In the second Teacher Workload Survey, teachers and
middle leaders reported working an average of 49.5
hours per week in 2019, down by 4.9 hours compared to
2016. Headteachers and senior leaders also saw a
significant fall, to an average of 55.1 hours per week
in 2019.
The findings, taken from a representative survey of
over 7,000 teachers, middle leaders and senior leaders,
showed the reduction has been driven by cuts to time
spent on burdensome tasks outside the classroom.
Teaching time has remained broadly stable over the
period.
Education Secretary said:
For too long, teachers have been working too many
hours on time-consuming admin tasks that simply don’t
add value in the classroom.
But the findings in today’s report give me real
optimism that, working with the profession, we are
making a real difference, driving down the number of
hours teachers work on these burdensome and
unnecessary tasks.
However, I am not complacent, and it’s clear from
meeting many teachers across the country that we have
more to do.
Today, I’m announcing how schools across the country
stand to benefit from our £14 billion pound
investment. As well as further measures to support
staff through new technology to improve timetabling
and curriculum resources to reduce planning time,
this funding should help to ensure teachers spend
more time doing what they do best, teaching our
children.
Teachers and middle leaders in primary schools reported
working an average of 12.5 hours during weekends and
evenings, down by 5.0 hours compared to 2016. For
secondary teachers, this came to an average of 13.1
out-of-school hours, a reduction of 3.8 hours compared
to 2016.
To ensure that teaching remains an attractive
profession, and the most talented teachers are
motivated to stay in the classroom, the Department is
working to meet commitments in the Recruitment &
Retention Strategy.
These include:
- Announcing a significant step towards early
roll-out of the Early Career Framework programme in
Bradford, Doncaster, the North East and Greater
Manchester, from September 2020 - the appointment of
providers of fully funded support packages for new
teachers and mentors;
- Launching a new opportunity for schools and
colleges to participate in the EdTech Innovation
Testbed, helping to identify digital tools that can
reduce teacher workload as well as trialling
‘best-in-class’ timetabling software to facilitate
flexible working;
- Launching an expressions of interest process for
schools and colleges to apply to become EdTech
Demonstrators – providing peer-to-peer support on the
use of technology, including for tackling teacher
workload;
- Updating the school workload reduction toolkit,
which contains practical materials for schools to
tackle teacher workload, to make it easier to use, with
better navigation and simpler, reduced text;
- Announcing an extension of nine Curriculum Fund
pilots for up to an additional two terms, after initial
research showed almost half of teachers said that their
workload had decreased, saving teachers time from
creating schemes and lesson plans from scratch; and
- Publishing flexible working resources, including
case studies to provide practical support for schools
in implementing further flexible working for teachers
and leaders.
Ambition Institute, Education Development Trust, Teach
First, and UCL, Institute of Education (IOE) have been
awarded contracts to provide high-quality support
packages for schools in early roll-out areas. They will
produce and deliver these programmes working with a
range of regional partners.
New teachers and mentors in Bradford, Doncaster, the
North East and Greater Manchester will be able to
benefit from materials and training as part of early
roll-out of the Early Career Framework programme from
September 2020.
Headteacher of Charles Dickens Primary School and
Nursery, Cassie Buchanan said:
The survey outcomes are a positive shift in the right
direction and reflect the strong commitment and
actions by heads and school leaders.
At Charles Dickens Primary we no longer give children
extensive written feedback. Instead, we spend time
identifying what children do not know and planning
lessons to address this. We have also reduced data
collection so that teachers have more time to adapt
lessons for the children in their class and
professional learning.
I have learnt that change for my teachers will only
come when senior leaders take positive steps which
engage with the evidence of what works for improving
children’s outcomes and learning from schools which
are already reducing workload successfully.
Joysy John, Director of Education at Nesta, said:
By getting schools and colleges to test products in a
real world setting we hope to bridge the gap between
industry and the education sector. We want schools
and colleges from across England to sign up to the
testbed.
Through participating in the Testbed, staff in our
schools and colleges will have an opportunity to
trial technology products, further their professional
development and better understand what works.
Matt Davis, UK Director at Education Development Trust.
We know that the learning curve for teachers is
steepest in the early years of their careers, and
that high-quality teaching is the biggest in-school
factor in raising the attainment of children.
The Early Career Framework offers a really
comprehensive roadmap of the knowledge and
competences which will make novice teachers more
effective in the classroom. With our support, mentors
in their schools will help to develop new teachers’
expertise and make a positive difference to their
competence, confidence and motivation at this crucial
stage in their careers.
Documents
Ref:
ISBN 978-1-83870-059-1, DFE
RR951PDF, 2.21MB, 127 pages
Ref:
ISBN 978-1-83870-061-4, DFE
RB951PDF, 216KB, 8 pages
Ref:
ISBN 978-1-83870-062-1, DFE
RR951aPDF, 3.52MB, 105 pages
