Discussing teacher workload can feel a bit like Groundhog Day, and the most recent evidence suggests there’ll be no escape any time soon.
Almost two-thirds (61 per cent) of teachers say they are working longer hours than a year ago, according to Teacher Tapp, up from 47 per cent in 2018. The same Teacher Tapp study also reminds us yet again that teaching is far from a 9-to-5 job. The proportion of teachers now working a 50-hour-plus week is 48 per cent.
Workload has a corrosive effect on the sector. The NFER’s annual report states that “workload is the reason most cited by ex-teachers for why they left teaching”, and right now that is particularly pressing because too many teachers are leaving before retirement age.
