Student teacher wellbeing: Workload matters

Blog post

Student teacher wellbeing: Workload matters

Aimee Quickfall, Professor and Director of Initial Teacher Education at Durham University Jonathan Glazzard, Rosalind Hollis Professor of Education for Social Justice at University of Hull Michelle Jayman, Researcher/Senior Lecturer at University of Roehampton Anthea Rose, Research Fellow at Loughborough University 24 Feb 2026

Despite the wealth of research globally on teacher recruitment and retention, it appears that there is a paucity of research on how to proactively support student teachers’ wellbeing. Our study (funded by a ��ɫ�� small grant) sought to address the gap in proactive advice, by cocreating wellbeing guidance for initial teacher education (ITE) providers in the UK. This guidance was underpinned by the views of student teachers, early career teachers (ECTs) and the mentors who support them. In total, six focus group meetings of two to five participants were held.

For this blog post, we have focused on workload as a key factor in student teacher wellbeing.

Crushing workloads

Student teachers, ECTs and mentors all reported the amount of work expected of student teachers to be a major problem. Nathan (all names are pseudonyms) sums up the feeling of many participants here when he describes the impact of workload:

100 per cent I’ve worked every night this week, every evening this week and I didn’t move into the profession for an easy ride. I, you know, again went into it with my eyes open, but this will definitely be a reason why we’re not staying and you’re not attracting the people you should. (PGCE student teacher)

Several focus group discussions centred on the reduction of workload for student teachers and ECTs, including more non-contact time on placements. However, the Department for Education Criteria (DfE, 2025) makes 80 per cent of a teacher’s full timetable for six weeks a requirement for final ITE placements. For postgraduate students, this means building up to this level of teaching in six to seven months. This requires providers to prepare their student teachers for reaching this 80 per cent requirement by building up contact time rapidly over placements, which makes it difficult to reduce the workload associated with teaching, planning and assessment.

‘Student teachers, ECTs and mentors all reported the amount of work expected of student teachers to be a major problem.’

Being able to say no (or someone saying no for you)

Mentors in the focus groups described how they protect their student teachers from additional and unnecessary workload, such as requests to cover playtime duties, clubs and assemblies. An experienced mentor described how additional opportunities can mount up when many well-meaning staff members give them extra challenges:

It’s an acknowledgement that they are being suffocated by lots of small things, that people don’t realise, but all piled up you can’t breathe under it all … and I often use that strategy with trainee teachers to sort of unpick, what is it that’s making them feel the way that they feel. (Elizabeth, Mentor)

An ECT gave advice to the student teachers in her focus group:

I think that’s my advice: to be selfish, protect your own time and focus on developing your skills and expertise rather than be pushed to do things, whether that’s internal pressure or whether it’s external pressure. (Sadie, 2nd Year ECT)

Workload/Life balance

In many of the focus groups, outside commitments – particularly caring responsibilities and part-time work alongside study and placement – were raised as an exacerbating factor in the pressures of workload. As has been seen in the teaching population in England, caring responsibilities are a major factor in deciding to leave the profession, which provides a plausible explanation why a quarter of leavers each year are women in their 30s (DfE, 2023). For student teachers, the same issues apply, alongside part-time work, as one mentor commented:

We’ve got students who have families at home who have all the care and responsibilities, who live far away. They’ve got buses to catch and that all plays on their mind, it all adds to that level of thinking. And you know that they’ve got all this work to do at school. ‘But if I don’t catch that bus, then I’m not going to get home till this time …’ I think there’s a lot of little things. (Violet, Mentor)

Practical recommendations

Our advice to teacher educators and mentors in the UK, based on our participants’ insights, is to consider the following:

model healthy approaches to managing workload and avoid reinforcing narratives about unmanageable workloads being ‘normal’
give specific advice to mentors about protecting student teachers from additional and unnecessary work
support students with caring responsibilities by acknowledging them and their special circumstances, and by putting student teacher parents and carers in touch with each other, so they can offer each other support while on placement.

Student teacher workload was a major concern for our students, ECTs and mentors, and we hope our project and upcoming resources for providers and students will help with this critical issue. Workload really matters.

References

Department for Education [DfE]. (2023). School workforce in England.

Department for Education [DfE]. (2025). Initial teacher training (ITT): Criteria and supporting advice.

Aimee Quickfall, Professor

Professor and Director of Initial Teacher Education at Durham University

Aimee is a research professor and Director of Initial Teacher Education (ITE) at Durham University, a member of ��ɫ�� Council, one of the ��ɫ�� SIG leads for Mental Health and Wellbeing, and Chair of the ��ɫ�� Conference and Events Committee. Her research interests are well-being and workload in education, ITE policy and experiences of academics, mentors and teacher trainees, feminist methodologies and approaches; and research ethics. Aimee is interested in collaborative projects and supporting research across education, so do get in touch.

Jonathan Glazzard, Professor

Rosalind Hollis Professor of Education for Social Justice at University of Hull

Jonathan Glazzard is the Rosalind Hollis Professor of Education for Social Justice at the University of Hull. He researches LGBTQ+, mental health, disability and early literacy. In 2018, he became co-convenor of the ��ɫ�� SIG for Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education. Jonathan is a teacher educator and has extensive experience in leading primary ITE programmes and in ITE quality assurance across primary and secondary courses. He teaches on all education programmes and supervises students at masters and doctoral levels. He is a National Teaching Fellow and a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He has recently completed his third doctorate in Education at the University of East Anglia.

Michelle Jayman, Dr

Researcher/Senior Lecturer at University of Roehampton

Michelle Jayman is a developmental psychologist with a strong background in education and extensive work experience in schools. She is a Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Roehampton and a Champion for the British Psychological Society Education Section. Her main research interests include children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, programmes and interventions to support and improve learner outcomes, and the relationship between technology and wellbeing.

Anthea Rose, Dr

Research Fellow at Loughborough University

Anthea Rose is a research fellow at the Lincoln Academy of Learning and Teaching (LALT), University of Lincoln. She is currently leading the local Lincolnshire evaluation of the Uni Connect programme, funded by the Office for Students (OfS), which aims to raise the aspirations and attainment of students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Anthea specialises in qualitative research methods and has a particular interest in social justice and issues around equality, gender and the impact of government policy on education practices. Anthea is also a co-convenor of ��ɫ��’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Special Interest Group.