Half of teachers in England have said their workload is unmanageable most or all of the time, a survey by the largest teaching union has revealed today.
The NEU teaching union has also said its findings suggest that three-quarters of teachers and more than half of support staff feel stressed at work the majority of the time.
The figures show that in England, 37 per cent of teachers find workload unmanageable most of the time and another 14 per cent find it to be so all of the time.
In contrast, just 1 per cent of teachers surveyed felt able to cope with their workload all the time.
The NEU’s leaders have accused the Department for Education of “failure” in its attempt to tackle the workload crisis.
The survey has been published as the union holds its annual conference this week.
On stress levels, responses from England and Wales show 37 per cent of teachers and a fifth of support staff (21 per cent) describe feeling stressed at work 80 per cent or more of the time.
An additional third of teachers (31 per cent) and a further quarter of support staff (25 per cent) say this is the case between 60-79 per cent of the time. The NEU says it is “reasonable to deduce [from this] that around three-quarters of teachers and more than a half of support staff feel stressed at work the majority of the time”.
When this data is broken down, the NEU found the highest levels of stress were more commonly recorded among women than men, younger rather than older teachers, and those teaching in schools with higher levels of deprivation.
The survey received more than 10,500 responses from teachers across England.
It suggests concern over workload and stress are slightly worse in England. The survey shows more than four in 10 teachers (41 per cent) are feeling stressed at work 80 per cent or more of the time, compared with 37 per cent across England and Wales.
Workload the ‘number one reason’ for leaving
Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the NEU, said that it has been known for “years” that workload is the “number one reason teachers decide to leave the profession”.
“It is a key driver of the recruitment and retention crisis, where talented graduates suffer burnout within just a few years of qualifying.”
Dr Bousted added that looked on year-on-year, there was no ”discernible improvement in the situation”.
“The strength of feeling from our members is just as intense as last year, sometimes more so, and indicates a failure on the part of the government to tackle a problem that a growing list of former education secretaries has admitted exists.”
The NEU conference opens today a week after the government pay offer to unions was made public, with all unions currently voting on the offer.
After a period of intensive talks, the Department for Education made all four teaching unions the offer of a £1,000 non-consolidated payment for 2022-23 and an average 4.5 per cent rise for 2023-24.
The NEU is recommending that its members reject the offer.
Part of the non-pay offer from the government made to unions last week included a commitment to reduce average teacher working time by five hours a week.
The NEU survey also asked teachers what impact certain changes would have on workload in the next year.
Almost all respondents in England (98 per cent) said that an increase in school or college funding to pay for increased staffing levels would have a positive impact on workload.
And almost all teachers said that greater support in the classroom for pupils with additional needs would have a positive impact on workload.
And 95 per cent said a less punitive inspection system would have a positive impact on workload.
Almost all teachers (97 per cent) surveyed said they worried about the impact of work on their wellbeing.
More than six in 10 (66 per cent) of respondents said this was something they thought about very often. And 31 per cent said this was something they thought about occasionally.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We recognise how hard teachers work to transform children’s lives up and down the country. We are listening to teachers about the issues that affect them most. That is why, as part of our offer to the unions, we committed to forming a joint taskforce to reduce workload by five hours per week for every teacher.
“To improve teachers’ access to mental health support we are also investing £760,000 in a scheme that provides one to one supervision, and counselling to school leaders, and have launched the Education Staff Wellbeing Charter.
“The core schools budget will reach £58.8 billion in 2024-25, following the significant £2bn additional investment announced in the Autumn Statement, taking school funding to its highest levels in history. The independent IFS estimates that school funding is still growing faster than school costs.”
