On June 17th 2025, IPDA members from Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales came together for an online symposium to present and discuss research and issues related to teacher workload. This built upon a successful IPDA Scotland online event on teacher workload earlier in the year.
The symposium was chaired by Catriona Oates from IPDA Scotland and began with an input from Prof. Moira Hulme from the University of West of Scotland who presented findings from her work on teacher workload in Scotland commissioned by the EIS union which had been the focus of the previous IPDA Scotland event. Greg Dempster of the AHDS union for senior leaders of primary schools in Scotland then provided details of their latest workload survey and how this compared to those from previous years.
Derek Boyle from IPDA England then presented data on teacher workload and wellbeing collated from surveys conducted by NFER and DfE. Prof. Catherine Furlong and Dr Pi O’Farrell of DCU presented findings from some of their work in Ireland. The situation in Wales was presented by Dr Rhiannon Parker of Cardiff Metropolitan University and Gwen Morgan of the Open University in Wales.
Despite the different education systems across the four nations with their different governance structures, curricula, inspection frameworks etc. there were some common themes which emerged. Teacher workload is clearly increasing in all systems, and this has a complex mix of contributors, but these include increased additional support needs of pupils with linked behaviour and pastoral pressures, increased expectations with decreased resource, and ongoing accountability and scrutiny pressure which often drive performativity in the system and can decrease opportunities for teachers to exhibit agency. One outcome of this is a decease in the number applicants for senior leadership positions in schools.
A lively Q&A session followed the short presentations which offered participants the opportunity to interrogate some of the issues raised more deeply with both the speakers and other participants.