Covid ‘has increased workload for 90% of teachers’

Finding comes from online Oak National Academy, which says pupils have accessed nearly 9 million of its lessons this term
11th December 2020, 7:00am

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Covid ‘has increased workload for 90% of teachers’

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archived/covid-has-increased-workload-90-teachers
Teacher Workload: Nine In 10 Teachers Say Their Workload Has Increased During The Coronavirus Pandemic

Nine in 10 teachers have seen their workload increase because of the pandemic, according to a new survey by the online Oak National Academy.

Oak National also revealed that pupils had taken part in nearly 9 million of its online lessons since September. 

But it found that 68 per cent of teachers across England said they had a significantly higher workload than last year, while 22 per cent said it was slightly higher than last year - 90 per cent in total.


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In the survey, 87 per cent of the respondents who said their workload had risen pointed to Covid-related safety protocols.

And 85 per cent attributed the increase to preparing additional study resources for remote learning, while ​​​​​​70 per cent said they needed to take time to learn to use remote teaching technologies.

Coronavirus: The impact on teacher workload

One teacher said:  “[My greatest worry is] being asked to both teach in the classroom full-time and also set meaningful work online for those children unable to be in school.”

But 62 per cent of teachers who were using Oak National Academy’s resources said they had helped to reduce their workload pressures.

Matt Hood, principal of Oak National Academy, said: “Teachers have faced the most challenging 12 months any of us can remember.  Thousands of teachers are running two schools: one in the school building and one remotely for children at home. Despite the significant pressure this has caused on workload, teachers have once again stepped up to put our children first.

“This term pupils have taken part in nearly 9 million Oak National Academy lessons and nearly half of all teachers are using our resources to support workload.

“News on the vaccine is hugely promising, but we mustn’t let up on support for pupils and teachers as we enter a challenging winter.”

Oak National also found that use of its service increased as areas went into higher lockdown tiers. It rose by an average of 60 per cent three weeks after it was announced that Manchester, Liverpool, Nottingham, Leeds and Sheffield would initially enter Tier 3, compared to use in these locations three weeks before the announcement.
 
In areas with high levels of Covid-19 disruption, this was reflected in greater use of the site, with the top 10 towns with the biggest use of Oak per population being Blackburn, Rochdale, Walsall, Bury, Halifax, Wigan, Bolton, Burnley, Stockton-on-Tees and Dudley.
 
 

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