The government has announced a number of “decisive measures” that it believes will help reduce the unnecessary workload experienced by teachers.

Informed by the results of the Workload Challenge survey, which was launched last October, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and education secretary Nicky Morgan feel confident that these commitments will go a long way in bringing the focus of the profession back on teaching.

Over 44,000 professionals responded to the poll, which is the biggest consultation of its kind carried out by the Department for Education in over ten years.

The measures for reform include:

-      Providing schools with more notice of major changes to the curriculum

-      Centralising best practice so that schools can share and find out what each other is doing in areas like marking and data management

-      Committing Ofsted to making changes to its handbook and/or framework outside of the school year

-      Monitoring teacher workload over the next few years through the delivery of a “large scale, robust” survey from the spring of 2016 (to then be carried out every two years)

“Every school is only as good as the teachers that work there, and I know that some have been left feeling browbeaten and under-valued, engaged in a constant battle with bureaucracy” said Mr Clegg.

“These are the people that work day in, day out, doing a fantastic job in helping shape our children’s futures. Yet thousands have told us that they’re simply not able to focus on the job at hand because of the burdensome workloads they’re faced with. It’s about time we changed that.”

The measures outlined above, he continued, are the first of many. He described these commitments as being the first step “in helping build a better education system and fairer society which puts pupils at its heart so they all have a chance to succeed”.

Other actions already carried out by the government to reduce excessive teacher workload includes:

-      Cutting more than 21,000 pages of guidance and “making clear” that formal written plans are not required for every lesson

-      Delivering a clear set of guidelines that dispel any myths about what is required ahead of an Ofsted inspection

-      Backing the creation of a new and independent professional body for teaching that will provide teachers with the responsibility to lead on education and development.