GovWire

Work is underway to support teachers and leaders to tackle unnecessary workload, as the government establishes a new taskforce of unions, teachers, and sector leaders. The taskforce will help support the governments wider ambition to reduce working hours for teachers and leaders by five hours per week within three years.

The launch of the workload reduction taskforce follows the 6.5% pay award announced in July when the Education Secretary committed to reducing teacher and leader workload.

The group of 14 includes representatives from all four teaching unions, as well as teachers, leaders, academics and other sector experts. The variety of expertise within the group will provide insight from across all parts of the education sector, from on the ground perspectives to those in positions of management and leadership. The first meeting will take place later this week.

Alongside measures to tackle workload, the Department for Education is also planning an update to its teacher recruitment and retention strategy to continue to attract, support and develop the highly skilled teachers needed to inspire the next generation.

Schools Minister, Nick Gibb said:

Weve seen rising schools standards over the last decade, and that wouldnt be possible without the work of great teachers. We do, however, continue to hear the concerns of teachers and school leaders about workload, which is why we want to build on the past successes in reducing workloads and continue to remove additional burdens, so that teachers can focus on what they do best: teach.

This builds on the generous pay rise agreed earlier this year, as part of the governments continued commitment to building a highly skilled, well supported teaching profession.

This builds on a report from earlier this year that found two-thirds of teachers reported that they spent over half of their working time on tasks other than teaching, rising to 77% of secondary teachers.

School leaders will also receive support to embed flexible working in their schools, as a new toolkit is set to be launched later this month with practical resources to help them implement practices including job shares, part-time working and ad-hoc flexibility such as the occasional personal day. A further five new flexible working ambassador multi-academy trusts and schools (FWAMS) have today been announced, complementing the seven announced in June this year.

The FWAMS appointed are Lapal Primary School of Hales Valley Trust, Newport Girls High School Academy Trust, Aspire Alternative Provision School, the Halifax Academy of Impact Education Multi-Academy Trust, and the Reach Academy Feltham of the Reach Academy Trust.

Michael Scott, of Newport Girls High School said:

Newport Girls High School is delighted to be re-designated as the flexible working ambassador multi academy trust and school for the west midlands region. Having helped a number of trusts to improve their flexible working offer during phase one of the project in 2021-2022, we look forward to spreading the word further and wider over the next two years.

The FWAMS will champion flexible working and provide bespoke peer support in how to implement it within the profession. This delivers on the commitments in the teacher recruitment and retention strategy.

Since its launch nearly five years ago, the department has made considerable progress in delivering its teacher recruitment and retention strategy to attract, retain and develop the highly skilled teachers needed to inspire the next generation. This includes implementing a golden thread of professional development, ensuring all teachers have access to high-quality training and support at every stage of their career.

This winter, the department will publish a strategy update that builds upon its commitment to give every child a world class education delivered by great teachers. The update will provide an update on delivery of previous commitments, and set out priorities for the coming years.