Almost two-thirds of teachers around the world are working nearly an extra day a week due to ever-increasing workloads.

This is one of the key findings from a survey of almost 3,000 educators working across 196 countries for the Teacher Wellbeing Report 2026: Global, produced by Tes (which Tes magazine is part of).

Responses were gathered from teachers, Sendcos, designated safeguarding leads and senior leaders.

In the survey, 38 per cent of staff estimated that they do more than nine additional hours per week, and only 4 per cent of respondents reported that they are able to work within their contracted hours.

The most common reasons given for additional time spent working were lesson planning (cited by 73 per cent respondents), administration work (60 per cent) and marking (60 per cent).

One survey respondent said: “The workload is so heavy that I am unable to finish everything during my working hours, so I often have to continue working at home after school and even on weekends.”

Unsurprisingly perhaps, 42 per cent of staff described themselves as “very or extremely overwhelmed”.

This pressure is having an impact on retention, too, with stress (55 per cent) and workload (54 per cent) the two biggest reasons for people leaving the profession.

A lack of leadership support (33 per cent) and lack of progression opportunities (19 per cent) were also cited as issues.

Lack of flexible working

Given the above, it is no surprise that more staff now want flexible- or hybrid-working options - with 76 per cent saying having access to this is important or extremely important.

However, these options remain a rarity for many, with 68 per cent of survey respondents saying they have no access to either.

Some respondents recognised that this was because of difficulties with implementation (43 per cent) but for others, it was seen as a leadership mindset issue (30 per cent).

“Those who teach a lot of face-to-face don’t have the option to work from home; those who are in leadership and have little, if any, face-to-face teaching, can work from home,” said one respondent.

Parent engagement is one area that takes up varying amounts of educators’ time, the survey shows. Some 41 per cent said they spend less than one hour per week on parent engagement, while 45 per cent said they spend one to three hours, and 14 per cent said they spend four hours or more.

“I do not think enough time is spent making parents aware of what happens in school,” said one respondent.

“I am a new recruit to teaching and having had kids myself, I was never given sufficient ‘education’ to understand what goes on behind the school doors.”

Despite the concerns that the report raises, the research also finds that most teachers remain committed to their job, with 62 per cent reporting moderate to favourable job satisfaction.