Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when the next review of the content of the Working Lives of Teachers and Leaders survey is scheduled; and what process is available for stakeholders to propose new questions.

The content of the working lives of teachers and leaders (WLTL) survey is reviewed on an annual basis to ensure it captures the breadth of teachers and leaders’ experiences and characteristics, whilst balancing the need to maintain comparability between waves and manage the burden on respondents.

The next review of survey content will take place in summer 2027 following the completion of fieldwork for the next wave of the survey in spring 2027 and in advance of the 2028 survey.

The new WLTL study utilised several mechanisms to obtain feedback from stakeholders on content for spring 2027, including inviting some teachers and leaders to take part in exploratory qualitative discussions, inviting feedback via meetings with sector representatives, technical experts and union representatives.

Stakeholders can make proposals to include questions/subject areas, but decision to include is decided based on a range of factors including evidence need, survey space, methodological quality, respondent burden, sensitivity of information being collected and proportionality.