Reducing teacher workload a priority for DfE, says Education Secretary
Speaking at ASCL’s annual conference last weekend, the Secretary of State acknowledged the profession’s concerns about workload and highlighted a number of areas where the DfE is working to reduce the burden. Here’s what he had to say:
- The DfE will look at how the accountability system can drive unnecessary workload and make a statement clarifying the roles of the different actors in the system.
- The Department is working with teachers, school leaders, Ofsted and unions to create an online workload reduction toolkit.
- The new “Curriculum Fund” will be used to make it easier for schools and teachers to share and access high quality teaching resources. Mr Hinds said the DfE will work with the profession to help teachers to access a broad set of quality curriculum and teaching materials that can be adapted without having to write them from scratch. He mentioned Whitley Bay High School, which had worked with two schools in the North East to create long-term curriculum plans, making it easier for teachers to share high-quality lesson resources.
- Mr Hinds said there is a need to tackle the propensity of schools to collect more and more data, even when there’s no clear benefit to pupils. He plans to bring together a high level group of sector experts and teachers to look at the kind of data and evidence schools are collecting and look at what, and who, is driving that. They will work on a set of actions to be published by the end of the summer term.
- He highlighted the need for a broader strategy on recruitment and retention and said the Department would identify clearly what steps need to be taken. The strategy will cover areas like workload, professional development, career progression, flexible working and entry routes into teaching.
- There will be no new additional statutory tests or assessment for primary schools, no further changes to the national curriculum and no more reform of GCSEs and A levels in the current Parliament.