Recent studies show that teachers in Britain are faced with longer working hours outside the classroom than the majority of teachers around the world. On average they work 46 hours a week, but only 20 of them are spent in the classroom (according to the latest ‘Teacher and Learning International Survey).
It’s clear that although teachers love their profession, the workload is unmanageable and the accountability systems cause unnecessary pressure and they are underpaid for the work they do.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers
The statistics led to an outcry from certain union leaders, including the national association of Head Teachers, Russell Hobby, who stated that ‘it was clear that teachers in England work harder than teachers in other countries’.
It’s a bold statement - because they spend more time out of the classroom working, does this mean that they have done a greater amount of work compared to others with shorter out-of-classroom hours? Does the amount of time spent working and workload completed necessarily equate to each other?
At NCFE, we understand that teachers in England are under a great deal of pressure and really do put the hours in. Of course, this could have a positive outcome if the longer hours corresponded to greater opportunities and a better learning experience for students. However this is not necessarily the case.
Despite the high workload, teachers actually only spend 20 hours of their long working week on face-to-face teaching time. It’s a shocking figure – this precious face-to-face time is when the actual learning takes place. Is the wellbeing of students becoming lost in a sea of papers and admin?
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, commented, "It’s clear that although teachers love their profession, the workload is unmanageable and the accountability systems cause unnecessary pressure and they are underpaid for the work they do."
What do you think? Do you agree with Ms Blower? Does the situation for teachers in the UK need to change? How can teachers be better supported?
