Teachers working 12-hour days, leaked report says

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By Leila Nathoo

BBC political correspondent

Almost a quarter of teachers in England are working 12-hour days, according to a leaked government report.

Some 22% of teachers said they were working 60 hours a week or more.

The research, commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE), was carried out in Spring 2022 and has not yet been made public.

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has said a new taskforce will be created to help reduce teachers' workload by an average five hours a week.

Teaching unions are currently consulting members in England on a new pay offer, which includes the promise to reduce their workload.

The leaked document - marked confidential and titled Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders - was produced for the DfE to examine issues around teacher supply, recruitment and retention.

More than 11,000 teachers and leaders across primary and secondary schools were questioned.

one in four were considering leaving the state sector in the next year, with most of this group citing high workload as a key factor behind their decision
three-quarters of teachers said they spent too much time on paperwork, while two-thirds of senior leaders felt they were spending too much time responding to government policy changes
one in five teachers surveyed reported that satisfaction with their working life was "low"
nearly half of those responding said they would rate their anxiety levels as "high"
almost three-quarters of teachers said their workload was "unacceptable".

Shadow Education Secretary Bridget Philipson said the report was a snapshot of an "overworked, overstretched and under-appreciated school workforce" and criticised the government for failing to act on the findings sooner.

Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, accused ministers of withholding important information from the school teachers' review body, which makes recommendations on teachers' pay and takes into account the advantages and disadvantages of the profession as a whole.

She told the BBC: "The government have sat on this report for months and they didn't provide this evidence to the teachers' review body."

"It's clear the government wanted to bury bad news about the extent and intensity of teacher workload."

The government says its submissions to review bodies include relevant data which is in the public domain at the time.

The DfE has put forward what it has described as the government's final pay deal to education unions, whose members have undertaken a number of days of industrial action in recent months.

Most staff would get a £1,000 payment this year and a 4.3% rise next year.

A spokesperson for the government said ministers had made teachers a "fair and reasonable" pay offer, which included a commitment on bringing down working hours.

"We are listening to teachers about the issues that affect them, which is why our offer also committed to reducing workload by five hours per week."

The NEU has announced another two potential strike days in England and is urging members to reject the deal.

A University College London study in 2019 found teachers in England have worked an average of 46-49 hours a week over the last 25 years. The researchers said the data showed that reducing teachers' hours would be difficult and may require "radical action".

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