Is it really true, that teacher workload has been reduced?
In this post I share research and analysis from the Teacher Voice Omnibus: November 2016 survey – published on 11th July 2017. There are some startling results from the DfE survey which coincides with the School Workforce Census (data collection) which we shared last week.
Research
Topics covered by the Department for Education (DfE) in the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) teacher voice omnibus survey include:
- curriculum reform
- teacher workload
- professional development
- teacher supply
- and many more important issues …
The 32 questions explored teachers’ and senior leaders’ views on, and activities relating to, a range of areas. In total, 1,936 practising teachers from 1,629 schools in the maintained sector in England completed the survey. 1,047 (54 per cent) of the respondents were teaching in primary schools and 889 (46 per cent) were teaching in secondary schools. In terms of role, 1,002 respondents (52 per cent) were classroom teachers and 934 (48 per cent) were senior leaders.
Workload
When considering impact, 40 per cent of those who said their school had evaluated workload, reported that average teacher workload had reduced. Nearly two-fifths (39 per cent) of senior leaders indicated that they had used advice from OfSTED.
This still suggests that 47% of all schools have done nothing to reduce teacher-workload!
Page 22 – Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey November 2016 – published July 2017
Professional Development
The new standard for teachers’ professional development was published by the DfE in July 2016. Nearly half (49 per cent) of senior leaders were aware that there is a new standard and which aspects of teachers’ professional development it covers.
I am confident that David Weston, who chaired the CPD group, will remain frustrated with 20% of school leaders who are not aware of the standards.
Page 24 – Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey November 2016 – published July 2017
Teacher Supply
Senior leaders were asked how likely they would be to attempt to recruit teachers from outside the UK if they had teacher supply issues in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects, Modern Foreign Languages (MFL), and other subjects. A higher proportion of secondary school leaders said they would attempt to recruit outside the UK.
Around two-fifths (41 per cent) of secondary school leaders and 14 per cent of primary school leaders also said that they would recruit people from outside the UK to teach Modern Foreign Languages (MFL). This requirement may stem from EBacc preferences.
Page 30 – Teacher Voice Omnibus Survey November 2016 – published July 2017
Teachers completed the main survey online between the 4th and 9th of November 2016. The senior leader booster survey ran between 26th November and 16th December 2016. Perhaps the end of term is not a great time to gauge feedback from school leaders?
Download:
You can download the full report and the dataset.
Source: Department for Education.
