COE Exchange

The British National Union of Teachers (NUT) is calling for a cap on the number of hours that teachers will be interacting directly with students and that 20% of their time would be reserved for preparing to teach or grading student assignments. The annual Workload Teachers Diary Survey, published last summer, estimated the average teacher works at least 50 hours per week. NUT insists there is need to “set some kind of standard for teachers in England” as to their weekly work load.

In 2001, Scotland introduced a work cap for teachers. The McCone Agreement established a 35 hour week for teachers in Scotland and since then has reduced time spent with students to 22.5 hours a week. It is still unclear as to whether teachers voluntarily are spending more time with students. NUT most probably will ask for an extensive study into the effects of the McCone Agreement on Scottish education.

Several years ago, I took off a year from college teaching and taught in a small high school in the St. Louis area. My daily diary reflected an individual who was, most probably, working at least 60 hours a week, given the need to completely develop a World History class from scratch. The hours spent talking with students about a wide range of issues does not appear in any contract except the one most teachers unofficially have with students they teach. Those who have never taught on the elementary or secondary level are not aware of the constant need to adjust curriculum materials for each class as well as for individual students.

Education would benefit from learning about what the McCone Agreement has created in Scottish education.