What would it take to fix the problem of teacher workload?

[TheMotherSide]

What would it take to fix teacher workload and thus stem the haemorrhaging of colleagues from schools?

Please share your out-of-the-box, blue sky thinking solutions to this perennial problem, that would put an end to the 55+ hour week (I know many do more) of endless evening and weekend working.

I appreciate that workload looks different in EYFS, primary, secondary and FE, and whether you are a one or 2-3-4 form entry school, and where on the index of deprivation your setting sits, so if your ideas pertain to a specific area of workload, please specify.

Let's assume full-time equivalent ‐so many colleagues are having to go part-time to reduce active workload in school, and are spending their days off catching up, essentially volunteering their time.

I'll start:

I would like to see the exploitative clause in teachers' contracts which compels teachers to work however many hours it takes to complete their tasks, without specifying a limit on said tasks, radically revised. It is this clause which allows government and callous management to pile on expectations of the workforce which cannot be reasonably met, leaving teachers open to coercion, bullying and surrendering any semblance of work life balance.

I would like to see a reform of Ofsted; encouraging the inspectorate to fulfil a much more supportive function instead of being a bogeyman many colleagues live in perpetual dread of and won't even mention by name. This would put a stop to so much fear-driven data collection and box-ticking.

I'd like to knock primary subject leadership on the head and revert to the subject coordinatorships of yesteryear, where a single colleague would not be held accountable for their peers' delivery and progress in their subject area. Colleagues were relied upon and trusted to teach subjects and fulfil the statutory objectives of the National Curriculum and tended to manage just fine.

Take out progress 8 (and league tables)

Allow the curriculum to be expanded and appropriate for both academic and vocational pupils.

Train HTs to actual manage staff and pupils. and make them renew their qualifications after so many years.
Stop management from being able to get rid of older more experienced and expensive staff.

Let teachers teach and provide other staff members for pastoral, SEND and external agency support.

See the clause about working the appropriate number of hours to get the job done to the required level.

But yes teachers should be taught what is there job, and that things like UPS are not there for extra responsibility but experience.
Oh and never go into a meeting without the agenda and representation.
And there is no such thing as an informal meeting.

That's the problem, we don't have contracted hours.

We have directed time which is limited, but then unlimited hours on top of that. It's why 'working to rule' never works.

Fund CAMHS so teachers don't have to deal with so many MH issues and school anxiety.
My DD's teachers visit every so often and I have to go in for meetings as she can't go to school. If CAMHS supported her we probably would be in such a mess.

We have 20% PPA at our school. It gives teachers more time to sort stuff and I know they appreciate it. That said I think they’d rather have the resources to help them with the students who really can’t manage.

I don’t agree with this. There are 33 kids in both my Year 8 classes (maths teacher here) and 33 is fine.

I don't do ECT mentoring but I understand that is also a huge workload.

I am induction tutor. I have multiple ECTs and I try to manage the workload of the mentors to alleviate as much pressure as I can.

The problem is that too many unsuitable trainees get on courses, too many of them then pass (because failing them seems not to be an option), and then they get jobs. At the moment, I am having to provide extra support to a third of them.

This is a really interesting point! I assumed it was always like this, will be interested to hear from teachers who might know what came before it. I know a teacher who left as they felt the whole curriculum was now too managed and they had no opportunity to flex their own teaching style with key areas such as phonics after a new scheme was introduced which isn't quite the same point but does make me wonder why, when there are rigid schemes in place or available, so much time has to be taken by subject leads, sometimes it sounds like creating work for the sake of it (but again not a teacher so I may be completely wrong) rather than focussing on those who need specific support.

Don’t get rid of progress 8! It is important that a light is shone upon exam results so we can see clearly some amazing schools that really boost results for their pupils. Tax-payers deserve this knowledge.

More PPA and smaller class sizes.

And a supportive inspection experience. I am currently teaching in Northern Ireland where schools don't cooperate with their version of Ofsted due to action short of strike and the mental freedom that comes from knowing 'the call' can't come makes work much less stressful.

am currently teaching in Northern Ireland where schools don't cooperate with their version of Ofsted due to action short of strike

So does the inspectorate not exist at all? What happened to them all!

In all fairness, Dylan William's 'Inside the Black Box' came out in 1998. They're still using it 🤣🤣?!

Assessment for Learning has its uses but I'm surprised schools aren't looking at more current research.

I think to fix the problem of workload you'd have to make being a classroom teacher a part time job, for the same pay. 2 teachers per class or 3 for 2 classes. Which is never going to happen.

Just seen this @TheMotherSide ! Should have read more thoroughly! Three subject leads does sound bonkers, my kids school have a max of 1 each and even that seems a lot when speaking to them when you take into account how rigorous the evidence needs to be for a deep dive. Agree the point about larger schools, all the ones I know are 2 form entry so you have at least 2 people planning for the yeargroup, or 3 if there is a job share, which must make a big difference. It's thought provoking as when I looked at teaching I thought smaller schools might be a more rewarding experience but I can now understand the added challenges this would bring!

Dylan William's 'Inside the Black Box' came out in 1998, surprised they are still using it.

Assessment for Learning has its uses but I'm surprised schools aren't focusing on more recent research and evidence-based approaches for the classroom.

I think to solve the problem of teacher workload, you would have to make teaching a part time job for the same pay. The job is not sustainable as a full time position. 2 teachers per class or 3 teachers for 2 classes. Which is never going to happen.

But there aren't rigid schemes in place a lot of the time. Many schools can't afford them (this is a major factor). Many schemes are rubbish. Schemes don't plan things like the units on local history or geographical comparison of the area of the school to a different area. Schemes don't account for the fact you might teach Y4/5 or Y4/5/6 or Y3/4/5/6 or that some Y3s are in a Y3 class and some in a Y3/4 class, yet something like the science curriculum is written for single year groups. Primary teachers have always planned the majority of foundation subjects without a scheme. The difference now is you need vast documents showing how every objective in Y3 follows on from one in Y2 and is build on in Y4. You also need to have written down things like common misconceptions, even if you've taught the year group for 10 years and know exactly what they are. You need a list of books for each topic, even if you know exactly where they are in the school library and would just go and lift them off the shelf. It's all paperwork expected by Ofsted. Apparently Ofsted have asked EYFS for curriculum progressions on using scissors. It's not the teachers making up work for the sake of it, it's Ofsted orchestrating the situation.

@theresnolimits On the experts teaching subjects thing, it's done that way in a lot of schools that teach the International Baccalaureate. I worked at an IB international school for a while in pre-K (nursery), and music, PE and the home language were all taught by experts. So I had at least an hour every day for prep, plus an extra hour with nap time (God wish we had that in their country!!). Made such a difference.

Look at how the private sector get it right and copy most of that? Yep - it will involve lots more funding.

Completely agree with pp who referred to properly funded mental health and social services so teachers just teach. I acknowledge that save for specialist facilities most private schools deal with far less challenging behaviour and the effects of social deprivation.

My bigger blue sky thought is in relation to the completely ridiculous reinventing of the wheel lesson planning bollox.
Curriculum is pretty fixed for state school. Expectations as to outcomes SATs/GCSEs/Alevels) are fixed - so why are teachers saying they are spending hours and hours lesson-planning?!?!
Standardised centralised complete curriculum resources that will only need minimal tweaking to fit a teachers style and a particular class.

Newtoniannechanics
I agree with this also.

I don’t agree with this. There are 33 kids in both my Year 8 classes (maths teacher here) and 33 is fine.

You don't agree that 13 less books to mark, 13 less interventions needs to take into account, the noise stress of 13 other people won't have an impact?

It would without a doubt be better for my mental heath and stress levels and that of my ASD daughter who hates school.

So many surveys say teachers value autonomy. Lack of autonomy causes stress. I want to plan lessons. I enjoy the thinking. I want the time to do it. I don't want to subject kids to never ending assessments, nor do I want to spend my life inputting endless data.

I started teaching in 1992. It was a whole different job. Ofsted changed a lot of it, as did various government diktats.

More PPA , especially for, in my context, subject leaders please. Or stop giving us crap and then we wouldn't need more time.

Smaller class sizes, a longer lunch, and more supportive, listening SLTs would help.

I was a good, well-regarded primary teacher. Here’s why I left.

1. didn’t want to face an Ofsted deep dive in a subject I am not an expert in and for a subject leader role that is unpaid with no time given.
2. the unlimited hours in the contact. There needs to be fixed working hours. If SLT had to pay overtime or cover then they would soon think more carefully about what they ask teachers to do.
3. violence in the classroom. Should be zero tolerance. I wanted to teach. Not be attacked by disregulated children.

My working conditions are worlds apart now.

To be clear I don't think its the teachers or SLT making up work for the sake if it! Sorry if that didn't come across, I know its for the purpose of documenting for bloody Ofsted!

No, you definitely get SLT making up work for the sake of it. Whenever any member of SLT or middle management decide to do a Masters, that means some new whole school initiative that everyone else has to get lumbered with so that they can write it up.

The year after, it's all forgotten.

Noble, I really could weep at this. The number of 'whole school impact' initiatives we've implemented, spent a year delivering and monitoring, often at considerable inconvenience and cost in terms of time, only for it to be quietly phased out as soon as the study is over. It's bordering on offensive.

And the unlimited hours clause in teachers' contracts really is a thing and it really does lead to exploitation and coercion. At the end of any given day, my list of extra, unexpected tasks I've been asked to undertake by the next day frequently add a cool 2-3 hours to my evening once I've come home, logging in remotely and carrying on working.

Members of our SLT on 0.8 contracts allow themselves to put in overtime claims for work done from home on their 'day off' but class teachers and middle leaders are not permitted to do this ‐we're just supposed to suck it up and put in the hours any old how. What's the fucking difference between working an extra 8 hours on a Monday and doing the same on a Saturday or Sunday?

Stop the micromanagement and bullying from SLT and endless high stakes 'drop ins'. Being expected to teach with ideals from the latest theorist, why by if you stray away from this it has huge implications in terms of capability.
Realise that pupils are humans who come to School with a variety of issues and things don't always go to plan.
To do away with half baked knowledge according to whatever trend there is that excuses shitty behaviour. Calling someone a "f@

Caffeine, thank you for your service.

Like you, the thought of another Ofsted has me scouring recruitment sites with increasing frequency. I don't think I can put myself through it. Every Ofsted 'readiness training' I have to sit through makes me more feel certain that the stakes are too high and that I will end up making myself sick, developing one type of autoimmune condition or another, on account of the persistently heightened levels of cortisol. Suicide, heart attack, stroke, cancer, autoimmune disease and depression are all high in the teaching workforce. For a reason.