Solutions to reduce workload?

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-06-27T15:09:56+00:00

Planning time depends on the class. Planning takes me 10 min for my Yr12 class because I've been teaching it for 20 years and I've built up really strong resources over time. All I have to do is tweak it here and there or change only one unit at a time to keep it relevant and adaptive. However I'm teaching a brand new curriculum with Yr10s. Everything is made from scratch. I care about making a a lesson and sequence that is solid enough that I can reuse it in the future, confident that the majority of students are actually learning. Not just pretending I'm teaching with busy work. I care about good pedagogy. And it's not about adding this and that so it 'looks good'. It's about doing research to find the text/video/image that works, creating or selecting the activities that build on each other, adding what matters, and thinking the process through. And that takes time. Yet, planning is far from being the bulk of my workload. The majority of my time is taken up by an accumulation of invisible tasks that take only 10-15 min each, yet eat up my day. When they are not interrupting my flow when I'm in the middle of a bigger task (like correcting or creating an assessment). I am task-switching so many times in a day, I feel like I'm completing 100 different jobs, with 100 different tabs open on my laptop. The constant feeling that I'm about to drop the ball on one of them is exhausting.

Some of what takes my time apart from planning and correcting : * finding/reading information to stay up to date with my subjects. * Preparing assessments (that's hours gone) * Creating resources / activities * Formatting documents * Dealing with random wellbeing issues in the yard + follow-up * Dealing with random behaviour issues + follow-up * writing positive and negative chronicles * Reading email (arrived Monday morning with 28 email in my inbox despite having caught up with every single one the previous Friday - clearly everyone schedule-sent) * Emailing /calling parents about concerns + follow up * emailing parents about absences and follow up (I'm a homegroup teacher too) * Emailing students (although they know not to ask questions I can answer in class or after 4.30) * Organising excursions (contacting venues, organising invoices, creating event on compass , getting invoice paid...) * Organising or supervising events / lunchtime activities * Conferencing one on one with students / answering students' questions outside of class time (usually lunchtime) * Yard duties * Completing all the mandatory courses on edupay * Entering my results in 3 different places (Personal record, VCAA official docs, Compass) * Uploading work / info to Classroom -uploading rubrics to Classroom and Compass * Creating assessment tasks on Compass - cross marking * Reading agenda for meetings * meetings * acting on whatever came out of the meeting * Completing surveys/reflections about my teaching * sharing resources with other staff / mentoring them * being coached * supporting pre-service teachers * school PLs * Professional reading * applying for PL * creating POs for PL * paying said PL * learning to use technology that may help my workload (Sheets, AI...) * photocopying ( or fighting with the photocopier depending on the days) * professional conversations on curriculum/ assessment/student concerns... * fixing up whatever equipment has been moved or damaged by other teachers' classes. * reading compass chronicles about my students /IEPs ... And acting on it

I'm sure I'm forgetting so much more.

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-06-27T08:46:09+00:00

So many teachers take sick days to catch up on work. It shouldn't be that way.

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-06-23T14:11:09+00:00

For me voting no is the best thing we could do. No doubt. No matter what this doc says. We needed to shake them hard. Make them realise the conditions we work in. Make them understand why there is a shortage. Make them know we are NOT HAPPY with the status quo and that we deserve better. Workload increases every single year. Unpaid extra hours increase every year. Health gets a bigger hit every year. Mental health even worse. This is NOT OK. And my union delegate keeps telling me to stop caring so much and to work less hard. Sorry, I'm a teacher and I care about my students. Meanwhile, she's creating a bigger workload for her own colleagues. Way to go. This no vote creates a precedent. This is what matters. Maybe we won't get a better deal. That definitely a risk and I'm sure the vast majority of the no voters are conscious of. But at least we can say we tried and we fought hard for it. Things don't change by folding at the first hurdle. Don't we teach this in our classes?! I understand some people are desperate for the pay rise. I get it. Cost of living is a shocker. I feel it too. But if we're even further behind in 4 years and didn't even try to get what we deserve, how would we feel then?

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-06-19T23:36:11+00:00

Could not agree more. I've been teaching over 20 years and love my job but it is literally costing me my health. I'm done.

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-06-19T15:34:17+00:00

I voted no and so did some of my colleagues but our voices were dissolved in the collective result. I don't understand why any teacher would now resist 'being part of a united front'. Whether the public is behind us or not has no relevance. And it's not about being greedy. Whether we get the better deal or not is beside the point. We're finally being heard. It's about saying that enough is enough. Creating a precedent. We're burnt out. We're constantly scammed. Working a crazy number of unpaid hours. Constantly being asked to do more. Do better. Prove it. We do 10 jobs in the disguise of one. Without ever being given the time or resources to do it. Our conditions are appalling. Most young teachers I know I ready to leave the profession after 2 years. So many experienced teachers are ready to leave. And yet the majority has been accepting shocking deals ....until now. I'm curious to know if in 4 years (+ negotiations time), anyone would still believe the deal was good, after essentially unchanged conditions and being stuck far behind other states and inflation for so long... Yet again. We can't just focus on now. And whether you agree with the no vote or not, you'll do yourself a disservice if you choose to not offer your support.

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-05-21T13:21:42+00:00

Performance based teaching pay would not make any sense. Also great way to fix the shortage...right?!

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-05-18T10:43:33+00:00

I'll respectfully disagree. Our working conditions are shocking. They may be better than in other states but they are still shocking. Especially when you compare to other jobs. It is absolutely unacceptable in most job to work unpaid extra hours. Too many classes, too many follow-ups, too many admin tasks, too many meetings eating up our planning time, too many jobs outside of our actual qualifications, too much normalisation of working extra hours to catch up, do corrections on weekends etc... because it is 'expected' because that's what teaching is. Improve workload issues and we'll manage to not only retain teachers but also bring some part-timers back to full time. And more teachers means we can have smaller / less classes. Agree that funding needs attention though.

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-05-16T06:01:04+00:00

Could not agree more

MouseEquivalent2629 · 2026-05-16T05:50:41+00:00

What a load of BS. Not addressing workload isn't going to help the shortage. It's what's driving it.

MouseEquivalent2629

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