Teacher shortage looms if working conditions don’t improve
ABC local radio says a 'huge teacher shortage' is looming if issues facing educators, including workload intensification, are not addressed. The station devoted its Monday Conversation Hour to the issue of teachers leaving the profession, saying casualisation, short-term contracts, lack of respect, low pay, huge workloads and COVID lockdowns are 'driving them away'.
Over half (53%) of people with a teaching degree do not currently work in education and 20% of people who graduate with a teaching degree do not register as teachers upon graduating.
Caller Sally Butler, a casual teacher from Melbourne, said she wasn't surprised that teachers are walking away and COVID was causing people to ask, 'if teaching was for them'. And schools concerned with the bottom line are using casuals to avoid paying holiday pay.
There's even more pressure on casuals during pandemic lockdowns when insecure work becomes even more uncertain.
Former primary school teacher Elizabeth said she left teaching because the workload 'just grew and grew and grew'.
'So, every year they'd take away another bit of support so by the end of time I did finally decide to leave I just felt overwhelmed, and it was impossible to get everything done.'
Elizabeth says teaching is 'like being on stage every day'.
'You stand up in front of your classroom and you put out everything you've got and then you have to go to a meeting or get on a phone call with to a parent and it just drains everything out of you.'
She says teachers come to her and say, 'Please can you help me. I just can't sustain this any longer'.
'I've talked to people who are broken, who are just unable to get off the couch, they're crying, they can't see any hope for the future, but they still get up go to work the next day because they're worried about their financial position.'
She said many female teachers who have been out of the workforce don't have a lot of super, find it difficult to get a permanent position and have often lost long service leave. If they or their partner gets sick, they can suddenly find themselves in a 'really difficult financial position'.
Other callers said the emphasis on accountability, preparation, record-keeping, and data analysis had increased stress and burnout, particularly in the last ten years.
Sam, from Geelong, said class plans, marking, exams, professional development, staff and student meetings and parent interactions also subtracted from the primary task of teaching in classrooms.
She said she was 'absolutely shattered' by the experience of teaching for ten years.
'I think people really underestimate the energy it takes to engage with 25 students every period and keep in touch with them.
'I think most teachers would still say they love teaching. It's not a job for those who want to treat it as a 'nine to five'…An ability to relate to students in a way that engages them and leads to learning is a real skill and also a talent or a vocation. I don’t think that should ever be undervalued.'
In 2018, the IEU and the CECV commissioned NOUS Consultancy to survey over 3500 Catholic school employees and establish 64 focus groups. This research revealed many teachers frequently working excessive hours and they felt management of their own workload was not within their control.
In late 2020 The Point reported: 'The review provided irrefutable and independent evidence that staff in Catholic schools are already working excessive hours and that there must be change at both the system and school level to ameliorate the negative impact'.
In an IEU survey of its members in late 2019, 49% of teachers reported feeling stressed or overwhelmed either regularly or all the time and, 40% of secondary teachers and 34% of primary teachers reported feel that their work has a detrimental effect on their health.
Workload issues were listed as the most significant single workplace issue with 26% of respondents placing the issue on top of their concerns.
IEU State of the Union survey workload findings:
68% regularly or always take work home or work during evenings, weekends and holidays
49% regularly feel stressed or overwhelmed by work expectations
48% regularly or always go into work when I am sick or ill
42% never or rarely believe my employer provides support and advice to maintain a healthy work-life balance.
NOUS key findings
63% of teachers had worked between 41 and 60 hours the previous week
11% had worked between 61 and 70 hours, and 4% over 70 hours
93% of teachers thought their overall workload had increased in the last three years
88% of teachers reported that assessment and providing feedback and administration tasks had increased their workload in the last three years
72% of teachers thought that technology had increased their workload in the last 3 years
81% of teachers and 83% of deputy principals said excessive and ineffective meetings were a major source of workload increase.
Responding to these findings, IEU general Secretary Deb James said, 'teachers, education support staff and principals are rightly frustrated and angry that they can’t get on with doing the job they want to do – teaching, leading, and bringing out the very best in all the students in their care'.
She said increased work had a negative impact on their morale, ability to perform their core work, and, most worryingly, their wellbeing.
'Our members have told us that there are far too many meetings that lack purpose and effective process; that additional administrative requirements are time consuming and of questionable relevance; that the administrative burdens around the NCCD, funding and formation of individual learning programs affect the capacity to implement those learning plans; and that the lack of effective policies and procedures around use of email, communication with parents and dealing with unreasonable parental expectation gives rise to particular stressors.'
The IEU will continue to fight for provisions in Agreements which require meaningful consultation around workloads and prohibit unreasonable workloads.
Workload management is a key issue for the IEU during negotiations in the current bargaining period.