How long does it take for schools to embed new policy ideas?
Every school should know how changes to school policy, reduces or increases teacher workload, or makes no difference at all.
In my life as a teacher, it felt like ages for new ideas to ripple across a school organisation. Ask any school leader about implementing strategy, and they will tell you it takes several years for students, teachers and policy ideas to change habits and thinking.
The latest research published by the Department for Education, The Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders (April, 2023) signposts what changes schools make to their policies; implemented to work more efficiently.
Every year, schools submit their workforce data, taking into account, for example, the number of students, teachers, how their budget is used, and so on. Then, every 2 to 3 years, the government publish the teacher workforce survey (TWS), which compares the numbers. I’ve looked back at this data for many years.
