Teachers spend an average of 3,2 hours a day in front of classes, with the rest of their time taken up by administrative duties and assessments, according to a Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) report released on Wednesday.
”An average of 16 hours per week is spent teaching — or 3,2 hours a day. The remaining 25 hours are spent on administration and non-administration-related activities such as extramural studies,” the Educator Workload Report states.
Three-quarters of teachers interviewed felt that the Integrated Quality Management System — a model to appraise individual teachers and evaluate the overall effectiveness of a school, which requires educators to complete numerous forms — had increased their workload.
More than 90% felt the new outcomes-based education curriculum and continuous assessment requirements had done so.
”Ironically, it is precisely those policies that attempt to guarantee that instruction and assessment takes place that undermine instructional time,” reads the report, whose main author is HSRC research director Dr Linda Chisholm.
While policy requires teachers to spend between 64% and 79% of their 35-hour week on teaching, they only spend an average of 41% of their total school-related time doing their jobs, the report says.
These findings were based on an analysis of a time diary filled in by a nationally representative sample of 3 909 educators.
”On average, more than half of teachers’ working week is taken up in administration and non-administration-related activities.”
Time thieves
The study identified major time thieves as being management and supervision, assessment and evaluation, and extracurricular activities.
The larger the school, the less teaching and the more administration demands there are.
Women teachers spend more time than their male colleagues during formal school hours in core activities of teaching, preparation and planning.
Men, however, spend more time than women on non-core and non-administration-related activities.
Significant differences also exist between urban, semi-rural and rural areas. Educators in urban areas generally spend more time on teaching and administration than their rural colleagues do.
”The general decline in time spent across the week is strongest among educators in rural areas.”
According to the survey, the erosion of instructional time is most severe in former black Department of Education and Training schools and former coloured and Indian secondary schools.
In former Indian and coloured primary schools and at the former white House of Assembly and independent schools, more time is spent on instruction.
Among the recommendations made in the report are that class size be reduced and schools receive better administrative support.
The authors also suggest reducing required assessment, recording and reporting procedures.
The study is based on a national survey conducted in 900 schools and case studies in 10 schools. — Sapa