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Austerity takes toll on education: teachers struggle with unmanageable workloads
Striking members of the National Education Union (NEU) on Piccadilly march to a rally in Trafalgar Square, central London, in a long-running dispute over pay. Picture date: Wednesday March 15, 2023.

NEARLY half of teachers and support staff across England and Wales feel their workload is “unmanageable” in the strike-hit and austerity-crippled sector, shocking new research suggests.

Some 35 per cent think they are forced to do too much “most of the time” and 13 per cent “all of the time,” according to the National Education Union (NEU) poll.

The research, published on the opening day of the union’s 2023 conference in Harrogate, reveals that the vast majority of educators want “increased funding to pay for more staff, a less punitive inspection system and smaller class sizes.”

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