The term ‘work-life balance’ has been around for decades. A genuine regard for a work-school-family-life balance, however, simply doesn’t exist.
With regard to students, families, and teachers, there’s a definite imbalance – before, during and after the school day.
Let’s look more closely at this harsh reality.
Students attend classes for approximately 5 hours per day, or 25 hours per week. Parents with a full-time workload work for approximately 40 hours per week, for 48 weeks of the year. They must juggle their work-life with their children’s school life.
Teachers, on the other hand, attend classes for approximately 22 hours per week, for 40 weeks of the year.
It would seem that teachers have greater flexibility to fulfil other responsibilities – including parenting responsibilities for those who have children.
Australian Education Union (AEU) Survey
Unions hold a different view of work-life balance. A 2016 survey conducted by the Victorian Branch of the AEU pointed to these statistics:
- Teachers are overworked: 80% of teachers work 15 hours of unpaid overtime every week.
- Teachers are working an average 53 hours per week.
If these figures are accurate, what, if anything, are unions doing to support Australian families with work-school-family-life balance?
Here are three points to consider:
1. Out-of-school-hours work – or homework – given to students can affect an entire family. If parents are balancing a job, profession, or career, and the care of other children, the complexities can be overwhelming. Teachers and their families also feel the impact.
2. If the work-life situation is as extreme as that indicated by the AEU, it is almost certain to affect a teacher’s capacity to deliver essential teaching; students and their families will therefore be part of the fallout.
3. If the teachers among the 80% mentioned above are also parents, then how does school-work-family-life balance affect their teaching, their children’s school-life, and their families?
Australian Bureau of Statistics
In 2016, the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that in Australian schools there were more than 3.5 million full time students, and almost 1⁄2 million teachers, 70% of whom were women.
Communities right across the nation are affected by the imbalance in work-school-family-life –even if they are not directly connected to a school.
You might like to ask yourself these questions:
- What is contributing to your work-school-family-life imbalance, and for what purpose?
- Is there genuine value in such an overwhelming workload being placed on children, teachers and families?
- Why are schools making unreasonable demands on family and community lifestyles?
- How are 20% of teachers enjoying a more balanced work-school-family-life while 80% of their colleagues are not?
- What is the impact on workplaces around the nation?
- Is it possible that work-school-family-life imbalance contributes to the workload of not-for-profit organisations and charities?
As 2018 draws to a close, perhaps we can shut the door on such imbalance once and for all, and open wide the way to a genuine regard for a work-school-family-life balance.
Copyright © Cheryl Lacey 2018
Email cheryl@cheryllacey.com and mention this post to receive your complimentary report on Sensible Strategy for Leaders of Education.
Cheryl Lacey is an educationist and advocate of agitating change in Australian education to face global challenges facing Australia and Australians.
If you would like to learn more about the outcomes achieved by educational leaders and teams who have worked with me, contact me at cheryl@cheryllacey.com or visit www.cheryllacey.com
