Reduce teachers’ workload, says NUT

The National Union of Teachers has threatened more strike action unless the education secretary reduces teachers’ workloads in England.
Nicky Morgan makes her first Conservative Party conference speech as education secretary on Tuesday.

About 90 per cent of 16,379 NUT members who responded to a survey said they had considered quitting in the past two years over excessive work.

A spokesman for Morgan said her speech would not disappoint the NUT.

The union sent out an email survey to its members in England and Wales last weekend.

It says the responses make “for shocking and sobering reading” and demonstrate the scale of the “workload crisis” in schools.

Ninety per cent had considered giving up teaching during the past two years because of workload.

Eighty-seven per cent said they knew one or more colleagues who had given up during the past two years.

96.5 per cent said their workload had negative consequences for their family or personal life.

NUT General Secretary, Christine Blower called the findings “utterly depressing”.

“Nicky Morgan needs to address this in her speech and in her talks with teacher unions.”

Blower said large numbers of teachers leaving the profession, combined with a possible shortfall in the recruitment of trainee teachers, could be “disastrous for children and young people”.

The union says excessive and unnecessary “accountability measures” required by school leaders for Ofsted mean teachers have to spend hours making detailed records of work done by pupils in lessons.

“The general run of teachers doing a good job should not be put through this kind of evidencing,” said Deputy General Secretary Kevin Courtney.

“This treats every teacher as if they were in trouble all the time.”

Courtney said he believed Morgan, who took over as education secretary in July, was aware of the extent to which teachers were struggling to cope with paperwork.

He said there had been a change of tone in the talks since she took over from Michael Gove.

The union highlights comments from teachers who responded to the survey and stressed these were “classroom teachers and not union activists”.

“There is no such thing as work-life balance in this profession. It’s so sad – I want to love this job but sometimes it’s really hard to know how to,” said one.

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