Teacher Time Beyond the Classroom - Public vs. Private

The State Of Teachers, Teaching and Teacher Education Report, 2023 highlights several aspects of teachers’ working conditions that involve time spent on duties beyond core classroom teaching, particularly drawing comparisons between government and private schools.

• Administrative responsibilities contribute to teachers’ workload outside direct teaching. A larger proportion of government teachers, close to 40%, felt they had a high administrative workload, compared to about 18-20% of private school teachers. Specific administrative tasks mentioned include maintaining data (49% government vs 38% private), midday meal/nutrition duties (30% government vs 8% private), and other responsibilities (40% government vs 30% private). Overall, 44% of government teachers and 18% of private school teachers felt they had too much administrative work.

• Government school teachers reported having a higher average number of substitution periods per week, averaging 7, in comparison to an average of 5 for private school teachers. While substitution involves being present in the school and potentially managing a classroom, it can represent time not spent preparing for or teaching their primary assigned lessons.

• The availability of non-teaching staff can also impact the time teachers need to spend on non-teaching tasks. Private schools generally have more staff support, including Librarians, Computer Lab Assistants, and Clerical and Cleaning staff, compared to government schools which have the lowest proportion of non-teaching staff except for cooking staff. This suggests that government teachers may spend more time on tasks that would otherwise be handled by support staff.

• While not strictly time “wasted” within the school day, the time spent commuting affects the overall time available to teachers outside their professional duties. Most government school teachers travel about half an hour or more to reach their schools, whereas private school teachers mostly live closer and travel between 14 and 25 minutes. About 28% of government school teachers and 25% of private school teachers reported feeling stressed by their travel time.

In summary, the report indicates that government teachers tend to spend more time on administrative tasks and substitution duties compared to their private school counterparts, potentially due in part to less available non-teaching support staff. Longer travel times also impact the overall time availability for government teachers. It is noted that working conditions of teachers in private schools are considered equal to or better than government schools, with more time available for teaching and less time devoted to administration as compared to government teachers.