According to a Government report, one in four teachers and administrators want to leave the state school sector in the coming year for reasons other than retirement.
High workload (92%), government initiatives or policy changes (76%), and other demands pertaining to pupil results or inspection (69%), were the most often given reasons for considering leaving.
According to the poll, “dissatisfaction with pay” was cited by nearly three in five (57%) teachers and leaders as a key reason they were considering quitting.
More than 11,000 school administrators and teachers in England were polled for the study, which was conducted for the Department for Education (DfE), in the spring of 2022.
It was shown that on average, school leaders work 56.8 hours per week, and that more than half (53%) of school leaders work 60 hours or more a week or more over the school year. This is the equivalent of at least a 12-hour day.
According to the survey, more than half (54%) of teachers work at least 50 hours per week during the school year, and 19% of them put in at least 60.
Over half of teachers’ estimated working hours were spent on activities other than teaching, according to two-thirds of them.
According to the study, 6% of teachers and leaders and 25% of teachers and leaders stated they planned to leave the public school system in the next year for reasons other than retirement.
The data were made public after teachers’ union members from four different organizations rejected the government’s compensation proposal.
The DfE promised to establish a taskforce to assist in reducing workload by an average of five hours per week for each teacher and gave teachers a one-time payment of £1,000 for the current school year (2022–2023) and an average 4.5% pay increase for workers the following year (2023–2024).
In the ongoing pay dispute, the National Education Union (NEU) has scheduled five further days of teacher walkouts across England over the summer term.
After its members rejected the pay offer, the NASUWT union, which represents teachers in England, will also re-ballot strike action.
It may be decided by the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) to conduct a formal second vote among its members in England about industrial action.
According to the poll, which was conducted in the spring of last year, 61% of teachers and leaders were unhappy with the pay they received for the task they performed.
Additionally, survey appears that the majority of educators disagreed with the statements that their workload was reasonable (72%) and that they had adequate control over it (62%).
It was discovered that 63% of educators disagreed with the statement that “a fair assessment of school performance” is provided by the school inspection regime.
The inspectorate has come under the spotlight in recent weeks after the suicide of Ruth Perry, headteacher at Caversham Primary School in Reading, Berkshire, who killed herself in January while awaiting an Ofsted assessment which reduced her school from the highest rating to the lowest possible.
“It is disappointing but also telling that the Department for Education has kept the results of this survey under wraps for so long,” said Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU.
It was not included in their evidence submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which is considering remuneration for 2023–2024. Everyone who reads it today must come to the inevitable conclusion that the workload for teachers is not only out of control but also pushing talented individuals away from the field.
