Work life balance: what does this look like for teachers?
Work-life balance. It can often feel like a pipe dream for many teachers as they attempt to limit the negative impact of teaching on their wider life. Teaching can often seep into all areas of your life simply because it is a valuable element of your life and can be all consuming at the same time.
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, with 37% of teachers reporting that they work more than 51 hours a week and a total of 68% saying the volume of workload was a “major reason” for considering leaving the profession, more and more teachers are struggling to bring the balance that they need in order to thrive in the sector.
So, what does a work-life balance look like in teaching? And is it even possible?
1) It’s a blend, not a balance
The error in the idea of a work-life balance is that it is possible to achieve complete equal balance between work and life. Unless you spend 50% of your time working and 50% of your time living, it seems impossible to achieve.
The phrase work-life balance also pitches work against life, forgetting that for many teachers, work is a significant and valuable aspect of their life because it gives their life meaning.
Consequently, it may be more beneficial to see this as a blend, rather than a balance.
Therefore, it is important for you to have time outside of teaching to nourish your teaching. Students benefit when you are rested, energised and are able to bring your life experiences and stories into the classroom. Not only does this strengthen your teaching and their learning but it also provides a positive learning environment with meaningful relationships between teachers and students.
In order to achieve this, you need to create clear boundaries that enable you to achieve rest and invigoration. Check out this article to learn more: 4 types of boundaries you need to have a work-life blend in education
2) Using choice to create a sense of control
One way that you can start to feel overwhelmed in teaching is by losing a sense of control over your time and energy. It feels like work is being done to you, particularly when it comes to seemingly unnecessary administrative tasks!
From this place, phrases like, “This is just the way teaching is” can spring.
A work-life blend feels impossible in these moments because you feel out of control, unable to switch off and allow teaching to swirl around your head.
This causes you to check your emails just before bed, get distracted from the tasks that you need to prioritise and feel generally frustrated and short-fused in the classroom.
To create a work-life blend, you need to make conscious decisions about how you choose to spend your time and energy.
You choose when you check and respond to emails.
You put in clear mental boundaries that enable you to switch off from teaching in the evenings.
You make conscious choices about how you are going to spend your free periods rather than getting waylaid by colleagues or students.
You put yourself back in the driver’s seat of your time, energy and values.
From here you can build a work-life blend that works uniquely for you.
3) You have non-negotiables
Non-negotiables are people, activities, events and habits that nourish and recharge your batteries. They make you, you.
They could be habits like regular, good quality sleep, a healthy diet and exercise. They could be spending quality time with friends and family (not just during half term!) or joining a choir in your local area.
These are the elements of your life that give you moments of presence and pleasure and feel like life is all-good.
Crucially, they give you respite from teaching and enable you to arrive at school each morning refreshed, rested and ready for whatever the day brings you.
To support your non-negotiables, you need clear boundaries. Check out this episode of the Teachers with Boundaries Podcast to learn more.
4) It is possible
Most importantly, it is possible to have a work-life blend in teaching.
It comes down to self-prioritisation, proactive choice and action and self-awareness that gives you permission to switch off from teaching at the end of the day, knowing that you have done enough.
Ultimately, you are worthy of having time and energy outside of teaching. Life is not just for working, no matter how important or worthy your work is.
Listen out for how others choose to live their work-life blend but remember, by making something that uniquely works for you, you will get so much more out of yourself.
And so will your 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. Ready to create a work-life blend that works for you? Book a free, no obligation virtual coffee chat and let’s chat! calendly.com/headsphere/bookacallwithgemma
Originally published at https://www.linkedin.com.
