It seems almost impossible at present to discuss any aspect of the teaching profession without the topic of workload being raised – and rightly so. The latest Department for Education workload survey found that classroom teachers and middle leaders work 54.4 hours a week on average, with senior leaders averaging 60 hours, and workload is widely recognised as the major cause of teachers leaving their roles.
In her Caroline Benn memorial lecture last week, Dr Rebecca Allen, director of Education Datalab, looked at how a number of factors – including approaches to accountability and a culture of “keeping up with the Joneses” – may have contributed to substantial increases of teacher workload.
But tackling retention may not only be a question of reducing the number of hours that teachers work. While unmanageable workload is clearly a “push factor”, it’s worth also reflecting on the “pull factors” – the reasons teachers join the profession in the first place, and what keeps them there. As we look to drive down workload and redress issues of work-life balance, we must also create space for things that really matter to teachers and the young people they teach.
The idea of making a difference to students’ lives remains a major draw for the profession, but can simultaneously be a cause of increased workload in itself. The desire to do everything possible to help young people can make it hard for teachers to switch off. There is always a feeling that there is something more to do. Demands around marking, data entry and paper trails have increased, and teachers end up adding these to their already full days – rather than cutting out the elements of their teaching practice that they know are important to their students.Another major driver for people choosing to join the teaching profession is their belief that they will be good at the job [pdf]. But it’s easy to see how, in a culture of hyper-accountability, this sense of confidence in their own capability might be eroded.
The increasing interest in what works in teaching and learning – with practices being outlined in terms of “effect size” or “months of progress” – also risks teachers feeling they must add still more to their to-do list. So we must not only evaluate whether teaching approaches are effective, but whether they are efficient in terms of workload and cost. Engagement with research should also lead to teachers being empowered to stop doing the things that aren’t working – we can’t simply keep adding and more without taking anything away.
And what about job satisfaction? A recent report based on Talis data [pdf] indicates that while workload is a factor in this, it is not simply a question of how many hours they work but whether they feel their workload is manageable – something the researchers suggest could be dependent on the level of support and resources they receive. What’s more, the most important factor in increasing teachers’ job satisfaction and reducing their desire to move school is good leadership. This is perhaps no surprise, but it emphasises how much of a difference school leaders can make.
Scope for progression, opportunities for teacher cooperation, feedback and effective professional development are also important. A study commissioned by the Wellcome Trust found that participation in subject-specific continuing professional development improved retention of science teachers.
These activities all require some level of time commitment, yet they play a critical role for teachers. These opportunities should not be lost or eroded in a bid to reduce workload, nor should we expect teachers to carry them out in their “free time”; rather, time for these must be protected, while unnecessary burdens and expectations are cut.
Sticking plaster approaches to the teacher recruitment and retention challenges, such as bursaries for shortage subjects, may be absolutely necessary in times of crisis. However, they must be seen as just that – a short-term fix. These measures need to run alongside long-term, sustainable solutions that address all of the push and pull factors in the profession. Teachers need to be given the time, autonomy and professional development and collaboration opportunities that will help them to keep making a difference – as well as recognition of how good a job they do.
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