Translation of Excerpt
Estonian
Education Personnel
Teachers'
Working Time and Tasks
Summary of a survey
On the time spent by
teachers to carry out their professional tasks
Editors: Rein Vöörmann, Jelena
Helemäe
Tallinn 2006
In
The grades of junior teacher and teacher are
assigned by the head of the educational institution that the teacher works at;
the grade of senior teacher is assigned by the evaluating board at the
educational institution. The grade of teacher-methodologist is assigned by the
national evaluating board established by the Minister of Education and
Research. It is voluntary for a teacher to apply for the two higher ones of the
grades - senior teacher and teacher-methodologist. Evaluation is an opportunity
for professional career for teachers and their remuneration also depends
directly on the grade since a minimum salary rate set forth by the Government
of the Republic corresponds to each of the grades. This means that a teacher
with the respective grade must not be paid less than
the minimum corresponding salary rate. As a
result of the negotiations between Estonian Education Personnel Union and the
Government of the Republic, during the last few years the salary rates have
increased by 8 to 15 % yearly. A teacher's remuneration does not depend on
his/her length of employment. A teacher's retirement age is equal to all the
other employees', neither do teachers enjoy any other benefits related to
social security. There are considerable differences in the way teachers'
working time is governed, compared to other employees. The Working and Rest
Time Act lays down a reduced standard for working time for teachers.
The general standard for working time is 40
hours per week or 8 hours per day in
What is the actual weekly work load of teachers?
Or in other words, how much time and on what tasks does a teacher spend? A
survey was carried out in order to cast light upon these questions. Estonian
Education Personnel Union (EEPU) prepared the survey and carried out the
inquiry. EEPU also compiled the questionnaire for measuring the time spent by
teachers (see Appendix 1), 1200 copies of which were distributed in schools all
over
Each activity has been divided into sub-activities,
for instance teaching consists of carrying out lessons incl. replacement
lessons, helping lagging pupils, consultations, work in extended-day groups,
hobby circle and coach work. Since, in addition to time usage, the teachers
were asked about other factors that characterize them as teachers (length of employment
in teaching, whether the given school is a primary, basic or secondary school,
what level of school the teacher works at, also whether the school is situated
in town or in the country), there are even larger possibilities for
characterizing the structure of the time spent by teachers. It was found out
that even the pretty detailed questionnaire at hand does not cover all the
activities that a teacher must carry out.
Of the survey held, we will only cover the
teachers working full-time in this excerpt. The teachers working overtime or
part-time have been omitted although the complete survey covered them as well.
Carrying out lessons is only one of the
activities that a teacher spends his / her time on. In addition he / she has to
carry out several tasks which are more or less related to the work of teaching.
These are the preparations for teaching, which can in turn be divided into
sub-activities (for example planning one's schedule, making teaching aids,
preparing materials necessary in class etc.), the work of class teacher in its
very wide spectrum, taking additional courses to improve oneself as a teacher,
filling in documentation, other activities ranging from organizing events for
pupils to organizing work-related outings and trips. It is also important to
stress that the time spent by all the groups is viewed separately for work
days, weekends and all days in total (from Monday to Sunday).
The time spent by teachers working full-time on
giving lessons should fit into the limits of 18 to 24 hours, their total weekly
load, according to the respective regulation by the Government of the Republic,
should fit into 35 hours. In fact, teachers spend 50.1 hours on average on all
these activities, including 5.6 hours in the weekends, i.e. on Saturdays and
Sundays. This is 15 hours more than the limit promised to them and 10 hours
more than the load of the "average" Estonian.
It is important to note that less than half
(20.5 hours or 41 %) of the time is spent on teaching - of which the main part
is spent on giving lessons and a smaller part on giving replacement lessons. The
most time is spent on the preparations for lessons - of 29.6 hours, as many as 16.2
hours. This figure includes over five hours of work in the weekends. As we
already mentioned, teachers are the ones who, figuratively speaking, work seven
days a week. Thus they spend over three hours on Saturdays and Sundays on the
preparations for lessons. Since on work days they lack the time to do other
necessary things as well, weekends are, in addition, spent on courses and
improving oneself as a teacher, as well as the work of class teacher and filling
in documentation.
The averagely higher load (up to 50 hours) than
the 35 hours set forth in the standard is certainly one of the factors that
makes teaching a stressful work and does not leave teachers enough free time to
reload themselves and relax which are very important for coping with intensive
work.
The length of employment in teaching might be
one of the factors that affects the work load of teachers. By length of
employment in teaching, teachers have been divided into five groups: (1) up to
5 years; (2) 5 to 10 years; (3) 10 to 15 years; (4) 15 to 20 years; (5) over 20
years.
The data from the survey allow us to insist that
the average number of lessons given by teachers weekly depends to some extent
on the teacher's length of employment, indeed. Alas, not in the way it was
supposed in the introductory part of this section, i.e. that the number of
lessons given weekly by teachers longer employed would be smaller than that of
the teachers with a shorter length of employment. Conversely, the average
number of work hours of more experienced teachers (length of employment over 20
years) working full time, extended to as many as 52.3 hours, whereas with a
length of employment less than 5 years, the respective figure was no higher
than 46.1 hours. Thus there is a difference of 6.2 hours. A similar situation
can be seen if we observe the work done on working days and in the weekends,
separately - the more experienced teachers still work more hours weekly than
their less experienced colleagues. In other words, it is the other activities
that increase the number of hours worked by teachers with a greater length of
employment as compared to the younger ones. While the elder ones work 31.6
hours per week, the younger ones work 4.9 hours less, that is 26.7 hours; and
the difference is not induced by the preparations for lessons, it is mostly
induced by the work of class teacher as well as the time spent on organizing
various events. Interestingly, teachers with a greater length of employment are
able to (at least according to the time spent) participate, more actively, in the
activities that are not directly part of giving lessons or teaching in a wider
sense.
Next, the total number of work hours of teachers
as well as the time spent on teaching, the preparations for lessons, the work
of class teacher, individual development etc, are characterized in relation to
how the time spending depends on the type of school which is basic or secondary
school.
Table 4.1 analyzes the actual work load of
teachers with a weekly load of 18 to 24 hours at different levels, i.e. in
basic and secondary schools. It must be stressed that there is no significant
difference: while in basic schools, the average weekly load is 50.7 hours
(including Saturdays and Sundays), in secondary schools the number is only a
little smaller - 49.9 hours. The larger part of the work load falls on working
days (Monday to Friday): 45 hours (89%) of the 50.7-hour total work load in
basic schools and 44.1 hours (88%) of the total 49.9 in secondary schools.
Teaching comprises less than half of the time
reported: 20.1 hours (45%) of the 45 hours spent on working days (Monday to
Friday) in basic schools and similarly, 20.1 hours (46%) of the 44.1 hours in
secondary schools.
Most of the time is spent on other activities
among which the most dominating is obviously the preparations for lessons.
Again there are no significant differences between basic and secondary schools:
in the former, 24.9 hours are spent on other activities, of which the greater
part (53%) is spent on the preparations for lessons, in the latter, the
respective figure is 24 hours, of which 55% is spent on the preparations for
lessons. On working days, teachers spend additional time on the work of class
teacher (on both levels, four hours weekly on average) and filling in the
documentation (2.2 hours in basic schools and 1.9 hours in secondary schools).
A significant characteristic among teachers is
working in the weekends which increases the high work load of teachers even
more. On Saturdays and Sundays, the time spent on work is mostly spent on the
preparations for teaching (searching for materials, getting to know these etc.)
that teachers do not find the strength to do during working days. Secondary
school teachers spend a little more time on the preparations for teaching in
the weekends (3.4 hours) since among basic school teachers this figure is 2.8
hours. However, there is no reason to point out significant differences. Work
loads are quite similar among the teachers in schools of different levels.
On Saturdays and Sundays teachers spend
additional time on courses and individual development (which can, in a broader
sense, also be viewed as part of the preparations for lessons), some time is
also spent on the work of class teacher (weekend events) and a couple of
minutes are spent on finishing some documentation.
Next, the average weekly work load of teachers
is characterized in relation to how it depends on the school level, i.e. the
work load of teachers who work either (1)in primary and basic school, (2) only
in basic school, (3) in secondary school too (i.e. in secondary, basic and
secondary or at all levels), will be discussed. Two groups of teachers will be
distinguished: these with a work load of 18 to 24 hours and these with a work
load of 25 or more hours.
The teachers working 18 to 24 hours who teach in
primary or in primary and basic school have the greatest weekly work load (from
Monday to Sunday) - 51.4 hours. They are followed by secondary school teachers
(49.8 hours) and basic school teachers (48 hours). A similar situation can be
observed when analyzing the work load during working days: primary or primary
and basic school teachers work 46 hours, secondary school teachers work 43.8
hours and basic school teachers work 42.8 hours. We see a different order when
observing the work load in the weekends - the most time is spent on
teaching-related issues on Saturdays and Sundays by the teachers who teach in
secondary school, either completely or partly - six hours. The amount of time spent
on giving lessons (both regular and replacement lessons) by the teachers at all
levels of school is equal - 45%. The work load of teachers on all levels of
school is higher than the working time standard even only when the working days
are considered, which is increased by the work done during the weekends, which in
turn increases the load and does not leave time for teachers to take a rest of
their stressful work sufficiently.
Finally we will examine the dependence of the
work load of teachers on the location of the school, either town or country.
Considering the high level of urbanization in
Time spent by teachers
working full time, depending on the location of the school The data in Table 6.1 show that the average
number of weekly work hours of town school teachers was a little higher than
that of country school teachers, indeed. While this difference was not
significant, only 1.8 hours, it exists, after all. Town school teachers worked
a little more (by one hour) in the weekends as well, but so did they during the
normal working week (Monday to Friday). Of course, it cannot be overlooked that
the work load of both town and country school teachers was extremely high
during the period under observation - around 50 hours a week which clearly
exceeds both the reduced standard for working time and the length of the
ordinary working week. Observing the time spent by country and town school
teachers on separate activities, it occurred that country school teachers spent
a little more time on teaching as such than town school teachers did - about an
hour more.
The comparison of country and town school
teachers by the time spent on other activities showed, in turn, that the work
load of town school teachers is higher. Here the difference extended to 3 hours
with the average weekly figures 28.7 and 31.6, respectively. Here, the work
load of town school teachers outdid that of the country school teachers both in
the weekends and the regular working days. While a country school teacher spent
17.1 hours on teaching and 28.7 hours on other activities, with a difference of
7.6 hours, the respective figures with town school teachers were 16.9, 31.6 and
11.5. This raises a question: is the amount of time spent on other activities
not too large? True, most of it comprises the time spent on preparing the teaching
which takes even a little more time in town schools than the time spent on
giving lessons - 17.7 and 16.9 hours respectively. Town school teachers spend
0.7 hours more than country teachers on the work of class teacher, and both
groups spent the same amount of time on individual development.
The survey offered an overview of how much time
it takes teachers to carry out their tasks weekly, on average. Teaching, more
precisely carrying out lessons, is only one of the sides of a teacher's daily
work. In addition, teachers have to spend time on the preparations for teaching,
the work of class teacher, individual development, filling in the documentation
and several other activities (such as organizing events for pupils or
organizing outings and trips). The question is, are all these activities in the
limits of the reduced standard for working time for teachers, set forth by the
Government of the Republic.
The analysis of the data from the survey
prepared and organized by Estonian Education Personnel Union showed that the
average weekly number of work hours of teachers is very large. Only with
teachers working part-time, did the figure remain in the limits of the reduced
standard for working time for teachers, set forth by the Government of the
Republic (35 hours weekly). The average number of weekly work hours of teachers
working full-time or overtime extended to as high as 50 hours or even more. Teaching
comprised less than a half of the total weekly work hours reported - 40% on
average. Depending on the group of teachers (basic or secondary school, country
or town school, shorter or longer employment in teaching) this percentage may
fluctuate a little but the general impression remains the same: teaching is
spent less time on than other activities. This is even more significant, given
that teaching includes replacement lessons, helping lagging pupils, consultations, work in extended-day groups,
hobby circle and coach work. Activities other than the ones listed above take
around 60% of teachers' time budget. True, most of the time was spent on the
preparations for lessons. Some time was also spent on the work of class
teacher, individual development, organizing events, outings and trips etc. All
these are inseparable parts of the work of teacher. However, the proportion of
such activities in teachers' general time budget is extremely large. Maybe
these are the activities, at the expense of which the total weekly work hours
of teachers could be reduced to a more reasonable level. Is the high work load
including the extra activities, not one of the reasons why we keep talking of the
lack of young teachers in schools for a long time already?
Having discussed the summary of the survey on
the time spent by teachers to carry out their professional tasks, the Executive
Board of EEPU found it necessary to:
-
Make
a proposal to the Ministry of Education and Research to apply additional assisting personnel in schools in order to
allow the teacher to better carry out
the professional tasks (replacement teacher, assistant teacher, social teacher, psychologist, speech
therapist etc) and to apply the necessary means to reduce the number of tasks.
-
Make
a proposal to the local authorities to discuss the possibilities of reducing the number of lessons a teacher must
give weekly.
-
Make
a proposal to the Ministry of Education and Research to co-operate with the
local authorities to find the additional means of significantly raising the
additional pay for the work of class teacher at the secondary school level (at
least 10% of a teacher's pay according to the grade).
-
Make
a proposal to Estonian School Leaders’ Association to analyze the feasibility
of the additional tasks assigned to teachers and to find the means for reducing
the standards for bureaucratic obligations and creating the necessary working
conditions for teachers.
- Form and apply a well-functioning system of courses for raising the qualification of teachers.
If you would like to receive further information on the document 'Summary of a survey on the time spent by teachers working full-time' please contact EEPU at ehl@ehl.org.ee