Qld teachers stressed by workloads, wage concerns

For the first time in over two decades, Queensland state school teachers have a bigger stressor than job security.

STATE school teachers are now more stressed about workloads than job security.

A Queensland Teachers’ Union survey found 53 per cent of 1300 respondents rated workload as the most important issue, followed by wages.

QTU president Kevin Bates said he was not surprised by the outcome, saying the State Government needed to create “space” for teachers to plan better.

Mr Bates said teachers were struggling to complete the work “that needs to be done”.

“It’s the invisible stuff,” he said. “Preparing lessons, marking student work.”

The Member Needs Survey is conducted every four to five years as part of the union’s strategic planning process.

In the first five surveys, job security was the number one issue. This year, that ranked fourth.

It comes after The Courier-Mail revealed earlier this year that more than 4000 state school teachers regularly thought about walking out of the classroom, citing mountainous workloads.

Education Minister Grace Grace said the survey result was a concern and she looked forward to addressing it.

“Our teachers do a fantastic job each and every day helping shape Queensland kids into the global citizens of tomorrow,” Ms Grace said.

“The Palaszczuk Government backs them 100 per cent.

“We’re employing an additional 3700 teachers over four years to ensure we keep pace with enrolment growth and keep class sizes down.

QTU’s current enterprise bargaining is pushing the State Government for salaries for promotional positions, improving conditions to address workload and provide salary increases so teachers and school leaders’ pay is comparable to interstate colleagues.

QTU members are voting on whether they should strike for 24 hours if the Government does not provide “an acceptable offer”, with the ballot to close today.

A decision is expected next week.