Tackling workload and unpacking principles of good workload management
Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 125 No 2, 20 March 2020, page no.12
QTU members experience the impact of escalating workload in a range of adverse ways, including in our health and wellbeing, our sleep patterns, our relationships at work and at home, our morale, and our performance.
We know that words on a page will not mitigate spiralling workload, but the 2019 State School Teachers’ Certified Agreement establishes 10 principles of good workload management and contains a new section stating: “The department is committed to providing effective work practices that support wellbeing, work-life balance and a safe work environment. As far as practicable, the work of an individual teacher is not to be unreasonable or excessive.”
The QTU believes that this new clause should be read in conjunction with the hours of duty provisions contained in the Teaching in State Education Award – State 2016.
The new workload management section goes on to consider some of the local factors that should be taken into account to mitigate workload, including but not limited to:
- face-to-face teaching
- work directly related to the teaching and learning program of teachers’ class(es) like planning, assessment, and collegial engagement
- other duties related to the operation and organisation of the school, like meetings and bus and playground duties
- other factors like class size, curriculum mix, range of ability and age of students, demands and behaviours of those students, resources available and facilities.
The 10 principles of good workload management (see next column) are listed in Schedule 6 of the certified agreement.
Good workload management requires:
understanding that all employees and managers are accountable for effective workload management – teachers and school leaders both have a right and a responsibility to say “No” to excessive demands.
allocation of workload that takes into account the training, skill, knowledge, career and professional development of individual employees – departmental and local decision makers should demonstrate, by example, the skill of differentiating.
recognition that changes occur in workplaces on a daily basis and that managers are responsible for managing workloads – for example, implementation of new and changing curriculum requires resourcing, including the allocation of time for planning, preparation and subsequent review.
a strong commitment by both employees and managers to ensure success – effective management ensures that teachers and principals as curriculum leaders can focus on teaching and learning, without the burden of triviality.
equitable distribution of workloads and open and transparent decision making – the parties recognise the balance between operational decisions made to ensure good working order of the department, and employees’ right to engage in authentic, democratic processes that shape the decisions.
decisions that take into account the work-life balance of employees – long-standing Union campaigns have achieved a range of leave entitlements, as well as access to permanent part time employment. These are workplace rights.
flexibility and discretion in applying workload management to ensure delivery, work requirements and the effectiveness and efficiency of the department are met – negotiations in schools should provide for flexibility to mitigate workload at peak times, like cycles of assessment and reporting, collating data such as PAT-R and PAT-M or attending to vocational education and training in school audits.
maintenance of safe work environments and safe work practices – this includes class size maximums that should only be exceeded in exceptional circumstances, as well as itinerant teachers being allocated safe driving times in their rostered duty time.
allocation of resources to ensure both the maintenance of workloads at a reasonable level and the delivery of a high-quality service – collegial communities need to be able to monitor and report on workload, providing frank and fearless advice to decision makers in the tradition of a strong public service.
the LCC to be a key mechanism for managing workload issues at the workplace level – reviews of the implementation of policies and changes, with a specific eye to the impact on workload, should be undertaken at the local level through Union representation on your school’s local consultative committee. Findings and recommendations should support future decisions.