Reducing Teacher Workloads Improves Student Outcomes

The Productivity Commission’s Review of the National School Reform Agreement confirms what many have suspected: reduced workloads make for better teaching.

The Productivity Commission Commissioner Natalie Siegel-Brown said in relation to the review, “effective teaching is the single most influential ‘in-school’ factor for creating an effective learning environment. Compared to many countries, our teachers work longer hours but have less time for activities that make a real difference in the classroom.”

Those in the job have been crying out for less administrative work so they have more time concentrate on their teaching.

The cavalry was supposed to have arrived in the form of an increased number of teaching assistants, but the Commission has found that their deployment needs to be done in a more intentional, organised way.

While teacher workload has been increasing, the number of teaching assistants and other support staff has grown, however the report says, ‘a more systematic and evidence-based approach to deploying the growing number of teaching assistants is required.’

And that, ‘Anecdotal evidence reveals teaching assistants are being deployed in ad hoc ways and do not always have the support or training they need to undertake the myriad of tasks they perform.’

The finding is that ‘a more systematic and evidence-based approach to determining the roles and responsibilities of teaching assistants and support staff, and their appropriate use would be beneficial, including to free up teacher time’.

“Paperwork, more red tape and an obsession with data are sucking the life out of our profession,” Independent Education Union – Queensland and Northern Territory (IEU-QNT) Branch Secretary Terry Burke said.

Burke thinks that the Commission’s review revealed the extent of the workload crisis facing teachers.

“Teachers are being forced to do too much non-teaching work and the learning quality in our schools is suffering as a result," he said.

“Employer demands and government policy are contributing to these unsustainable workloads.”

Image by cottonbro studio