Workload pressures pose “substantial risks” to teacher and school leader wellbeing, union leaders have warned.
In a joint submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), four education unions have said that the previous government has caused “major damage” to schools.
The Association of School and College Leaders, the NAHT school leaders’ union, the NEU teaching union and the Community trade union also urge the STRB to make recommendations to reverse real-terms pay cuts and restore pay competitiveness.
The STRB is an independent body that advises the UK government on the pay, working conditions and professional duties of school teachers in England.
Earlier this week, the Department for Education recommended to the STRB a 2.8 per cent pay award for teachers for next year, with unions concerned that the pay rise will not be funded.
‘Major damage to working lives of teachers’
The four unions state in their submission: “The policy mistakes of the 2010s and early 2020s have caused major damage to our schools and to the working lives of the teachers and school leaders who deliver our vital education service.”
The unions warn that the “constraint of the inadequate government funding envelope” has contributed to the “deterioration in the real value of pay” for teachers and leaders.
However, they welcome the STRB’s decision to recommend a pay increase of 5.5 per cent.
The unions also warn that “significant damage” to the competitiveness of teacher and school leader pay by real-terms cuts has been far greater for them than for other comparable professions.
The unions add: ”The damage to the competitiveness of teacher and school leader pay cannot be repaired without reversing the real-terms pay cuts. It makes no sense to attempt to separate these issues.”
The unions also criticise the impact of performance-related pay (PRP) and call for its removal.
“Unfair PRP added hugely to workload and excessive accountability,” they tell the STRB.
The unions’ STRB recommendation follows calls to solve workforce issues that were set out in a letter to education secretary Bridget Phillipson this week.
“The government’s pledge to deliver an additional 6,500 teachers is welcome, but we are clear that this will be nowhere near enough,” the unions tell the STRB.
The Labour manifesto pledged to recruit 6,500 new teachers, but research has found that this could require pay rises of nearly 10 per cent a year for three consecutive years.
Workload has reached ‘crisis point’
In the STRB submission, the unions write: “The urgent need for systemic changes to reduce teacher and leader workload and working hours and improve work-life balance is evident.
“Without adequate and fully funded solutions from the STRB, the current situation poses substantial risks to teacher and leader wellbeing and student outcomes.”
They warn that workload has reached a “crisis point”, contributing significantly to “burnout, high attrition rates and recruitment challenges”.
The unions’ concerns come after a Teacher Tapp survey showed that, amid workload pressures, teachers are changing roles to work as support staff.
According to the union’s STRB submission, teachers and school leaders feel “undervalued and overwhelmed” and cannot provide the “necessary support for students, affecting overall teaching quality”.
This has a negative impact on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities and “disproportionately” affects schools in disadvantaged areas.
In a separate submission, the NASUWT teaching union says that an above-inflation, fully funded, multi-year pay award for all teachers and school leaders in England is needed to address the crisis in teacher numbers.
The teaching union also calls for improvements to pay and working conditions for permanent and supply teachers “in order to address the attractiveness and competitiveness of teaching as a long-term career”.
Its submission to the STRB also proposes the creation of a National Commission on Pay in Schools and the introduction of a statutory minimum national pay scale for all state-funded schools.
The DfE has been contacted for comment.
For the latest education news and analysis delivered every weekday morning, sign up for the Tes Daily newsletter
