New workload assessment tool targets teacher burnout
IEU General Secretary David Brear says a new national teacher workload assessment tool is “an essential part of the overall strategy required to alleviate workload burdens”.
“A process mandating the assessment of the workload implications around the introduction of any new national educational initiative is long overdue. For too long governments at both the state and federal level have been happy to tack on more and more administrative and compliance burden to the day-to-day workload of teachers without involving those same teachers in decision-making around the merit of the initiative or how the work that goes with it is going to get done – the introduction of the NCCD is a case in point.”
He says the main factors driving historically low levels of teacher recruitment and retention are unsustainable workloads and workload intensification in schools.
Brear says the workload assessment tool means any new initiative must “pass muster” by addressing specific questions about how it will be achieved, what it intends to achieve and how it will affect teacher workload, including its effect on regional, rural and remote schools.
“Teachers will always be open to adapting and refining what they do in order to achieve better outcomes for students but the mounting pressure of doing this without any workload recognition is one of the biggest drivers of teachers abandoning the profession.”
The workload assessment tool was developed in collaboration with the IEU and other education unions and should set an important precedent for the adoption of similar teacher workload protections across all areas of education policy.
The IEU has advocated for the widespread implementation of workload impact assessments to curb burdensome compliance and administrative tasks, many of which unnecessarily duplicate the efforts of teachers and school leaders.
As a result of IEU proposals, the assessment tool will require consideration of existing initiatives before the add-on of any new tasks. Teachers will be directly consulted regarding existing areas of work, including timeframes, professional development, and the practicalities of implementation within schools.
The tool also demands answers to the following questions:
Is additional release time, administrative support, training or more staff needed to support new policy initiatives?
Are any proposed changes likely to disrupt the continuity of student learning?
Do new policy initiatives add to the duplication of existing administrative tasks?
The government’s engagement with teachers and their unions in the development of the assessment tool not only addresses administrative tasks, it also helps rebuild respect for the profession.
Federal IEUA Secretary Brad Hayes said, “Our teachers have commonsense practical solutions to workload pressures; we just need employers and policy makers to listen”.