a deep mark of writing etc, as well as maths, reading and two of science, DT, PSHE, geography, RE etc. SLT keep doing book looks with more and more scrutiny (Add more developmental comments, less group marks please, give more progressive feedback, child A isnt copying the date correctly, child B's presentation isnt as good in topic books as their English book).

Then on top of this the planning expectations. Every lesson needs this, every lesson needs that. All of our planning for Spring 1 needs to be on the system before Christmas. I am working evenings, weekends and how do you do it, when you are so tired every evening after a day with a demanding, needy class? Many of us are struggling, I just don't know how I will be able to get it all done without completely cracking up.

SLT have been told numerous times that workload is unmanageable. But nothing ever changes.

I'm sorry your work load is so bad - it sounds awful!
I know primary is different to secondary but it should not be necessary to do that level of marking.

If SLT are not listening, I'd be looking elsewhere.

Nobody looks at our planning anymore, Ofsted don't even require it.

But I agree totally about workload. It's crazy in primary schools.

I'm coming to the end of my teaching career now and only teach 0.8 and I cover PPA and management time, this has helped my workload and not having class responsibilities is a massive plus. No parents evenings, no report writing.

I agree the current work load and expectations in primary are unsustainable. I'm feeling completely burnt out and will leave at the end of the year (if I make it to there). The level of SEN need, poor behaviour, large classes, lack of TAs and parental demands are just too much.

Leave

Find a school that is 3 form entry. The planning will be split

Time to move on if you can. The difficulty is you finding the energy to apply when you are working so hard. Have you got a union rep? If not can you contact your union for support?

That’s just awful

The thing is it’s so easy to say ‘leave’ - I’ve thought about it with my school. But it can be a case of better the devil you know; I’m really not sure it’s possible to know what a schools like before you’re working in it and it takes time to get established and can be very stressful as you learn new systems, norms, and so on.

Secondary here, it's the same. I cannot count the number of times my Head has mentioned "we will need to make sure to give you time back at some point for [yet another time-consuming expectation]" and it never happens. I am already past 30h over directed time, simply with added ad-hoc meetings, an expectation to be in the classroom 5min earlier every day than published and other things which add up, and we're only 3 months in, so it will likely be on 100h over by the time the school year finishes. That's not even mentioning ridiculous marking deadlines for mocks (next working day for some), almost daily learning walks with extremely high expectations of our planning, or the fact that they will happily let parents evenings and open evenings overrun by 45min each time.

Thing is, I have left, twice now in as many years. It seems to be similar everywhere in the area; teacher friends say the same about their schools. I'm dreading the government's curriculum overhaul, simply because it will mean yet more work once everything has to be rewritten again.

No solutions, I'm afraid, but you are not alone.

All that marking seems bonkers OP. We tick and flick at my primary and recently got an excellent Oftsed. Marking was just not on their agenda at all; it really wasn't even on their radar. I teach mixed year groups which can be an absolute killer (have also worked in big schools and there's no doubt to me that the smaller the school, the greater your workload) but even with that in mind we've really got workload under control. I do maybe 8-5 and almost never work on an evening or weekend. I moved from a crazy school a few years ago and when you're in the midst of it it's hard to believe not all schools are like that but they're really not and it's so worth it to make the jump.

That workload is awful. I’d be wanting to speak to my line manager and raising concerns about it.

Seems a load of pointless scrutiny.

Why does all the planning need to be on the system for spring 1 before Christmas?

by the sounds of it, you are primary - do you not have the planning from previous years? Are you a two form school where you can share the workload with your ‘year partner’?

I am a HT in secondary - whilst the HoDs manage the ‘expectations’ for teaching staff, I wouldn’t be happy if I had a teacher who was burning themselves out with unrealistic expectations.
There are no pointless tasks, no additional scrutiny and certainly no micromanagement which you seem subject of.

That said though, I have just taken over a school that has had weak leadership for years - my predecessor resigned following investigations.
I’ve had to apply somewhat pressure as the school received a RI OFSTED earlier this year. I wouldn’t expect anyone to work excessive hours though, it’s not healthy.

I would definitely be addressing this..

Sounds familiar, OP. I experienced the exact same level of scrutiny and high workload plus extra duties involving subject leadership (for which nobody, except the English and Maths leads, earned any money), and I left. Found another school and for the first two years, workload was more manageable. Then things changed and it became horrendous. I left teaching altogether after that. It's difficult to know what a school will be like to work in until it's too late. Too many schools are like this now. Sorry, no real advice but I feel for you.

I think I would be tempted to log my working hours and what you have worked on. E.g. 4 until 6 marking of Yx English work.