Ways To Reduce Your Teaching Workload

A teacher’s job is never done. There is always something you could be preparing or planning.

It is overwhelming, especially so at reporting season, even for the most experienced of teachers. When somehow in your already hectic working/home life you have to fit in extra concentrated hours of assessing and reporting on your students. It is a common time for teachers to burn out and take time off from work simply because of the added pressure.

So here are some quick tricks to use in order to reduce stress, your teaching workload and become a more efficient teacher;

• mark the children’s work whilst they are completing it and provide constructive criticism. This saves a huge pile of marking at the end of the day and pointless comments which children fail to read. Have a stamp in hand and a pen in the other. Correct and mark on the go

• arrive to school at least 1hr - 1.5hrs before school starts each day. There is less people on site to interrupt you, ask a favour of or chat to. If you use this time wisely you will not have to stay back after school each day, other than your standard half an hour

• invite students from an older grade to assist one day a week at lunch time - allocate jobs such as helping hang art work, sharpen pencils, file worksheets…

• ask for parent helpers - you will find there are many that don’t mind making play dough for the classroom, covering books…

• work with a buddy teacher next door

• prioritise - concentrate on the top three most important things to get done each day. Do not attempt to multitask.

• be really honest with yourself - is what you are doing really worth your time and energy right now? Is this helping you be a better teacher or are you wasting time?

• group your activities - e.g. consider what you need to do in the office - photocopy all at once, talk to principal, office ladies etc, phone calls. Library - return books, borrow books, collect maths equipment. On the computer - print, email, lesson evaluations

Teaching can be a very demanding job. What strategies do you put in place to reduce your workload and live a more balanced healthier life? We would love if you joined the conversation and commented below.