Released yesterday, AITSL’s Australian Teacher Workforce Data (ATWD) Initiative’s National Trends: Teacher Workforce study offers a critical insight into “the story of teaching” across the country.

Involving 50,556 educators in 2023, the research canvasses key workforce trends from 2019 to 2023, shedding light on shifting demographics and roles, employment conditions and career intentions – key factors impacting our teachers and school leaders at scale.

A look into workload

Almost all full-time teachers reported working more than 38 hours per week during school term. Some 26 per cent worked between 50 and 54 hours per week, while 19 per cent worked between 45-49 hours.

Notably, a sizeable 26 per cent notched up 60 hours or more per week during the term.

"The time spent on duties other than face-to-face teaching likely needs to be reduced in order to decrease overall working hours," the report concluded. 

One secondary teacher from Melbourne told EducationHQ these statistics “pretty much reflect what's happening across most schools, at least in Victoria”.

“I think those hours reflect the amount of administration that is required to document and to follow up with students. 

“We also know now that students have more and more diagnoses and individual needs that need to be addressed – and there is no time that's built in to manage and differentiate work for them at each level they need.”

More marking requirements tied to continuous formative assessments are now also consuming a fair slice of teachers’ time outside of school hours, the middle leader said.

“Basically, teachers never get a reprieve from marking.

“And all of that marking is done outside of class time, and it is done mostly at home, so teachers then can free up their day to actually plan and provide lesson plans and create material for classes.”

Both primary and secondary teachers spent between 5 and 7 hours per week on each of administration, general teamwork with colleagues, and marking of student work, the survey found. 

However, the median working hours decreased ‘a little’ for teachers over the 2019-2023 period, from 55 hours in 2019 to 50 hours in 2022 and 2023. 

This decrease was seen particularly for primary teachers.

Taking into account school holiday periods, teachers’ estimated average working hours across the year remained above the full-time load of 38 hours, with medians decreasing to 46-47 hours per week – indicative that teachers do engage in work during term ‘breaks’.

A looming ‘guilt factor’ tends to descend on teachers during school holiday periods, the Victorian teacher shared.

“Because you lack so much time throughout the term, you feel that with [this] time that you should be using it productively to get on top of things so that your next term is easier.

“And so you never kind of have that mental break from school, because you have that guilt factor come into play where you feel like you might be letting students down if you don't work – or you worry that if you don't take a break you're going to burn out, or you worry if you work you will burn out throughout the term.”

Yet an increasing number of educators appear to be strategically opting to avoid working during the holidays, the teacher noted.

“They're feeling burnt out and tired and can't sustain that level of workload.

“The teachers that tend to work through the holiday break, then seem to not have the stamina to work through an entire term. 

“So, I think it's like we're running a marathon where you've got to conserve energy, and the feeling is that you've got to conserve what you've got.”

On this front teachers are also turning to AI to ‘cut a lot of corners’ amid blossoming workloads, she said.

“I think they're using AI because there's not enough time to create lesson plans and do the administration that's required, they're finding shortcuts to hopefully shorten the time so that they can do more work in the areas that they think is important.

“I think teachers are making trade-offs, that's what's happening at the moment.”

Often it is the case that what school executive and the education department deem important not does correlate with what teachers’ see as being critical and/or most pressing at the classroom level, the educator argued.

The experience factor 

The national survey also revealed the depth of experience within the teaching profession, with two-thirds of Australian teachers possessing at least a decade of classroom experience.

Early career teachers (those in their first five years on the job) make up 20 per cent of the workforce.

The data also uncovered a rise in senior leaders with 10 to 29 years of experience, increasing from 57 per cent in 2019 to 63 per cent in 2023 - a shift AITSL say “highlights an opportunity to support experienced educators as they step into leadership roles”.

AITSL CEO Tim Bullard said supporting experienced school leaders was a key priority.

“We know that our principals are key to maximising the learning for Australia’s children and young people.

“Our leadership-focused initiatives, particularly in strengthening middle leader capacity, are essential in building a sustainable, high-performing education workforce.

“Since 2011 AITSL has provided stewardship for the nationally agreed Australian Professional Standard for Principals, a clear framework for what school leaders should know, understand and do to lead successful schools," he added.

AITSL have also recently developed the Professional Standards for Middle Leaders, and guidelines for the induction of school leaders, which offer more detail and support for those in leadership roles.

According to associate professor Joel Windle from University of South Australia, the survey findings call for stronger reform efforts to "attract, support and retain a high-quality teaching workforce".

"Despite teacher shortages being at crisis point, this report shows that working conditions have changed little over the past five years ...

"Teachers are most dissatisfied with tasks that are imposed from above and which appear to have little meaning beyond meeting administrative requirements," he told MCERA. 

Windle noted that for some cohorts of teachers, time spent on administration had increased. He argued more is needed to reduce this burden.

"Teachers are uncertain about remaining in teaching for a variety of reasons, not all of which reflect negatively on the profession," Windle added. 

"Workload remains the primary push factor to leave. However, school systems also need to pay greater attention to loss of autonomy...

"Ultimately, top-down recipes undermine and underestimate teacher professionalism..."

Bullard suggested the survey’s impact on the future of the teaching profession would be significant.

“It is incredibly powerful that teachers and school leaders are using their collective voice through the Australian Teacher Workforce Survey to inform future policy directions and shape more effective support across the profession,” he said.

“The Australian Teacher Workforce Data Initiative tells the story of teaching in Australia. It is home to an enormous amount of data that can be interrogated by policymakers, employers, researchers and others to gain deep and significant insights from teachers and school leaders about what they do, think and feel.

“By closely examining what teachers are telling us, governments and policymakers can take targeted action in the areas that matter most.”