Teacher workload allocation is a planning problem, not a timetable problem
By the time a workload issue shows up in a published timetable, it is already expensive: timetables have to be rebuilt, teachers have to be renegotiated with, and other constraints break in the process. The cheaper place to catch overload is in the year plan, before any lessons are scheduled.
Smootables is designed to keep teacher capacity visible at every step of planning. Contracts, availability, skills, and weekly or yearly load limits are part of the same model the solver uses for timetable generation, so the plan can flag overload before it becomes a scheduling problem.
What teacher workload panels in Smootables show
Workload views give planners and school leaders a real-time picture of teaching capacity:
- Hours allocated per teacher by year, term, and individual course
- Comparison against contract limits and weekly load caps
- Availability windows, unavailability, and substitution readiness
- Eligibility based on skills, qualifications, and program scoping
- Staffing pressure indicators that highlight where capacity is the bottleneck
Connected to the rest of the plan
Contracts and limits
Weekly loads, yearly loads, and contractual constraints are attached to each teacher. The plan and the solver respect them as hard or soft rules, not as comments in a spreadsheet.
Availability and unavailability
Recurring availability, one-off absences, and substitution readiness are part of the teacher profile. The solver and the daily change workflow both read from the same data.
Skills and eligibility
Teachers can be marked eligible for specific courses, equipment, workshops, or programs, so course assignment and generation respect what they can actually teach.
Cost and staffing pressure
Hour totals roll up into cost estimates and staffing pressure indicators that school leaders can review before the year is approved.
From contract to timetable, without rework
- Import or enter teacher contracts, availability, and skills once, at the start of the year.
- Allocate courses, groups, and hours in the year plan, with workload limits enforced as you go.
- Review workload panels with teachers and adjust before timetable generation.
- Generate the timetable. The solver respects the same workload rules it surfaced in the plan.
- Manage daily changes — absences, substitutions, one-off events — against the same workload model, with audit logs and recovery.
Better conversations with teachers
When workload data is visible during planning instead of after publication, conversations with teachers change. Teachers can review their proposed hours, comment on issues, and flag conflicts before the timetable is generated. Planners spend less time defending a published timetable and more time agreeing on a plan that works.
Smootables lets you share year plans and timetables with teachers for feedback through a simple link. They can review the data that affects them, leave comments, and flag issues before the schedule is published.
Questions about workload planning
Do we have to model every contract perfectly to start?
No. You can begin with approximate weekly load limits and refine as you go. As you add more detail, Smootables flags where assigned hours no longer match contract limits.
Can teachers see their own workload?
Yes. Published views are designed for teachers to see their assigned hours, courses, and timetable. Comments and issue threads let them raise problems directly against the plan.
What about substitutions and absences?
Substitute planning, supervision, cancellations, and replacement lessons are part of the same workspace. Daily changes update workload totals automatically and stay connected to the master timetable.
Can it model split contracts and multi-campus teachers?
Yes. Teachers can be scoped across campuses, departments, and programs, with availability and load limits applied at the right level.
Does it replace our payroll system?
No. Smootables is the core platform for year planning and timetabling — where workloads, courses, and schedules are built and kept up to date. It does not replace payroll or other record systems. When you need to move data between tools, Smootables supports imports and exports.