Teachers’ mental health is being damaged by working excessive and unreasonable hours, research by the NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union has revealed.

Nine out of ten teachers (91%) say their workload has increased in the last year, according to the Union’s Big Question Survey 2022.

In a typical mid-term week, full-time teachers report that they are working 57 hours on average and they work 15 hours of these hours outside of the normal school day.

Teachers report that they have had to spend more time on pastoral care, administrative and clerical tasks, and data and assessment requirements in the last year and these excessive hours are taking their toll.

84% of teachers believe that their job has adversely affected their mental health in the last year, with more than half of respondents citing workload as the main cause.

A motion on teachers’ excessive workload was at the top of the agenda at the NASUWT’s Annual Conference in Birmingham this weekend.

 Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“Despite repeated calls for Governments and Administrations to take effective action to reduce teacher workload and enforce contractual limits on working time, they have failed to do so.

“Teachers and school leaders have been serving on the front line throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and have been placed under immense pressure, which is no longer sustainable.

“No teacher should expect to be subject to levels of workload pressure that will make them ill or force them out a job they love.

“Excessive workload is bad for teachers and it is damaging children’s education.

“Teachers deserve a better deal, which must include a contractual entitlement to a limit on their workload and working hours.

“Teachers should be afforded a right to a proper work/life balance that also protects their mental and physical health.”