Wednesday 15 April 2015

How to balance work with family life: a teacher's survival guide


Accept your to-do list will never end and remember to communicate. Teacher and mother Hayley Earl shares her work-life balance tricks .
Deck chair with sky backdrop
 The hardest task of all is finding some time for yourself, writes teacher Hayley Earl. Photograph: Alamy
Open any newspaper or turn on any TV and the chances are you will see a negative report on the state of teaching. From heavy workloads to rising stress levels, times are tough.
But there’s lots to feel positive about too: I love my job. And despite the fact my life should be a recipe for disaster – I have two young children and a husband who is training to be a teacher – it’s actually not.
I’ve worked hard to find some sort of work-life balance. It’s not been easy and I don’t always get things right. Finding time for yourself is incredibly hard, and I am lucky to have a great support network (my in-laws help out, I have a flexible childminder and close friends for emergencies).
Along the way, I’ve developed a few survival tricks and I wanted to share these. I’m keen to hear how other working parents cope, so post your views in the comments or share them via @GuardianTeach:

Avoid taking on too much

I’m fortunate to work in a school where we think very carefully about the potential gains and pitfalls before launching any new initiatives to avoid unnecessary work. We already have a lot of good practice in the school which we don’t want to change unnecessarily.
Always weigh up your childrens’ needs and whether they’re likely to benefit before agreeing to take on more work. Teachers are often keen to make a good impression but it’s better to do your job well, rather than take on loads and collapse under it.
If you’re feeling pressured to do more, talk to someone at school, such as your line manager or headteacher. If they know that you are struggling, they should put strategies in place to help you. If you’re being asked to do more, remember to negotiate time in school to do it so you don’t have to take extra work home.

Prioritise and don’t procrastinate

Decide what needs doing immediately – don’t waste time on things that aren’t urgent. For everything else, make sure you keep a reminder. I always check that my planning and marking for the next day are done first, then prepare my resources for photocopying, and finally check minutes, agendas, handouts or presentations needed that day.
Hayley Earl and family
 Hayley Earl and family. Photograph: Hayley Earl
When you’ve worked out what needs to be done, try to avoid meeting our old friend procrastination. I break jobs down into smaller ones so they’re more manageable. You don’t want to add stress and panic so get straight on to tasks, regardless of how laborious they may be.

Find what works best for your family

Ofsted inspections and parents’ evenings sometimes make workloads less manageable, but I made a rule as soon as my son came along that I would not work during the daytime on days off. End-of-year reports can’t always be scheduled to fit around my children, but for the vast majority of the year the rule stays.
Colleagues with children sometimes stay later to avoid taking work home. My childcare arrangements don’t fit in with this, so working at home works best for me. What’s important is to find a routine that fits with your family life. I have at least one night off a week and always have dinner with my family.

Don’t worry if everything doesn’t get done

Your to-do list will only get bigger and you will never reach the end of it – even in the depths of the summer holidays. Once you accept this, it takes the pressure off. I find that positive thinking about what you’ve achieved is better than being negative about everything you have left to finish.

Communicate with your family

Sometimes, having another teacher in the house can be a blessing – my husband understands why I give up my free time in the evenings. But we do have to make sure we’re aware of the seasonal times when workloads increase. As a trainee he also has a particularly demanding workload. On top of the usual school work, he has paperwork and assignments. We try hard to spend time together, whether it be shutting down our laptops to watch a film, having a nice meal together or having a night out. It’s important.
Before he became a teacher, he would often be frustrated by the lack of time I had. The only way to ease this was setting aside time to spend together and making sure we had nights out.
Talk to the others in your house about their feelings towards your workload. If you have to miss an evening with the children because of parents’ evenings or school events, help them to understand why. I know my son found it difficult when I had my last Ofsted inspection as I went to work early and came back late, so I explained it all to him. He knows that when I do come home late, the first thing I always do is kiss him goodnight if he is in bed.
The most challenging point is probably making time for you. Even if it’s just stopping to watch TV or write a diary; give yourself a few minutes to breathe and unwind.
Hayley Earl is a class teacher and assessment leader at Beech Green primary school, Gloucester. She blogs here. Follow her on Twitter @hayleyearl.

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