Teacher Workload

Improving Education by Reducing Teacher Workload

Sometimes a teacher's day is just one, long meeting.

I have held numerous posts in education over the years as a teacher and administrator. I have worked in several different districts and visited hundreds of schools in the eastern United States. I have long been an advocate for educational improvement based on sound research and knowing what works and what doesn't.

Nationwide public education has been around nearly 150 for elementary and high school students. Before 1870 there were numerous private and some public schools here and there that adopted and adapted techniques based largely on common sense – i.e., teachers stood in front of a class, told them what and how to do something, offered practice, and gave tests for assessment. As time passed various procedures were improved by clever teachers and principals often in isolation. Knowledge was gained by educators regarding test construction, individual differences, etc.

Teaching Today

There is a lot of good information about how to teach better. Too much remains that has survived by having been passed from one generation to another with no good basis for application except that “it’s what teachers do.” I’ve addressed these in other articles and they include improper grading, homework, misuse of rewards, discipline techniques, and other arcane practices. Teachers can reduce their own workloads by not giving excessive homework or pop-quizzes to grade. Everything students do doesn’t have to be graded, but might be maintained in a portfolio for teacher/parent meetings.

But there are many great teachers in this country who understand the need to stay involved in learning how to teach. A great teacher who engenders the desire to learn is wonderful to watch! One who is worn out and angry from being totally absorbed by the job is depressing.

The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future estimates that one-third of all new teachers  leave after three years – 46 percent are gone within five years. There is no shortage of articles and surveys about “why teachers quit,” but there is a definite shortage of schools that have solved the problems.

Yet with all of the bad practices I see in some schools – principals are guilty too – I cannot but pity today’s teacher. They carry an albatross around their necks that doesn't look like teaching – it looks like paperwork and other ancillary duties that are just expected. Teachers generally accept these tasks and even willingly add more, like too much homework to correct.

I believe that the most overlooked reasons that teachers quit can be found in the stress and resentment created by the many demands on the limited time they have. If this nation is serious about improving education, then we need to spend money on paraprofessionals to handle some of the non-educational tasks that rob teachers of energy and demean their training.

Student work translates into teacher
work

Teachers have Many Roles

Of course, many schools have ample funding for ample resources, but in many schools teachers are burdened with lunch duty, playground duty, general “guard” duty, sponsoring clubs, and so on. Teachers are bookkeepers for various funds collected, secretaries for endless forms to be completed, standardized test monitors, and then there are all of the actual things actually related to education. The workload not only wears teachers out but can affect their time to prepare for teaching well.

Still, with all of the various tasks that teachers perform, most that I know show up for free before school starts to prepare their rooms for the coming year, and spend a day, or two, or three because they feel there will not be ample time for preparation once school officially begins. Teachers, in general, volunteer for lots of extra tasks, and the system has come to count on their generosity, but I question whether or not their charitable gifts of time advance the cause of education. 

College professors are educators, too. They typically have the advantage of less time in the classroom and fewer ancillary expectations like decorating the room, setting up learning centers, or other time-consuming responsibilities that teachers have. They are also paid much more for less work and are respected for their expertise. Is this justifiable to the extent that it exists? I think not.

I wish I could offer a solution other than trying to create awareness in the hope that teachers will be more cognizant of their time. It shouldn't  take unionization to solve issues like workload. Administrators should stand up and be counted for this point, too. Giving teachers more time to teach and less busy work seems not just reasonable, but necessary to improve education.