Teach Secondary Issue 13.4

teachwire.net/secondary TEACH SECONDARY SPECIAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING and fix it ’. If you’re already getting good results and your students are progressing well, then focus onmaking those small tweaks. Try to forget about those resources that somebody spent 9,000 hours making and boasting about on X. Realistic routines Establishing a routine is crucial to striking a good work/life balance, or re-establishing one if you feel that things have started to slip. Prioritising those aspects of your life outside school should come first, as well as your wellbeing. Then you can start thinking about how to fit your job and professional responsibilities in around the time you have. It may be that you go into school earlier, or perhaps stay a bit later a couple of days a week. Youmight decide to work a set amount of time at home in a specific window. Whatever form your routine takes, be sure to stick to it and be realistic . If you can be honest about how much there is to be done, it’s muchmore likely that the routine will become established and embedded within your day-to-day life. Part of this may involve factoring in those parts of your day that you need as an actual human being. A ritual of consuming your hot or cold beverage of choice should be in there somewhere. Some time dedicated to simply decompressing should feature as well, no matter how busy or chaotic your school day might be. It’s these things that will have the most psychological impact on you over the course of your day (well, those and that particularly wild Y8 class) – so it follows that they will impact upon your time at home as well. Take your wellbeing in school seriously, and prioritise it. Because doing so will significantly reduce your stress levels once you get home. Clear expectations We’ve touched on it slightly up to now, but distinguishing between those tasks you have to do and those you don’t is a hugely important part of being a teaching professional. There will be some tasks you can’t challenge, since you’ll be contractually obliged to do them as part of your professional duties or within your set working hours. That said, you can and should issue a challenge if you think that what’s being asked of you goes beyond your contract, to the point where it’s likely to impact upon your work/life balance. Much of the time, there can be a degree of vagueness around expectations. I think things have improved a bit in recent years, but you can still encounter some very specific, yet unwritten rules in certain schools. Challenging these is important, unless it’s directed time, as there should be no restrictions on when you can come in or leave school. Being informed doesn’t mean you’re planning anarchy. Knowing what’s part of your job role and what isn’t is vital if you’re to keep your work/life balance in check. Having this knowledge will help you plan your time and allow you to prepare accordingly – which is surely not too much to ask. Creating a culture Your work/life balance can be directly correlated to the culture of the school you work in, but here’s the thing – you are a key part of defining that culture . I’mnot saying you should be refusing to do things to improve your work/life balance, but equally, it’s important that staff don’t apply pressure to each other. Whether done intentionally or unintentionally, this can be a real problem that tips the scales. Being a part of a positive culture that champions wellbeing and challenges inefficient ideas is the dream for all of us – but without action, it’s never going to become a reality. At an individual level, it’s our own attitude that will define both our own workload and that of our colleagues. It can be difficult to take a step back when in the heat of the moment – especially when things move at the pace they do in teaching. Addressing your work/life balance and making it sustainable means having to examine the very foundations of what you’re doing at school, and asking yourself the question – ‘ Do I need to do this? ’ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adam Riches is a teacher, education consultant and writer 29 H E A LT H A N D W E L L B E I N G