One in five teachers and leaders believe pupil behaviour has got worse, while more school workers have reported being bullied, harassed and discriminated against.
The findings were revealed today following the release of the full report on the latest wave of the working lives of teachers and leaders survey.
The study – which polled more than 10,000 workers last year – showed a lower proportion of those who took part (53 per cent) rated pupil behaviour as good than in 2022 (62 per cent).
“Generally, those working in schools with a lower proportion of pupils in receipt of free school meals and those working in schools with higher Ofsted ratings were more likely to rate pupil behaviour as very good or good,” the report said.
Of those who took part in both the 2022 and 2023 surveys, 22 per cent “reported a more negative view on pupil behaviour” the second time around.
Only one in 10 thought it had improved, while two-thirds thought it had remained the same.
Rise in bullying
There was also an increase in the proportion who said “they had personally experienced bullying and harassment in the past 12 months”. The figure stood at 14 per cent in 2023, compared to 12 per cent the year before.
Meanwhile, 10 per cent had experienced discrimination, up two percentage points on 2022 levels.
“When looking at bullying, harassment and discrimination together, the proportion who had experienced at least one of these in the past 12 months increased (from 16 per cent to 20 per cent),” the report added.
“The proportions … reporting bullying and harassment or discrimination were higher for those in secondary schools.”
Teachers were more likely to experience these if they had a physical or mental health condition, were female, didn’t identify as heterosexual, from an ethnic minority or if they were Sikh, Hindu or Muslim.
However, most teachers and leaders (70 per cent) “reported that their school valued an equal, diverse and inclusive workforce, while one-in-ten (10 per cent) disagreed”.
More flexible working
The study also found that the proportion of teachers and leaders working flexibly had risen, from 40 per cent in 2022 to 46 per cent last year.
The figure stood at 55 per cent for those working in primaries, compared to 47 per cent in special schools and pupil referral units and 36 per cent in secondaries.
Despite this, “views on the compatibility and acceptability of flexible working had become more negative since 2022”.
Earlier this year, government published a summary of some of the survey’s main findings.
Among other things, it showed full-time leaders’ average working week in 2023 was 58.2 hours – over 11 hours a day – up from 57.5 in 2022.
Full-time teachers’ average hours also stood at 52.4 per week, up from 51.9 the year before.
This came after the Department for Education assembled a workload reduction taskforce with an aim of reducing the average working week by five hours.
