Teachers are more likely to work unpaid overtime than employees in any other sector, new research has revealed. 

Analysis of the 2013 labour force survey carried out by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) to mark ‘Work Your Proper Hours Day’ also shows that employees in education clock up more hours of overtime than those in almost every other profession.

The TUC has calculated that 54.2 per cent of teaching and educational professionals regularly work unpaid overtime, a figure only matched by research and development managers.

On average, teachers and educational professionals worked 12 hours unpaid each week.

Chief executives were the only profession to clock up more overtime than teachers but, with an average salary of almost £100,000, they are significantly better paid for their efforts.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: “It is a sad fact that teachers consistently rank high in any list of unpaid overtime.

“It is therefore hardly surprising that two in five teachers leave the profession after their first five years in the job. Many very good experienced older teachers are leaving too and morale is at an all-time low.”

The Department for Education is expected to publish the long-awaited results of the 2013 teacher workload survey next week. Ms Blower has already predicted the figures will make for “shocking” reading for teachers.

“Unless the culture of long hours and unproductive accountability measures stops, we will lose thousands of good teachers from the profession,” she added.

Across all professions, the TUC’s analysis shows that the number of people regularly doing unpaid hours at work increased by 331,000 last year to 5.42 million - the biggest annual rise since comparable records began in 1998.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Staff don’t mind doing a few additional hours during busy periods, but too many employers take this goodwill for granted and forget to thank their staff. Further problems arise when those occasional extra hours become the norm, and staff become over-worked and under-paid.”