The impact of teaching on happiness at home
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4.5 average rating | Comments (26)
Last Updated:
23 March, 2013
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news
Most teachers know they don’t have a healthy work-life balance and fear that their relationships will pay the ultimate price
I think our relationship has definitely changed since I started teaching,” Lauren Mears*, a young history teacher in a secondary school in southeast England, says. “When I chose to stop working at my previous job and do the PGCE, we never really talked about how it would affect our relationship or that there would suddenly be a big difference in our working hours.”
Lauren got married last summer, and after a busy 12 months working as an NQT and planning her big day, she was looking forward to blissful married life. But those hopes quickly disappeared as Lauren began her second full year of teaching.
“My NQT year was busy as we were organising the wedding, but I was presuming things would be easier once my NQT and wedding were out of the way. If anything, I would say the past term - the first being married - has been the hardest in our relationship as I have been working even more than I was in previous years,” Lauren observes, starkly.
The heavy workload started to take its toll on her relationship, with her husband saying he felt like a “crutch” that Lauren relied on to “moan” about school.
“All he expects of me when I get home is to spread out my marking, get upset about it and then work some more. It has meant that ‘quality’ time has been really squeezed as I am either working at weekends or worrying about work, when we are supposed to be having a nice time.”
Lauren’s story, sadly, is far from unusual. The long hours, the crippling workload and the stress of day-to-day life in school invariably have a knock-on effect on the home lives of teachers and heads. A survey last year on the TES website found that 55 per cent of teachers work more than 56 hours a week during term time, placing teachers among the hardest- working professionals. And this affects personal relationships.
It should come as no surprise that the Teacher Support Network (TSN) says that concern about domestic life is one of the main reasons that teachers get in touch with the charity.
According to the network, 80 per cent of the calls it receives are about worries regarding well-being and family relationships. During 2010 and 2011, the TSN took more than 3,000 calls from teachers who were worried about how their working life was having an adverse effect on their home life.
TSN chief executive Julian Stanley believes that the problem is getting worse. The percentage of calls his organisation has been fielding just on relationship anxieties has been increasing over the past few years, he says.
“It has ever been the case, but we have seen more of it emerging recently,” Stanley says. “The hours people work are longer, and there is an expectation that staff will take part in all the normal day-to-day stuff as well as the extracurricular activities. By its nature, (the job) is very demanding.
“The stresses have been exacerbated recently (because) there’s a real fear of redundancy,” he adds. “In the current climate people are setting aside the pay and pensions agenda and are more concerned about whether or not they say ‘no’ to taking on something extra. That might be true of all professions, but it is particularly true in teaching.”
The TSN ran a survey in 2011, in which 96 per cent of respondents said their home life was being affected by their workload, with responses such as “My family is growing up without me” being among the most common.
Interestingly, the charity says that it is planning to look into the proportion of teachers who end up in a relationship with another teacher, as many believe this is the only route to a stable home life.
“It is because they understand what the other one is doing,” Stanley says. “It seems to be that there is a greater chance of the relationship working if the partner is a teacher.”
He just doesn’t get it
A lack of understanding is something Lauren lists as a problem with her own home life. While supportive and empathetic, her husband, an engineer, simply doesn’t “get it”, she says.
“If someone works in private industry, their breaks are breaks, their lunch is time to eat lunch,” Lauren says. “My breaks are duties or detentions and my lunches are detentions or running around sorting something out or helping the Year 10 (pupil) who turns up having struggled with an essay for a week and the deadline is tomorrow. My husband doesn’t see why I can’t just say ‘this is my break now’ and switch off - but there are so many uncontrollable factors in school.”
The strains, Lauren says, have led her to reconsider her choice of career and she is convinced that it can no longer be the job for life that it once was.
“If I’m honest, I’ve had second thoughts about being a teacher but only in the sense that I’m realising that it can’t be a lifelong career: it can’t be a long-term job like it might have been for my parents’ generation,” she says. “I can’t do this until I’m whatever grand old age the government has made retirement. I won’t even be within spitting distance of it. I’m looking at four to five years and we’ll see where I’m at then.”
Lauren’s outlook fits with the national picture. According to a recent survey by the NASUWT teaching union, nearly half of young teachers felt their workload was excessive, while more than 50 per cent said they had experienced bullying in the workplace. Such stresses lead to a high number of young teachers leaving the profession within their first five years.
NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates has often pointed to how a culture of fear is being generated in schools as pressure is increased on teachers to chase results. It is invariably having an impact on teachers’ home lives, she says.
“The pressure does not just affect teachers’ health and well-being, it is also hitting their family life. We regularly have members expressing concern that they don’t have any work-life balance and feel they are on a treadmill,” Keates says. “We have members who are on medication, who have trouble sleeping because of the stress that they are under at work.”
The continued pressure on teachers will have a detrimental effect on the teaching profession, Keates argues, claiming that the government will soon face serious challenges when it comes to teacher recruitment.
“We are already seeing significant numbers of teachers leaving the profession, and we’ve seen a big drop in the number of people wanting to join. The system will break if we are not careful and we will drive good teachers out,” she adds.
As a headteacher and a father of two, Jonathan Fawcett is accustomed to the acute pressures that school life can place on a person’s home life, but as a school leader, his outlook is more phlegmatic.
The head of Derbyshire’s Swanwick Hall School says the nature of the job means that there is “always something to be done”. The hectic schedule of his and his wife’s diary, herself an assistant head at a separate secondary, means that they are constantly forced to juggle the calendar to make sure they have some quality time with their children.
Hanging on the wall of his office is a quote: “Nobody’s retirement speech ever said, ‘I wish I’d spent more time in work’.” It is, however, a mantra he does not always abide by.
In Fawcett’s world, eating as a family happens just once a week, the only week night where work doesn’t feature is Friday, and the only day off is Saturday.
“On Sunday I know I will have a lot of work to do for Monday, so I will lock myself away from my family in the dining room,” he says.
But despite the impact that the work and stress have on his home life, Fawcett is aware that it is all part of the job.
“What I don’t want is for my kids to be missing out on me because I am too busy giving me to other kids. But that is what I am paid to do,” he shrugs. “We are paid a lot of money to deal with the stresses. You could take a job that pays less and has less stress.”
For Fawcett, the fact that work has an impact on home life is inescapable, but it doesn’t apply only to teachers. “We need to get away from this obsession that teachers work hard and no one else does.” Everyone needs to be more flexible about their work-life balance, he says.
“We have to remember we are not badly off. My pension is getting hit, and I have not had a pay rise for two years, but I probably earn more on my own than 90 to 95 per cent of the households in the community my school serves.”
It is a view shared by Ben Bond, assistant head at Woodlands Community College in Southampton, but he believes that the pressures of school life are only going to increase as government policies to improve standards take hold.
Bond is also married to a teacher and most evenings he sits in the kitchen, working on his laptop, while his wife does the same in the living room. The nature of being a teacher has a direct impact on his own children, he says. Again, eating as a family around the table is a rarity. Both he and his wife are at school by 7.30am and he is seldom home before 7.30pm.
The only time he sees it getting easier is when his children are older and can look after themselves more. “Without wishing my children to be older, we will have a different dynamic that will allow me more time as I won’t have to put them to bed, or get them dressed in the morning,” Bond says.
It is a depressingly bleak but pragmatic snapshot of how working in a school hits a teacher’s work-life balance. And although teachers may feel obligated to say “yes” to their senior leadership team, the senior leadership team is, in turn, under pressure to constantly improve.
“There is a relentless drive to improve standards; schools must be seen to prove value for money. That puts pressure on heads and there are lots of examples of school leaders being here one day and gone the next,” Bond observes.
Pressure release
From the headteacher wringing their hands privately in their office, right down to the NQT gasping for air standing in front of a class of teenagers, the pressure valve has to be released somewhere.
For Lauren, like so many others, that release is at home. The burden of being a teacher is then shared, sometimes unhappily, between two. How the relationship holds up under that added weight is down to the strength of the bond.
“We have started 2013 determined to make some big changes to my approach to work and to how much I work at home as we both feel we can’t carry on like last term, with me leaving in the dark, returning in the dark and taking only one evening off a week,” Lauren says. “I’m sharing some of my responsibilities at school and taking advice from other teachers to make better use of my time, particularly when it comes to marking.
“If I’m honest, I’ve worried about our marriage, but I feel like we’re addressing the issues with work just in time,” she admits. “My partner is, in the end, much more important to me than how many hours I work and I think he has felt that I prioritise the kids and the marking over him, which is not the right way for him to feel. I want to change that.”
* Name has been changed
Stress by numbers
- 96 per cent of teachers said their health and well-being were affected by their workload.
- 3,002 calls were made to the TSN in 2010-11 concerning incidents involving family relationships.
- 80 per cent of calls concerned non-work-related issues.
- 274 calls were made about family issues between September and December 2012.
Source: Teacher Support Network
A normal week?
On average, teachers are working 48.3 hours a week during term time, placing them among the hardest-working professionals alongside managers in mining and energy industries who average about 49 hours a week.
According to a survey of 1,600 teachers by the TES website, 55 per cent of teachers are work- ing more than 56 hours a week.
The poll also found that 78 per cent of teachers regularly work on Sundays, preparing lessons for the next day.
It stands in stark contrast to the perception of teachers, with many people believing they start work at 9am and leave at 3pm, and enjoy 13 weeks’ holiday.
The longest hours
Average number of hours worked per week:
1. Production managers and directors of mining and energy firms 49.6
2. Teachers 48.3
3. Advertising and PR directors 42.2
4. Financial institution managers and directors 40.9
5. IT engineers 39.0
6. Chief executive officers and solicitors 38.5
7. Medical practitioners 38.4
8. HR managers and directors 38.0
9. Barristers and judges 36.0
10. Accountants 35.6
Source: TES, 2012.
Original headline: Domestic bliss? Far from it
Photo credit: Alamy/KOBAL
Comment (26)
Well Lauren....tell me. When you decided to be a teacher did you not think about doing some research or at least ask around? If you're in teaching, that's what happens! Many jobs have their downsides Lauren. Think what the police have to do now and then (recovering bodies/give relatives bad news etc). But they knew about this when they joined the force (sorry service).
Incidentally Lauren, please don't believe the 'hours' table above. I have an accountant friend and a relation is a barrister. They both work in excess of 50 hours per week - fact.
Mind you Lauren, it could be worse. At least you're married to someone in a different occupation. I am and thank goodness after dinner conversation isn't just limited to learning outcomes and what I did in my plenary.
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15:42
8 February, 2013
One Horse Town
Well, One Horse Town, tell me... what is the purpose of your comment? You tacitly acknowledge that the job is hard and yet you effectively silence the voice of this young teacher who is struggling to manage the demands of what is very challenging work. It is not enough to say to someone, who is being worked beyond their healthy capacity, that they might have researched their career choice better and chosen differently. She is a teacher and teaching is a fabulous thing to do. But it is becoming increasingly demanding and exhausting - the pressures to perform are greater than ever. These pressures cannot be quantified simply by hours worked and so comparisons to other 'non-emotional' professions (such as accountancy and law) are misleading. We ought to listen to our young teachers whose lives are becoming unmanageable because of the job that they do. THis is a point of social concern - if we do not begin to acknowledge the stress and pressure that teachers (and probably all 'front-line' professionals) are having to contend with then we will soon find ourselves in a very difficult situation. Please think carefully before you dismiss the struggles of other people - it is demeaning and unhelpful.
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19:17
8 February, 2013
Fosie
A lot of this story is depressingly familiar. I think as teachers, we all know how long our working hours are and how it can affect our health and wellbeing. What I'd really like to see is some articles and advice about how teachers cope with the stress and long hours. I'd love to see a change in government policies that would make it easier for schools to run more efficiently, but I'm not holding my breath on that one. So in the meantime, how do teachers cope? Lots of teachers stay in the profession longer than 5 years. What's their secret? There must be some schools who are good at supporting NQTs - what do they do?
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21:09
8 February, 2013
EarlyYrsEnglish
So "One Horse Town" failed maths then. Or just doesn't know what an average is - otherwise they'd realise that the *one* accountant and *one* barrister they know has a minimal effect on any of the mean, median or modal hours worked by those professions.
Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to the magical time when I'm only working 48.3 hours a week...
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10:54
9 February, 2013
Nigel23
Well Lauren , isay to you ,organise your day so you just concentrate on the teaching , "blag"the paper work and marking , it works !!! Work your hours around the school day , it's amazing how much of the paper work rubbish and marking can be done in lesson time. Think and apply what's important for the kids and forget the rest of the rubbish demanded of you . You'll then be fine and of course 'street wise""
I work during the schhol day and that's that !
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13:54
9 February, 2013
james333
Fosie: "These pressures cannot be quantified simply by hours worked and so comparisons to other 'non-emotional' professions (such as accountancy and law) are misleading."
What does that mean? My niece is a criminal barrister - the sort of events she occasionally relays to me (when she's got the stomach to tell them) would make your 'emotions' curl! BUT ....she knew what was coming when she began her training. She did her homework.
"if we do not begin to acknowledge the stress and pressure that teachers (and probably all 'front-line' professionals) are having to contend with then we will soon find ourselves in a very difficult situation."
Oh I've acknowledged the 'stress and pressure' alright - I've been teaching for 32 years so far. So what is your point exactly? Are you expecting a fairy godmother to sprinkle union goldust on everyone to make them feel better - you'll have a long wait! In the meantime enjoy the many upsides of teaching and stop bleating or change jobs.
Nige 23 : So "One Horse Town" failed maths then. Or just doesn't know what an average is - otherwise they'd realise that the *one* accountant and *one* barrister they know has a minimal effect on any of the mean, median or modal hours worked by those professions."
Not at all Nigel. But you may have failed a reality check. Both of those people work in organisations with colleagues who share the same hours and working conditions. Public sector workers (and I'm one of them) do not have a monopoly on long hours.
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14:48
9 February, 2013
One Horse Town
One horse Town:
32 years is not a very long time - not the history of change. I am not hoping for union gold dust, no, but I am hoping that through continued research and documentation we will one day come to see that what works in organisations is spontaneity, creativity and trust - as opposed to anxiety, shame and guilt.
In the course of your career you will have felt the ebb and flow of politics and the transforming arm of reform - sometimes, I imagine, you will have experienced these changes positively and at other times less so. There are ways of administering change that are more effective than others. Tired managers often get it wrong. Of course, you may have been lucky to have always been well-managed. If you had been a colleague of mine and had ever felt the need to 'bleat' I would have tried to understand why and how such a good teacher was finding things so difficult. I would not have encouraged you to leave your profession.
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15:45
9 February, 2013
Fosie
Teaching is tough! But great!
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16:25
9 February, 2013
marseille
'One Horse Town' it's unfair to suggest that 'Lauren' didn't do her homework on entering the profession. I don't think any amount of research or school experience can prepare you for the realities of your NQT year and the teaching profession as a whole.
Whilst I can see the merits in prioritising I don't recommend 'blagging' marking but rather finding a system that works for you, which takes time and experience. I definitely agree that you should do as much work in school as possible so that your home doesn't become a second office.
Finally: us teachers should be supporting one another, it's hard enough as it is out there!
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17:21
9 February, 2013
bachdouble
Well said james333!
Lauren, talk to teachers you trust who seem to be 'managing it' and strip them clean of tips and ideas.
Priority number one, teach well (but smartly). I was taught (30 years ago) that a lesson that takes 10 minutes to plan, but works the children for the full lesson is much better than 3 hrs prep for a 10 minute 'starter'. Sounds obvious but we've all fallen into the trap.
Priority two, as james333 says, be very smart about the paperwork you have to do (and the dross that you know no-one will ever look at). do the former, file the latter. If someone asks you for some of the latter, do it then. Otherwise, forget it. I've taught for 30 years, i love it, I wouldn't have survived the last 15 without those two tips.
Good luck to you.
Jeremy Dean
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10:25
10 February, 2013
Jeremyinspain
This past half term I have averaged 80 hours a week, including weekends. I'm in my second year of teaching, but there are teachers who have been in the job for 10/20 years who are also spending that amount of time on work. It's all very well 'blagging' paperwork, but with half termly work, planning and book scrutinies as well as lesson observations across the school - I don't know how you would blag it!
Also - doing paperwork during lesson time? Seriously? Whilst keeping 32 ten-year olds on task, learning new skills and getting them to at least a level 4 in SATs? I think a teacher who manages that is either a) some kind of 'superhuman' or b) a very bad teacher.
I do like Jeremy's thought about not taking too long over a starter. I'm hoping that all the work and resources I'm creating this year will help my life get easier in years to come. Hoping.
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16:15
10 February, 2013
eternaltealady
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17:33
10 February, 2013
james333
Eternalteallady
You've missed the point !! I am saying that if you care about the education of the kids don't worry about the unnecessary paperwork . Spending 80hours a week is ridiculous , not good for you or the kids that are being taught . This long hour culture can only lead to poor teaching as only a super human can teach these hours.As the saying goes a productive worker is a smart worker . Teach the kids well , that's all that counts
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17:37
10 February, 2013
james333
Ps correction . Substitute tea h these hours to work these hours
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17:44
10 February, 2013
james333
In many teaching jobs in many schools, It is effectively impossible to do everything that is asked of you, so you have to cut corners somewhere. Some of it is indeed to be realistic with planning. I think new teachers finish their PGCE believing that every lesson should be a meticulously planned, entertaining, multi-part masterpiece of differentiated activities, when you can really only do such lessons once in a while. Accept that there is nothing wrong with pupils being bored in your lesson and that actually pupils are quite comfortable with regular familiar, even dull activities - they can relax because they know exactly what to do and what's expected.
Also, schools are incredibly different in their culture, environment and ethos. It might just be that a particular school isn't right for you. I've worked in schools where you will get a very funny look if you leave before 6pm, and schools where the car park is almost empty at 4pm. The best thing I ever did for my career was a year of supply teaching, which allowed me to see loads of schools in action, and eventually settle on one that was right for me.
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21:00
10 February, 2013
mercer77
I'd love to be able to work just 48 hours a week! 60 is nearer the mark, not including weekends. It is the expectation that there should be a "work/life balance" that causes the "stress". Teaching is a job that should consume one's every waking second. There is no time for family, friends, relationships or outside interests. If you have time on your hands then there is something you are not doing right. This should be made clear to those entering the profession.
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21:17
10 February, 2013
patrick1969
patrick1969, that is the most depressing thing I've ever read, unless you are being sarcastic.
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16:53
11 February, 2013
KS23
Hope he is being sarcastic start my early years pgce this year
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20:43
11 February, 2013
stevie-leigh2013
Top of your list : 'Your own Sanity' remember this always.
Also take a leaf from economics 'Maximum Result with the Least Effort' so :
1) train your kids to become independent learners,
2) get a stash of dictionaries (literacy)
3) create a 'favourites' list of useful websites,
4) organise powerpoints and flipcharts in folders appropriate to you,
5) do not re-invent the wheel - most things have been done before - use and adapt ! I found lists of key words on the internet unit by unit, for the whole of the KS3 National Curriculum !!!!
6) get your department to share : lesson plans, short and long term planning, upload this stuff on to your school's MOODLE or get somebody else to do do it for you (Coordinators are asking for it anyway what do they do with it ? How is your work used ? ).
7) Team Work see above,
8) Make use of your most important resource your TA /Support staff
9) Make use of your reprographics unit,
10) Peer assessment (primaries use this well)
11) Camera in class - photographic evidence of the good stuff you do (it is not just written work in books).
12) Short video clips (starter/plenary) -
13) Select 1 aspect of the work when marking.
Remember a stressed teacher is of no help to anyone.
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17:47
12 February, 2013
rainbowhunter
I was close to burnout in my first year of teaching and I had to learn that there had to be some life in a work - life balance. Some will say that if you are not doing everything on earth to prepare the best lessons you can you are a bad teacher but you should be realistic about what it will take to turn your good lesson into an excellent one. Is it worth the extra 3 hours planning time? I aim to plan one excellent lesson a week (one that i can save for future years) and unless i am inspired or have an idea to run with from another member of my department i have a time limit for planning a lesson. The next year i will already have an excellent lesson planned for that week so i can think about a different one.
Don't do any marking that is not helpful to your students and or your planning or teacher assessment. I found in my first year i drowned under marking because i did so much that wasn't useful...
In my second year of teaching i worked nearly full time (0.85) and that extra time also helped me to create a little bit of a better balance. True i didn't get paid as much but i felt like a normal human.
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3:11
14 February, 2013
sjg25
Okay, I am fed up with people saying: You teachers have it easy. You know what kid, go and put your head down a toilet and flush it. Teaching is high pressured and I know people say why. At the same, it's about working smarter than harder.
So, here's some tips:
1. Copy and paste works wonders, especially with finding and using lesson plans. If there are some past lesson plans somewhere, whether at work or on the Internet, copy and paste over. Even better, buy some plans - you'll have the resources together and you can run with the suggested plans.
2. Delegate! For example, have the children marking their own work, highlighting where they have succeeded. There are some children who enjoy doing jobs for teachers, even if they are not in your own class.
3. Get into work early - you're not interrupted by people, who keep on poking their noses into your classroom, nagging about stuff that you yon't wanna know, or have time of day to do.
4. Have outside speakers: mate, do some work whilst they're talking. Simple!
If you have any other ideas, write on this board and become pro-active. Teaching is an excellent profession.
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20:59
14 February, 2013
thekillers
The article made me think, a lot (!) so I decided to put my waffle down on paper! http://peapodinablog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/hap-pea_17.html
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6:58
19 February, 2013
Pea Pod
How about the we, the unions and Gove actually address the issue rather than the unhelpful comments put here. The teacher on a 10% PPA has a far larger workload than any SLT member, the stresses are different but we are all in the same profession for the same reasons. Why shouldn't Lauren have a life, a relationship and enjoy work/life balance?
I left the UK to have a life, to spend time with my family and to recaputure the passion for teaching and learning that attracted me to the profession. I couldn't cope with the hours, having my child stay at gran's three days out of seven and the nastiness of fellow colleagues who were constantly infighting and battling each other to save their jobs from the tyrannical principal.
We should be united in trying to improve our profession not eroding it from within. Words like 'bleat' are a terrible way to demoralise our colleagues who we should be supporting.
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3:29
27 February, 2013
StarsForEyes
I have recently left teaching due to the negative impact that it was having on my personal life and my health. I was a passionate and committed teacher, and I will miss working with the children enormously, but ultimately the rest became too much to ask of myself and my family. I don't know what the answer is, but I do think it is important to acknowledge the damage that is being done to the personal (and consequently to the professional) lives of teachers that stay, as well as the sad fact that so many colleagues will soon be lost to the profession.
http://educationfromtheoutside.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/time-to-go-because-of-what-i-believe-is-important/
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10:19
27 February, 2013
BBG2009
How glad I am to not work with certain teachers, that horse one being one of them. 32 years certainly don't teach you compassion or empathy.
Support is what's needed, not belittling. Some people find teaching harder than others and there is a multitude of reasons. A happy teacher is the best teacher students could have. I teach in a tough school with an aggressive marking focus and I'm not allowed to sit down during lessons, thus marking during this time is impossible. I complain about my hours, I whinge about the lack of support but ultimately I know I have to make changes if it's that serious: leave the school, drop hours or change my career entirely. Denigrating other teachers is not a help. I no longer work evenings, I work from 7:30 until 6 at school every day and most of Sunday. This is not a work schedule I feel is healthy, whether it's teaching, accounting, pimping or hairdressing. Already considering future options. Not pimping. Teaching seems to be, on the whole now, particularly taking into account PGCE cohorts, a young person's game which is a travesty. I've seen experienced teachers edged out and younger teachers quit. There's no simple answers but finding the right school is a must, devising ways to relax that work for you and remembering the positives are what work for me.
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17:55
27 February, 2013
bookworm146
I found this article as a result of Googling ‘As a teacher, will I ever get a weekend off?!’ I had no idea teaching would be this much of a round-the-clock job. Anyone who disagrees and is a teacher quite frankly cannot be doing their job to the best of their ability, if they’re really honest with themselves. Although, perhaps after 30 plus years of teaching one does have a good arsenal of lesson plans etc...I do hope so.
I think that we do need to support each other. I am lucky that I’m in a school where I can be totally honest with my boss about my workload and she will help. For example, we had arranged a curriculum meeting for one day after school, but I explained how snowed under I was with preparing for parents evening and marking exams that I just didn’t feel ready to discuss next term until a bit nearer the end of this one. She totally understood and we rearranged the meeting. This is the kind of thing that will help us all through: leaders of schools who value staff wellbeing.
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17:17
23 March, 2013
Harriet_85