高清福利片

Temporary teachers in New South Wales public schools work just as hard as permanent ones yet have less job security, finds new research.

Published in the , the research sheds light on the experiences of temporary teachers, who comprise a fifth of teachers in the state system.

Temporary teachers are employed full-time for four weeks to a year, or part-time for two terms or more.

The research finds, on average, temporary teachers work 56 hours a week, compared to 57 by permanent teachers, and 40 by casuals 鈥� who work on a day-to-day basis to replace teachers on short-term leave.

高清福利片 co-author, Associate Professor Rachel Wilson from the University of Sydney said: 鈥淐omparable to permanent teachers, 70 per cent of temporary teachers reported their employer 鈥榓lways鈥� requires them to 鈥榳ork very hard鈥�. This contrasts with a lower rate of casual teachers reporting this circumstance.鈥�

A majority of temporary teachers further reported never or rarely having enough time to complete work tasks.

鈥淒espite their workload similarities, teachers in temporary positions feel they work harder than permanent teachers,鈥� Associate Professor Wilson, from the Sydney School of Education and Social Work, continued. 鈥淭his feeling may be due to the temporary, and more precarious, nature of their roles: these teachers know their continued employment depends on 鈥榠mpressing鈥� those around them, particularly the school principal.

鈥淥ne respondent to the we drew our research data from described experiences of permanent teachers 鈥榩rey[ing]鈥� on temporary teachers by 鈥榮hift[ing] work鈥� to them.鈥�

The researchers, who include researchers from UNSW, UTS, and Curtin University, also found only 27 percent of temporary teachers chose temporary employment. Further, women are much more likely to be temporary than men. Women may also stay longer as temporary teachers than men, with potential implications for future career opportunities and leadership positions in schools.

鈥淕iven our findings and that the proportion of temporary teachers has risen year on year since 2001 (when the employment category was introduced in NSW public schools), something needs to be done to address these issues,鈥� Associate Professor Wilson said. 鈥淚ndeed, this is one of the recommendations of the recently released report of the 鈥楪allop Inquiry鈥�.鈥�

The researchers hope the results of their study will filter down to schools and foster a more equitable balance of work requirements across workload-equivalent teacher categories. On a system level, they argue for the conversion of particularly long-serving women temporary teachers into permanent employment, signalling respect for the work they do and building benefits for the profession, schools and ultimately students.

鈥淭eaching is a cognitively, emotionally, and physically strenuous job and has historically relied upon its reputation as a secure, permanent, and stable career to attract strong candidates to the profession,鈥� Professor Wilson said. 鈥淎s pay rates are notably low compared to other professions requiring equivalent levels of education, addressing problems with job security, workload and work conditions has become even more critical.鈥�

Declaration: The analysis of temporary teachers was based on data from a survey funded by the NSW Teachers Federation that the authors previously conducted.

Methodology: The researchers drew on a on teacher workload conducted in 2018. They identified 3,689 temporary teachers and examined quantitative and qualitative data on how their experiences of workload might be similar or different to casual and permanent teachers.聽

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