Stage One - Identifying Workload Issues in Your School

The objective of this stage is to help schools to identify the main causes of the workload burdens experienced by teachers and school leaders. The NASUWT expects that all schools should have in place strategies to monitor and evaluate all policies and practices to test their impact on workload and working hours. These strategies should include agreed systems to review the working hours of teachers and school leaders.

The Toolkit suggests that a staff survey is a useful means of gathering information on teachers’ and school leaders’ experiences and views on their workload. A model survey is included in the Toolkit for this purpose.

The NASUWT has no objection in principle to the use of this survey. However, for its use to be acceptable to the Union, schools must:

• ensure that the survey is available to all teachers and leaders employed at the school, including those working on a part-time or temporary basis; and

• permit all teachers and leaders to express their honest opinions in confidence and without risk of being identified personally.

Critically, all teachers and school leaders must have confidence in the integrity of the survey and the authenticity of its reported findings. The NASUWT’s view is that the most effective and straightforward means of securing survey integrity is for schools to use an online survey platform, such as Survey Monkey, SmartSurvey or Google Forms. Each of these systems is available free of charge, restricts individuals’ ability to submit more than one response, inhibits manipulation of survey results and produces clear and accessible outcome reports. There is no justifiable reason for schools to refuse any request to make use of one of these systems.

However, the survey is organised, it is essential that its outcomes are shared with all teachers and school leaders. The outcomes should be presented in a way that prevents the identification of any individual member of staff.

The Toolkit also suggests that information about workload burdens can be gathered through the use of structured conversations with small groups of staff. While the NASUWT does not dispute that it may be possible in some cases for those taking part in such conversations to discuss workload issues openly and honestly, it is the Union’s experience that this is very unlikely to be the case in all circumstances. Many teachers may not feel able to share their views completely and frankly in a forum in which they can be readily identified.

It is critical that actions to tackle workload are based on accurate information about the experiences and perspectives of teachers and leaders, including opinions that may contain explicit or implied criticisms of decisions taken by those in positions of authority in the school.

It is also likely to be the case that structured conversations would be excessively time-consuming and, unless all teachers and leaders are able to participate in them, they may not yield information that reflects the full range of views on workload issues across the school.

For these reasons, the NASUWT does not recommend the use of structured conversations. Information that the Toolkit suggests could be collected using such conversations might be gathered more efficiently and reliably by incorporating appropriate questions in the survey.

Any concerns that the Toolkit is being used in a way that prevents teachers and school leaders from setting out their honestly held views should be raised with the NASUWT.