Why workload remains the biggest issue facing teachers

Some topics don’t need a controversial headline to grab your attention; they just need to state the facts. 

“Teachers don’t have time to do job properly: Grattan” was the dramatic title of the AFR’s article on teacher workloads by its education editor Julie Hare.

It was sober and accurate.

Teacher workloads was an issue long before the pandemic. Through Agreement negotiations and fostering of effective Consultative Committees, the IEU has long sought to ensure workloads in our schools are manageable. With an Agreement imminent in the government school sector, workload issues in Independent and Catholic schools will be under the microscope as never before. 

A survey conducted for the IEU and the CECV by NOUS Consultancy of over 3500 Catholic school employees prior to the pandemic revealed many teachers frequently worked excessive hours and they felt management of their own workload was not within their control.  

A subsequent IEU survey of its members found that 49% of teachers felt stressed or overwhelmed either regularly or all the time and, 40% of secondary teachers and 34% of primary teachers reported that their work had 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.  

Responding to these findings, IEU General Secretary Deb James said increased work had a negative impact on the morale of teachers, their ability to perform their core work, and 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 Grattan Institute survey just cited by AFR backed this up, stating that “teachers feel overwhelmed by the enormous expectations of their jobs, with nine in every 10 saying they don’t have enough time to prepare for their daily classes”.

Dr Jordana Hunter, the Grattan Institute’s education program director, told The Age the findings were a “cry for help” from an exhausted workforce, which “lacked the time to prepare for their core teaching duties, including lesson planning, reviewing students’ work and supporting struggling learners”.

“Teachers should be able to get the core parts of their job done in a standard working week,” Dr Hunter said.

In her own Age piece on the topic, Dr Hunter said teachers are expected to “assess student learning frequently, monitor progress closely and adapt their practice appropriately, stay abreast of the research evidence, develop children’s social and academic competencies, and ensure their teaching is inclusive of the range of student abilities”.

Phew. 

The Age reports on the workload crisis

But wait, there’s more.

“Add in hours of yard duty and extracurricular activities each week, a good dose of paperwork, student welfare checks, administrative meetings, and the frequent introduction of new programs to tackle emerging social issues from financial literacy and cyber-bullying to informed consent, and the average teacher’s schedule is bulging.”

Teachers are also expected to supervise extracurricular activities and deal with issues including “childhood obesity, swimming safety, mental health challenges, cyberbullying, and consent in personal relationships...”

The events of the last two years, when teachers shifted into and out of remote learning, have highlighted to many people outside the education industry just how urgent the workload crisis has become. 

In October 2021, the Herald Sun reported that the stress of remote teaching – featuring “Lockdowns, pushy parents, long work hours and student misbehaviour” – had driven eight out of 10 Victorian teachers to consider quitting during pandemic lockdowns.

One in four teachers worked at least six days a week during the pandemic, and 40 per cent felt underpaid.

The 2021 Teachers Report Card, from the Australian College of Educators, revealed three quarters of teachers feel stressed at work “fairly often to most of the time”, and 40 per cent devoted more than 10 hours a week to administrative paperwork.

“Teachers said they feel overworked, burnt out and undervalued,’’ the report stated.

“Work does not stop once teachers leave their classrooms.

“They work many irregular hours; 30 per cent put in more than an additional 10 hours at school before going home and, once at home, 20 per cent keep working for more than 15 hours.”

Teachers want to teach – but to do so effectively they need time, resources, and autonomy to prepare, to engage with educational research and undertake quality professional development.

The Grattan Institute weighs in on education staff workloads

The Monash Q report into teacher research concluded “teachers are burnt out and the sector is at risk of staff shortages, excessive turnover and further disruptions”.

It found many teachers gave up up their own time to engage in critical professional work, wrote researcher Dr Jo Gleeson.

“For instance, one in three teachers consulted research before beginning the school year, while one in four did so during the holidays between terms. For those who also consulted research during the school term, over two-thirds indicated doing so at home on the weekend, while 59 per cent also took research home after school.

“Working these hours is not sustainable, nor is it beneficial for our students. Ahead into the 2022 school year, teachers need support, time and resources to continue their work and innovate for improvement.”

Dr Gleeson said a report released in 2021 by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership found one in four teachers intended to leave the profession before they retire due to overwork.

The IEU supports the efforts of our AEU colleagues to strengthen workload limits and increase the autonomy of teachers in Victorian government schools to make their own professional decisions about how best to use their non-teaching time. We will continue to prioritise workload issues in our negotiations for new Agreements in Catholic and independent schools to ensure that our members have the time and resources they need to do their work safely and well and to give our students the education they deserve.