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.

Sorry it sent too soon. Calling your teacher a "fucking cunt" is not an SEN need.
Pay support staff properly. Put lunch breaks back to an hour. Get rid of academisation and the upper layer of unnecessary staff who are out of touch. Stop with the ridiculous endless planning that we don't need. We know our subjects. End league tables! It makes me so angry!

The government needs to stop looking at recruitment on the cheap and look at why so many experienced teachers such as myself have burned out and had to leave!

Remembering that teachers are people first and teachers second.
I lost a baby in the second trimester and was forwarded emails by parents complaining I was off. In no other industry would this be remotely acceptable. I will never teach again.

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?

Absolutely! I have taught classes of 19-which gave so much more time for good quality feedback, supporting individual needs and pastoral care, and one particular class of 37 which absolutely dire. Not enough chairs, marking took forever, behaviour management was such hard work as they were all crammed in like sardines and nobody got enough individual time.

I would love some evidence based research into how much class-size makes a difference to outcomes and mental health!

What subject do you teach if 33 children is fine in your class?

Exam results are not the be all and end all of teaching, its is an unfair measure on which to compare schools when all schools do not have the same advantages and disadvantages.

Fairly sure the EEF did this. Will root about.

I've had classes above 30. In my experience, every child that takes you above 30 feels like an extra 10. The noise level just moving about the room, the space needed for them all to just exist, the marking, the parent's evenings, the report writing.

I think the research shows that class size doesn’t matter but this is obvious balls. I think it depends on the expectations of the teacher - if a teacher from Hong Kong is teaching a biddable class of 50, that’s very different to a difficult class of 33 in an English school.

We know relationships matter. Class size matters in how you can build those relationships.

The clause you mention does not exist on my contract. You are talking about a different area. Also, I work set amount of hours, some of which are flexible and the employer does not dictate when or how or in what form I do my paid duties. Then I stop. The reason being I don't get paid for anymore. All teachers need to think about this approach as it is the only way anyone will understand the amount of free hours some teachers mistakenly give away. Nobody will value your skills if you don't value your worth!!

Get rid of generic schemes of work that are useless. My old school you used to be able to click on lesson 3 of module 2 for example and it brings up a ready made lesson except they were too short, never differentiated and cost the school a fortune. We spent longer fixing the lessons than it would have taken to plan our own initially. Idea was to help when teachers were off so all students were learning the same and a class weren't penalised if staff were off long term but the idea was absolute garbage in practice.

Respect specialisms. I was expected to teach 6 subjects because of the way humanities and A Levels were timetabled. I tried my hardest but it was exhausting.

Adapt marking expectations. We were expected to do an in depth marking process on a piece of work each six week half term. Great in theory but maths teachers for example saw the same class for hours a week whereas I had each class for 1 hour so had way more classes to mark. Also harder to SET a piece of work requiring in depth marking in that time frame.

Smaller class sizes - 34 in one of mine, I couldn't even move around the room.

More PPA, fewer pointless meetings, stop changing processes every time a politician gets a stupid idea.

Fund schools. More TAs, more teachers, we do not need three heads, assistant heads, deputy heads, business heads, community engagement heads - we need teachers in classrooms and SEND support

The clause you mention does not exist on my contract. You are talking about a different area.

Can I ask whereabouts you teach?

What area do you work in?

Are you in Scotland? They have a 35 hour week contract I think.

Paid for 35 hours per week/195 days
40 days paid holiday
Maximum of 27.5 spent on prep for or in pupil contact
2.5 hours non class contact (wfh)
5 hours all other admin (wfh unless meetings 2 hours per month)

Think this is correct in Scotland

PTSD, "Think this is correct in Scotland."
Does that mean you are in Scotland?
Just trying to be super clear.

It sounds amazing! I'd love something really sensible like that to replace the travesty which is our current problematic clause in England. Something like 'directed time + 10 hours' (currently no way I could do what is asked of me in this time, more like 'directed time + 2h daily after work + 2h nightly at home + 4h on a Sunday').

It is honestly really unbelievable what teachers are doing.
I think if teachers worked to rule then so be it if inspections are crap. It then provides evidence of a need for change.
I get teachers want to do their best for pupils but there has to be a limit.

I'm also baffled about planning and do t understand how resources and ideas can't be shared.

Things mentioned above about ordering stationery etc need to be done across a whole local authority area.
Economies of sale need to be used - for time and finances.
I work for a local authority and if I work extra I make sure I get my time back. I try not to work extra and regularly say no.

Do some teachers do extra stuff because they won't promotions?

Lots of schools no longer belong to local authorities

This is so true and would be relatively cheap to implement.

Except that 1 PPA per day is probably more than the 10% that we're required to have. So there is a cost.

I teach maths.

That is the great thing about progress 8. It is not absolute results that matter but progress. And while exams are not the be all and the end all, I care about getting as many of my pupils as possible to get as good grades in their maths exams, because I know this impacts their life chances. It is right that I am held to account for how well my students to and the progress that they make.

I read a thread on here once about teaching in Ireland. It sounded like such a different experience. Teachers arrive at almost the same time as pupils and leave not long after. There is very little prep work and planning as schools follow textbooks for all lessons. They do a limited amount of marking. Teachers are not expected to be available to parents - a proper appointment must be made - they are not on the gate/door and parents dint gave their email addresses.

Here's the thread: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4692907-irish-v-english-primary-teachersschool-wildly-different-experiences

Eye opening.

There comes a point were progress 8, league tables, Ofsted, observations, book looks, mocksteds, multiple tracking of the same marks is no longer about holding someone accountable and just about the numbers to force people into doing more and more work.

Yes teachers should be accountable, but within the remit of the materials that we are given and it should never get to the stage were it affects your home life or your mental health.

Something has gone very wrong and saying 'I'm alright jack' is part of the problem.

Progress 8 really shouldn't be used to hold individual teachers to account. It's a cohort measure.