Are England’s teachers quietly normalising a 50-hour working week?
The latest research survey suggests workload is easing on paper, but still driving teachers out of the system.
More than enough evidence
The Department for Education’s Working lives of teachers and leaders: wave 4 (published, November 2025) captures a snapshot of workload, wellbeing, CPD, pay, behaviour and retention across England, drawing on responses from teachers and leaders (n = 10,808).
Two years ago, I argued that the government had more than enough evidence to tackle workload, yet interventions remained sluggish. This 2025 data shows small improvements in hours and wellbeing, but the daily experience of admin, behaviour follow-up and system trust still defines the job for far too many teachers and school and college leaders.
The 2025 report offers a glimmer of progress, not a turning point. If leaders want retention to improve, they must shift from workload management to workload removal. The next gains will not come from new initiatives, but from the courage to stop doing the things that do not matter. This annual survey explores how teachers and school leaders currently experience their jobs across three big themes 1) work life and wellbeing 2) professional development, and 3) pay.
Communication demands with parents are rising
The headline is familiar but still jarring: teachers report fewer hours than leaders, and 2025 records the lowest averages in the series for both groups. Full-time teachers now cluster around the 50–59 hour band, while secondary leaders continue to shoulder the longest weeks.
Teachers also report changing pressures within the school day, with communication demands with parents/carers rising even as other administrative burdens appear to soften.
Small improvements, but haemorrhaging teachers
The system remains caught between two truths. First, there are small improvements in workload, wellbeing and pay satisfaction. Second, the profession is still haemorrhaging talent because the lived experience of the job remains intense.
Only just over half of respondents report job satisfaction, even though most still enjoy classroom teaching. That gap signals an uncomfortable reality: teachers can love the craft but struggle with the conditions. Confidence in accountability remains fragile. When only a minority agree inspection offers a fair assessment, it becomes harder for leaders to use external judgement as a lever for internal improvement.
Deliberate workload removal is needed
School and college leaders can use these findings as a diagnostic rather than a celebration. The wins are real, but marginal. The next gains will require deliberate subtraction, not additional initiatives.
Prioritise work redesign: strip duplicative data cycles, rationalise marking expectations, and protect planning time. Teachers’ time with parents/carers needs clearer structures, templates and boundaries to prevent goodwill becoming an invisible workload tax.
CPD leaders should lean into what staff already value: in-house training, instructional coaching, and disciplined lesson feedback. External providers can add precision, but only when aligned to a small number of school-wide priorities.
Reflection questions for teachers:
- Which routines in teachers’ schools silently add hours without improving student outcomes?
- How might leaders publish a “stop doing” list each term?
- Where can communication with parents/carers be standardised to reduce repeated effort?
- How can departments agree a minimum effective approach to marking?
- Which data collections can be reduced to three high-impact checkpoints per year?
- How might flexible working be redesigned for middle leaders, not just classroom teachers?
- What local evidence would reassure staff that workload decisions are fair?
- How can coaching replace observation as a compliance exercise?
- What would a 45-hour week look like in practice for secondary leaders?
- How can schools track time saved, not just policies written?
The research concludes:
All measures of overall teacher and leader wellbeing have improved for 2025 when compared with all previous waves (Figure 9.1). Hard to believe when we are losing 40,000+ teachers, every year!
Download and read the full report.
