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UK News

Christian teachers call for more manageable workload

The Association of Christian Teachers has said that educators need to be able to spend more time with children in the classroom and less time on paperwork.

The comments come on the day that a group of MPs released a report which revealed that England's schools are suffering a worsening teacher shortage and are missing recruitment targets.

The report by the Education Select Committee calls for urgent action, including more focus on retaining teachers and suggesting a cap on the number of hours teachers work.

A key reason for teachers considering leaving the profession is workload, the report says, and more should be done to tackle this issue.

"All school leaders should promote a culture of wellbeing in their schools, which will include taking greater account of teacher workload. This could include implementing the recommendations of the workload challenge or 'capping' the number of hours teachers work outside of teaching time," the report said.

PA

Clive Ireson, Director for Strategy at the Association of Christian Teachers, told Premier News Hour that every school has a responsibility to staff to help provide a more manageable workload.

"There is a pressure of workload and that has to be handled. We have to make sure that teachers are able to teach children and not be too caught up in paper work.

"Individual schools can take away a lot of these workload issues and were instructed to do so. There is a document which tells them which duties teachers shouldn't be doing - things like mundane photocopying and that sort of thing."

A Department for Education spokesman said: "We are investing more than £1.3 billion in recruitment over this parliament and have recruited more trainees in key subjects like physics and maths than last year.

"We recognise there are challenges.

"The Secretary of State has set out her ambition to continue driving up standards through investment in professional development so the best teachers stay in the profession."

Listen to Alex Williams speaking to Clive Ireson here:

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