Poll results released on Thursday found Labor, coalition and Greens voters unanimously support the NSW Teachers Federation’s latest campaign call to ease the burden on educators.
In 2021, an independent Gallop Inquiry into teaching recommended an additional two hours as a matter of urgency.
Since then, the number of students with disability in NSW public schools has risen by 75 per cent to more than 220,000, with 86 per cent learning in mainstream settings.
The Inquiry found the hours primary teachers were provided to plan for lessons had not changed since the 1980s; secondary teachers have had no increase since the 1950s.
“Teachers in NSW have had the same preparation time for decades yet in that time, classrooms have been transformed,” federation president Henry Rajendra said.
“There are far more students with disability, more complex needs, more cultural and linguistic diversity, and a curriculum that keeps changing”.
Primary school teachers in NSW receive two hours a week to plan lessons, organise compliance for students with extra needs and collaborate with colleagues.
The teacher’s union is calling for this time to be doubled.
The union’s survey of 18,000 members showed 85 per cent do not have enough time to plan lessons for the classroom.
Redbridge Group’s latest polling of 2025 NSW voters found they “back teacher investment above all else ... it is a bipartisan view across Labor, coalition and Greens voters”.
It identified 42 per cent of respondents believed supporting teachers was the single most effective way to improve public education and greater than all other options to improve education.
“Voters saw a direct connection there, RedBridge Group’s research director Simon Welsh said.
“If we can help teachers to be better at what they do, this benefits every kid in the classroom,” he said.
Parents don’t need to be convinced, Rajendra said.
“Every day they see the teacher who stays back, who knows their child and who has taken the time to understand what that particular kid needs in order to learn.
“They also see what happens when teachers are running on empty.
“The public are clear-eyed about what will make the biggest difference to their children’s education and they’re right.”
Cass Tonkin, a NSW primary school teacher since 2008, said the two-hour schedule for lesson planning is not suitable for modern classrooms.
“We have to do what is right by the law and the Disability Discrimination Act ... which didn’t have a huge impact when I first started my career,” she said.
“Now, we spend a lot of time doing that paperwork.”
(With AAP)
