More than four in 10 schools in England could face industrial action from teachers later this month as part of a long-running dispute over workload and working hours.
Members of teaching union the NASUWT will carry out action short of strike action from Monday 18 September, with the union instructing eligible members to limit their working time by working to rule.
The NASUWT carried out a disaggregated ballot on industrial action, meaning only members in schools that met the legal voting thresholds required will be able to take action.
Tes has been told that members in around 10,000 schools will be able to take part in the action. Department for Education figures show that there were just under 22,000 state schools in England in 2022-23.
Teacher members of the NASUWT voted in July to accept the 6.5 per cent pay award from September 2023.
However, less than one-fifth of members (18.4 per cent) said that the commitments announced by the government to tackle excessive workload and working hours were sufficient.
Teacher industrial action over workload
The NASUWT has said it is “initially” instructing members in eligible schools to limit their working time by working to rule in the following ways:
- Refusing to undertake inappropriately directed duties outside school session times.
- Refusing to be directed to undertake extracurricular activities.
- Refusing to be directed to undertake midday supervision of pupils.
- Refusing to be directed to undertake any work-related tasks or activities during their lunch break.
- Refusing to be directed to undertake work-related tasks or activities on weekends or bank holidays.
- Refusing to undertake any other duties during planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time.
- Refusing to cover for absence other than in circumstances that are not foreseeable
- Refusing to undertake routine administrative and clerical tasks.
- Refusing to cooperate with mock inspections.
- Refusing to cooperate with inappropriate planning, marking and data management policies, practices and initiatives that have not been workload impact-assessed and the subject of consultation or agreement with the NASUWT.
Dr Patrick Roach, general secretary of the NASUWT, said that, alongside the pay situation, union members are “also very clear that workload and working hours are the key factor which is contributing to their demoralisation, is contributing to early exit from the profession, is fuelling the teacher recruitment and retention crisis”.
He added that members were also clear that the government “has not done anywhere near enough to address those issues”.
When the government announced the pay award over the summer, it said that the DfE would convene a workload reduction task force “to explore how we can go further to support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers and leaders”.
Demand for limit on teachers’ working time
On 11 September, a week before the industrial action is due to begin, the NASUWT union said that a national contractual limit on teachers’ working time must be introduced to tackle stress and burnout within the profession.
The NASUWT is calling for a contractual, enforceable limit on teachers’ working hours through a teachers’ contract that provides clear working time rights and entitlements, within the framework of a maximum 35-hour working week.
Dr Roach said: “Workloads and working hours in teaching are simply unsustainable. They are driving teachers out of the profession, deterring new recruits and undermining teachers’ ability to give their best to the students they teach.
“We are clear that if the government will not act to meet its duty of care to the profession, we will.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “It is disappointing that NASUWT is taking this action despite the government accepting the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendations for the 2023-24 pay award for teachers and leaders.
“The award is fully funded and means teachers and leaders in maintained schools will receive a pay award of 6.5 per cent - the highest pay award for teachers in over 30 years.
“We also announced that we will convene a workload reduction taskforce to explore how we can go further to support trust and school leaders to minimise workload for teachers and leaders.”
