New charter created to reduce Nottingham teachers’ work load

Video: Notts TV find out what improvements teachers may benefit from

There is a growing problem as teachers across Nottingham are leaving the profession and seeking alternative careers due to their long working hours and increasing work load.

Nottingham City Education Improvement Board have created a charter that aims to reduce the pressure and work load for teachers across the city.

The Nottingham City Education Improvement Board are concerned that if teachers in Nottingham cannot be recruited and retained this will have a significant impact on standards of teaching.

John Dyson, Headteacher at Westbury School said: “We are all experiencing real challenges in getting high quality teachers and retaining them. The profession is going through a period of acceptance that we are not as attractive as we used to be. ”

“Young talents are coming out of University and looking in other directions when they may have in the past gone to teaching.

“We have to find ways to make this profession attractive to them and make the city of Nottingham city an attractive place to come and teach.”

The charter is receiving support from teaching unions and education watchdog Ofsted.

Schools and academies are being encouraged to sign up to the charter, which promises to give teachers a fair and reasonable work load, as well as high- quality training and professional development opportunities that meet the needs of teachers. The charter also promises attractive pay and rewards packages and prohibits the use of probationary period contacts in schools.

The charter also outlines what teachers can expect from their schools, from adopting schemes such as the five minute lesson plan to a marking policy of what will and will not be marked. The charter will also encourage training schemes that allow teaching assistants the opportunity to progress to qualified teacher status.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has set up National working groups to explore the ways in which work loads for teachers can be reduced. The consensus is that there needs to be changes to expectations on marking school work as well as time spent on producing detailed lesson plans.