Retention
Wellbeing
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Top takeaway
While working hours and views on workload have improved slightly, 49% of teachers and leaders still find their workload unacceptable, and 89% experience stress. Teachers and leaders are much more likely to feel valued by their school than society at large.
More detail
How do teachers and leaders feel about their working lives? This annual survey of teachers and leaders in state schools in England looks at:
- workload, wellbeing and flexible working arrangements
- attitudes to pay
- experiences of professional development
- views on pupil behaviour
- career reflections
- future career intentions.
Over 10,000 teachers and leaders participated in wave 3 of the survey.
Working hours and workload
- Average working hours in the week have gone down slightly compared to 2022 and 2023, but teachers and leaders are still likely to be working between 50 and 59 hours in the week, with leaders typically reporting working more hours than teachers.
- 22% of teachers and leaders agreed that they had an acceptable workload in 2024, an increase from 17% in both 2022 and 2023.
- 49% of teachers and leaders thought their workload was both not acceptable and that they did not have sufficient control over it, a decrease compared with 2023 (54%) and 2022 (57%).
- Both teachers and leaders reported that following up on behaviour incidents is taking up more time.
Flexible working
46% of teachers and leaders had a flexible working arrangement in place. The most common of these is part-time working (21%). Other flexible working arrangements on the increase include:
- PPA time off-site
- ad-hoc days to start late or finish early
- ad-hoc personal days off at the manager’s discretion.
However, 65% of teachers and leaders said they would not feel confident requesting flexible working arrangements, and 61% thought that choosing to work flexibly would affect opportunities for career progression.
Salary views
30% of those surveyed agree that they are satisfied with the salary they receive – which is an improvement on the 20% who agreed with this statement in 2023.
Leaders were more likely than teachers to agree that they were satisfied with the salary they received (55% of leaders vs. 26% of teachers).
Job satisfaction and wellbeing
- Almost half of all teachers and leaders (49%) were satisfied with their job either most or all of the time. Just 16% were satisfied rarely or not at all.
- While 66% of teachers and leaders feel valued by their school, only 12% agree that ‘Teachers’ views are valued by society’.
- Stress levels are still high at 89%, with 62% finding that the job negatively impacts on their mental health.
- Perceptions around school support for wellbeing have improved, which chimes with findings from the Teacher Wellbeing Index 2024.
34% of teachers and leaders indicated that they were considering leaving the English state school sector in the next 12 months for reasons other than retirement. The most common reasons for wanting to leave were:
- stress and/or poor wellbeing
- high workload.
Questions for reflection and action
- Does your setting have measures in place to try and reduce stress? Do you think they are effective? Is there more you are planning to do in this area in the upcoming year?
- How does your setting deal with flexible working requests? Are flexible working options offered to all staff, or do they have to be individually requested? Do you feel there’s a positive attitude towards flexible working in your setting?
- Do you think that the workload for staff in your setting is too high? Can you see ways to reduce it, or improve staff perceptions around workload?
Reading and resources
