Balancing Work & Life: Teacher Edition

Teacher work-life balance at a glance

For many teachers this can be a difficult task. To help, Hays Education’s Stephanie Croxford, herself a former teacher, has compiled a list of top tips to help teachers on their way to achieving a work-life balance.

1. Prioritise

You need to decide what is most important to you. Then, decide how to organise time to fit those things in. This is not just about prioritising work; family, interests and social life are just as important. Decide what you value more, spending a day with your friends and/or family, or preparing an all-singing, all-dancing lesson.

2. Time out

When you’ve got time off, you don’t need to work. This may be a Friday night and Saturday daytime, but whenever this may be, it’s your time to do anything but work. This will give you something to work towards each week and make you a more rested, enthusiastic teacher.

3. Time limits

It is very easy to get carried away with work. Ever spent hours at the kitchen table planning, preparing, marking and assessing until you start nodding off in your chair? To prevent this happening, set strict time limits to any out-of-hours work and stick to them. By prioritising work and sticking to time limits, you will allow yourself more free time.

4. Share

Break the taboo of prioritising life over work by discussing your own efforts to balance the two. Be seen leaving on time, talk about your downtime and ask colleagues about theirs. Let them know that it’s healthy to prioritise their own time outside of work.

5. Use the 20:80 rule

Use the hours in the day wisely. Consider when the most productive 20% of your day is – typically, you can produce 80% of your best work in this period. By figuring out when this time is, you will be able to maximise the time you spend at work.