The Education Policy Institute’s latest report, Teacher workload and professional development in England’s secondary schools, was today cited in the House of Commons, prompting responses from education minister Nick Gibb.
In his first education questions as Shadow Schools Minister, Mike Kane MP raised findings from the new analysis, stating that it had “shown how excessive hours are driving record numbers of teachers from the profession”.
The report, which examines teachers’ working hours, pay, and experience in secondary schools in England, is based on the latest OECD Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS).
The minister responded by asserting that the government has acknowledged the findings from the TALIS survey, and had, in response, been “taking action”.
Findings from the report were also put to the minister from Lillian Greenwood MP. Focusing on the issue of teacher retention, the MP for Nottingham South cited the finding that “one in five teachers in England are working more than 60 hours a week”.
In reply, Mr Gibb referred to the government’s ‘Workload Challenge’, launched in 2014 under the previous Secretary of State for Education. The minister stated that the government was acting on teachers’ recommendations from the Challenge, in order to “ease the burden of workload on teachers in our schools.”
You can read today’s education questions in full here.
See also:
The Guardian – Peter Sellen: ‘Long hours and low pay: why England’s teachers face burnout’.
