School leaders are fixated on policing teachers’ working hours: new reports

Taking to the Australian teachers Reddit page, one teacher aired their discontent about the situation facing the state’s public school teachers.  

“The way Victorian schools police working hours is ridiculous. Doesn’t matter how much marking you end up doing at home anyway, the principal teams always have a power trip over keeping us back an hour on our own time. It’s just infantilising,” they posted recently.

The educator went on to argue that the profession needs a “wake-up call on being more lenient on teachers who are adults choosing how to use their time effectively”, and especially given the workforce can’t work from home [during school hours].

One teacher told us they were careful to not head to their car until well after 4.30pm because they knew they were being watched.

Speaking anonymously, another Victorian teacher told EducationHQ that there’s a prevailing sentiment that even if teachers leave on time, they “mustn’t be doing enough work”.

“To leave at the prescribed hour must mean that you haven’t done enough work, you haven’t gone above and beyond for your students,” he said.

“And sometimes, leaving late is seen as a measure of how much you’re willing to put into your job.”

Leaders are quite consumed by the need to keep their teachers accountable, the educator added.  

“And there’s this idea that how you show your professionalism is that you wouldn’t leave five minutes early because you wouldn’t do that for the sake of the students.”

The crux of the issue here is that teachers aren’t really trusted to manage their time well and to do meaningful work when it counts, the teacher said.

“[School leaders] feel that they have to be monitoring your work and movements … I think there’s a lack of trust in teachers to deliver what they’re trained and qualified to do.

“And I think that comes down to this harmful idea that teaching isn’t a profession so much as it’s a vocation. Our professionalism seems to be questioned all the time.”

One teacher said they were frustrated by how staff were being policed as a result of the TIL agreement.

Back to the Reddit thread in question.

“The amount of staff at my VIC [Victorian] school that sit on their phone until 4.30 because they have nothing to do and aren’t allowed to leave,” one teacher weighed in.

Another suggested that since the education department’s time in lieu policy came in, many schools have begun enforcing start and finish times.

“…If we come in early, we are “choosing to volunteer” that time…” they noted.

According to the time in lieu obligations set out in the Victorian Government Schools Agreement 2022, time in lieu is provided where a full-time employee is required by the principal to perform duties in excess of 38 hours per week, or above the normal hours of a part-time employee. 

The time in lieu (TIL) provisions do not apply to activities such as planning for classes, assessment and report writing that would “normally occur” in teachers’ required 38 hours.

One teacher said they were frustrated by how staff were being policed as a result of the agreement.

“… we work so much overtime that is never considered that any [principal] who forces you to stay should be ousted,” they declared, noting their current principal has said teachers are not allowed to leave the grounds at any point during the school day.

“We are paid for eight hours a day and that’s all we should be working: I no longer work at home because that is my off time.

“If I can’t get something done during working hours because another stupid ass meeting has been called (that damn well could’ve been an email!) about more wellbeing s*#t (read teachers parenting kids instead of the parents) then tough!...” they argued.

Another flagged that so much of teachers’ work goes unseen at home.

“I get in around 8:40, but I wake up at 5:30 and do about an hour’s prep at home. If I got into school early, my prep would be interrupted by people coming to ask me questions about things. So I look like a lazy sod, but I’m really not…”

Another urged their fellow teachers to stop working from home entirely.

“This is the only way the message will get across that there’s too much admin bull and that we can’t do what we’ve gone to uni to do: teach!”

In 2022, the AEU announced the ‘historic’ agreement, which included the current time in lieu provisions, saying it would significantly improve the conditions for public school principals, teachers and education support staff.

But financial strains brought on by the TIL agreement have also threatened school camps, with ABC News reporting many schools have been forced to cut back camps to running every other year, shorten their duration or scrap them completely and opt for excursions instead.

AEU doubled down on the agreement, telling the publisher that while “school camps are an important part of schooling for all students, school staff should be paid for all the work that they undertake”.

“It is incumbent on the Government to properly and fully fund schools so that staff members are adequately compensated for working outside of regular hours, just like every other worker should be,” the union said.