When asked “We're going to speak to HR Staff and Hiring Managers in education: What questions should we ask them on your behalf?”, a number of respondents to the AoC survey did raise the issue of teachers’ workloads. In terms of how his college ensures that the workload required by FE teaching jobs is fair, Jon Downing, HR Systems and Development Manager for Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group, explained: “We've got a few practices that help to limit this a little bit.”
“We have a set limit of contractual hours, including delivery hours, over the course of the year,” says Jon. “Also, we have a limit on weekly delivery hours of what we would ask staff to do over and above. So for example, the kind of classic cases are if somebody is off in a department and cover is required, then that's your pressure points really, where people start to cover things and then go vastly over what their contractual hours are.”
A report conducted by the University and College Union (UCU) called Transformative Teaching and Learning in Further Education, which looked into the workload of teachers in 2019, found that some fourth-fifths of staff in universities and colleges have struggled with an increased workload and poor mental health during the pandemic. Jon said that his college are mindful that certain courses “are slightly front-loaded hours or the courses are a little bit more compressed than others”.
Another UCU poll carried out in December 2020 and released in 2021 also found that almost a fifth of respondents taught more than 27 hours a week in colleges, whereas secondary school teachers taught between 20 and 21 hours per week. The blended learning model that was introduced across the UK to keep students learning during lockdown saw an increase in workload and this is something that colleges are very aware of.
It is through collaboration that Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group figures out the thoughts of FE staff on the subject of teacher workload and then introduces workplans and measures to combat issues around ‘burnout’, according to Jon. “We […] operate staff surveys and some of those questions do relate to teaching hours and what staff feel the workloads are.”
Positive strides are being made in this area though. The Department for Education’s Teacher Workload Survey 2019 report suggests that there has been a reduction between 2016 and 2019 in teacher workload, but concerns still remain over teacher workload, according to some of the questions we received when undertaking our research.
Jon added that teachers at his college are compensated when they go above and beyond: “We also allow staff to claim for any additional overtime that they allocate to their timetable so if they are covering and they're over their allocated hours at the end of the
year, they can submit claims for that.” He added: “That doesn’t always ensure they’ve got a reasonably light workload, it just ensures they’re not put on for that.”
Jon explained that his college do stress to new FE teachers that certain times of year are busier than others. “When we induct new staff, we go through these pressure periods. We allocate teacher and learning coaches, we’ve got things to prepare them for the peaks and troughs. That is the most difficult thing about education.” Jon went on to state that “we know when the pressure periods are and we try and work our academic calendar and plans so that we’re not adding to any of those pressure points. Tying to gear staff up and prepare them for that is certainly a priority for us”.
One running theme that cropped up in the AoC research was how FE staff were supported during the pandemic and how they will be supported when normality resumes. Jon said that this institution appreciates that every member of staff has a different set of circumstances. Staff wellbeing is “something we ty to be a bit proactive about, although every organisation was immediately thrown on the back foot [by the pandemic] so I'm sure nobody has planned for this in advance”.
“We try to be proactive in terms of providing different types of training for staff — we would put on quite a bit of wellbeing training and we were conscious of department managers, speaking to staff on a regular basis, rather than them being isolated at home,” he added.
Almost a half of further education (FE) teachers reportedly spend “a significant amount of time supporting students outside the classroom”, according to the 2019 UCU research, which points to how those teaching in FE can transform the lives of students, although the authors of the report acknowledged that resources need to be used to help facilitate the key role that FE teachers play in the local community.
Report co-author Professor Vicky Duckworth said: “Our research shows how they help re-build damaged learner identities and offer people from diverse communities hope, agency and a positive orientation towards the future.”
She added: “However, policy and funding need to acknowledge the important role colleges are playing by providing flexible and part-time routes, not just as an additional part of a linear system.”
AoCJobs, part of the Association of Colleges, connects teachers and support staff with schools and colleges for online job opportunities.