New polling shows a vote-changing political opportunity for any NSW politician who commits to giving teachers the time they need to properly plan for the classroom.
NSW public school teachers are asking for two additional hours of preparation time per week to plan lessons, collaborate with colleagues, and manage the growing complexity of modern classrooms. Primary teachers currently receive around two hours of preparation time a week, a figure unchanged since the 1980s. Secondary teachers have had no increase since the 1950s.
In 2021, the independent Gallop Inquiry into the teaching profession recommended the additional two hours as a matter of urgency. Since then, the number of students with disability in NSW public schools has risen by 75 per cent to more than 220,000, with 86 per cent learning in mainstream settings.
Key findings from Redbridge Group polling of 2,025 NSW voters:
- Voters back teacher investment above all else. Forty-two per cent identify investing in and supporting teachers as the single most effective way to improve public education, more than double the next option, and well ahead of new buildings, more principal autonomy, or any other option tested. It is a bipartisan view across Labor, Coalition and Greens voters.
- Voters recognise the pressures on teachers today. In focus groups accompanying the survey, participants spoke not just about the time and workload pressures on teachers but also the need to “accommodate all the different needs” that constitute the modern classroom. Our schools have changed, just as our state has changed. For focus group participants, comparing classrooms today to previous eras is “chalk and cheese”.
- Support for preparation time is deep and resilient. Even after voters hear the cost counter-argument, net support remains above fifty points, underpinned by voters’ belief that education should be among the highest priorities for government spending. The counter-argument that increasing investment in education might come at a cost to other government services did not just fail to land; focus groups conducted alongside the survey found it generated anger, with participants calling it a false choice and politically manipulative: “Saying that education is not as important … that annoys me a little bit. I feel a bit of anger building up.”
“Parents don’t need to be convinced,” said NSW Teachers Federation President, Henry Rajendra. “ Every day they see the teacher who stays back, who knows their child and who has taken the time to understand what that particular kid needs in order to learn. They also see what happens when teachers are running on empty. The public are clear-eyed about what will make the biggest difference to their children’s education and they’re right.
“Teachers in NSW have had the same preparation time for decades yet in that time, classrooms have been transformed. There are far more students with disability, more complex needs, more cultural and linguistic diversity, and a curriculum that keeps changing. An independent inquiry recommended we fix this four years ago. The evidence is overwhelming, the expert advice is clear, and the community is behind it. This is simply about giving teachers the time to do their jobs properly so that every child gets the education they deserve.