It is a surprise to no-one that indomitable teacher workloads are contributing to the current recruitment and retention crisis. What action must be taken, both on a national and individual level?
For almost twenty years I have been writing about the demands of teacher workload and the devastating impact it can have on those feeling crushed under its weight. In that time, despite many calls and warnings to reduce workload from a range of organisations with an interest in education, workload has undoubtedly increased and now rests at utterly unsustainable levels.
With recruitment and retention continuing to present a major challenge to our schools, unsurprisingly given that our teachers are working longer hours than almost anywhere else, it should come as no surprise that a strong contributing factor to this sorry state is teacher workload.
There’s no doubt that workload can be tackled, to an extent, within the profession at school level. But that will never be sufficient. For real change, sustainable in the long term, there needs to be action on policy at government level.
In recent years there has been an attempt by the Department for Education to understand the workload issues facing teachers.
As a spokesperson for the Department explained: ‘We want every child to have access to great teachers that aren’t weighed down with unnecessary workload so they have the time and freedom to do what they do best - inspire the next generation. We recognise teachers’ concerns and are continuing to work with the sector to find constructive solutions to this issue.’
To help tackle the issue of teacher workload, the Department for Education has:
While shifts in policy and the expectations that others have of teachers happen in the background, as they must, are there any realistically achievable tips for tackling workload on an individual basis?
It seems there are, but we have to be willing to stand assertively united in the face of unreasonable demands. The situation as it currently stands cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. Try these suggestions:
While there are many actions that we can take as individuals (teachers and school leaders) and as schools to tackle excessive teacher workload, these actions are likely to be limited in their effect without a substantial commitment to policy change at government level.
Without this kind of action, teachers will continue to suffer unacceptably high levels of negative stress at enormous cost. There are no winners in this scenario.
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