Workload is the reason most teachers leave. Not the children. It's the gap between what the job demands and what any person can actually sustain, week after week, without something giving. This book gives you the tools to close that gap: what schools cannot legally require of you, how to cut marking time without cutting your impact, and what actually works when you're trying to hold the job together without it costing you everything outside it.
What's inside:
- Three marking models - whole-class feedback, live in-lesson marking, and structured peer and self-assessment - each with ready-to-use templates.
- A layered planning system for early career teachers: unit skeleton to lesson pack to last-minute tweaks, without the guilt.
- Scripts for difficult conversations: specific language for raising workload concerns with line managers and governors, clearly and constructively.
- A leader chapter: what heads and middle leaders can actually do to reduce team burden, with real policies rather than general principles.
- Deliberate recovery strategies: what the research says actually works, not just "switch off at weekends."
- Current DfE and Ofsted guidance translated into plain decisions, so you can be confident rather than defensive when negotiating what "reasonable" looks like.
- There's a dedicated section for trainees and early career teachers building from scratch, and a closing chapter on getting back to the part that makes it all worth it.
Barry Taylor is an HMI-assessed Lead Practitioner, teacher trainer/mentor, and certified wellbeing coach who has worked with schools for over 30 years.
The Teacher's Guide to Managing Workload is written for those who need practical, realistic workload-reduction strategies grounded in policy and classroom reality.
Designed to be read in a weekend and implemented on a Monday morning. Try one idea this week and protect your time and energy to teach well.
About the Author :
Barry Taylor is an HMI-assessed Lead Practitioner and teacher trainer/mentor who has worked with schools for over 30 years. He is now a certified wellbeing specialist and writes about workload and wellbeing from both sides. The Teacher's Guide to Managing Workload is the first book in his series for teachers.
Review :
"A great source of reflection for real teachers in real schools.
Research shows that teachers spend too little time thinking about teaching and learning. We also know that schools take teachers away from the key part of their job - teaching. Barry Taylor nails this in his new book, The Teacher's Guide to Managing Workload.
At the centre of my beliefs about what makes successful schools is the 2007 McKinsey quote: "the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers." To achieve this, we need to retain the best teachers in our schools and help them focus on their teaching. Barry Taylor's new book, The Teacher's Guide to Managing Workload, has this front and centre.
He shares practical ideas from his long experience in the classroom. He suggested you can dip in and out of the book for a few minutes, "with a cold cup of coffee in the staff room!" I would prefer a nice cup of hot coffee myself, so I understand the point he is making.
The book is full of suggestions to be considered. It is not expected you adopt or even seriously consider all of them, but they are there for reflection, and some might just land with you at the right time."
- John Grove, CEO, Quality First Education Trust
"Barry Taylor's book provides opportunities for thoughtful reflection alongside practical strategies to address the workload challenges many teachers face. At a time when teacher retention is a pressing priority, it offers a timely and practical contribution. It would serve as an effective companion to the mentoring process, particularly for early career teachers."
- Emma Breeze, Academy Trust Professional Development Lead
