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More than 52 hours a week: Teacher workload continues to rise

More than a third of teachers and school leaders say they are considering quitting the profession amid increased working hours, poor wellbeing, and government policy overload.
Image: Adobe Stock

The annual Working lives of teachers and leaders research is based on the experiences of professionals working in schools between February and May 2023, but carries some clear messages for the new government, which says it is dedicated to improving teacher, wellbeing, workload and retention.

The study, which has been published by the Department for Education, finds that working hours are up:

The research involved a total of 10,411 teachers and leaders and found that the respondents felt they spent too much time on administrative tasks, following up behaviour incidents, and recording or analysing data.

The report states: “As in 2022, classroom teachers and middle leaders reported that they spent too much time on tasks other than teaching, particularly general administrative work (75% in both years).”

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