Limit additional working hours for teachers to two per day - says Eteach and Nottingham EIB
- Eteach and Nottingham EIB challenge all UK schools to adopt the Fair Workload Charter
- Comment from David Anstead, Education Improvement Board strategic lead in Nottingham and former Ofsted senior HMI
- Nottingham Education Improvement Board to host Fair Workload Charter conference in May 2017.
Eteach, the UK’s number one job board are working with the Nottingham Education Improvement Board to challenge all UK schools to voluntarily implement the Fair Workload Charter to reduce teachers’ additional unpaid hours and stem the flow of teachers leaving the profession.
More than ten percent of the teaching workforce leave the profession every year.
The charter, drawn up by Nottingham’s Education Improvement Board, sets out three key pledges on workload, professional development and remuneration that the schools will voluntarily commit to, limiting additional working hours to two per day (three for those in leadership positions).
Teaching is the worst industry for unpaid overtime
The Department for Education’s “Workload Challenge” report released in February showed that teachers work an average of 54 hours per week and teachers with leadership responsibilities work an average of 60. The Trades Union Congress also released figures showing education to be the worst industry for unpaid overtime. The School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document states that teachers must be available to work 1,265 hours over 195 days, which is 32.4 hours a week for 39 term time weeks, but includes a clause compelling them to work any amount of ‘reasonable additional hours’.
Ten schools in the Nottingham area have already formally adopted the Fair Workload Charter with another ten currently joining.
A Fair Work Charter to attract and retain teachers
Paul Howells, CEO of eteach.com and a former teacher himself comments: “If schools want to compete to recruit teachers they need to ask ‘What do we offer as an employer?’ By committing to a Fair Workload Charter, schools give themselves the edge to attract quality staff more easily whilst retaining their existing home-grown talent.”
David Anstead, Education Improvement Board strategic lead in Nottingham and former Ofsted senior HMI comments: “Recruiting and retaining sufficient teachers is critical to our work to improve standards in Nottingham. All the evidence tells us that excessive workload is the number one reason why schools are struggling to recruit. We have decided to do something about it. Our heads and our union representatives have worked together to identify what it is reasonable to expect school staff to do beyond the school day and what isn’t necessary. Schools already implementing the charter are demonstrating that it is possible to slash workload whilst sustaining good provision for pupils and improving staff well-being.”
Demand from schools is so high that Nottingham Education Improvement Board to host Fair Workload Charter in May 2017
The Nottingham Education Improvement Board has been contacted by numerous local authorities across the country requesting their help in developing their own charters. Accordingly, the Board is hosting a conference and workshop on 23 May 2017 to help others develop approaches to reducing workload.
Paul Howells concludes: “Schools who are willing to make real changes to the way their teachers operate can cut recruitment costs and keep good teachers in the profession.”
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About the author
Katie Newell
Katie Newell BA(Hons) PGCE is an ex-primary school teacher, Head of Maths, Head of Year five and languages specialist. Katie qualified in Psychology at Liverpool then specialised in Primary Languages for her PGCE at Reading. Katie feels passionately that teachers are the unsung heroes of society; that opening minds to creative timetabling could revolutionise keeping women in teaching, and that a total change to pupil feedback is the key to solving the work life balance issue for the best job in the world.