More than 90% of Tasmanian teachers believe their workloads have increased significantly, according to the results of a survey released by the Australian Education Union.
According to the union's Tasmanian branch, 87% of the 4422 teachers surveyed said they were not able to do all the tasks required of them in a working day, with some claiming to be working up to 82 hours a week.
In the survey, 93% of survey respondents agreed, or strongly agreed, that workloads had significantly increased over the past five years.
The workload overload has been blamed on the more complex planning and delivery requirements of the Australian Curriculum, including increasing research, planning, data entry and reporting obligations.
“The research shows that workloads have become unmanageable in recent years, with administrative tasks in particular overloading teachers,” Terry Polglase the president of the Tasmanian AEC said. He also expressed his concern for teachers losing time in preparing individualised learning experiences as too much time was spent in meeting and paperwork.
Only one in three teachers who took part in the survey believe they have sufficient planning and preparation time, with a majority of teachers feeling that their workloads are unmanageable.