Education / Teachers could walk out in row over excessive workloads
TEACHERS across Shetland are to be balloted on potential strike action after a national survey found the majority are struggling due to excessive workloads.
Almost 11,000 teachers took part in the survey across Scotland, with 73 per cent saying their preparation and correction work was “unachievable” during a normal working week.
Almost half of those surveyed said they worked more than seven extra unpaid hours a week to keep on top of their workload.
And of the teachers who told union Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) they were considering leaving in the next five years, 48 per cent said that was because of the excessive work they were being asked to do.
The EIS has highlighted the results of the survey today (Tuesday) and called on the Scottish Government to urgently tackle teachers’ workloads.
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said the survey paints a “stark picture” of the amount of work being asked of teachers every week.
“It is a story of persistent, excessive workload demands being placed on teachers at all grades and at all stages of their careers,” she said.
“This has serious health, safety and wellbeing implications for teachers, and is contributing to a worrying upward trend in stress-related illness throughout the teaching profession.
“Having teachers who are overworked and stressed is in no-one’s interest, neither teachers themselves or their families, nor the young people learning in our schools.”
Bradley said 44 per cent of teachers were working the equivalent of an extra working day each and every week just to ensure they were prepared for the classroom.
And one teacher in ten, 11.5 per cent, are working 15 or more extra hours a week.
The EIS general secretary said the Scottish Government had committed in its last election manifesto to reducing teachers’ class contact time by 1.5 hours per week.
“Four years on from that pledge being made, there has been absolutely no tangible progress towards delivering it, and no proposals as to how it will be delivered,” Bradley said.
She said it was their failure to deliver on this “vital promise” that would lead the EIS to consult with its members about potential strike action at its annual general meeting later this week.
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