Key takeaways
- Teacher workload belongs in the year plan, before timetable generation turns staffing choices into lesson slots.
- Smootables is designed to show contracts, availability, skills, and allocated hours beside courses and groups.
- The same planning model feeds solver validation, generation, daily changes, and published teacher views.
- Planners can adjust overloads with teachers before term schedules are shared.
Why plan teacher workload before generating the timetable?
Teacher overload is easier to fix while courses, groups, and resources are still being assigned. Once lessons have been generated, a load change can affect room choices, group clashes, substitutions, and the published teacher view.
Smootables is designed to keep teacher contracts, availability, skills, weekly loads, and yearly loads in the planning model. The constraint solver reads that data when it validates and generates a timetable, so workload issues are surfaced before planners spend time arranging lesson slots.
How does workload planning compare with separate tracking?
Schools often track workload in a spreadsheet while timetable data lives in another tool. Smootables takes a different approach: contracts, availability, skills, allocations, and solver rules sit in one planning model, so planners do not have to reconcile a separate workload file after generation.
| Dimension | Separate workload tracking | Smootables |
|---|---|---|
| When overload is found | During review after allocations or a generated timetable are compared with the workload file | During year planning, before generation is accepted |
| Contract limits | Recorded in a worksheet, note field, or local document | Weekly and yearly load limits attached to the teacher profile |
| Availability and absences | Checked in calendars, emails, or local notes | Availability, unavailability, and substitution readiness on the teacher profile |
| Skills and eligibility | Verified manually before course assignment | Eligibility linked to courses, equipment, workshops, and programs |
| Cost and staffing pressure | Calculated after allocations are copied into a separate file | Hour totals and pressure indicators reviewed before approval |
| Connection to timetabling | Planner re-enters decisions into the timetable tool | Planning data feeds validation, generation, publication, and daily changes |
What do teacher workload panels show?
Smootables workload views are designed for planners and leaders who need to see teaching capacity while the year is still being built. The panels read from contracts, teacher profiles, and course allocations instead of a one-time export.
- Allocated hours by teacher, academic year, term, and course
- Comparison with contract limits, weekly caps, and yearly loads
- Availability windows, unavailability, and substitution readiness
- Skills, qualifications, and program scope used for course eligibility
- Staffing pressure indicators where planned hours exceed available capacity
How does workload connect to the rest of the plan?
Workload connects to the rest of the plan through shared data. Contracts set capacity, availability limits usable slots, skills guide assignment, and pressure indicators show whether the plan has enough staff before solver generation.
Contracts and limits
Weekly loads, yearly loads, and contract rules sit on the teacher profile. Planners can treat them as hard or soft constraints when preparing a timetable run.
Availability and unavailability
Recurring availability, one-off absence notes, and substitution readiness stay with the teacher record, so planning and daily-change work read the same source.
Skills and eligibility
Teacher eligibility can be linked to courses, equipment, workshops, or programs, helping planners assign staff before the solver places lessons.
Cost and staffing pressure
Hour totals can roll up into cost estimates and staffing-pressure indicators for leadership review before the year plan is approved.
How do schools go from contract to timetable without rework?
Workload data entered once can move through school year planning, solver generation, publication, and daily changes. The sequence below replaces the familiar pattern of building a workload file, copying decisions into a generator, and checking the two again after a plan changes.
- Import or enter teacher contracts, availability, skills, and load limits at the start of planning.
- Allocate courses, groups, and hours in the year plan while workload panels show pressure.
- Review proposed hours with teachers and leadership before timetable generation.
- Generate the timetable using the same workload rules that were checked during planning.
- Manage absences, substitutions, one-off events, and recovery against the same workload model.
How does early workload visibility change conversations with teachers?
Workload conversations are harder when the first shared artifact is a finished timetable. Smootables is designed so teachers can review proposed hours, courses, and timetable views earlier, then leave comments or flag issues against the plan before publication.
That gives planners a clearer record of what changed and why. Instead of defending a timetable after teachers receive it, the planning team can discuss workload while there is still room to adjust courses, groups, and resources.
Questions about workload planning
Do we have to model every contract perfectly to start?
No. You can start with approximate weekly load limits and refine them as more contract detail is available. Smootables flags places where assigned hours no longer match the limits you set.
Can teachers see their own workload?
Yes. Published views are designed to show teachers their assigned hours, courses, and timetable. Comments and issue threads let them raise problems against the plan.
What about substitutions and absences?
Substitute planning, supervision, cancellations, and replacement lessons are part of the same workspace. Daily changes stay connected to the master timetable and can update workload totals.
Can it model split contracts and multi-campus teachers?
Yes. Teachers can be scoped by campus, department, and program, with availability and load limits applied at the relevant level.
Does it replace our payroll system?
No. Smootables is a planning and timetabling workspace, not a payroll or record system. It can import and export data when schools need to move workload information between tools.