The majority of teachers say the amount of time they have to collaborate with colleagues has reduced in the past year, according to new polling.

The survey by YouGov also reveals almost half (44 per cent) of teachers claim their opportunities for professional development have declined in the past 12 months.

Of the 911 teachers polled, 53 per cent said they had less time to collaborate with colleagues compared with last year, while 31 per cent said it had stayed the same and 13 per cent said it had increased.

However, this was not the case with headteachers.

Of the heads questioned, 43 per cent said they now had increased opportunities to collaborate and 30 per cent said they had less time compared with 12 months ago.

The survey also provided a breakdown of the results for teachers working in different types of school.

Fewer opportunities for teacher collaboration

The breakdown shows that teachers in academies are not more likely to be able to collaborate than those working in maintained schools.

According to YouGov, 58 per cent of teachers in academies said the time they had for this had declined over the past 12 months, compared with 52 per cent of teachers in maintained schools.

The highest proportion of teachers reporting that they had less time to collaborate were in pupil-referral units, where the figure was 81 per cent, and special schools, where 65 per cent of those questioned said this.

Teachers in PRUs were also hardest hit on professional development. The poll shows 81 per cent of those questioned said they had fewer opportunities for this than they had 12 months ago.

They were followed by grammar school teachers, 64 per cent of whom said they had fewer professional development opportunities than in 2017.

The YouGov survey also reveals that the morale of the teaching profession is in decline, with the majority of teachers feeling undervalued by society, underpaid and stressed.

And it also shows that the majority of teachers are working in schools that have seen their budgets cut and class sizes increase.

The survey also sets out the main reasons why teachers choose the job.