Responding to the initial recommendations by the Workload Reduction Taskforce to reduce workload for teachers and school leaders, NASUWT General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach, said:

“The recommendations from the Workload Reduction Taskforce are a helpful first step, but much more will need to be done to deal with the workload crisis engulfing schools.

“We welcome that the misguided decision by the Government a decade ago to remove from the teachers’ contract the list of illustrative administrative and clerical tasks that teachers should not be required to undertake will now be reversed.  We now expect rapid action to get this updated version of the list reinstated formally. 

“Teachers and school leaders deserve protection from the workload burdens associated with these and other tasks and to be freed from the distraction they cause to their core professional responsibilities for teaching and for leading teaching and learning.

“It is also extremely welcome that the Taskforce has recognised and recommended the scrapping of PRP which has proven to be highly workload intensive and resulted in significant and widespread unfairness. We look forward to agreeing with the Government new guidance for schools to ensure that teacher performance is managed fairly and transparently.

“The latest evidence from teachers indicates that there remain a raft of other areas requiring action on workload reduction, not least to minimise the impact of inspection and accountability on the work of school leaders and teachers. Our members will also be looking to the Taskforce in its next phase of work to have the courage to bring forward recommendations that will enable and empower teachers and headteachers to be able to take control of their working hours.

“It is widely recognised that teachers in England already work the longest hours in the OECD. Long working hours are exhausting and contribute to high levels of work-related stress, burn-out and premature exit from the profession.

“We will be looking to the Government to demonstrate that it is serious about tackling excessive working hours by scrapping the open-ended working time expectation and agreeing a 35-hour working time limit for teachers as is already the case in other jurisdictions.”