Teachers have called for the amount of time allocated during the working day to undertake planning, preparation and assessment to be increased from 10% to 20% in order to tackle soaring levels of workload and stress among the profession.

Representatives at the Annual Conference of NASUWT-The Teachers’ Union in Liverpool have argued that a fully funded doubling of non-contact time would help recruit and retain more teachers, address excessive working hours and improve educational standards.

Dr Patrick Roach, NASUWT General Secretary, said:

“Workload remains teachers’ top concern about their job. Recent TUC analysis has found that teachers remain at the top of the list of occupations working the most unpaid overtime. This simply cannot continue.

“Teachers are routinely spending evenings, weekends and holidays working just to keep on top of the demands they face.

“Giving teachers more time during the working day to undertake planning, preparation and assessment would not only be a significant step forward in helping to prevent burnout and sickness absence, it would also contribute to improving outcomes for pupils.”