Worried about workload? Leadership, preparation and progression is of greater significance

As a trainee teacher, the profession’s reputation for extreme workloads certainly preceded itself. Whilst this reputation is somewhat well earned, I must admit to having exaggerated my own workload in the past when looking for a convenient if not believable excuse to avoid meeting non-teaching friends and family. Of course, this is not to trivialise the very real issue of unmanageable workloads, which is ‘one of the most commonly cited drivers for teachers leaving the profession’ (DfE, 2019a, p. 3). Instead, this perspective on research considers Dr Sam Sims’ paper in the British Educational Research Journal, which offers actionable advice on ‘aspects of the school environment which school leaders can focus on in order to improve retention’ (Sims, 2020, p. 302). Before reflecting on how Sims’ (2020) research can inform school and classroom culture, let’s recap Ovenden-Hope and Brimacombe’s (2019) article in The Profession (the Chartered College’s annual publicati