Earlier this week, the government published its draft measures to boost teacher recruitment and retention in England.
There is some good news here as Community have been pushing for action on this for a number of years, both directly in our regular meetings with the Department for Education (DfE), and through other agencies such as through the evidence we supply to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), which looks at teacher pay and conditions.
Last September, we saw an increase in teacher starting salaries to £30,000, with a 6.5% pay increase to all other school teachers’ pay and conditions ranges.
In addition, from September 2024, we will see the introduction of recommendations to reduce teacher workload too.
Proposed measures include:
- reminder of the importance of workload reduction as identified in the recommendations from the 2016 and 2018 workload advisory groups;
- embed the Government’s own Wellbeing Charter;
- removal of performance-related pay; and
- updated list of administrative tasks that teachers should not be required to carry out.
Whilst these recommendations have not yet been formally approved by DfE, acceptance of them could make a big difference in the schools where you – our members – work.
Commenting on the draft measures, Helen Osgood, Operations Director at Community said:
“For some time, we have been concerned about teacher workload and have been urging the DfE to put together an action plan of how they are going to address this very important issue, that is undoubtedly affecting teacher recruitment and retention in schools.
“All staff within schools should have a manageable workload and if they do not, there is a risk that staff can become stressed. Then it becomes a very real health and safety issue that needs to be urgently addressed.
“The Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 puts a ‘duty of care’ on employers to protect their employees from the risk of stress at work. The DfE needs to ensure that there is adequate, training, funding and support in schools, to ensure that teachers and support staff are not overburdened as they carry out their daily duties that should relate to their job descriptions.”
Join Community, the union for teachers today
Teachers play a pivotal role in shaping the minds of children and teenagers, and at Community, we’re proud to represent teachers across the UK. Together with our members, we’re campaigning together for real, lasting change to deliver on teacher pay, recruitment, retention and workload. Find out more below about our membership benefits, and how we can help you at work.
If you are a member of Community and need advice or support, please contact our Service Centre at help@community-tu.org or on 0800 389 6332.
© Community Trade Union 2024