Head teachers ‘risk burnout’ from Covid workloads
Scotland’ s biggest education union has warned that head teachers and members of school management teams are facing “unsustainable” and “excessive” workloads, as schools return after lockdown.
The Educational Institute of Scotland has warned the Scottish Government that senior management teams are exhausted and face burnout, less than a month after pupils returned to schools.
There are also concerns over a lack of support with digital teaching methods, alongside increased stress connected to fears of Covid-19 spreading in schools.
Head teachers and members of school management teams have said they face “unsustainable” and “excessive” workloads, Scotland’s biggest education union has said.
The Educational Institute of Scotland held its meeting of head and deputy head teachers net work on Friday with several concerns raised over the workload and support from the Scottish Government and councils.
Blended learning plans, scrapped by education secretary John Swinney after opposition from parents, had taken up significant time over summer, an issue compounded when plans for a full return to school and the associated requirements for enhanced hygiene in school buildings coincided with the exam results fiasco, which led to another u-turn by Mr Swinney.
The EIS has warned the Scottish government that senior management teams (SMTS) are exhausted and face burnout, less than a month after pupils returned to schools.
Other concerns include lack of support with digital teaching methods due to poor IT infrastructure and connectivity, making working online and holding virtual meetings“impossible ”, alongside increased stress connected to fears of Covid-19 spreading in schools. Lorraine Mcbride, convener of the EIS head teacher net work, said the changing policy around schools had“substantially increased” teacher workload with a “particularly heavy burden” falling on SMTS.
She said :“Burnout is a very real risk for members of staff who have not had a real break since before the lockdown.
“The challenge of having to plan entirely new methods of educational delivery, then replan again at short notice as a result of changes in government policy, has heaped huge amounts of pressure on SMTS across the country.”
She added :“The levels of additional management and HR functions that SMTS have faced have been quite incredible. As one head teacher told the meeting today, he was required to carry out 30 individual risk assessments in the week before the school reopened, which he was committed to doing but had to do without any extra support being provided to him.
“That represents additional workload and illustrates the unmanageable and unstainable levels of workload pressure that SMTS are facing in schools across Scotland. The risk to the health and wellbeing of headteachers and deputes is very real and very worrying.”
Urging workers to return to the office at the same time as reopening schools is jeopardising the test and trace system’s ability to cope, a public health expert has warned.
Professor Devi Sridhar, from the University of Edinburgh, who advises the Scottish Government, said she was concerned about the UK Government’s campaign to encourage people back into offices coinciding with pupils’ return because the testing system in Scotland had struggled with a surge of demand when schools reopened.
Prof Sridhar told Sky News: “I’m a little bit worried about the back to office push alongside the back to school push.
“What we’ve seen in Scotland over the past few weeks is the testing system has just been really having to race to catch up with the demand of all the children coming home with coughs and colds and fevers.
“If you add on top of that all the adults going back into offices and having those as well, yo ur te sting system is really under strain. So you have to get ready and get your testing system going so peo - ple get the results fast enough and the tracing teams can get going.”
The Scottish Government said the work by school staff “in challenging circumstances is vitally important” and it “is working closely with local authorities, unions and other key partners to offer support wherever possible”.