Home economics (HE) teachers in Scotland are under so much pressure from a “relentless” workload that they must choose between students’ needs or their own health and family life, a survey has found.
HE teachers also say they do not get the same support from technicians as science and technology subjects and that, with home economics predominantly staffed by women, a “disproportionate burden” is placed on female staff - even during pregnancy.
The EIS teaching union survey also shows that respondents “would not recommend HE teaching as a profession” as they felt “burned out” and “exhausted”; almost a quarter said their role was “unsustainable”.
The report also highlights risks with such a stretched workforce around food safety, infection control, hygiene and health and safety.
‘Distinct lack’ of support for HE teachers
Some 34 per cent of those surveyed received no support from HE auxiliary staff, while 66 got support “of some kind”.
The report finds “a distinct lack of auxiliary provision in home economics, both at school and local authority level”. Even where there is support, it is “insufficient to meet needs”, “ad hoc”, “cannot be relied upon for planning” and is largely provided by staff who are “not qualified or trained to provide HE auxiliary support”.
As a result, “HE teachers feel pressure to plug this gap, with many working an extra day or more over their contracted hours every week, having assumed these additional duties, without pay”.
This situation has “a significant impact on learning and teaching, on the student experience, on workload and on the health and wellbeing of HE teachers”.
The survey, stemming from a motion at the 2022 EIS annual general meeting (the 2024 AGM is this week), was sent to 476 members listed as teaching home economics, with 309 responses received (65 per cent).
‘Stretched to my absolute limits’
One teacher said: “I have to work a minimum of 11 hours...over and above my contracted hours every single week just to keep my head above water and allow the pupils to have a half-decent experience of the subject.”
The report says: “HE teachers feel that they are having to choose, on a daily basis, between meeting learners’ needs on the one hand and their own health and wellbeing and family life on the other.
“The physical nature of the tasks, long hours and the mental pressures in dealing with relentless, excessive workload are taking their toll on the health and wellbeing of HE teachers.”
A lack of auxiliary staff poses “risks” by undermining legal requirements around food safety, infection control, hygiene and health and safety.
The report calls for HE support staff to be treated as just as important as science and technology technicians, who are “regarded as essential to the functioning of these departments”.
Concerns predominantly male departments get more support
This “raises questions about the lack of provision in a subject area taught by, and the disproportionate burden placed on, a cohort of professionals who are predominantly female”.
One HE teacher noted that extra support typically goes to “other departments that have male members of staff”, particularly technical and science departments.
A teacher who did receive auxiliary support said: “Without our technician, we’d be on our knees...if she wasn’t there, I’d leave the profession as...we’d spend all our [non-contact time] doing what she does.”
Another “exhausted” teacher said: “Even when pregnant I have been offered no help.” Her work included lifting 25kg bags of flour, prepping food at 7.30am and marking up to 10pm “to get on top of workload”.
Retention is also an issue, with HE teachers often seeking part-time work, early retirement or alternative careers.
“Given the gender balance of this cohort of teachers and the burden of unpaid and caring work which we know women carry, these issues must be considered from an equality perspective and provision made to address the causes of disparity of workload,” the report states.
One teacher said: “It is so disheartening when you see other teachers starting school later than you and being able to enjoy tea breaks and lunch breaks. It has now broken me and I have decided to take my pension early and leave next year.”
Bursaries have ‘little effect’ if workload not addressed
There are also concerns about recruitment. Although a bursary scheme was introduced in 2019, the EIS report states that “such incentives are likely to have little long-lasting effect” if workload and a lack of support for HE teachers are not addressed.
Indeed, the EIS survey “clearly demonstrates that members would not recommend HE teaching as a profession”.
One teacher said they “would not encourage anyone” to become an HE teacher, adding: “I am in at 7am every day and do not leave until well past 5pm most nights...and will almost always have to do work at home - marking, reporting, SQA assignment marking.”
Local authorities were “taking huge liberties with HE staff and something needs to change”.
Many HE departments have been “subsumed within wider health and wellbeing faculties”, meaning “a perceived lack of subject-specialist leadership, leaving HE teachers feeling that they have no voice”.
Meanwhile, class sizes have become so large and time-demanding for some that teachers have to prep more food in advance, which one teacher said was “totally deskilling pupils”.
The report underlines that Curriculum for Excellence should have helped HE thrive, given how many aspects of CfE it aligns with.
“Instead, HE teachers are faced with the dilemma of reducing the number of practical lessons taught, thereby curtailing and diluting depth and enjoyment of learning or having to strive to undertake these additional duties themselves, using their non-contact time to do so and foregoing breaks and lunchtimes in the process.”
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