In 2020 I gave a key note at the QTU Organisers conference that explained the theoretical basis for the project. The link is included below. Using information from a variety of sources, such as TALIS 2016, the ACER 2018 study on teacher workload in Queensland and the Global Report on the Status of Teachers 2021, the presentation argued that what we are seeing in teaching is a complex phenomenon of ‘time poverty’.
Time poverty is a critical problem for contemporary teachers and teacher unions/associations. The problem of teachers’ time can be summarised as consisting of two related phenomena: Workload vs work intensification
Time poverty is the relationship between a) the amount of work a teacher does, or perceives that they have to do, and b) the intensity of that work, which may be expressed as the number, complexity or stakes associated with decisions that need to be made over a given time period. An increase in either can leave individuals feeling ‘out of time’, an increase in both workload and intensity makes this feeling of ‘time poverty’ seem almost unbearable. Our argument is that time poverty is becoming a common experience, this plays out in perceptions of an acceleration in job demands and can link to feelings of stress, burnout and dissatisfaction.