Workloads, Achievement and Stress: two follow-up studies of teacher time in Key Stage 1

The first of two follow-up studies, involving 53
infant teachers in England and Wales, was conducted to monitor
changes in the workloads of teachers as the national curriculum and
assessment were brought in following ministerial promises to reduce
the burdens imposed on teachers by the implementation of the national
curriculum. Data were collected by questionnaire and time sheets on
teachers' use of tire, and by interviews with a subsample of the
teachers to obtain their perceptions of and feelings about the impact
of the Education Reform Act of 1988 on their working lives. The study
gathered data on: time on work overall and by subcategories,
differences between Year 2 teachers and others, and time spent on
different activities. Interviews focused on attitudes toward the
national curriculum, workloads, pressure in the school day, and the
reduction of pleasure in teaching. The study showed that: (1) 72
percent of the teachers thought that the time they were spending on
work in 1991 was more than in 1990; (2) lack of time was the most
serious obstacle to teachers' implementation of the national
curriculum and assessment; (3) teachers thought it was reasonable for
them to work about 8 extra hours per week, but they were working
about 22 extra hours per week; and (4) teachers' overload was not
restricted to the period in which the national assessments were
administered, but was typical of other time periods as well. Policy
issues raised by the research findings are discussed.