Pledge to address teacher workload

The Scottish Government has pledged to address issues with teacher workload amid widespread complaints they are finding the new qualifications “unmanageable”.

Seamus Searson says the situation is unmanageable. Picture: Contributed

Teachers with up to 40 years’ experience have told the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA) they are dealing with the most demanding workload of their career, working ten hours a day and seven days a week.

The vast majority (95 per cent) of teachers say they have not been given any additional time to complete the marking, moderation, verification and data entry required as part of the new national qualifications under the Curriculum For Excellence.

A survey of 1,244 teachers by the SSTA found that more 
than half of teachers are spending longer than 20 hours of additional teacher time marking pupils’ unit assessments.

SSTA general secretary Seamus Searson said: “The situation that teachers face in schools today in trying to do the best for their young people is unmanageable.