“We are pleased to be represented on the new workload reduction taskforce and with the government’s focus on this issue, which all the evidence shows is a major factor in teachers and leaders leaving the profession.
“However, we remain sceptical about whether there is the will in government to take some of the steps that are required to produce systemic change. High levels of workload are driven by the underfunding of the education system, which leaves teachers and leaders doing more work with fewer resources, and an accountability system of inspections and performance tables which is excessive and punitive. In order to genuinely tackle workload there will need to be some readiness on the part of the government to accept and take action to address these problems.
“Change must happen. We simply cannot continue with a situation in which recruitment targets for trainee teachers are constantly missed and where many of the people who join the profession then leave early in their careers. This cannot go on. The whole education system is creaking under the strain of this unsustainable churn of teachers and leaders with a clear and present danger to education standards and provision.”