Teachers call for enforceable 35 hour week limit to stop staff leaving schools
Teachers will today call for compulsory limits on working time - with thousands saying they are forced to do excessive hours.
Figures published by union the NASUWT show teachers work an average of 54 hours a week, while 87% said their workload has gone up in the past year.
It's taken a devastating toll, a survey of 8,500 staff showed, with 83% saying their mental health has suffered.
The NASUWT has called for a sweeping contract shake-up which would create a maximum 35 hour week.
It claims the move would address the large number of teachers leaving the profession, and says they are being "taken advantage of".
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Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said: “It is not coincidental that as teachers’ working hours surge, so too do levels of teacher wastage, vacancies, illness and early retirements. It’s not acceptable that long and unhealthy working hours are routine across the education sector.
Dr Patrick Roach says long hours are leading to teachers leaving the profession (PA)"The selfless dedication of teachers and headteachers is being taken advantage of to the detriment of teachers and pupils.
"We urgently need working conditions that let teachers teach. It’s time for a limit on working hours and an end to abuse at work."
Speaking ahead of the union's annual conference, which starts in Glasgow today, he said: “Urgent reforms are needed to provide clear working rights and entitlements within a national contractual framework of a maximum 35-hour working week.”
The NASUWT has called for an enforceable limit on working hours, allowing every teacher and head to "enjoy a life outside work".
One teacher responding to the survey said: “I continuously feel anxious, worried, stressed. I can’t sleep. I never see my family.”
Another wrote: “Anxiety about workload. Lots more additional work for online resourcing, no extra time provided. With the new curriculum our head is pushing for more trips, outside providers etc. This is lots more admin, again with no extra time to do it.”
And another described enduring the "constant feeling of being on edge", saying: "Massive workload stress and phone calls in lessons to make work available for pupils in wellbeing and inclusion."
The Government says it is looking at ways of reducing workload for teachers.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise how hard teachers work to transform children’s lives up and down the country. We are listening to teachers about the issues that affect them most.
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"That is why, as part of our offer to the unions, we committed to forming a joint taskforce to reduce workload by five hours per week for every teacher.
“To improve teachers’ access to mental health support we are also investing £760,000 in a scheme that provides one to one supervision, and counselling to school leaders, and have launched the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter."
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