# Teacher workload ‘unfair and unhealthy’, union says
Lucy Adams and Katy McCloskey
“unfair, unhealthy and unsustainable” Scotland’s largest teachers’ union has described the workload in schools as ..
EIS general secretary Andrea Bradley said it was set to ballot members over strike action because the Scottish government had failed to reduce the amount of time teachers must spend in the classroom.
Almost three quarters of those who took part in a union survey said they were rarely or never able to do the work, preparation and correcting they had been asked to do within their working week.
The Scottish government said it was continuing to work with unions and local authorities on reducing the amount of class contact time for teachers.
The EIS survey was completed by almost 11,000 teachers – about 20% of its membership..
A total of 44% of respondents said they usually worked the equivalent of an extra day a week, while a quarter said they worked the equivalent of an extra two days a week to try to get all their work done.
Some 64% said they could never complete all of the tasks assigned to them in their working week.
Only 1% of those who completed the survey said they had sufficient time in a typical working week to complete paperwork, liaise with colleagues and external agencies, and attend meetings in relation to supporting pupils with additional support needs.
More than 10% said they could never access the support needed for children with additional support needs at the point the need was identified.
Alison, who has been a primary school teacher for 13 years and is an EIS representative, says she almost burnt out completely at the start of her career..
She said she had to work nights and weekends to keep on top of her workload.
Alison now tries to protect her weekends to maintain her health, but says the pressures have grown and grown over the years.
She said this was because of the increasing demands of children with additional support needs, and the amount of paperwork.
“a stark picture” Andrea Bradley said the results of the survey painted .
“compelling evidence” She said the survey provided that teacher workload was “unfair, unhealthy and unsustainable”.
“The Scottish government in its last election manifesto pledged to address this by reducing teachers’ class contact time,” she added.
“Four years on from that pledge being made, there has been absolutely no tangible progress towards delivering it, and no proposals as to how it will be delivered.”
“failure” She said that would lead to the EIS opening a consultative ballot on industrial action at its annual general meeting later this week.
The SNP promised to reduce teacher contact time by 1.5 hours a week in its manifesto for the 2021 Scottish election – but that has not happened. The party also pledged to recruit an additional 3,500 teachers by 2026..
That pledge has been dropped and replaced by a promise to get teacher numbers back to the level they were at in 2023.
The Scottish government said it would continue to work with unions and local authority body Cosla to agree the approach to delivering a reduction in class contact time.
“We are providing local authorities with an additional £186.5m to restore teacher numbers, alongside an additional £29m to support the recruitment and retention of the ASN workforce,” a spokesperson said.
“This funding has been provided on the clear agreement that meaningful progress is made on reducing teacher class contact time.
“Local authorities oversee the delivery of education and have a statutory duty to identify, provide and review the support that they provide for pupils with additional support needs in their local community.”
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