Together we can ease the workload burden

With many teachers struggling under increasingly excessive workloads, the QTU is encouraging members to suggest ways of easing the burden.

The Union conducted a review of workload at the end of 2013, asking members in schools to use an online workload diary to provide feedback on the impact of workload intensification on their wellbeing and work/life balance.

An analysis of the results makes for some alarming reading.

• 90.4 per cent of respondents indicated that they believed that the time spent on computer administration tasks had increased significantly.
• 90.9 per cent of respondents perceived that their workload had increased significantly over the past two years.
• On average, classroom teachers work 7.97 hours a day, seven days a week (55.79 hours per week).
• On average, heads of program work 8.3 hours a day, seven days a week (58.1 hours a week).
• On average, principals work 9.3 hours a day, seven days a week (65 hours per week).

One of the key drivers of this workload surge is ongoing pressure from the government, which is pushing devolution of responsibilities (school autonomy) while still requiring schools to respond to government targets. In addition, the government’s attacks on the profession, and teacher quality in particular, have added to the perception that QTU members need to work longer hours. Its red tape reduction strategy has not helped either, removing “red tape” from legislation but pushing it down to schools instead.

Over the Easter holidays, delegates at the QTU Union Reps Conference were asked to investigate some of the statements that have been made in schools over the last term. The results will form the basis of a “fact checker” on the QTU website and provide strategies on how to respond when these statements are used, giving members the tools they need to refute those of the government’s increasing expectations that are not mandatory.

Some schools have already come up with strategies in an effort to reduce workload pressures. At one school, for example, the school leadership undertook an “audit” of the tasks being expected of both themselves and their teachers, identifying those that were mandatory, those that were expectations of the school but not mandatory (e.g. activities that are not mandated by the department but that would support the school’s annual implementation plan, or AIP), and those tasks that would be good to do but are not mandatory. In creating this table and sharing it with teachers, the school leadership immediately relieved some of the pressure on themselves and the teaching staff, enabling the members to prioritise mandatory requirements and creating a more structured work/life balance.

During term 2, the QTU is developing a “red tape reductor”, and will be encouraging members to advise it of the red tape that they face and the strategies that might be used to overcome it. Visit www.qtu.asn.au for more details.

The more we work collectively to push back the increasing demands on schools, the sooner we will be able to “Reclaim the Profession”.

Kate Ruttiman
Deputy General Secretary

^{Source: Queensland Teachers' Journal,  Vol 119, No 3, 17 April 2014, p.11}