‘Cut duties’ to keep teachers in class

Schools need to ‘rethink’ their hiring processes and employ more non-teaching staff to ease teachers’ workloads, the nation’s peak teaching body says.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership chief executive Mark Grant says many teachers were leaving the profession because they were being overloaded with administrative tasks.

Schools need to “rethink” their hiring processes and employ more non-teaching staff to do tasks such as supervising students at recess and lunch to ease teachers’ workloads, the nation’s peak teaching body says.

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership chief executive Mark Grant said many teachers were leaving the profession because they were being overloaded with administrative tasks, red tape and other duties outside their teaching, with “more expected of them” than ever before.

He said the answer to the problem was hiring more people to take on those tasks that were “distracting” teachers from their job of educating students.

“There could be more staff of a particular skill set that stop teachers getting away from their skill set, which is teaching,” Mr Grant said.

“What I’m throwing out there is the challenge for education ­employers to have a look at what is the current skill set needed to manage an effective school.

“It’s time to question whether that’s the right skill set to supervise students getting off buses … or crossing duties. Is it the right thing to have playground duty supervised by teachers, assistant principals, deputies and so on? Those things need to be put on the table.”

He said other tasks such as ­organising excursions could save hours of teachers’ time a week to put into organising lessons and marking students’ work.

The Albanese government has vowed to work with states and territories to address the teacher ­crisis, with data from the institute and other state teaching bodies estimating that up to 50 per cent of teachers leave the profession within the first five years.

Mr Grant, who is a former teacher, said principals needed to get back to the job of increasing the capability of staff and helping retain them, rather than being overloaded with administrative and financial tasks.

“Principals … should grow the capability of their staff, because it is the staff who are delivering to the students,” he said.

“They’re meant to grow the human capital of the school.

“What they get tied up in is a series of tasks that take them away from that.

“Like when you get a broken window in a school, someone has to ring it through to an insurer … and get a glazier to fix it … often that’s the principal on the phone.

“That is not the best use of a principal skill set.”

Mr Grant said it was up to each sector to fund the extra staff for schools and urged jurisdictions to follow NSW’s example, which in July announced it would fund more than 200 new administrative roles to reduce teacher workload.

Education Minister Jason Clare said more teachers were leaving the profession early ­because they felt “burnt out, worn out, or for other reasons”.

“Next week when education ministers meet here in Canberra, we will focus on looking at ways we can tackle some of those ­reasons that are causing teachers to leave the profession early,” he said.

“We won’t do that on our own – I’m also inviting teachers, principals and other education experts to join us to help develop a plan to keep more teachers in the classroom.”

Opposition education spokesman Alan Tudge said the teacher shortage issue was “as much about retention as it is attraction”.

“Paying the top teachers more is absolutely necessary, as is giving teachers more administrative support so they can focus on what they do best,” he said.