Teachers in the 2nd and 3rd cycles and secondary education are working, on average, more than 50 hours per week, according to preliminary data from the survey carried out by Fenprof between September and October 2023 and which involved 4,471 teachers from across the country.
Teachers with more than 11 assigned classes, more than 200 students or teaching at various levels of education are cases reported in the Fenprof survey, which warns of the danger of more cases of “burnout” .
Overwork had already been denounced in 2017 by Fenprof, which at the time said that there were 47-hour work weeks, but “the situation has worsened” in the last seven years, highlighted union leader Vitor Godinho, speaking to Lusa news agency.
By working 15 hours a week over the required amount, teachers are forced to sacrifice their personal and family life, which can lead them “to exhaustion”, with many “burnout situations”, he warned.
More students and more classes assigned are synonymous with more work, which can be seen in tasks such as preparing classes or correcting tests and homework.
The survey released today shows that 43.2% of teachers have more than 100 students: 38% have between 100 and 200 students and the remaining 5.3% have more than 200 students.
Vitor Godinho guarantees that the survey data can be extrapolated to the class universe, as all age groups, regions of the country, recruitment groups or gender are represented.
Teachers with many students end up having greater difficulties in providing personalized support. “Teachers are no longer doing their best”, he said, explaining that “being in charge of 200 students makes it difficult to get to know them all”, and the frustration can give way to 'burnout'.
The study shows that only half of teachers have less than five classes assigned, which for Fenprof should be the maximum limit of classes assigned to each teacher.
One in every five teachers (19.5%) has seven or more classes in charge, with 4.2% of teachers having 11 or more classes assigned.
Having more students and classes is synonymous with more work, and there are cases of teachers who have classes at different levels of education: Fenprof argues that the maximum should be three levels, but 10% have four levels and 6.8% have, at least five.
Working more than 15 hours a week than required by law, the union leader says it is “necessary to prevent illegality from taking hold” and asks political leaders to look at the results of the inquiry “so that hell is not the limit”.
Fenprof once again presents a set of measures to guarantee the application of 35-hour timetables, which range from “a serious and clear distinction between teaching and non-teaching components of teachers’ timetables”, returning the teaching component to encompass all direct activities with students.
Ensuring that teachers have a maximum of 100 students, five classes and two subjects, levels or curricular areas is another demand.
The reduction of the basic teaching component to 20 hours per week and the reduction of hours for those with pedagogical positions “in a number of hours consistent with the functions and tasks to be performed” are also part of the demand list.
Source https://www.lusa.pt/ - Photo courtesy of Depositphotos.com
