HIGH school teachers have raised concerns about their workload and their bosses.

Fife Council said headteachers were taking the Staffwise survey results "seriously" after issues were highlighted about the demands placed on staff, problems with communication and changes to their jobs.

Improvements at St Columba's High, in Dunfermline, which has a considerable number of pupils from the Cowdenbeath-Lochgelly area on their role, featured in a report to the education and children's services committee on Tuesday after a "fall in their evaluations".

Service manager Neil Finnie said the school had drawn up a plan and added: "Four key areas were identified – communication, consistency, workload and behaviour.

"A working document was prepared and circulated with staff which articulated what areas were to be addressed and progress made."

Improvements have been called for after staff in all of the council's educational establishments were surveyed and asked to agree with a number of statements.

Only 60 per cent of responses from those working in a secondary agreed there was a positive ethos in school, 51 per cent accepted the demands made of them were manageable, 66 per cent had enough control over the way they carried out their work and just 47 per cent agreed that change was managed effectively.

Only 48 per cent said there was effective communication in their school while 66 per cent agreed that their working environment allowed them to carry out their job effectively.

After the results were published, councillors asked education chiefs for more information, given the scores for secondary schools were much lower.

Mr Finnie said feelings were running high amongst teachers when the survey was carried out in early 2019 and may have influenced the results.

He said "a significant managing change process" was underway at the time and there was "a particular focus on teaching staff workload and pay, with the potential for industrial action".

Communication, workload demands and control over workload have all been identified as priority areas and 'wellbeing focus groups' have been set up in schools.

Mr Finnie added that key projects, such as rolling out mental health training, improving the approach to addressing violence and aggression, a staff mentoring model and learning from staff feedback, were being progressed.

He concluded: "Secondary school headteachers have taken the Staffwise survey seriously and are working to improve areas where they can in schools."