Teachers don’t have enough time to prepare well for class.
Teacher workload is a major issue every time the IEU meets with members to bargain for a new Enterprise Agreement. The amount of administration work and parent/teacher interactions is impacting their planning.
Julie Sonnemann and Rebecca Joiner from the Grattan Insititute surveyed 5,442 Australian teachers and school leaders across all states and territories, primary and secondary schools, and government and non-government schools about teachers’ use of time.
They believe they have a solution as to why teachers don’t have enough time to prepare well for class and according to their research, 86% of teachers reported they didn’t have time for high-quality lesson planning, so it is a major issue.
School leaders are aware of the time pressures
Their survey confirmed that school leaders are aware of the pressure on teacher’s time but feel powerless to do much about it.
Sonnemann and Joiner also determined that the 9,500 schools around Australia shouldn’t have to solve these challenges on their own. Governments must step up.
Making time for great teaching
Their report, Making time for great teaching, recommends governments adopt three reform directions.
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- Find ways other school staff can take on non-teaching work
- Help teachers reduce unnecessary tasks
- Rethink how teachers’ work is organised
They call on Australian governments to commit to a $60 million program to investigate and pilot the concrete options, including those tested in our report, that create more time for great teaching.
Read the full article at The Conversation – https://theconversation.com/teachers-dont-have-enough-time-to-prepare-well-for-class-we-have-a-solution-175633
Authors:
Julie Sonnemann, Deputy Program Director, School Education, Grattan Institute
Rebecca Joiner, Senior Associate, Grattan Institute
