According to an Educations Scotland 5 survey carried out by Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, the Educational Institute of Scotland, 4 out of 5 teachers report feeling overwhelmed by workload. Others can’t even get critical work done during their assigned hours. This survey paints a pretty horrific picture of our education system. For an increasing number of educators, it’s personal time that they’re forced to sacrifice in order to meet these new, unrealistic demands.
The survey results indicate that 64% of teachers reported they could never complete all assigned tasks within a typical working week. What’s more, 44% of survey respondents reported that they generally work at least one additional day per week. At the same time, 25% said they spend the equivalent of two additional days just to tread water. The workload pressures suddenly intensify when there isn’t time to do key activities. This ranges from filling out forms, planning with their co-teachers and general ed. Only 1 percent of respondents reported that they have enough time to adequately balance these duties.
Over a tenth of teachers said they were never able to get the support required for students with special educational needs. This is still a very serious concern, not just when those needs are known. One teacher shared the difficulties of managing a non-verbal autistic child exhibiting violent behaviors while simultaneously teaching a class of 32 students. This sobering reality underscores the true battle educators face. They continually juggle the needs of each child with the needs of the group.
Alison, a primary school teacher, spoke out about the pressures that have built up throughout her career as test and accountability culture has skyrocketed. She described how weekends transformed into sacrosanct time carved out to help save her mental health.
“I’ve been late back home, late dinners, late beds, you’re still thinking about it,” – Alison
Sara told us that preparations for the coming week pretty much consume her Sundays. Consequently, she is quickly running out of time for family activities.
“You set your Sunday aside and don’t make plans with family because you need to sit down in front of a laptop and research and plan and provide lessons for the following week,” – Alison
The survey’s findings prompted Andrea Bradley, a representative from the union, to describe the situation as “a story of persistent, excessive workload demands being placed on teachers at all grades and at all stages of their careers.” She pointed to the emotional and physical toll on teachers’ lives. The toll it takes on their health and happiness has further lowered the education quality that students are able to achieve.
“Having teachers who are overworked and stressed is in no-one’s interest, neither teachers themselves or their families, nor the young people learning in our schools,” – Andrea Bradley
The Scottish government had committed to recruiting an extra 3,500 teachers by 2026 to help ease some of these pressures. Yet this commitment has recently been changed to only restoring their teacher count back to 2023. The government has responded and is clearly committed to addressing these points by restating its intention to lower class contact time. Yet they have still been unable to make real substantive strides.
“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,” – Andrea Bradley
A spokesperson for Cosla indicated that they appreciated the urgency of addressing complaints over teacher workloads. This response follows our survey results, which revealed growing concerns about the problem.
“We recognize that this work needs to move at pace to improve outcomes for children and young people, and the experiences of the teachers and school staff working with them,” – A Cosla spokesperson
It’s why, they stressed, they are in near-constant dialogue with the Scottish government and trade unions. Their primary concern is with the pledge to cut class contact time. The focus now, as always, is on making the education profession more sustainable for teachers.
Even with these conversations happening, teachers still largely report feeling “in crisis.” One anonymous educator eloquently captured their classroom climate in a nutshell as an endless repetition of “crying and screaming” all day every day. This poetic retort reveals the psychic cost that this toxic environment exacts on teachers and students alike.
