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Teachers taking their work home with them “masks” the true scale of workload challenges, with fixed hours needed to “uncover” the extent of the problem, MPs have been told.

The House of Commons education committee also heard how most leaders have not read the government’s workload reduction toolkit, and just 9 per cent found it useful.

Experts warned the current system was “wringing” the sense of purpose from teachers and prioritising “performance over wellbeing”.

Here’s what we learned from experts who gave evidence to the inquiry about teacher recruitment and retention today.

1. Lack of fixed hours 鈥榤asks鈥� workload issues

Workload is currently 鈥渉idden, it鈥檚 masked, it鈥檚 being done at home鈥�, according to Professor Becky Allen, chief analyst at Teacher Tapp.

“Until we move towards fixed working hours for teachers, we won鈥檛 uncover and therefore resolve the nature of the workload difficulty,” she warned MPs.

She favours fixed hours of 鈥渟ay, 8am until 4.30pm every day, and an expectation that they should go home and there is no work that a headteacher should be asking them to do鈥�.

鈥淎nd then we鈥檒l find the job is not manageable, and then we will have a public debate about what we do about it. But until then, we pretend that we鈥檙e trying to fix a problem, but ultimately it鈥檚 masked inside teachers鈥� homes.鈥�

We would then need to 鈥渇ind solutions to workload, and we might not like them鈥�.

鈥淭hey might mean, for example, it has to become more difficult for parents to get in touch with schools or for schools to provide all these kind of ancillary social support networks around families. We might have to do that because we can鈥檛 pay for overtime.鈥�

2. Most leaders shun workload toolkit

In 2018, the DfE published a school workload reduction toolkit. But it has not been well-read.

shows around a third of senior leaders hadn鈥檛 even heard of it, another third had not read it and 23 per cent had read it but did not find it useful. Only 9 per cent reported finding it useful.

Allen told MPs the toolkit was a 鈥渂ig document鈥�.

鈥淵ou need to invest about 100 hours of senior leadership time in really working through it.鈥�

Teacher Tapp data also shows low take-up of the 2021 staff wellbeing charter and this year鈥檚 flexible working toolkit.

Asked if there was a 鈥減roblem with comms鈥�, Allen replied: 鈥淒o you know how many emails you get if you鈥檙e a senior leader?

鈥淭he only way you deal with your job is through mass deletion of emails every day. And one of them unfortunately would have been the email about the flexible working toolkit.鈥�

3. Teachers can鈥檛 cut their hours

The government has stepped up its work to encourage schools to offer flexible working.

But although around 4 in 10 teachers say they are interested in flexible working, Allen warned 鈥渋f we allowed them to flexibly work, they would reduce their hours and we would have to find some more teachers from somewhere鈥�.

鈥淚 think we have to focus on the bits of workload that we can solve, which is keeping the school day as short as possible for teachers, getting them out at the end of the day and home and on with their lives as our primary strategy.

鈥淎nd I say that because any alternative strategy involves existing teachers working fewer hours, and at the moment we don鈥檛 have any other teachers to plug the gap.鈥�

4. Late starts and early finishes boost wellbeing

Flexible working strategies don鈥檛 need to be 鈥渃omplicated and terribly difficult鈥�, according to Sinead Mc Brearty, CEO of Education Support.

She said Northampton Academy 鈥渁llows staff to come in late or go home early one day a week, and they worked that into the timetable鈥�.

鈥淣ow this doesn鈥檛 seem to me an extraordinarily difficult or onerous thing to do, but for them it鈥檚 been transformative for how staff feel they鈥檙e being treated. And it has upsides in terms of reducing attrition but also reducing the need for supply staff because you find improvements in sickness.鈥�

5. 鈥榃e wring the purpose out of teachers鈥�

Mc Brearty said schools had a workforce that was 鈥渄eeply connected to its purpose, that comes here with really high ambition and aspiration to do good work鈥�.

鈥淎nd somehow we manage to wring that out of people along the way. And there鈥檚 a really huge lost opportunity in it. Other industries would give their left arm for the level of purpose that we see in the workforce in education.鈥�

She said teachers who felt they could make a difference to pupils鈥� lives had their sense of purpose 鈥渕et鈥�, but if they did not feel that way 鈥渢hat鈥檚 a much less satisfying experience as a teacher鈥�.

鈥淎nd at that point to be fair鈥�if you think 鈥業 can鈥檛 make a difference, the sense of purpose I brought here isn鈥檛 being met鈥�, it鈥檚 a pretty rational decision to decide 鈥業鈥檓 going to go and do something else.鈥�

6. Education 鈥榩rioritises performance over wellbeing鈥�

shows the proportion of teachers reporting at least some feelings of burnout has increased from 51 per cent in October 2018 to 70 per cent last month.

Mc Brearty warned MPs that the culture in education 鈥減rioritises performance over wellbeing鈥�.

鈥淚 think we have historically seen those two things as mutually exclusive. That you can drive performance and if wellbeing suffers, then so be it.

鈥淏ut I think what we increasingly understand because the evidence more broadly is better, is that performance and wellbeing are intrinsically linked, and if you want sustainable performance, then you have to address both.鈥�

7. Teachers get 鈥榮tuck鈥� at top of pay scale

Luke Sibieta, from the Institute for Fiscal Studies, told MPs that pay for early-career teachers in England 鈥渃ompares relatively well鈥� with other industries for most subjects.

But when you compare pay of older, more experienced teachers with the private sector, teaching 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 look as good anymore at all鈥�.

This is because teaching 鈥済ets to a ceiling where you can鈥檛 really go much further without becoming a deputy head or a head鈥�.

So teachers end up 鈥渟tuck at the top鈥� of the upper pay scale, while their private sector counterparts 鈥渟ee continued pay progression鈥�.