Teachers are too mired in bureaucracy, excessive workload and poor pupil behaviour to focus on teaching, according to members of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union.

At the union’s Annual Conference in Birmingham, teachers reported working too many hours under workplace policies that limit both their professional autonomy and time spent focusing on teaching and learning. On top of these issues, pupil behaviour is now one of teachers’ biggest concerns, with classroom disruption having a serious impact on teachers’ abilities to conduct lessons.

New data from NASUWT found that:

• More than half (54%) of teachers say their workload has increased significantly in the last year, with full time respondents working an average of 13 extra unpaid hours a week outside of the normal school day;
• Nearly two thirds (64%) of teachers feel constantly evaluated and judged;
• Teachers’ top concerns are workload (77%) and pupil behaviour (70%);
• 64% of teachers report spending more or significantly more time completing work on data, assessments and admin in the last year, while 65% report spending more time on pastoral care;
• 85% of teachers feel they work too hard with too little reward;
• 72% of teachers would not recommend the profession as a career to friends or family;
• Only 41% of teachers feel that their views are valued by school leaders or governance structures.

Matt Wrack, General Secretary of NASUWT - The Teachers' Union, said:

“Teachers do not join the profession to be body guards, social workers, counsellors or administrators. They become teachers because they love to be in the classroom, educating our next generation of young people. If teachers cannot teach, they are being failed on the most fundamental level, and pupils are being failed too.

“There are no easy answers as to how we got here, but we must focus on practical solutions. We need teachers’ professional expertise and wellbeing to be centred in education policy so we can rebuild the system from the ground up.

“The government must look at teachers’ working conditions and rights, and take drastic action to reduce teacher workload. We must not see a denigration of the protections offered by 1265 hours of directed time in the STPCD or an increase in the responsibilities placed on teachers.

“Too many teachers are left picking up the pieces of our broken public sector. External services like social work, educational psychology, CAMHS and early help must be funded to expand.

“If we want to build a world class education system, we must start at the beginning and let teachers teach.”