Ways to reduce workload and improve wellbeing on Creating Value In Schools

Staffing

Wellbeing

Please enjoy this free content - for more Need To Know articles please consider a subscription

Top takeaways

Reducing workload and improving wellbeing is an ongoing focus for discussion in schools, trusts and other education settings. The DfE have put together a series of conversation prompts to support action to reduce workload around areas such as marking, behaviour management and complaints. We suggest ways to reduce two big time suckers: meetings and emails.

Conversation starters

The DfE have shared a conversation guide for schools and trusts to use in having ‘meaningful conversations’ around workload and wellbeing.

Using staff time wisely means that:

Staff can focus on the activities likely to have the greatest impact on pupil outcomes
Staff are less likely to feel over-stretched and over-worked.

The questions are designed to be used in team or governor meetings, or as part of an Inset day. They have been put together by the Improving Education Together Board.

They address:

From discussion to action

While talking is good, make sure that action results from these discussions! Ask:

How do we take this forward?
What’s the next step?
Who’s leading on this?
What’s the timeline for action?
What’s the desirable outcome?
How will we know if we’ve achieved it?

Do we need to do this?

Before implementing any new initiative, policy or activity, check that it aligns with your priorities and you have good reason to believe it will be beneficial.

Does it fit with your values and priorities, as identified in your development or improvement plan?
What makes you think that it will be beneficial? What’s the evidence basis?
Do you have the capacity to deliver it effectively? What resources are required?

Download the decision-making-checklist-for-schools.pdf

Reducing time suckers: emails and meetings

Sometimes it’s the daily, apparently smaller stuff, that can stack up to additional workload.

In reflecting on challenges around time and what she’d noticed since joining a MAT from a more commercial organisation, Caroline Doherty commented:

Face to face meetings are really important and necessary sometimes, but look at different kinds of models for exchanging and sharing information – because that’s what a lot of meetings start with, isn’t it?

What if instead there was a document or instant messaging system, like Teams, where people could put ‘here are five things I did last week and here are two things I’m worried about this week’ or whatever, and you could get cracking on that straight away.

There’s also the associated faffing that goes with meetings – somebody changing the time and then all of the emails that fly around. That’s something that was definitely a change, coming from a commercial organisation to a multi-academy trust – a lot of email.

Sometimes emails can give the illusion of stuff happening, but if people are responding on the fly, aren’t fully focused and addressing every point, then you can unleash a whole load more emails!

(See You can't turn off the machine: investing time in school leadership for more from Caroline.)

Questions to consider

Can you reduce the number of meetings staff attend? If meetings are being used primarily for information sharing, is there another way this could be done?
Do team meetings have a clear and productive focus, such as collaborative planning or assessment?
Do meetings have agendas? Do they finish on time?
Do you have expectations around when emails will and won’t be sent?
Do staff know how to use scheduling tools? Then staff can write emails at whatever time they like, to be received in working hours.
If emails are sent out of work hours, is it clear whether staff are expected to respond?
Do you encourage mindful emailing? For example:

Not copying people in unnecessarily
Having a clear subject line
Be clear about what action is required in response
Don’t send an email if a conversation would be more effective or appropriate.

Sign In

Ways to reduce workload and improve wellbeing

Top takeaways

Conversation starters

From discussion to action

Do we need to do this?

Reducing time suckers: emails and meetings

Further reading and resources