One-third of teachers and school leaders do not know if they want to remain in the profession until retirement, as a new report reveals one-quarter of teachers are working more than 60 hours a week.
Full-time teachers working far more than 38 hours a week is one of the major findings of the latest Australian Teacher Workforce Data report.
The report, released in June by the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL), presents findings on national trends in demographics, education roles, employment conditions, workplace issues and career intentions.
The report is designed to inform policy development on issues affecting the teacher workforce and is based on the Australian Teacher Workforce Survey of more than 50,000 respondents in 2023.
Overwork and work intensification
Overwork remains the major issue driving the workforce attraction and retention crisis.
Full-time teachers reported working far more than 38 hours per week during school terms: 19 per cent of respondents worked 45-49 hours; 26 per cent worked 50-54 hours; 12 per cent worked 55-59 hours; and 26 per cent worked more than 60 hours per week.
Primary and secondary teachers were found to be spending 15-21 hours per week in marking, administration and general teamwork.
Associate Professor Joel Windle from the University of South Australia’s Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion said more reforms were needed to attract and retain high-quality teachers.
“Teachers are most dissatisfied with tasks that are imposed from above and which appear to have little meaning beyond meeting administrative requirements,” he told The Educator Online.
Highly experienced workforce
The teaching workforce is highly experienced and increasingly mature. Two-thirds (66 per cent) of teachers have more than a decade of classroom experience.
Senior leaders with 10-to-29 years’ experience increased from 57 per cent in 2019 to 63 per cent in 2023.
Career succession planning for mid-career teachers was generally well-supported and, at the other end of the spectrum, it was reported that early-career teacher numbers are returning to pre-COVID levels.
Employment conditions
Teacher employment conditions are largely stable, with 69 per cent of teachers and leaders on ongoing contracts in 2023, and the majority (70 per cent) on ongoing or fixed-term contracts with full-time hours.
However, only 48 per cent of early career teachers were employed in an ongoing capacity, with higher proportions on short fixed-term (24 per cent) or casual (19 per cent) contracts.
Relatively high proportions of early career teachers (81 per cent), as well as the teacher workforce in remote/very remote locations (85 per cent), were employed to work full-time hours.
Attraction and retention
The report shows there is a pressing need to reduce teacher workloads to sustainable levels, better support teacher wellbeing and improve career-development pathways.
It found 35 per cent of teachers and school leaders are unsure about staying in the profession until retirement, with teachers aged 30-49 most likely to plan to leave before retirement.
Almost half (49 per cent) of teachers under 30 are uncertain about their career plans.
Associate Professor Windle said workload was the primary factor leading teachers to leave the profession, but a lack of autonomy was another source of dissatisfaction.
“Teachers enjoy face-to-face teaching and building positive relationships with students,” he said.
“Centralised mandates to follow a narrow set of teaching methods, often on the basis of a fragile evidence base, undermine teachers’ ability to be responsive to their own students.
“Ultimately, top-down recipes undermine and underestimate teacher professionalism.”