Teachers demanded a 20-hour a week limit on classes yesterday to maintain a healthy ‘work/life balance’.
Union members called for a rigid 35-hour week, with little more than half given over to teaching children.
Five hours would be used for planning, preparation and assessment ‘at a time and place of the teacher’s choosing’ – meaning at home in most cases.
The remaining ten hours would be set aside for other ‘non-contact’ duties including marking and going to meetings.
The proposal came at the end of a heated eight-day period during which annual conferences held by three teaching unions were used to repeatedly attack the policies of Education Secretary Michael Gove.
The working hours motion of the National Union of Teachers – which was passed by an overwhelming majority and will be linked to planned strikes over pay, pensions and conditions – would mean teachers taking classes for just four hours a day on average. Many schools would have to hire extra staff, putting greater pressure on budgets.
Cutting teaching workloads is one of the demands in the current dispute with Mr Gove that has led to a series of regional strikes from this summer, followed by a national strike before Christmas.
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The National Union of Teachers said activitists should consider strike action to enforce rigid new rules covering maximum lesson sizes and a 35-hour working week.
Under new plans, the union is demanding a 23-pupil limit on classes for pupils aged five-to-seven – around 25 per cent down on the current maximum.
Activists will also lobby the Government for a maximum class size of 18 for GCSE lessons to make sure teenagers get more feedback from teachers.
The NUT said that new caps should be imposed to bring schools into line with institutions such as Eton where “the richest in society” can pay for smaller lessons.
The union is also demanding the introduction of a strict working week in the state education system to combat excessive workloads.
North Somerset’s National Union of Teachers (NUT) secretary, Jon Reddiford, says the education system is ‘in crisis’ as North Somerset teachers are ‘burnt out’ and cannot handle the ‘ridiculous’ and ‘overwhelming workload’.
The exclusive Mercury survey asked 88 North Somerset teachers, from the NUT, what they thought of their working lives and the pressures they face.
Of the 88 teachers who completed the survey, 58 said they are considering quitting the profession within the next five years.
A primary school teacher who has been working in classrooms for more than 10 years said she is considered by her colleagues to have a wealth of experience.
However she added: “I am no longer able to continue being a class teacher due to the overwhelming workload, constant scrutiny and change.”
The survey showed 69 teachers were contracted to work between 31 to 40 hours a week. However, 62 found themselves working as many as 30 additional hours a week.
