Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policy on teacher workload of the finding of the Education Policy Institute, published on 10 October 2016, that one in five teachers work a minimum of 60 hours a week; and if she will make a statement.

We recognise that unnecessary workload remains a concern for teachers.

The report from the Education Policy Institute uses data based on OECD’s Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013, which was published in 2014. We took action on these findings at the time, through the ‘Workload Challenge’.

Removing unnecessary workload for teachers remains a priority. On 26 March 2016, we published reports from three independent groups set up to address the most burdensome tasks for teachers - marking, planning and resources and data management. We have also conducted the first biennial Teacher Workload Survey which will help us track teacher workload so that further action can be taken if needed. The report from this robust survey is due to be published later this year.

Removing unnecessary workload is complex and change will take time. We are continuing to work with teachers and their representatives to make sure unnecessary teacher workload is removed.