Ask anyone who is a teacher, and they will tell you that a teacher’s work is never done that is to say there is always something more that could be planned, marked or displayed so how can teachers whether full time, part time or supply avoid burn out and keep a good work life balance?
The key for many teachers is to work smarter not harder in other words try to avoid tasks that do not make a difference to the teaching and learning that goes on in the class. Marking is a good example of this. How many teachers spend hours on marking children’s work when the children are too young to read the comments or older children are not given the opportunity to act on the comments made. A simple system of marking only a selection of books in detail for one piece of work then on another occasion marking different pupils work in detail can save hours of the teacher’s time. Younger children’s work could be marked with them so that a dialogue can be had, and new targets set.
Assessments take up a lot of a teacher’s time and energy and although valuable to decide on future work should not be central to the teaching and learning that takes place in the classroom.
