7 Tips for Managing Teacher Workload

We all know that teaching is far from a 9am to 3pm role and managing your teaching workload can be a task in itself.

A number of justteachers Recruitment Consultants who have previously worked as qualified teachers are all too familiar with juggling the heavy workload. From experience, here are 7 of their tried and tested tips for managing your workload throughout the academic year.

1. Establish your routine

Take some time to implement a simple structure and routine to your day. Pre-allocate time to particular tasks and commit yourself to follow your schedule. This will allow you to work more effectively and get more done.

2. Collaborate

Don’t feel you need to reinvent the wheel for every lesson!  There are plenty of resources available online and fellow teachers will probably already have a lesson planned or a good idea to share with you.

3. Utilise your teaching assistants

You don’t have to do everything yourself. Teaching assistants are an invaluable resource and can save you enormous amounts of time. Whether it is conducting small group work, making resources or updating classroom displays, draw on your teaching assistant’s strengths and abilities and utilise them as much as you can.

4. Live marking

Try to ‘live’ mark during lessons.  The more you get done during lessons, the less you will have to take home with you. Marking with the pupils collaboratively is also much more meaningful as you can give feedback straight away.

5. Utilise online resources

The Gov.UK website hosts a School Workload Reduction Toolkit created by the Department for Education. This is an excellent resource that can be used to help review and improve your workload, and covers areas such as feedback and marking, curriculum planning and behaviour management.

6. Ask for help

You can make small improvements here and there, but there’s no shame in needing help with certain aspects of your workload. Don’t be afraid to speak to leadership and make them aware of the difficulties you’re having. Effective leaders will listen to your feedback and help make amendments where possible.

7. Prioritise your wellbeing

At least once a week strive to leave on time or, even better, when the bell rings. More often than not, as well as lifting your spirits, an early finish can help your productivity and you often find that you get just as much work done.

As well as drawing upon some of our own experiences, we work with a number of schools nationwide who offer a very supportive teaching and working environment.

If you are interested in teaching roles that work around your lifestyle and create a good work/life balance and would like to discuss your experience with a justteachers consultant, contact your local branch now.