Workload: This simply cannot carry on

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has closed her Workload Challenge survey of teachers; it is thought that around 10 per cent of the profession responded. This astonishing rate of return is no surprise – teacher workload has reached unacceptable levels, is destroying home lives and driving many out of the profession. Worse, much of the increased working time is spent on providing evidence and adding data to spreadsheets; it is the product of an accountability system gone badly wrong.

Our own survey in September saw 16,000 returns over a weekend. It revealed that 90 per cent of teachers had considered giving up teaching during the last two years alone because of workload; 87 per cent knew one or more colleagues who had given up during the last two years because of workload; and 96 per cent said workload had negative consequences for their family or personal life.