School Operations 6 min read

Managing Teacher Workload Constraints in Auto Timetable Generator

How administrators can configure maximum daily periods, short codes, departments, and workload balancing rules.

ATG

Auto Timetable Generator Team

Product & Engineering Team • July 04, 2026

Summary & Impact for SchoolsAdministrator Guide

Challenge

Unbalanced teaching workloads lead to faculty burnout, room-hopping fatigue, and uneven weekly class loads.

Solution

Combine individual teacher profile caps with global workload balancing and consecutive period constraints.

Outcome

Creates fair, predictable teaching schedules that support staff retention and instructional quality.

1. Individual Teacher Profile Controls

On the Teachers Page, administrators configure individual faculty parameters:

Short Code: Unique identifier (e.g. MATH-01, ENG-02) used for compact timetable grid rendering.

Department: Departmental grouping (e.g. Science, Mathematics, Humanities).

Max Periods Per Day: Maximum number of teaching periods assigned to a teacher on any single day (default: 6 periods).

Pro Tip: Short codes help keep timetable grids clean and easy to scan.

On the Constraints Page, administrators configure global workload preferences:

Balance Teacher Workload (Soft Constraint): Spreads a teacher's total weekly teaching periods evenly across working days.

Compress Teacher Days (Soft Constraint): Groups teaching periods into fewer days when possible to provide full unassigned days.

Teacher Consecutive Limits (Hard Constraint): Enforces a maximum cap on back-to-back classes before a break must occur.

Pro Tip: Toggle Balance Teacher Workload under Soft Constraints to ensure smooth weekly schedules.

ATG

Product & Engineering Team

Official recommendations and best practices from the Auto Timetable Generator academic team.

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