Scotland’s secondary teachers are struggling with excessive workload as they battle with excessive paperwork, a survey has found.
The study, by the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association, also found the 85% of teachers said they were not ready for planned improvements to the curriculum.
The union’s Health, Safety and Wellbeing Committee, which surveyed 978 staff across 31 councils, highlighted mounting concerns over stress and administrative burdens facing teachers.
It found that tasks linked to tracking and monitoring pupils, as well as “burdensome” SQA assignments and coursework, were the biggest pressures on staff wellbeing.
The union said the response suggested the system was “skewed toward administrative assurance and assessment compliance rather than pedagogical development”.
It expressed concerns over the expectations of curriculum reform and teachers’ readiness to deliver it.
More than 85% of respondents said they did not feel ready to engage with curriculum redesign, while 63.6% said they were “not ready yet” and require significant guidance. Just 3.3% reported feeling ready or highly ready.
The report warns that without additional support, reforms risk becoming “tokenistic” and could increase staff burnout.
When asked what would help manage workload, 72.2% of respondents said more time as the main priority. Less than a quarter (24.7%) said access to curricular resources would help, while only 3.1% pointed to technology.
Grant McAllister, convener of the committee, said the findings show excessive workload should be treated as a health and safety issue.
He warned that “failure to address these systemic issues risks widening equity gaps across schools and increasing the rate of staff burnout”.
Scottish Conservative education spokesman Miles Briggs said: “Teachers are at the end of their tether because of the damage the SNP has done to our schools system.
“The Nationalists’ underfunding and neglect has let down teachers, pupils and parents, and seen a decline in standards and a rise in classroom violence.”
However SNP Glasgow Southside candidate Kaukab Stewart insisted that the party “firmly supports Scotland’s teachers in the incredible job they do improving the opportunities and educational outcomes of Scotland’s young people”.
Ms Stewart said: “Under the SNP, the number of teachers in Scotland’s classrooms has increased by more than 2,700 over the past decade, Scotland has the lowest teacher-pupil ratio, highest spend per pupil, and best paid teachers in the UK.
“We have near record levels of young people going into work, education or training and record levels of literacy and numeracy.”
While she accepted there is “still work to be done”, she added that “a re-elected SNP government will always be firmly on the side of Scotland’s teachers”.