Teachers facing violence and rising workloads in '54 hour weeks', survey finds

Teachers face increased workloads and behavioural issues as they work 54 hours a week on average, a new survey has found.

Teaching union NASUWT is discussing the issue of violence in schools at its annual conference being held in Glasgow.

It comes after a series of videos were posted online showing pupils being violent within the classroom earlier this year.

Earlier this year, a “horrific” video of an attack on a girl in a classroom in Fife raised fears about violence in schools across the country.

A Fife Council showed incidents doubled in the last two years.

National official of the NASUWT Scotland Mike Corbett said: “I do not think there is any doubt that as we emerge form Covid there are significant behavioural problems in schools.

“Yes, it covers violent incidents and we have seen some of them recently but right through to pupils just seemingly not being willing to follow rules and keep to boundaries.

“Often teachers feel they are not getting enough support in terms of consequences for those pupils who are disrupting not just their own education but the education of others in the class.”

Scotland’s new education secretary is being urged to solve the issues within schools by the NASUWT.

The union revealed nearly nine in ten teachers surveyed said their workload had increased over the last year.

The survey, of 8,464 NASUWT members across the UK in March, suggested that 83% of teachers believe their job had adversely affected their mental health.

Mr Corbett said: “As we emerge from what was at times a bitter pay dispute, the focus turns to other areas and for our members those key areas as I explained to the education secretary are teacher workloads and pupil behaviour problems.

“In terms of workload, it’s really schools and teachers being told time and time again to solve the ills of society and do everything – be psychologists and social workers which is stopping many teachers from having the time in the classroom to do the job that they really love.”