School Teachers Working Sixty Hours A Week

School Teachers Working Sixty Hours A Week: According to new research by the Department of Education, the teaching profession is afflicted by long hours caused by ‘unnecessary and bureaucratic tasks’. The Teachers’ Workload Diary Survey 2013, published in February 2014, provides data on working hours and working patterns for teachers in maintained primary and secondary schools, special schools and academy schools in England. In 2013, there were 1,004 responses to the survey – a lower rate than in previous years – and the 2013 survey differed in the methodology used to collect data; a point which means the data is not comparable with previous years.

The key findings suggest that all school teachers report working on average more than 50 hours per week, with primary and secondary school head teachers working more than 60 hours. In most school types, classroom teachers report that they spend between 19 and 20 hours a week actually teaching. Teachers in special schools reported only teaching for 16.8 hours per week. Teachers of all types reported working around 12 hours each week outside the times which might be regarded as a ‘normal working week.’

School Teachers Working Sixty Hours A Week_VoicED Education Market Research

School Teachers Working Sixty Hours A Week
Department for Education

According to the research, head teachers in secondary schools spent, on average, 11% of their time on individual or professional development – with this proportion falling to only 5% or less among classroom teachers.

When asked what they felt to be ‘unnecessary’ or ‘bureaucratic’ tasks, teachers across all areas identified two key themes – duplication and the level of detail required in some circumstances. In terms of duplication, this covered paper work, marking and recording pupil progress, and reporting and evidence gathering. Teachers considered the level of detail required for planning and preparation, marking and progress reporting to be too high.

In terms of improving the overall quality of teaching and pupil learning, almost a third of deputy heads and classroom teachers (30%) felt that having more time to discuss work with individual students would be beneficial, while around a quarter (28%) said one to one and small group teaching, collaborative planning with other teachers (26%) and exploring and selecting resources (25%).

We welcome comments from all our readers - so please feel free to express your views in the space below. You can also sign up to receive posts directly to your inbox, free of charge. Additionally, education professionals may be interested in joining our community.

In addition, please feel free to follow The VoicED Community on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.