87% of teachers say workload has gone up over the past year

Teachers are warning would-be recruits against the profession because of spiralling workload, a survey has found.

Nine out of 10 respondents to the EIS study say they have been lumbered with extra work in the past year.

The country’s largest teachers’ union said declining staff numbers and increased demands from those who remain over assessment has led to intolerable workloads.

In the face of major recruitment challenges across Tayside and Fife, fewer than half of those surveyed said they would recommend teaching as a career. EIS general secretary Larry Flanagan said: “These findings should issue a stark warning to local authorities and the Scottish Government that more action is needed to reduce workload.

Scottish Labour’s Iain Gray said: “It is time John Swinney and the SNP listened to the EIS and got back to the day job.”

Education Secretary John Swinney told MSPs he had “taken a series of steps to tackle teacher workload”. He said he had “given guidance to all teachers which indicates that the teaching profession should be free to concentrate on learning and teaching”.

Earlier, he was warned by the Scottish Greens’ Ross Greer on the prospect of teachers going on strike over the public sector pay freeze.

On pay, Mr Swinney blamed constraint in Scotland on UK Government austerity.

He accepted it was “difficult to support” the pay freeze, which the SNP have pledged to end.