The Issue
- School boards have strongly resisted including in collective agreements any language that would limit their ability to increase teachers’ assigned or instructional time. Some Members of the Legislature have mused aloud about passing legislation requiring teachers to provide a minimum of 25 hours of instruction per week.
- Generally, there is a perception among elements of the media and the public that teachers work five-hour days and that class size and programming issues can be solved by increasing teachers’ instructional duties.
The Reality
- Teachers work in a unique environment and, compared with people working in other occupations and settings, have very little control over their time. The need to provide ongoing supervision of students before, during and after the school day often limits the ability of teachers to take regular health breaks or a guaranteed lunch period. A teacher’s day is rigidly controlled by the clock and, if required to be absent from the classroom, the teacher is under a professional obligation to prepare and provide comprehensive plans to guide his or her substitute.
- Studies of teachers’ workloads consistently demonstrate that their work involves much more than simple instruction. Planning lessons, providing individual assistance to students, marking, doing administrative tasks, collaborating with colleagues, meeting with parents and community members, participating in professional development, preparing materials and participating in extra-curricular activities are all part of the job, and each contributes to the teacher’s work load.
- A study of 112 Alberta teachers conducted in 1997 revealed that during a typical week, teachers worked between 52.4 hours (3,146 minutes) and 53.4 hours (3,201 minutes) per week.
- The data collected in Alberta correlates highly with data collected from other provinces and with a national study undertaken in December 2000 and January 2001 by the independent research firm Global Economics for the Canadian Teachers’ Federation. The Global Economics study indicated that the typical teacher works 51.8 hours per week:
- Full-time teachers are typically required to provide about 200 days of service to their employer over the course of the year. Many actually put in significantly more days, working on weekends, during holidays and before and after the school year to prepare for classes and provide extracurricular opportunities for their students.
- In addition to contributing their time, teachers also spend their personal funds to purchase materials for use in the classroom. In Alberta 93.7 percent of teachers contributed an average of $528 per year toward the purchase of books, consumables, supplies, transportation, software, computers and equipment.
Sources
Alberta Teachers’ Association. “Alberta Teachers, A Workload Study” (Research Monograph 37), 1999
Canadian Teachers Federation. “The “Economics” of Teaching: Personal Financial Commitment, Salary Comparisons, Taxation Issues” (Economic Services Bulletin), 2001-1 June.
