The demands on today’s teachers can be huge. Even though all their work must be completed within school hours, for many work is taken home on a regular basis. Many of the thousands of teachers who contact us every year tell us that it often feels like the school day never ends!

Issues around working conditions including work-life balance have consistently been one of the top three reasons for teachers phoning us over the last three years and 2008 has been no exception.

Calls about working conditions have accounted for 14.1 per cent of all calls so far this year, this is in second place behind grant and loan enquiries. This category includessuch things asworkload and organisational management.

Calls about communication and relationships with colleagues have accounted for 9.2 per cent of all calls so far this year. This category includes relationships with adults at work, general communications skills, harassment, relationships with pupils and relationships outside work.

Together these issues account for almost a quarter of all the calls we are receiving.As these issues are clearly at the forefront of Teachers minds Teacher Support Networkhas developed two workshops on work-life balance and health and wellbeing and communication skills. These workshops combine case studies and group work to help participants identify areas of their lives that they would like to work on, and find practical steps to do so. For example improve the interactions they have with their line manager and colleagues, and better manage their workload.

If you would like further information on the pricing and availability of these workshops please contact Lucy Rowe on 020 7554 5223.

In addition to the workshops you can also find a wide range of information on the above issues on our InfoCentre;

• Work-life balance
• How to cope with stress
  
• Delegating work
  
• Resolving a dispute with a colleague
  
• Communication: developing your skills
  
• Communicating with staff