Our research showed that there are ways of reducing teacher workload. One way is for leaders to work with teachers to ask which tasks they think could be cut or changed without having a negative impact.
New teachers found workload particularly challenging. Some of the ideas from our research include supporting new teachers and their mentors to:
Identify how to find and evaluate existing resources (rather than creating everything from new).
Pair up with a more experienced teacher for lesson planning.
Identify simple ways to differentiate resources for use in class.
Be given help with practical challenges, such as how to book equipment or use the photocopier.
But what really matters is what works for teachers and students at your school – what can you reduce from workload together?