Vìa Iqbal Muhammad Teachers spend less than half their working week in the classroom: Survey shows time secondary teachers in England – who are younger than peers abroad – spend on admin and preparation Despite their workload, a large majority of teachers in England like their profession and the schools they work in. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian Teachers in England spend only a third of their working week instructing pupils face to face, despite working longer hours than their counterparts in other European countries, according to the widest survey of teaching carried out to date. The survey, by the Organisation for Economic Development and Cooperation (OECD), revealed that teachers in England were younger and less experienced than their peers in most other countries – and were more likely to be pitched into more difficult teaching conditions at the start of their careers. Yet despite the long working hours and feeling unappreciated, a large majority say they like their profession and the schools they work in, with younger teachers most likely to be the happiest in their job. The survey of teachers working in 34 countries reported that full-time teachers in English secondary schools worked 48 hours a week, with one in 10 reporting working weeks of 65 hours or more. But the survey found that teachers spent about 20 hours a week in the classroom, with the remainder of their time spent on administration, lesson preparation and marking work. The OECD figures showed that teachers in England spent more time on those tasks than their colleagues in countries with high-performing education systems, despite schools in England employing a larger proportion of teaching assistants and support staff. Even in the classroom, nearly 20% of teachers time is taken up with keeping order and further administration; just 16 hours of a 48-hour average full-time working week is spent on teaching and learning with pupils. Chris Husbands, director of the University of Londons Institute of Education, said: This may be a result of the high levels of autonomy enjoyed by English schools which mean each school takes on more of the necessary administration and bureaucracy themselves. Among the leading European countries, teachers in Finland spent slightly longer in the classroom at 21 hours a week but worked just 32 hours each week overall. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: In England, teachers working lives are dominated by bureaucracy and form-filling, and school leaders are not empowered to do what they know is best for their pupils. About 80% of teachers in English schools are under the age of 50, while 20% are under the age of 30. The average secondary school teacher in England is also less experienced than their peers overseas, with 12 years at the chalkface compared with 16 years in the 33 remaining countries. Dylan Wiliam, professor of educational assessment at the University of London, said it was surprising that only Singapore had teachers with less teaching experience than England, and that England sent its younger teachers to work in more challenging schools. In other countries the trend is for more challenging schools – that is those with more poor students, more students with English as an additional language, more students with special needs – to have more experienced teachers, Wiliam said. Nearly half of the headteachers surveyed by the OECD said they struggled to recruit experienced and qualified staff in many areas, such as special needs. The survey also supported complaints by teachers about the level of appraisal they face from schools and Ofsted inspectors, with only 11% saying they had never received a formal appraisal, lower than any country other than South Korea. Yet the widespread use of appraisal appears to go to waste in many cases. Unlike most other countries with comprehensive appraisal systems, fewer than half of teachers in England report that feedback from appraisal has any impact on their teaching, William noted. While only around one in three teachers said they felt the value of teaching was appreciated by society, that figure was well above many other countries, such as France, Sweden and Spain, where fewer than 10% felt that it was valued. More than four out of five teachers in England said they were satisfied with their job, while only 8% said they regretted becoming a teacher. Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: It is clear from the survey that although teachers love their profession, workload is unmanageable, accountability systems add unnecessary pressure and they are underpaid for the work they do. This is an issue that concerns everyone. Our children deserve enthusiastic, energetic teachers, not overworked and stressed ones. The OECD used a sample of 154 schools and nearly 2,500 secondary teachers from both state and independent schools in England, making it the most extensive survey of its type, according to Husbands.
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 17:08:26 +0000
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