Commenting on the Department for Education’s longitudinal workforce survey,“Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders (WLTL), Daniel Kebede, General Secretary of the National Education Union, said:
“These findings are a damning indictment of the previous government’s failure to support young learners by ensuring teachers and leaders have manageable jobs. The data reveals minimal change in the excessive workload and unsustainable working hours faced by our teachers and school leaders.
‘Poor wellbeing driven by unsustainable workload and working hours are driving dedicated professionals out of the classroom. Work needs to be done with the profession to address these critical issues alongside ensuring increased PPA time, flexible working and pay. The unmet needs of mental health and pastoral support both in and out of schools is also urgently needed to address behaviour in schools.
‘Teachers and leaders work more hours than the maximum recommended by the Working Time Regulations and the survey highlights workload, stress and poor wellbeing as factors driving teachers and leaders to consider leaving the profession. A third of respondents said that they were considering leaving the state sector in the next 12 months, and the study shows that many follow through on this intention, exacerbating an already critical teacher retention crisis. 9 in 10 teachers are now reporting experiencing stress in their work and increased numbers say their job doesn’t leave them time for their personal life and negatively affects their physical and mental health.
‘This is unsustainable and unfair for a generation of young people relying on state education. There is much for the government to do”.