In this final article I am going to try to pull all our thoughts together on the subject of work/life balance. We all know of the dangers of this being out of line and the effects it can have on not only our teaching but more importantly our home lives.
In the previous article we looked at the vital importance of maintaining a work/life balance and the detrimental effects when this does not exist.
Isn’t that a relaxing picture to start the article and don’t you wish you were on that beach !
There is a lot of concern at the moment with regard to the drop out rate in new teachers – currently running at between 40 – 50% in the first 2 years. This is an alarming statistic…not only from an actual staffing point of view but from an economic standpoint of money invested.
Its a question that I am getting asked more and more and to be honest its causing a problem…..not for me but for teachers. So why is this and what’s causing it?
Its a simple enough fact that all lessons should have a start and an end….except when I go to watch some teachers “in action” it is difficult to spot when either or even both of these happen!!
Every school you find yourself in will have a staffroom – but the size, layout, furniture will all be different. Ranging from the newly kitted out spacious room to the pokey space that has all the old furniture in it and you share with the photocopiers!
Every classroom needs storage – but as obvious as it seems this is not necessarily provided !!
This is, of course, a wide ranging topic area and there are going to be many variations according to the different nature of lessons and the topics covered. However having said that let’s aim for a few basics around which you can structure things.
Marking – how should you approach it and what is its purpose?