Work-life balance - so how do we get one?

 

Finding a good work life balance as a teacher can be really hard. Especially when it doesn’t come naturally to you. Teaching itself is a full on profession and if you are unable to switch off from it then it can take over. So what can we do about it?

Let’s first think about why teaching is one of those professions where you can never quite get the balance right between work and life. Well, to begin with your to do list seems to be never ending. With teaching, staff meeting, team meeting, parents meetings, planning and assessment, there is always something that needs to be done. Always. Sometimes it feels as though there are never enough hours in the day to get it all done. Things can get even harder because there’s always something that seems to just crop up. This is why flexibility in teaching is important. I am a very organised person (as I’m sure many teachers out there are) and so I will plan what I might do at the end of the day after a full day of teaching. However, it is sometimes more than likely that something else will happen. A staff member needs your support, a subject lead may want to discuss some data queries with you or a parent needs to discuss an incident with you. So the things that you planned to do have to take a back seat and get moved to another time when you are free (usually before or after school). But what happens if these things keep happening? Because they do. This is where the work / life balance becomes out of balance because you never manage to get done what you set out to do, which can then result in disorganised chaos (or so it feels).

What might happen then if this continues to happen? The obvious answer being that you will burnout! Plain and simple, you will be burnout. Trust me, I have been there! And once you are there, it’s hard to recover from this. Burnout is real and it can be damaging. So to prevent yourself from getting to this stage you must learn to find a balance that works for you. You can use all the tips that everyone gives you, but what’s important to remember is that we are all different. We all have our own individual circumstances and not everyone’s routine or work/life balance will work for each other. For example, I would much rather go in to school earlier to get things done and then leave earlier because I am more of a morning person. However, if you are better at working during the afternoon / evenings, this may be when you want to get those extra jobs done. Therefore, the phrase ‘you do you’ rings true. But how can you find what you working groove is. This might be by trying different ways. See how productive you are at different times of the day. I know that at the end of the day, my energy levels are lower so the work I do isn’t as better quality than when I do it in the morning. You’ve got to do what works best for you and if you’re not sure, try different ways and see what works best for you.

Although, finding your productive groove is important, another key aspect to getting a good work/life balance is to PRIORITISE! This is your best friend. It took me a little while to do this, especially because I love my job so much I put so much time and effort in to it that I want to get it all done. But, this isn’t sustainable. You end up working late, evenings, weekends and any other spare minute of the day that you get. And so again your life is out of balance. That is a bit of a plague for teachers. We love our job so much that we go above and beyond ALL the time. But learning to prioritise will really help. For example, you have a deadline of your action plan looming, but another colleague has asked you to help them with their understanding of their guided reading planning. You want to help your colleague, but you also know that you need to get your action plan ready for it to be discussed with your senior leaders. It can become difficult. You’re stuck between needing to get your work done, but you also want to offer your assistance and support where you can. But what here is the priority. With a deadline looming, this should be a priority. So instead why not schedule in a time after your deadline to offer support to your colleague. That way you can get things done, but at a time that is right for you. Scheduling things in will also help you stay on task. This works even if you’re not an organised person. Write everything down so that you know what is happening when.

Another thing for you to think about is whether it is you or your school that is piling on the work. Every school is different and every senior leadership team runs things in different ways. I have worked with a few different leaders over the years and sometimes it is you that is doing too much, but actually there are times that it is your school that is expecting too much of you. For example, if you are expected to write a subject leadership report or an action plan without given time to do this, then you have to complete this in your own time. Adding to your workload and creating an imbalance in your work-life balance. Therefore, think carefully if you feel that you are at a school that is setting unrealistic workload expectations of you then perhaps you’re in the wrong school (trust me I’ve been there!). However, this too can be a part of who you are. For example, I love to learn. I really do. I want to be as knowledgeable as I can to support the development of the children in my care. Although this may seem like a good thing. It isn’t always. This is because when you feel like this then you tend to take on more responsibilities and do more than what is expected of you. Again, resulting in unmanageable workload and unrealistic expectations of you. And sooner or later you will get burnt out (again, trust me I’ve been there). So think hard about whether these expectations are coming from you or the school you’re at. If it’s from the school, think about whether this is somewhere you want to work as it will continuously affect your work-life balance. However, if this is a part of your own personality, then you need to look at ways to overcome this.

Here are just a few tips that work for me in managing a work-life balance (and I plea that I am no expert and these are things that work for me and my lifestyle):

·         Prioritise. As I mentioned prioritise your task. See what needs to get done first and then work your way through your other tasks

·         Write down your to do list on a Sunday night and then write next to it which days you’re going to do this on. This way you don’t feel pressured and you know that if you have a staff meeting on a certain day that you won’t manage to do other work on this day so schedule it for another day

·         Find a routine that works for YOU. Yes there are lots of tips and tricks out there for managing your workload and finding the balance in life. But not everything is going to work for everyone. We are all different. So work out a routine that works best for you. If you’d rather go to work earlier and get it done before the children come in and leave earlier, great. If no and you want an extra few minutes in bed, but would rather stay late, that’s great too. You do you.

·         Evaluate whether it is your school that is adding to your workload, if so and you don’t want this to continue, discuss this with your head teacher or look at joining another school.

·         ASK FOR HELP. Do not suffer in silence. If you are finding things unmanageable, discuss this with your line manager or senior leadership team. It may be that they have not noticed and other people have felt this way too. This will give them the opportunity to change the ethos if this is the case.

To add to the last point. No matter how many years of experience you have in teaching, sometimes it can just get a little too much. There are so many other places to go that can help too, including, to name a few: your leadership team, other colleagues, subject leaders, family, friends, your union, mental health professionals or even on social media sites. I’m sure that there are other teachers out there who have been through this and may be able to offer you some advice and guidance beyond this post. You may feel more comfortable talking to a colleague who understands the pressure than a friend who may not. But it doesn’t matter. There is a support network out there and I must say that social media sites, although may sometimes be damaging, can also be a positive place to share concerns and ask for help too.

To finish, there will no doubt be times where you find that your work-life balance is out of balance. You may feel pressure from all areas of your life, but don’t go through this alone. I’m sure most teachers have been through it and are there for support. Ask for help. Because if you don’t, the other option will be to burnout! And once this damage is done, it is very hard to undo. So, reflect on your practices and put yourself first.

 

Please comment below to let me know if any of this resonates with you and if you have any other tips you’d like to share.

MrsMorgantheEYteacher

Teaching during a global pandemic

Teaching during a global pandemic

The year 2020 will now always be remembered. The year where we encountered a global pandemic. Having gone through people being furloughed or working from home, unable to meet family and friends and very little time allowed outside. It’s been a whirlwind of a year for us all, but I want to talk to you as an educational professional – a teacher.

I have taught children for several years, in different roles, in different schools, but nothing could prepare us for this global pandemic. There are a few things in this post that I want to talk to you about. So I’ve broken hem down a little. This pandemic has brought about positive and negatives to this profession and I wanted to share some of those with you. This pandemic taught me a lot about my role and just how important it is.

  

Teacher workload

To my fellow teachers out there, you are my heroes! No one understands this role until they live it day in, day out. The whole reason we go in to education in the first place is to teach children. It brings us joy every day. I know that I feel a sense of pride when the children in my class walk in to the classroom each morning with a smile on their face, ready to take on the challenges of the day. I love hearing their stories, what they want to learn and the fascination on their faces when we discuss new topics. But this all changed this year. When we went in to lockdown, school was closed to all, except key worker children. Those smiling faces were no longer there. The buzz of the classroom, gone. The chatter between colleagues, became expressions of fear and anxiety for what we were about to endeavour. No one could have prepared us for this. No amount of training we’d done ever taught us how to survive a global pandemic and the closure of schools. But you know what? Teachers proved just how important we are! Now I am not saying it’s been easy and I cannot tell you how hard I have worked these last few months. The workload went from manageable to exhausting within a week.

A typical day – what did this look like? Well for me, it was a little something like this. Make my morning commute to school, prepare lessons for a mixture of key group key worker bubbles, children who I did not know or know how to support their academic and personal needs. No matter, I got to know them and had to ‘think on my feet’ quite a lot! Next, we went to greet the children, now following one way systems around school. We had to teach children their ‘new normal’ and what they could / could not do; I have been AMAZED at the resilience of these children! Whilst doing this I’d also have to contact families. This was one of the best parts. I got to speak to the children in my class, hear how they and their families were doing and have a general catch up. Next I’d need to put up the children’s online learning. Now I am no expert with technology, but something good has come out of this pandemic is that I know much more about technology, I am able to hold meetings via video link and have learnt how to record and present training for staff. This I am very impressed with! Then usually after a day of teaching the children, we may have a staff meeting. In my school, these continued, but they happened through video links, so I had to prepare the laptop with a quick turn around and engage with training via video link. After this I had to get prepared for tomorrow’s lessons or update any issues from the calls home. I could then finally begin the commute home. So if anyone thinks that teachers have ‘had it easy’ during lockdown, then I challenge you to work a day in our shoes. The example above is only the tip of the iceberg for me. Some other tasks I’ve had to do include, setting up classroom environment, being involved in a Ofsted pre-opening inspection, developing a brand new curriculum for 2 schools, developing a transition plan for Reception children entering 2 schools within our trust, delivering training, undergoing training and just catching up with my team to see how they are. I can’t even begin to imagine how teachers who have children of their own have had to cope, with setting home learning and doing home learning too!

Teacher bashing

Now, the teaching profession has always taking some sort of ‘teacher bashing’ from the press. We don’t work hard enough, children are falling behind, there’s new initiatives we must trial and be accountable for. The list goes on. But what I am most upset about is the ‘teacher bashing’ that has happened during this pandemic. Now, no one has faced this global pandemic before and so no one has experience of how this should / should not work. However, it would appear that certain individuals within the press have strong opinions on this! Here are just a few examples of headlines in the UK:

• 4 in 10 pupils have had little contact with teachers during lockdown
• Why are teachers doing so little?
• Teachers are lazy; they’re sat at home doing nothing. 

If you read my example above of a typical day for a teacher during lockdown, you may feel my frustration. Even for the teachers who have had to work from home, they have still been working. In fact I have seen some teachers going above and beyond their normal teaching roles and have produced some amazing lessons and experiences for their children. Yet, we have had so many individuals wade in with their opinions of how we have not done enough. Let’s not forget that teachers are key workers too. They have been vital in keeping the country going during this pandemic. So, why such negativity towards us? This pandemic has shown just how adaptable this profession is. Like I said no one has done this before. No one has prepared us for this. No one has taught us how to teach online. Yet, within weeks this was all set up ready for pupils. Remote learning, bubbles, staff rota systems. It was all created because of teachers. We did this! We did this, with very little help. Even the Government guidelines that were given weren’t always clear. So to those individuals reporting on teachers not doing enough, talk to those teachers first and see just how much they have done during this difficult period.

Working with parents

Another thing that this pandemic has taught us is the importance of working in partnership with parents. As a specialist Early Years teacher, I know that this has always been important for us and is entwined into our curriculum. As it is for other year groups and is important to most teachers. But this pandemic has been hard on parents too. Did they sign up to be teachers? Did they expect to have to home school their children? Did they have any time to prepare for this? No. Yes, parents are a child’s first educator and yes they do have a responsibility to support their child’s education, but we are the teachers. We are the ones expected to teach the academic skills children need. Parents are that, parents. So what I hope this pandemic has highlighted is the need to work with parents. At the end of the day parents want the best for their children. They want them to succeed. Like I said before, I loved having my catch up with parents during my weekly phone calls home. I loved hearing how they have kept up with home learning, how the children have been learning how to ride their bikes, how they can now zip up their coats all by themselves.

This year I began teaching at a very challenging school, where parental engagement was low. So when we found out we were going in to lockdown and we’d have to provide home learning for families, I was worried how successful we’d be. Now, I’m not saying what we did was perfect and it was a struggle to engage all parents, but we made it work for us. We used a home learning pack that was created by a company and used TA’s to deliver these weekly to families. This worked particularly well for our most vulnerable families, as they would have a lack of technologic devices that the children could use to access online learning or the one device they did have would have to be shared with other siblings. We also used ‘Purple Mash’ to set work for pupils; however this too was a challenge. So we decided that we were going to set up class blogs. We did not have access to online learning journeys, such as Tapestry at this time, which I think would have been hugely beneficial during this time. I’ve heard from other professionals that this worked wonders for their settings. Alas, this was not for us. We had an expectation to set some Maths and English work daily for our classes, but for children in EYFS this is difficult as they learn best by working practically. So this is where our partnerships with parents were important. I decided to come up with ‘theme days’ and chose activities that I knew parents would be able to do and access with ease. I’d also put links to maths and phonics games that I knew the children had previously enjoyed and were familiar with. So some of my ‘theme days’ included: Movement Monday, Tasty Tuesday, I wonder Wednesdays, Thankful Thursdays, Film Fridays. Now this may seem like there isn’t much learning here, but there was the potential for it. An idea was given, and parents could take this in their own direction to what suited their needs as a family. Parents were then asked to share photos of this learning on the class blog. Other children could see the work of their peers and were able to offer comments on them. The engagement I got from these theme days was much better.

Supporting parents in this way has also been a valuable learning experience. Thinking of new ways that parents can still make learning fun and complete activities with their children – what could be better right? Parents also didn’t feel the pressure to know everything in order to support their children’s learning, but they too were learning that so much potential for learning is help within the simplest of activities. For example, one Tasty Tuesday activity was creating a pitta pizza and use vegetables that they might have seen in the popular picture book ‘Supertato’. Well what could the children have learnt from this? Life skills, such as cooking and prepping meals, working with others, measuring ingredients, reading a recipe and thinking of what their creation would look like. This is to name a few and so there was so much potential for learning through these activities.

What’s really important for children’s education?

This to me would have been the best part. I felt in my heart that this pandemic could change the way we look at education, I do still hope for this. It was announced shortly after lockdown that formal standardised tests would not go ahead. Woohoo, I shouted to myself. It is my belief that children do not need to be taught to tests, what we need are children who are excited about learning and who have the skills needed to become lifelong learners and positive citizens within this world. Also, these tests serve no benefit to the children, so their purpose is questionable. When we began the phased re-opening of schools, there were a few areas that the Government acknowledged were important. This being children’s well-being, both physically and mentally. Now, this really was a joy to hear. I am a firm believer in supporting children’s well-being above anything else and have used Ferre Laevers ‘levels of well-being’ in my EYFS practise for some time. Some other important skills for children that have come out of this include: confidence, resilience, adaptability, courage, bravery. Just to name a few. Imagine children learning such skills, the belief that these skills are far more valuable that the tests we must teach to. It’s wonderful to think about what citizens and job opportunities these children could have with these skills.  Our world is ever changing and so are the possibilities within it so teaching children that these skills, as well as their well-being is important might just give them what they need to reach their full potential in life. To become anything they dream to be. Now that is what educating children is really about.

To finish: teachers – you are heroes too. You adapted to everything that was thrown at you. I hope now that you too are rethinking about what is important to teach our children of the future. Yes academic success is important, but it is not the only thing that matters. Looking after children’s well-being should always be the focus for teachers. Remember – you can’t teach the Bloom’s stuff, until you’ve taught the Maslow stuff! Remember that we cannot teach children until their basic needs are met and when they have reached the self-actualization, it is then that they are capable of it all. The teaching of the future is in your hands. But also remember, no matter what ‘teacher bashing’ we may face, we are invaluable, this pandemic has proven that. We too kept this country going in a time of crisis and because of the tireless work that we put in, children didn’t miss out on their education because teachers were able to adapt quickly and put everything they have in to educating children.

Take care all and have the rest that you have so definitely deserved

MrsMorgantheEYteacher J