We know Teachers face unique pressures.

Remote learning brought them to the surface.

Education Horizons’ second annual school survey, The Voice of Australian Educators, has identified significant pressures faced by teachers in transitioning to remote learning in 2020.

According to 1,008 Australian teachers, school leaders and administrative staff surveyed in November and December 2020, only 59 per cent of teachers rated themselves as “fairly prepared or extremely prepared” for the transition to home schooling.

By contrast, 74 per cent of school leaders felt that their school was “fairly prepared” or “extremely prepared” for that transition – raising important questions about the unique challenges faced by teachers in 2020.

Other Teacher responses to our survey give some insight into these pressures including:

  • A lack of non-classroom time to plan and prepare was the major challenge identified by teachers in 2020 (47 per cent); and
  • Improving workflow to reduce workload was the number one priority for teachers in 2021 (42 per cent).

Teachers need more time to plan and do assessment reports during school time instead of the huge workload that is currently done at home.

These results align with OECD data which identifies that teachers in Australia spend a higher proportion of their time in front of the class, compared to other high performing education systems such as Korea, Finland and Japan (OECD 2018, Teaching hours indicator).

This data suggests there is space for a national discussion about the amount of time teachers have to properly plan and prepare their classroom teaching – and the systems and supports that help teachers make the most out of the time they do have.

Too much face to face with huge curriculum to adhere to and little time offered against marking, planning, collaboration and teacher’s wellbeing.

This may include targeted professional development, better infrastructure for collaboration and more integrated systems to support visible curriculum, lesson plans and student learning.

Classroom teachers need more time to collaborate, analyse and evaluate data and plan for differentiated learning. There are too many administrative distractions and many get burnt out.

 

You can learn more about Education Hlorizons’ second annual school survey by accessing The Voice of Australian Educators 2021 Report here.