long hours
We
have a question that tells a familiar tale to many teachers. It comes from a secondary
school teacher who is the head of his department. He describes his working day
as starting at 8.40am and not finishing until 4.15pm with only 35 minutes break
for lunch. One day a week he teaches nine 40-minute lessons and sometimes is required
to attend meetings which can last as long as 70 minutes
He asks whether there are any regulations limiting the number of teaching hours
a teacher is required to do. Excessive workload leading to
high levels of stress and low morale is a recurrent theme in the modern workforce,
but nowhere is it more prevalent than in the teaching profession. Teachers' commitment
to their jobs has been relentlessly exploited, with teachers working longer hours,
spending excessive time on administration and in meetings and increasingly taking
part in after school activities. It is not surprising that we are suffering from
a chronic shortage in qualified teaching staff, with many choosing to retire early
or to opt out of teaching altogether. How many hours is
a teacher contracted to work?
Teachers' contracts are open-ended
and there is no overall limit set on working hours. Many teachers are regularly
working 60 or 70 hours a week. The main terms for classroom
teachers are as follows: - Teachers in maintained schools
have to be available for work for 195 days in any year, of which 190 shall be
days on which 'he may be required to teach pupils'.
- The
maximum number of hours for full-time teachers (other than head teachers, deputy
heads and advanced skills teachers) under the direction of the head is 1265.
-
A teacher is required to work such additional hours as may be needed to enable
them to discharge their professional duties.
- A teacher shall
not be required to undertake midday supervision, and shall be allowed a break
of reasonable length either between school sessions or between the hours of 12-2pm.
(Source: School Teachers Pay & Conditions Document 1998)
Conditions
of teachers in the leadership group
The working hours of members of the leadership
group, advanced skills teachers, fast track teachers
are not defined. Their hours of work are regulated
by the Working Time Regulations. Full details
can be found on the DTI website www.dti.gov.uk.
In brief, the regulations impose the following restrictions on working time:
- Maximum of 48 hours per week.
- A daily rest break
of at least 20 minutes, if the working day is longer than six hours.
-
A minimum weekly rest period of 24 hours.
Both the NASUWT
and the NUT have concerns over workload and working hours of teachers. There was
the Let Teachers Teach campaign in 1988, which raised the issue of bureaucracy.
The NASUWT are currently running a campaign, Time for a Limit, and their members
are being asked to 'boycott unnecessary tasks, cut time spent in meetings and
eliminate bureaucracy to enable them to concentrate on the all-important task
of teaching in the classroom'. The NUT and the NASUWT are
currently running a campaign to reduce unnecessary bureaucracy and excessive workload,
and to limit the demands on teachers' time. They have issued guidelines, which
they are recommending that teachers work to. These include: -
Meetings confined to no more than 60 minutes, held on any more than one evening
per week on average, during the term; with a maximum of two evenings in any one
week.
- A midday break, of reasonable length. Members have
been advised not to attend management-convened meetings during their lunch breaks.
- Members are advised not to engage in extra administrative
tasks.
For further details on the Let Teachers Teach
campaign, view the NUT website www.teachers.org.uk
and the NASUWT website www.nasuwt.org.uk.
Further information on employment conditions
can be found on the DfEE website www.dfee.gov.uk
If you have a query contact us on yourcareer@justforteachers.co.uk
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