Workload bargaining toolkit

Foreword

Teachers in the UK work more intensively and for longer hours than any other profession (Teachers having to work harder than any other professionals, says study). High workload and excessive working hours are the most commonly cited reasons for teachers leaving the profession prematurely. Equally, school support staff are increasingly being directed to work additional hours beyond their contract and pick up duties not included in their job description.

Whilst we welcome the recent changes enacted by government, including the removal of mandatory performance-related pay (PRP) and re-inserting an updated list of administrative tasks in the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD) which do not call for the exercise of a teachers’ professional skills and judgement, these fall far short of the change we need to properly address the workload crisis in the sector.

We will continue to press the Labour government on the need for significant and meaningful change in the form of a universally applied national contract, which places strict limits on teacher workload. We will also continue to work with our sister support staff unions to secure national pay and grading for our growing support staff membership.

However, in-school practices remain a key driver of workload; therefore this is a challenge that must be met at the workplace by organised, vigilant NEU workplace groups. Effective workplace groups and the ability to deliver meaningful, national changes are two sides of the same coin.

At the workplace, this goes beyond making sure your school has a negotiated directed time calendar in place, although this is an important starting point.

This workload bargaining toolkit will provide you and your colleagues with the guidance and resources you need to take a proactive approach to bargaining in your workplace and help secure the changes we need to reduce teacher and support staff workload.

This is central to our mission to regain our professional autonomy, and to recruit and retain the educators who will shape the future of education.

Daniel Kebede

General secretary, National Education Union