Commenting on the TUC’s annual survey of unpaid overtime hours
which sees teachers ranked highest for the first time,
Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National
Education Union, said:
“No teacher wants to be topping the charts for unpaid overtime,
but this, sadly, is the point the profession has now reached. The
Government is currently benefiting from 5.5 million unpaid hours
from teaching professionals alone. Of those working unpaid
overtime, staff are averaging an extra 26.3 hours per week. Head
teachers will undoubtedly be the worst affected. The Department
for Education’s own survey from 2023 showed full-time leaders
working an average 57.5hrs per week and full-time teachers
51.9hrs per week. Both are above the UK’s Working Time
Regulations and extend well beyond classroom hours.
“The Department for Education has had warm words on tackling
workload for many years, but a succession of education
secretaries have failed to get to the heart of the problem. It is
clear that high workload is now a feature of teaching, not a bug.
“The Government has shot itself in the foot by failing to tackle
working hours for so long. Unmanageable workload is the main
driver of teachers leaving, alongside excessive accountability.
And in the context of recruitment, graduates look to teaching and
the current education climate and unsurprisingly opt for other
professions rather than be underpaid for excessive hours spent in
buildings that are falling apart thanks to a miserly Government.
“Recent steps by the Government to abolish performance related
pay and reintroduce the list of admin and clerical tasks not to
be undertaken by teachers and leaders are welcomed, but do not go
far enough. If the government is serious about raising the
achievement of all pupils, then it must be serious about reducing
teacher workload and improving wellbeing. This requires urgent
changes to the current punitive accountability regime, a plan to
reduce class sizes, increase PPA time, and a faster solution to
the teacher recruitment and retention crisis. Such sensible
measures, accompanied with appropriate funding and resources,
will reduce teacher workload to more manageable levels, increase
morale, improve teacher professionalism and aid retention.
“The NEU will continue putting pressure on the government to take
immediate action to reduce workload and we will intensify our
campaign to achieve the reductions needed by our members.”
