By Chris Ingate, ASCL Conditions and Employment Specialist: Pay

As we all look forward to time away from school or college and a time to perhaps reconnect with family and friends over the summer holidays, I find myself wrestling with the concepts of freedom and constraint.  Work versus leisure, for example, seem to be part of our human paradox.   Democracy is another good example. In the UK, we have individual liberty, but this sits within the confines of an iterative legal system.

The trouble with the teaching profession is that we work with blurred lines. We take work home, we work at weekends and during school holidays. This type of work-life continuum, if left unchecked, can have a significant impact on our physical and mental health, as reported in the Teacher Wellbeing Index 2025, the 2026 NFER Annual Report and even the DfE (Working Lives of Teachers 2025).  The Sustainable School Leadership report (February 2026) focuses more specifically on the strains of school leadership but paints a similar picture.  

Conversely, in the schools I have had the privilege to visit this year, I have seen great efforts being made by leaders to improve staff wellbeing and reduce workload which is not easy with financial constraints and the ‘Willy Wonka chocolate factory’ of political meddling.   

Reservoirs of hope
Despite adversity, schools are such great reservoirs of hope (Reservoirs of Hope, Alan Flintham, 2011) and, despite the prevailing issues of funding, SEND, Ofsted and accountability, I have seen first-hand measures to improve staff wellbeing. In such schools and trusts, clear policies and consistently applied practices seem to give individuals the freedom to innovate and make changes.  This tends to sit within a framework of a widely distributed leadership culture of trust and encouragement.  

From what I have gathered so far, these are the top ten strategies which can make a difference to staff wellbeing and workload: 

• a culture based on support, encouragement and personal development
• workload and wellbeing being a key strategic priority
• staff wellbeing groups having a strong a powerful voice 
• reduction in unnecessary admin with limits on when email and Teams messages can be sent
• looking at ways to reduce 1,265 directed time commitments and for school leaders, rotas to share out after school and weekend / holiday tasks
• a shift away from performance targets to supportive and developmental appraisal
• regular line management meetings which focus not just on business but also wellbeing
• being proactive about flexible working opportunities
• wider benefits for staff such as subsidised private medical and gym membership 
• whilst the headteacher has responsibility for the work-life balance of all staff, it is important that governors or trustees are proactive in terms of looking after the wellbeing of the head

Some of these strategies are easier to implement than others but it is a matter of mindset. As one school leader said to me:

“I keep thinking how I can make coming to work a better experience.  Kindness and support make a big difference – and if my staff are happier, the students will benefit of course.”

Coming back to my initial tenet, there does have to be a balance between leisure and work, between freedom and constraint. But ask yourself this: where would you rather teach or lead - a school or college which runs on autocracy, hierarchy and rules or one where everyone does their own thing and no one seems to be pulling the strings?  I would argue, neither.  

But there are schools and colleges working hard to establish clear policies and practices, distributed leadership and a commitment to reduce workload and improve wellbeing.  As said, these principles are easier said than done, but they are achievable even in the current miasma of despair.