The workload debate is different for those of us in schools. Education has a very different rhythm from other professions: it is rare that we go more than six weeks without having a scheduled holiday. This is different from working in other careers with 25 days’ annual leave. Our approach to “work-life balance” needs to reflect this reality.
Term time can and should be very busy: we have a lot to fit into 180 days. Late nights of preparation and marking, after-school activities, parent-teacher meetings, school productions and so on all go with the territory; but we always know that there is a hard-earned and much needed break just around the corner.
But the troubling results of a recent survey for the Tes International School Wellbeing Report are a matter of concern for both schools and school leaders. The research revealed a third of international school staff disagreed with the statement “My workload is manageable”.
“Term time can and should be very busy: we have a lot to fit into 180 days.”
There is no doubt that the Covid years have changed general perceptions of work and of workload. Many industries now offer flexible working with employees only going into the office twice a week, cushioning the impact of returning to full-time working.
But for teachers the shift from home-learning back to a full week of face-to-face lessons and extra-curricular activities has been very challenging. It is not surprising that it is taking time to get the stamina levels back up to cope with the term-time routine. If Covid taught us nothing, it was that remote and hybrid learning are not a match for face-to-face — so very few schools are likely to offer staff flexible-working options. The Tes survey results no doubt reflect these factors.
Viewed from a leadership perspective, when it comes to the staff workload debate, we cannot forget the financial framework in which all schools operate.
There are always considerable financial pressures on school budgets whether the school be government-run, not-for-profit, or part of a commercial group. Because staffing typically accounts for about 70 to 80 per cent of a school’s total running costs, getting some financial discipline about the staffing budget is essential, and teacher workload is at the heart of this.
“The centralised commercialism into schools groups means that those setting targets are more concerned with the bottom line.”
Principals and heads, especially of international schools, are increasingly judged on performance targets based on delivering financial targets. Meeting these targets requires the leadership team to find the right balance between student roll and staffing numbers, whilst developing what the school has to offer, often in a highly competitive schools’ marketplace.
The increasing centralised commercialism of education into schools groups means that those setting these targets are more concerned with the bottom line than with the student experience or the workload and welfare of the staff.
Managing the staffing budget is demanding in any school, but it is particularly complex in international schools where different employment regulations apply (such as the payment of end of contract gratuities and repatriation flights) and there might be different pay scales and packages for those on “international” and “local” contracts.
There are lots of ways in which schools can reduce workload, but they all come at a price. Most understand that appointing an additional teacher or TA, or providing external invigilators and administrative support will have an impact on a budget.
“Managing the staffing budget is demanding in any school, but it is particularly complex in international schools.”
However, it is easy to forget the hidden costs. There is a cost to every additional PPA lesson or to splitting classes to reduce class size; or running subjects where only small numbers of students have opted for the subject.
School leaders need to strike a balance between finding educational efficiencies, the range and quality of student provision, and staff workload. It is not easy to do.
The reality is that the schools who get this right will have an enhanced reputation and will retain staff; those that don’t will find that they are spending more time and money on their revolving recruitment door.
What actions schools can take that don’t impact on the budget:
There are some things that school leaders can do to ease the impact on teachers’ busy lives that don’t involve increasing costs:
Teaching allocation and class size should be based on a principle of fairness. Class size is an important factor; not only in terms of classroom management but also the amount of time that it takes to do the marking or to write a set of reports. I am a great advocate of a weighted teaching allocation which recognises that there is a different workload for the teacher who has an examination set of 15, and the one who has a set of three.
Timetables and PPA: As every teacher knows, the amount of contact time that teachers have and when their PPA time falls are very important factors in determining the pressure points within a week. No one wants a day without some PPA time, or to teach Year 9 on a Friday afternoon.
Calendar management and reporting cycles: Feeding back to parents, whether in the form of a parent-teacher meeting or in written reports, is time consuming. School leaders have a significant responsibility to ensure that these meetings and deadlines are all spaced out evenly to avoid unnecessary stress at key points during the school year.
All of these factors have the potential to reduce workload when done well, and to harm it if done badly.