What are the barriers to a teacher work-life blend?
Teaching can often feel like a never-ending to-do list.
More seems to be added at the top with not enough things being ticked off at the bottom.
It can feel like an endless cycle.
If you feel like this, you’re not alone.
When this is the case, a work-life blend can feel like a pipe dream.
What is a work-life balance?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a work-life balance is “the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy”.
Yet, it goes beyond this.
It isn’t just about how much time you spend in your job compared to your life beyond the classroom. It must also refer to the amount of energy and focus you expend on teaching compared to your life beyond the classroom as well.
It is clear that there are some barriers in the way of teachers attaining an effective work-life balance.
According to Education Support, 72% are stressed (rising to 84% for senior leaders).
What are some of these barriers and what can be done to alleviate them?
1) Unrealistic workload
The job of a teacher can feel impossible. When teachers spend less than half their time in the classroom teaching, they spend the rest of their time on…
Lesson planning, resource creation, resource printing and organising, classroom set up including displays and general upkeep; marking of classwork, assessments, exam practice questions, essays, chasing late pieces of work, behaviour management of students including detentions, emails or calling home; additional paperwork including SOWs, lesson plans, seating plans, SEND support plans, report writing, data tracking, data analysis as well as all the meetings that go along with this: department meetings, faculty meetings, whole school meetings, CPD and training meetings, morning briefings and parents evenings too.
There simply is not enough time in the day, week or term to get everything done.
And this is without the additional pressures of schools being underfunded or understaffed.
When individual teachers face these mammoth to-do lists — and leave them understandably incomplete — this can lead to stress and anxiety, thus taking additional valuable time and energy away from a teacher’s life outside of teaching.
If teachers, and schools, recognise that they are not never-ending Duracell bunnies, it is possible to begin the process of letting go of this unreasonable expectation. Priorities can be adjusted, achievements can be celebrated and teaching can become an enjoyable experience again.
2) The desire for perfectionism and people-pleasing
Teaching attracts conscientious, hard-working individuals who want to be part of a wider purpose to support the learning of others.
These individuals make for attractive employees as they are likely to go “above and beyond” for their school and students, helping them to excel in teaching.
However, this desire to please and also do all work to such a high standard can negatively impact you as well.
- You never feel like you have done a good enough job, resulting in you second-guessing your competency.
- You always feel that there is more you could have done, leading to a feeling of dissatisfaction.
- You like things to be done the way that you like it, making it difficult for you to relinquish control or delegate to others.
- You put the needs of others ahead of yourself, gaining yourself the reputation of a “yes” person.
Although on the face of it, these may be worthy pay-offs for doing an excellent job in school, these do also have negative consequences in the wider school community.
- This may lead to one-upmanship, causing an atmosphere of competition and potentially toxicity if individuals are not seen to be keeping up.
- Teachers may become reluctant to collaborate and share resources as they have a great sense of ownership in their work, thus creating a greater workload for all.
- Teachers as a collective risk burnout as they strive to put the needs of others ahead of themselves. The culture of the school therefore, does not promote professional selfishness and self-care.
In these situations, it is important for you to reinsert your mental boundaries. Remember that you are enough, the work that you do is terrific and that you are worthy of putting your needs first in order for all around you to flourish. You cannot pour from an empty cup.
3) 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 should allow teaching to be your whole 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.
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.
It is crucial that this description of teaching is removed.
Yes, to say that you enjoy your job and it gives you a sense of purpose is terrific.
Yet, prioritising your wellbeing does not need to be a mutually exclusive concept.
Instead, you need clear identity boundaries that empower you to recognise that you are a human being first, with your own needs in order to flourish, before you are a teacher.
Similar to the oxygen mask analogy, you cannot pour from an empty cup. When your cup is full, it overflows and pours into the cups of others. In reality, your students, and wider school community, thrive when you thrive.
The barriers teachers face when trying to create a work-life blend for themselves are real. They are causing teachers, new and experienced, to turn away from a job they once loved. It is vital that teacher wellbeing becomes top of the agenda for all educational settings.
Without this, the exodus from teaching will continue.
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
