5 reasons why boundaries are not yet part of the teaching culture
When I was a teacher, my partner would regularly challenge the amount of work that I was doing during my evenings.
We used to laugh at uni about how, if I said I was going to cook dinner, we’d both end up starving because I tended to forget to eat as I’d be utterly focussed on whatever had taken my attention at the time. He’d eventually go cook to stave off the impending starvation (which worked for me because he likes cooking and I don’t!)
But my inability to pull myself away from my school work in the evenings was causing him to worry. I was going to bed late in order to get the work done. All I’d talk about was school. I’d get home starving because I hadn’t made time to eat my lunch. I’d fret that I wasn’t doing enough and that perhaps, I wasn’t enough.
I would not let go of school.
Any time he’d question how much I was working, I’d sharply retort, “This is just the way teaching is at the moment.”
Now, I look back and wonder, why did I let this happen to me? Why did I feel like I couldn’t switch off or turn away from my work? Why couldn’t I just leave it alone and enjoy quality time with my partner and best friend? Why did I put my life with him a far off second compared to my teaching?
My conclusion?
The teaching climate we currently work in does not encourage it.
Wellbeing may be a bit of a buzzword in education at the moment. However, the reality is reluctant to actively encourage you to create the clear boundaries you need to be able to effectively and sustainably promote your health and wellness.
Boundaries do not yet fit in with the teaching culture.
And here’s 5 reasons why:
1) The education sector runs off the goodwill of its teachers
Simply put, there are not enough qualified teachers working in the education sector (although, there are probably enough qualified teachers in the country, just not enough that are willing to work in the education sector).
Consequently, the workload needs to be split amongst fewer teachers.
Typically, the kind of person who becomes a teacher is caring, dedicated and wants the very best for their students. This means they are more likely to answer the call to go above and beyond their job description.
Not only this, the role of a teacher is not just teaching anymore. You can’t just plan your lessons, teach your lessons, mark your students’ books and go home. Even then, this can be a mammoth task without the appropriate amount of PPA time.
No, you are also expected to be a parent, a social worker, a decorator, an administrator, a manager, judge and jury, an events organiser, a counsellor, a researcher, a mentor, a careers advisor, and sometimes even a nurse.
Thus, it is little wonder that teacher wellbeing falls to the bottom of the pile. There simply feels like there is not enough time for it.
2) Teaching is described as a “vocation”
According to the Cambridge University Dictionary, a vocation is, “a type of work that you feel you are suited to doing and to which you should give all your time and energy”.
Consequently, there is an unwritten expectation that you have no boundaries and instead, should allow teaching to be your life.
This does help to explain the sense of guilt that some teachers experience when they do not do their work. When the to-do list is never ending, it is difficult to let go and give yourself permission to enjoy time away from teaching.
This may also partly explain why some teachers struggle with the lack of routine and purpose of the school holidays. When your whole time, energy and identity is tied up in your job role, it can feel empty to be without it. Consequently, the call to focus on your teaching grows stronger as you grow accustomed to the belief that this is where your value comes from.
In short, describing teaching as a vocation gives it permission to permeate through all corners of your life and become your sole identity. You forget that you are a human being first and a teacher second.
3) Teachers experience great scrutiny
With great scrutiny comes great pressure. Teachers regularly experience performance-based scrutiny at school whether it is through lesson drop-ins from SLT, book scrutinies or the performance appraisal system. Teachers are judged on the exam performance of their students. When you stop and think about that, where else do you find people’s performances being judged by the performance of other individuals?
In addition to this, there is a culture of covering one’s tracks. You need to be able to demonstrate how you have supported a student, the additional support you put in place and the impact this did or didn’t have. You need to complete paperwork to track student attainment and the interventions put in place.
This is not only stressful but also time consuming. If a teacher is working in an environment of fear, they are unlikely to work less in order to look after themselves. Rather, they are more likely to overwork in an attempt to prove their good performance and so risk exhaustion and burnout.
And this is before I have even mentioned Ofsted! The looming presence of Ofsted takes this pressure and increases in tenfold. Suddenly, less than 10 minutes of your lesson can be taken as a concrete demonstration of your whole teaching ability, which is then taken as a reflection of the whole school as well.
Teachers are more often than not invested individuals who care deeply about their work and want to be as good as possible in their role. This level of dedication and self-drive under this mountain of pressure is a ticking wellbeing time bomb. It is little wonder then that 77% of school teachers experienced symptoms of poor mental health due to their work (Education Support Wellbeing Index 2021). Boundaries become non-existent in this type of environment.
4) Fear of judgement
Another reason that boundaries are not yet a part of the teaching culture is because many teachers fear being judged if they choose to put their own boundaries in place.
You may fear that you will not be seen as committed or dedicated to the role. You may wonder whether your career progression prospects will be hurt by having boundaries.
You may fear that other teachers will think that you are lazy or unreliable.
You may not want to say no to requests from SLT or other colleagues in case they take it the wrong way and think you are being difficult or challenging.
Having clear boundaries may go against the grain of some school cultures where micromanagement and distrust rule the day. In these scenarios, it is a challenge to be the trailblazer.
5) Teachers are at the bottom of their own food chain
Lastly, teachers are often in the habit of ignoring their own need to care for their health and wellbeing.
The most prominent example of this is taking a day off sick. According to Education Support, 46% of school staff always go into work when unwell.
Why?
Because somehow it is easier to go into school than take a day off sick. What with the hassle of creating cover, knowing the work probably won’t get done anyway and fear of inconveniencing colleagues with arranging the cover, many teachers choose to drag themselves into school and just get through the day.
When you put the progress of your students (which won’t be great when you’re not feeling great), the workload of your colleagues and the general principle of presenteeism in front of your own wellbeing, it is hardly surprising that teachers are often overwhelmed, exhausted or on the edge of burnout.
My line manager once said to me that my wellbeing was my responsibility. At the time, I found this shocking but over time, I realised they were completely right. How can another person respect my need for boundaries to protect my wellbeing if I won’t respect them myself?
What can be done?
So, what can be done to bring boundaries into today’s teaching culture?
This can be likened to the classic chicken and the egg problem: do the boundaries need to come in to change the teaching culture or does the teaching culture need to change to bring about boundaries?
I sense it will be a mixture of the two. There are definitely changes that can occur within the system, such as the level of scrutiny teachers experience and working to make the profession more appealing to people to boost teacher numbers.
However, individual teachers can also make changes too. Teachers can be brave and practise saying no. They can be open with their line managers, asking what will be taken off their plates in order for them to do the newly requested task. Teachers can be brave and reduce their own input (effort in their work) without impacting the output (student attainment). Teachers can be brave and schedule in me-time during their working week, knowing that by doing so, they are more likely to arrive refreshed and ready for school the next day.
It may be an uphill struggle. Yet, it’s necessary and we’ve got to start somewhere. Both for the sake of our teachers and our students.
Gemma Drinkall is an Educational Wellbeing Coach, helping middle leaders in education to create clear boundaries so that they can love teaching, and their lives, again.
Want to get in touch? Book a free, no obligation virtual coffee chat here: calendly.com/headsphere/bookacallwithgemma
