Workload is currently one of the hottest issues in education, with education secretary Nicky Morgan recently asking teachers for their ideas on how to reduce it (bit.lyWorkloadChallenge).
Last week, a survey carried out by YouGov for TES revealed that a quarter of classroom teachers and half of headteachers were working at least 18 extra hours every week.
@BarnsleyNASUWT retweeted the results, saying: “Let’s call time on the shocking toll of `overtime’ culture.”
@adamgwhitlock tweeted to point out that he’d just finished two “80-hour weeks, six working days, 15-hour days”. @Scally56 wondered “what would happen if we got paid overtime. The country would be bankrupt!”
But @james_tooley controversially asked @tes and @BarnsleyNASUWT: “Aren’t you forgetting the long holidays?”
Meanwhile, @tombennett71 suggested that schools advertising jobs should say that staff would be allowed to teach “with all admin minimised”. “People would FLOCK,” he said.
More than 40,000 responded to Morgan’s Workload Challenge and the government is drawing up plans for action. But it won’t come soon enough for @deadchimp, who wrote: “10.40pm Sunday night. Partner in tears because she hasn’t finished marking. `One more hour,’ she says. #unsustainable.” Helen Ward
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