News

Concern as teachers' working hours top 55 a week with headteachers clocking up more than 63

Government policy Trade unions Staff wellbeing
A Department for Education workload study has revealed the huge hours that teachers and heads work every week, many of them in the evening or at weekends. Unions have warned that current working hours are ‘ simply unsustainable’. Pete Henshaw reports.

 

Secondary school teachers are working an average of more than 55 hours a week, while headteachers are putting in more than 63, a Department for Education (DfE) workload survey has revealed.

It also finds that a fifth of the working week for both teachers and heads is spent working before 8am and after 6pm on weekdays or at weekends.

The findings were released by the DfE on Friday (February 28) and coincided with research from the Work Your Proper Hours Day campaign showing that 54 per cent of teachers are now working unpaid overtime – the most of any profession – with those working overtime putting in an average of 12 hours extra a week.

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