The Department for Education (DfE) in consultation with school leaders, teachers and other sector experts has designed a toolkit (external link) to help schools to address workload issues. In 2016, the DfE’s Teacher Workload Survey (external link) found that the vast majority (93%) of teachers think that teacher workload is a “fairly serious problem”. It found that the top three workload concerns are marking, planning and data. The new toolkit aims to “support schools in reducing workload and to address the drivers of excessive workload at a national level". The toolkit is split into 3 stages, supporting schools leaders to:
- identify the workload issues in their school(s) with the help of workload audit tools (external link)
- address the key issues that can lead to excessive workloads in areas such as communication or data management
- evaluate the impact of actions taken.
Schools can also use the tools in each stage as standalone materials. Whilst use of the toolkit is optional, those governing may wish to ask their senior executive leader if they are aware of the tools available from the DfE to help manage staff workload.