A new survey lays bare the scale of workload pressures on Scottish teachers, fuelling calls for the Scottish government to deliver on its promise to cut teachers’ class-contact time.
The survey - conducted by the EIS teaching union and based on 10,789 responses - finds 44 per cent of respondents report usually working more than seven hours extra per week, with a quarter of these respondents saying they work more than 15 additional hours - the equivalent of more than two full working days extra.
Burnout and time off work
The teachers highlight the impact of excessive workload, talking about “burnout” and having to take time off work because of stress. They also talk about the negative impact on pupils, especially those with additional support needs (ASN).
The latest shows that just over 40 per cent of pupils in Scotland now have at least one identified ASN.
But one teacher says there is “neither the time, the resources, nor the staff” to meet the needs of pupils with ASN or behavioural difficulties. Another describes the situation for children with additional needs as “horrendous” because their needs are not being met.
Fewer than half (48.8 per cent) of respondents plan to stay in teaching for the next five years; 19 per cent plan to leave the profession, with the remainder indicating that they do not know. Almost half of those who planned to leave teaching said it was because “the workload is too high”.
Already, Scottish secondary schools are struggling to fill posts in areas such as maths; computing; and craft, design and technology, with the result that subjects are being cut from timetables and primary teachers are being used to plug gaps.
For the past two years, Scotland’s teacher education institutions have filled just half the places available on the most popular route into secondary teaching, the PGDE.
The survey identifies the biggest driver of teacher workload as completing paperwork and bureaucracy. Managing the behaviour of students is the second most reported driver of workload, followed by tracking and monitoring activities.
One teacher says: “The main reason I work so many extra hours is I do a lot of paperwork, planning or finding resources for so many individual children with ASN within my class and care. This has a knock-on impact on what I would have considered as my ‘tasks’ for the week as stated in the school’s working time agreement, as well as my planning time.
“I am forever playing catch-up as there are so many individual needs within my class that I am trying to get it right for every child to the detriment of my own time and health.”
Another says: “I lose over 30 per cent of teaching time dealing with multiple instances of low-level disruption, having to log instances of poor behaviour, having restorative conversations with pupils, completing referrals for pupil behaviour, managing pupils who are on mobile phones, contacting SLT regarding missing pupils from class.”
To tackle workload, respondents called for more support staff; improved pupil behaviour; smaller class sizes; less paperwork and bureaucracy; more funding; and fewer contact hours with pupils.
‘Serious health, safety and wellbeing implications’
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley described the survey results as “stark” and said that “persistent” and “excessive” workload demands were being placed on teachers “at all grades and at all stages of their careers” - with “serious health, safety and wellbeing implications”.
“Having teachers who are overworked and stressed is in no one’s interest, neither teachers themselves or their families, nor the young people learning in our schools,” she said.
Ms Bradley criticised the Scottish government for failing to deliver on its promise to reduce teachers’ class-contact time.
Some 73 per cent said their preparation and correction requirements were unachievable within their normal working week.
Ms Bradley said: “This was something that the Scottish government in its last pledged to address by reducing teachers’ class-contact time by 1.5 hours per week. Four years on from that promise being made, there has been absolutely no tangible progress towards delivering it, and no proposals as to how it will be delivered.”
The EIS is set to open a consultative industrial action ballot over workload at its annual general meeting in Aviemore later this week.
A Scottish government spokesperson said it would continue to work with councils and unions “to agree our approach to delivering a reduction in class-contact time”.
The spokesperson said councils were being provided with an additional £186.5 million to restore teacher numbers, alongside an additional £29 million to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce.
They added: “This funding has been provided on the clear agreement that meaningful progress is made on reducing teacher class-contact time.
“Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide and review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs in their local community.”
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