Teachers: Stress

(asked on 19th February 2019) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department has a policy to help tackle stress experienced by teachers.


Answered by
Nick Gibb Portrait
Nick Gibb
This question was answered on 27th February 2019

The Government is clear that there are no great schools without great teachers.

In January 2019, the Department launched the Teacher Recruitment and Retention Strategy. This includes commitments to radically simplify the accountability system, limit the amount of change that schools have to deliver, and provide extra support to tackle challenging pupil behaviour. The Department is also introducing an Early Career Framework for teachers, which includes mentor support so that newly qualified teachers receive the support they need. The strategy can be found at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-recruitment-and-retention-strategy.

The strategy sets out the areas where Government can make the most difference as quickly as possible. It also marks the beginning of a conversation with headteachers about how the Department can support them to set a culture in their school that reduces unnecessary planning, marking and data requirements; supports teachers to deal with disruptive behaviour; and establishes a culture that values continued professional development and flexible working at all career stages.

The Department continues to work with unions, teachers and Ofsted to challenge and remove unnecessary workload and a joint letter from my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State, and other key national organisations was sent to school leaders in January confirming their support to help reduce workload in schools.

The Department has accepted all the recommendations of the ‘Making Data Work’ report and published a workload reduction toolkit as part of an ongoing programme to tackle excessive workload in schools. The report and Government response can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-workload-advisory-group-report-and-government-response.

Reticulating Splines