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A second year teacher writes in with a question most of us have asked at some point. When do you actually start to manage everything you have to do in a day? Dylan's answer begins with some bad news, and it sets the tone for an episode about workload, pay and what teaching is genuinely worth.

⏰ When does the workload become manageable?

Dylan and Hayden pull apart the difference between getting more efficient at the job and simply deciding to stop doing things. Getting quicker at your slides and your marking helps, but the real shift comes from something harder. There is also a piece of advice from an old assistant head about people who want things immediately that a lot of you are going to want to write down.

📕 The three things Dylan would do as a head teacher

A one in one out policy on workload, so nothing gets added unless something comes off. And then the big one, a school with no written marking policy at all. Hayden pushes back with the fear plenty of leaders actually have. Without books to look at, how do you monitor anything? What follows is a proper conversation about trust, book looks, data, Ofsted mentality, and why the current system might just be the path of least resistance.

💷 Is the teacher pay scale fundamentally broken?

The question that gives this episode its title. Is it fair that ECTs and newer teachers earn significantly less for work that looks almost identical? Dylan argues that paying people more purely because they have been there longer is a flawed idea, and lays out what he would replace it with, including a flat rate for the job and something borrowed from the private sector. Hayden tests it from every angle, including what it would do to retention. They also take aim at that £52,000 average teacher pay figure that keeps getting quoted.

😂 Which school rule would cause societal collapse?

Tom's question, and an excellent one. Lining up, group punishments and independent silent work, applied to adults. This one takes a turn.

🏫 Private schools, class sizes and privilege

Have they ever considered working in the private sector, and is the pay really better? An honest, more nuanced take than you might expect, taking in SEND provision, parents who message the podcast, workload behind the smaller class sizes, and a Year 6 lesson involving a bin and a scrunched up piece of paper that explains privilege better than most things you will hear this year.

Honest, funny, and right on time for anyone doing the maths on their own payslip.

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