10 Time-Saving Hacks for Teachers: Planning, Marking, and Admin

Teaching is one of the most rewarding jobs in the world — but also one of the busiest. Between lesson planning, marking, meetings, parent emails, reports, behaviour logs, and a never-ending stream of admin tasks, it’s no wonder so many teachers feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day.

In fact, according to the Department for Education’s Working Lives of Teachers report, UK teachers work an average of 50+ hours per week — and much of that time is spent on planning, marking, and paperwork rather than direct teaching.

But here’s the good news: with the right strategies, you can reclaim hours of your week without sacrificing quality. These 10 practical, classroom-tested hacks will help you work smarter, not harder — so you can focus on the parts of the job that truly matter.

1. Batch Your Planning Like a Pro

Planning lessons can eat up huge chunks of your week — but it doesn’t have to. One of the most effective ways to save time is to batch your planning instead of doing it piecemeal every evening.

Here’s how:

Plan in weekly or half-term blocks. Set aside a focused chunk of time (e.g. Friday afternoon or Sunday evening) to outline lessons for the whole upcoming week or unit.
Use a repeatable structure. Sticking to a consistent lesson format (e.g. starter → input → activity → review) reduces decision fatigue and makes planning faster.
Build in flexible “evergreen” lessons. Have a bank of activities, projects, and tasks that can be adapted quickly for different topics. Over time, this library will become a massive time-saver.

Example: A Year 8 history teacher spends two hours on Sunday mapping the week’s key content and objectives. Instead of writing every detail, they sketch a broad outline and add details 10–15 minutes before each lesson. Total planning time? Under three hours a week — down from six.

2. Master the Art of Reusable Resources

There’s no prize for reinventing the wheel every week. A huge time-saver for UK teachers is to create and reuse high-quality core resources — and then adapt them slightly when needed.

Start building your personal resource bank:

Templates for lesson slides, worksheets, and homework.
Sentence starters and question stems for different subjects.
Self-marking quizzes (e.g. Google Forms or Microsoft Forms).
Reusable marking rubrics and feedback sheets.

You can also tap into shared resources from trusted places like TES or collaborate with colleagues to share the workload.

Pro tip: Name and store resources clearly (e.g. “KS3_Science_Planetary_Motion.pptx”) so you can find and reuse them quickly next year.

3. Streamline Your Marking With Smart Systems

Marking is often the biggest time drain for teachers — but it doesn’t have to be. By shifting from “mark everything” to “mark strategically,” you can cut hours from your week.

Here are proven ways to speed things up:

Live marking: Circulate during class and give feedback in real time. Students correct work immediately, reducing the need for lengthy written comments later.
Whole-class feedback sheets: Instead of writing similar notes 30 times, keep a running list of common errors and targets. Share this once, then ask students to apply it individually.
Mark in short, focused bursts: Set a 25-minute timer (the Pomodoro method) and do nothing but marking. You’ll be surprised how much faster you get.
Use coloured codes or symbols: Create a key (e.g. “S” = spelling, “P” = punctuation) that students learn to interpret. Saves you writing full comments repeatedly.

Real-world example: A Year 10 English teacher switched from long written comments to whole-class feedback and saved four hours a week — while students reported clearer understanding of how to improve.

4. Automate the Admin That Slows You Down

Admin tasks like emails, behaviour logs, and forms can feel endless. The secret is to automate and standardise wherever possible.

Here’s how:

Email templates: Save standard responses (e.g. for parent updates or meeting reminders) so you can send them in seconds.
Keyboard shortcuts and text expanders: Tools like Text Blaze or built-in email snippets can turn a few keystrokes into full messages.
Calendar reminders: Automate routine tasks (e.g. “mark homework” or “update grades”) as recurring calendar events.
Batch admin work: Instead of checking emails 20 times a day, block two 20-minute windows and handle all admin in one go.

5. Use Technology to Your Advantage

If you’re still doing everything manually, you’re wasting valuable time. EdTech can be a teacher’s best friend — if used wisely.

Here are tools that UK teachers swear by:

Google Forms / Microsoft Forms: Self-marking quizzes and exit tickets.
Google Classroom / Microsoft Teams: Quick assignment distribution and feedback.
ClassDojo or Arbor: Streamline behaviour tracking and communication.
Quizlet or Kahoot!: Pre-made quizzes that make revision effortless.

Bonus tip: Use dictation tools (built into most phones and laptops) to write lesson plans, emails, or feedback faster.

6. Mark Less — But Make It Matter More

Here’s a hard truth: not everything needs to be marked. Ofsted no longer expects “triple marking” or endless written feedback, and neither should you.

Focus on the marking that has the biggest impact:

Prioritise assessments that inform your next teaching steps.
Use peer- and self-assessment regularly — it builds independence and saves time.
Sample-mark (e.g. 5–6 books) to spot trends before committing to marking everything.

By shifting from volume to value, you’ll reduce your marking load without reducing learning quality.

For a deeper dive into UK education expectations, see The ultimate UK education terms & frameworks guide for teachers and school staff.

7. Harness the Power of Routines and Checklists

Decision fatigue is real — and it slows teachers down. Having clear routines and checklists for repetitive tasks reduces mental load and speeds everything up.

Ideas that work:

A daily checklist: emails, attendance, marking, planning.
A “Friday reset” routine: tidy classroom, plan next week’s objectives, prep materials.
A marking checklist: date, target, response, signature — tick each off as you go.
Start-of-lesson routines: Do Now → register → starter → input → activity.

Routines create predictability, and predictability saves time.

8. Collaborate and Share the Workload

You’re not in this alone — and collaboration can cut hours from your workload.

Co-plan schemes of work with your department. If four teachers split planning, you each do 25% of the work.
Share marking rubrics and standardised feedback banks.
Swap best resources and teaching ideas during departmental meetings.
Use shared drives for quick access to ready-made materials.

Pro tip: Build a shared “marking phrases” document for your team. Having 30+ ready-made feedback comments at your fingertips can save you an hour per marking session.

9. Protect Your Focus With “Deep Work” Blocks

Multitasking is a time-killer. Constantly switching between emails, planning, and marking wastes brainpower and slows you down.

Instead, try deep work blocks:

Dedicate 60–90 minutes to one task (e.g. planning a half-term unit) with no interruptions.
Turn off email notifications and silence your phone.
Batch similar tasks together (e.g. mark all essays, then reply to all emails).

Teachers who adopt deep work blocks often reclaim 2–3 hours per week simply by reducing task-switching.

10. Protect Your Energy to Work More Efficiently

Time-saving isn’t just about hacks — it’s also about your energy. Tired teachers work slower, make more mistakes, and spend longer on tasks.

Protecting your well-being helps you work more efficiently:

Take short breaks between marking sessions.
Don’t try to do heavy cognitive work late in the evening if you’re exhausted.
Build in regular exercise — even a short walk can boost focus and mood.

For more tips on staying balanced, check out The role of exercise in supporting pupils’ mental health — many of the same principles apply to staff too.

Final Thoughts: Small Changes = Big Wins

You’ll never eliminate every hour of planning, marking, and admin — but you can take control of them. By batching your planning, automating repetitive tasks, reusing great resources, and focusing only on feedback that matters, you’ll reclaim hours each week without cutting corners.

Even adopting two or three of these time-saving hacks will make a noticeable difference. And once you start building your own systems and routines, the benefits compound — freeing up time for creative lessons, meaningful feedback, and a healthier work-life balance.

Remember: the goal isn’t to work harder. It’s to work smarter — so you can focus on what really matters: helping your pupils thrive.