Teacher workload 'unfair and unhealthy', union says

Scotland's largest teachers' union has described the workload in schools as "unfair, unhealthy and unsustainable".

EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said it was set to ballot members over strike action because the Scottish government had failed to reduce the amount of time teachers must spend in the classroom.

Almost three quarters of those who took part in a union survey said they were rarely or never able to do the work, preparation and correcting they had been asked to do within their working week.

The Scottish government said it was continuing to work with unions and local authorities on reducing the amount of class contact time for teachers.

The EIS survey was completed by almost 11,000 teachers – about 20% of its membership.

A total of 44% of respondents said they usually worked the equivalent of an extra day a week, while a quarter said they worked the equivalent of an extra two days a week to try to get all their work done.

Some 64% said they could never complete all of the tasks assigned to them in their working week.

Only 1% of those who completed the survey said they had sufficient time in a typical working week to complete paperwork, liaise with colleagues and external agencies, and attend meetings in relation to supporting pupils with additional support needs.

More than 10% said they could never access the support needed for children with additional support needs at the point the need was identified.

In their responses to the survey, one teacher described having a non-verbal autistic child in their class with violent escalating behaviours. They described the challenges of supporting the child while also trying to teach the other 32 children in the class.

Others spoke of having to choose between teaching a big class and needing to help specific pupils who were "in crisis", and described children who were "crying and screaming all day long".

Alison, who has been a primary school teacher for 13 years and is an EIS representative, says she almost burnt out completely at the start of her career.

She said she had to work nights and weekends to keep on top of her workload.

"I've been late back home, late dinners, late beds, you're still thinking about it," she said.

"You set your Sunday aside and don't make plans with family because you need to sit down in front of a laptop and research and plan and provide lessons for the following week."

Alison now tries to protect her weekends to maintain her health, but says the pressures have grown and grown over the years.

She said this was because of the increasing demands of children with additional support needs, and the amount of paperwork.

Andrea Bradley said the results of the survey painted "a stark picture".

"It is a story of persistent, excessive workload demands being placed on teachers at all grades and at all stages of their careers," she said.

"Having teachers who are overworked and stressed is in no-one's interest, neither teachers themselves or their families, nor the young people learning in our schools."

She said the survey provided "compelling evidence" that teacher workload was "unfair, unhealthy and unsustainable".

"The Scottish government in its last election manifesto pledged to address this by reducing teachers' class contact time," she added.

"Four years on from that pledge being made, there has been absolutely no tangible progress towards delivering it, and no proposals as to how it will be delivered."

She said that "failure" would lead to the EIS opening a consultative ballot on industrial action at its annual general meeting later this week.

The SNP promised to reduce teacher contact time by 1.5 hours a week in its manifesto for the 2021 Scottish election – but that has not happened.

The party also pledged to recruit an additional 3,500 teachers by 2026. That pledge has been dropped and replaced by a promise to get teacher numbers back to the level they were at in 2023.

The Scottish government said it would continue to work with unions and local authority body Cosla to agree the approach to delivering a reduction in class contact time.

"We are providing local authorities with an additional £186.5m to restore teacher numbers, alongside an additional £29m to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce," a spokesperson said.

"This funding has been provided on the clear agreement that meaningful progress is made on reducing teacher class contact time.

"Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide and review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs in their local community."

A Cosla spokesperson said clear action plans had been developed to improve the support available to the workforce and learners.

"We recognise that this work needs to move at pace to improve outcomes for children and young people, and the experiences of the teachers and school staff working with them.

"We continue to engage with Scottish government and trade unions on the Scottish government's commitment to reduce class contact time."