Teachers under ‘immense strain’

Workload and wellbeing issues for teachers are “spiralling out of control, and the situation is getting worse”, according to NAHT headteachers’ union general secretary Paul Whiteman.

Whiteman was responding to the publication of “wave two” findings from the education department’s annual survey into the working lives of teachers and leaders in state schools in England. Labour’s promised “reset of the relationship” between the teaching profession and government could not come soon enough, he said.

He added: “Headteachers are under immense strain, and it is shocking that excessive workloads have been normalised — three-quarters (76%) of school leaders are now working between 50 and 69 hours a week, and almost 10% are working 70-79 hours.”

He called for far-reaching reform of the Ofsted school inspection body; a reduction in the “overcrowded curriculum” and the overuse of statutory tests and exams; more funding for children with special educational needs; and to tackle mouldy, crumbling and poorly insulated school buildings.

NEU teaching union leader Daniel Kebede called for action on workload, wellbeing and pay.

And NASUWT teachers’ union general secretary Patrick Roach said 14 years of failure by the last government had left teachers feeling increasingly overworked, stressed and undervalued.

He called for a national workforce plan to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis.