Cultural Department - Capture the teacher's workload.
In Saxony, teachers' working hours will be closely examined for the entire upcoming school year. This extensive representative analysis is unprecedented across the nation, announced Culture Minister Christian Piwarz (CDU) in Dresden on Wednesday. Selected by the commissioned economic research institute Prognos AG, 4,100 tenured and salaried teachers with different work time models across all types of public schools will participate. This accounts for about 15% of the teaching staff, stated project manager Kristina Stegner. Furthermore, 410 school principals are involved.
As Piwarz stated, the visible aspect of teachers' working hours only represents a small portion of their overall time. The remaining hours, including preparation and other tasks, remain hidden in a "black box" that needs to be illuminated. "We don't know for sure how it works; all we have are assumptions from conversations with teachers." The purpose of the study is to identify ways to free up resources and streamline processes. The focus is on whether tasks typically done by teachers can be transferred to others.
Since the last summer vacation week, the selected teachers have been entering their working hours into an online form and indicating the purpose of each task. In addition, interviews will be conducted to gauge their subjective stress levels, especially during critical periods like exams and grading periods.
The Minister of Culture anticipates initial findings from the study in 2025, from which recommendations for action will be derived. In the past, similar studies relied on volunteer participation, but this time the ministry intends to create a comprehensive and accurate data set on professional teachers' workload.
The Gewerkschaft Erziehung und Wissenschaft (GEW) pushed for the recording of teachers' working hours in the fall of 2023, citing their own commissioned study, which they claim scientifically demonstrated teacher overload. State chairman Burkhard Naumann called for immediate relief. "The Ministry needs to address this issue and reduce teacher workloads." According to GEW's study, nearly one-third of full-time employees work more than 48 hours per week. The primary drivers of overtime, they claim, are new responsibilities and additional tasks.
The Saxon Teachers' Association views the working time study as a "unique chance" to reveal the real workload of teachers, said state chairman René Michel. The study provides a unique opportunity "to debunk stereotypes and demonstrate the amount of work teachers perform and the stress they face during a typical school day." However, this does not translate to regular work hour recording.
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