The Department for Education’s second Teacher Workload Survey has found that teachers’ workloads have reduced by five hours over the past three years
Commenting on the publication of the Department for Education’s second Teacher Workload Survey, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“Whilst any reduction of teacher working hours is to be welcomed, it is premature of government to claim they are winning the war on workload.
“It is good that teachers are spending less time on marking and planning, but the numbers for time spent on data collection are still stubbornly high and reflect the toxic accountability system which is the main driver of teachers leaving the profession earlier and earlier in their careers. Ofsted’s new inspection framework is creating rising workload again.
“Given this reality, teachers will view the government’s figures with incredulity.
“We know that one third of newly qualified teachers leave within five years. And just this year, 40% of members predicted they will no longer be in education in five years time.
“Last month, the UCL published a compelling historical study of teacher workload which showed that one in four teachers work 60-hour weeks. This is completely unacceptable. That study also cast doubt on whether the most recent DfE workload surveys were accurate. If they were not, the reduction shown by this survey may be over-estimated. That would certainly be more consistent with what our members are telling us.”
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