Teacher workload and effective teaching : what do teachers think?

Summaries of two major recent research reports into teachers’ workload and teachers’ work practices will be presented in this session: Secondary Teacher Workload Study and Primary (Elementary) Teacher Work Study. The research was carried out by the Australian Council for Educational Research for the New Zealand Ministry of Education. The purpose of the studies was to gain an understanding of the nature and patterns of teachers’ work, to explore practical and innovative ways in which teachers manage their work and to determine what factors cause work pressure for them. A particular focus of these studies was teacher perceptions of workload and factors that affect these perceptions. The workload and perceptions of principals and middle managers were also investigated.