Teachers work more overtime than any other

professionals, analysis finds

Started by: kayewiggins 27-2-2015 13:01

Teachers are more likely to work unpaid overtime than staff in any other industry, with some working
almost 13 extra hours per week, according to research.
A study of official figures from the Trades Union Congress (TUC) found that 61.4 per cent of primary
school teachers worked unpaid overtime in 2014, equating to 12.9 additional hours a week.
Among secondary teachers, 57.5 per cent worked unpaid overtime, with an average of 12.5 extra
hours.
Across all education staff, including teachers, teaching assistants, playground staff, cleaners and
caretakers, 37.6 per cent worked unpaid overtime a figure higher than that for any other sector.
Christine Blower, general secretary of the NUT teaching union, said the scale of teachers unpaid
overtime was untenable.
Much of teachers excessive workload is as a result of government education policies and initiatives,
including the totally out-of-control accountability systems," she said.
We already have a shortage of teachers in many subjects. Unless teachers working lives are
improved significantly, the situation will only get worse, with many experienced teachers and
graduates either leaving or not even considering entering the profession."

She added: Working weekends and long into the evenings under such intense scrutiny and pressure
is detrimental to the health, family and social life of teachers and is clearly bad for education.
The TUCs research has been published to mark Work Your Proper Hours Day, when the union
urges staff to take a "proper lunch break" and to leave work on time.
The findings come just weeks after teachers inundated the Department for Education with tens of
thousands of responses to its Workload Challenge, which was launched by education secretary
Nicky Morgan and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg in October.
In response, the government announced a new deal in which teachers would no longer be
subjected to major changes in Ofsted inspections or government policy during the academic year.
A spokesman for the Department for Education said: It is no secret that we have made some very
important changes in schools changes that would not have been possible without the hard work
and dedication of our teaching profession. As a result of their efforts, standards are now higher and a
million more children are in good or outstanding schools.
Our recent Workload Challenge had thousands of responses and helped to build a picture of the
root causes of unnecessary workload. We want to support the profession to tackle these issues.
We will monitor progress by tracking teacher workload through a large-scale, robust survey next
spring and every two years from then and continue to develop ways to help teachers focus on what
really matters giving every child the very best start in life.

Adapted from https://news.tes.co.uk/b/news/2015/02/27/teachers-work-more-overtime-thanother-professionals-analysis-finds.aspx