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TEACHERS' WORKLOAD SURVEY


What’s happened to your workload?

NUT employment conditions and rights officer Sarah Lyons looks at the findings of the latest teachers’ workload survey, and at how the NUT is tackling excessive workload.

Every year the Department for Children, Schools and Families commissions a survey to provide a snapshot of the hours worked by teachers in England and Wales and their perceptions of how they are spending their time. The findings of the 2009 survey reveal that, shockingly, nearly all categories of teacher still have an average working week of over 50 hours.

The 2003 Workload Agreement has had a minimal impact. Despite the introduction of planning, preparation and assessment time, limits on cover, and no requirement to do routine clerical tasks, classroom teachers have seen only very slight falls in average working hours. These findings vindicate the NUT’s decision not to sign the Workload Agreement.

Working hours
Headteachers and deputy heads in primary schools have seen a rise in working hours since 2008. Primary heads’ hours have been rising since 2005. Since last year, deputy heads’ average hours have risen by over an hour a week, while their headteacher colleagues’ weekly average has gone up by around 45 minutes.

The survey also reveals that 29 per cent of primary heads work more than 60 hours a week. Though primary classroom teachers’ average weekly hours have fallen – from 52.2 hours in 2008 to 51.2 hours in 2009 – they are still well above acceptable levels.

Encouragingly, secondary heads and deputies are working fewer hours in 2009. Deputies saw a significant fall, from 58 to 54.9 hours a week, while heads saw a drop from 59.5 to 58.6 hours. This is still unreasonably high; secondary heads average ten and a half hours a day, and six over the weekend.

Teachers’ tasks
The survey also looks at:
activities teachers are expected to do that they don’t think should be part of their job
activities teachers are unable to do that they do think should be part of their job
activities they would like to spend less time doing, and
activities they would like to spend more time doing.

Administration and clerical work are most frequently cited as things teachers do not think should be part of their job. Sixteen per cent of primary teachers say they would like to spend more time teaching, while 23 per cent of secondary teachers want to spend more time on planning and preparation.

Primary heads most often want to spend more time with, or talking to, children (20 per cent) or supporting and mentoring teachers (18 per cent). Almost one in four secondary heads (24 per cent) also want more contact with pupils. In addition, secondary heads mention strategic planning (17 per cent) and supporting and mentoring teachers (16 per cent) frequently.

Sadly, for each category of primary and secondary teacher, between 23 and 32 per cent feel their workload rarely or never allows them to pursue personal interests outside work.

Tackling excessive workload
The Working Time Regulations provide a general limit of 48 hours a week, but these have not been applied to teachers. The NUT has called on the government to end this unfairness and take steps to give teachers a right to a decent work-life balance.

The union is striving to bring real change to limit teachers’ working hours. For example at Prestwich arts college in Bury, we supported members in taking action this summer after the headteacher proposed replacing a non-contact period with an extra teaching period. This prompted the head and chair of governors to reinstate the non-contact period.

At other schools, the NUT has been balloting members for action after the introduction this term of teachers’ right to rarely provide cover led to an increase in their timetabled hours. We have also produced comprehensive guidance for teachers and school leaders on a range of workload issues. Find it on our website at www.teachers.org.uk/workload.

If your workload is unacceptable, why not hold a school group meeting to discuss the problem? You can get help from your NUT division or association, regional office or NUT Cymru in taking steps to apply NUT working time guidelines to protect members from the demands of excessive workload.