P15: Wellbeing

Healthy beginnings

We all start the new academic year with good intentions to stay fit and well. Sarah Lyons describes how you can help make this a reality.

It’s the start of a new academic year. You may begin with enthusiasm, but the autumn term is long and tiring. Even the most energetic teacher is likely to feel run down by Christmas.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance is key – and you and your colleagues can take steps to keep your work and home life in harmony, and reach the end of term without getting ill.

Act together

All teachers are entitled to a reasonable work-life balance. The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document acknowledges this:

‘Governing bodies and head teachers, in carrying out their duties, must have regard to the need for the head teacher and teachers at the school being able to achieve a satisfactory balance between the time required to discharge their professional duties… and the time required to pursue their personal interests outside work.’

One way your employer can meet this duty is to consult on a work-life balance policy. Check www.teachers.org.uk/workload for comprehensive guidance and a model policy.

Maintaining a reasonable work-life balance isn’t just good for staff. It has knock-on benefits, including:

• reduced stress and sick leave and higher morale

• improved effectiveness at work

• fewer problems with recruitment and retention – a good work-life balance policy will give schools an ‘edge’ when seeking to attract and retain high calibre staff.

If your school has a positive work-life balance policy, tell us about it so we can feature it in a future issue – email teacher@nut.org.uk.

How to make it work

Staff must be consulted over the policy. Your management should also consult on timings of Inset days, report schedules, parents’ evenings, sports days, classroom observations and other activities that might affect your work-life balance.

Having an individual breakdown of directed time, setting out teaching, PPA and leadership/management times and meetings will also help. Your school governors could also regularly audit the extra weekly hours you typically work.

Where it is clear that a particular initiative contributes to excessive workload, the school could review it.

Let us know

If your school doesn’t have a positive work-life balance policy, talk to colleagues and use the NUT model policy to raise the matter at a staff meeting.

• Sarah Lyons is NUT Principal Officer for Employment Conditions and Rights.