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Perception of teachers towards non-teaching tasks and its implications on school management
Author
Lim, Leong Wei
Supervisor
Lourdusamy, Atputhasamy
Abstract
This dissertation reports on a study of the perception of teachers towards non-teaching tasks and the implications on school management. The study is motivated by the often heard complaint that the workload of teachers in Singapore is heavy and the association of heavy workload with the non-teaching tasks that teachers are expected to perform.
There are two parts to this study. A custom-built questionnaire was first administered to obtain quantitative data on teachers' perception of non-teaching tasks followed by a qualitative study through interviews. A total of 221 teachers from two primary and two secondary schools responded to the self-administered survey questionnaire. Among them, six teachers volunteered to be interviewed for the next part of the study. The three main purposes of this qualitative study were to validate the results of the quantitative survey through anecdotal evidence provided by the interviewees, to establish the reasons for the perceptions found in the survey and to elicit suggestions which would help to improve teachers' perception of non-teaching tasks.
It was found that teachers' level of acceptability of individual non-teaching task was primarily determined by the value add of the task on their students. Non-teaching tasks that were related to the function of collecting money, fees or forms were deemed unacceptable by more than 50% of the respondents.
Most teachers reported spending 20% to 30% of their working time on non-teaching tasks. They considered non-teaching workload as a heavy burden which has affected teachers' teaching performance. Most reported that only some non-teaching tasks should be part of a teachers' workload and they felt that non-teaching workload is an issue worth investigating.
The teachers' overall perception of non-teaching tasks was found to correlate with their extent of involvement and level of acceptance of non-teaching tasks but not with the proportion of time that they spent on these tasks.
No significant differences were established between teachers' overall perception of non-teaching tasks and academic qualification, marital status and years in service. Differences were however found to be significant for gender, position held in school and school type.
As teachers' duties are commonly assigned by the school management, the findings of this research also provided the knowledge base upon which decisions on assignment of non-teaching tasks could be made. Implications from the findings of this study were to engage auxiliary staff to assist teachers in non-professional duties such as administrative and clerical tasks, to streamline job duties so that each teacher is assigned to a greater role in a few non-teaching duties instead of playing a small part in many non-teaching tasks, and to set up an opt-in system where teachers opt to perform the non-teaching tasks in accordance to their perception and preference. Teacher education programmes could also place more emphasis on the important roles and responsibilities that teachers perform outside the classroom, in the school and its community.
There are two parts to this study. A custom-built questionnaire was first administered to obtain quantitative data on teachers' perception of non-teaching tasks followed by a qualitative study through interviews. A total of 221 teachers from two primary and two secondary schools responded to the self-administered survey questionnaire. Among them, six teachers volunteered to be interviewed for the next part of the study. The three main purposes of this qualitative study were to validate the results of the quantitative survey through anecdotal evidence provided by the interviewees, to establish the reasons for the perceptions found in the survey and to elicit suggestions which would help to improve teachers' perception of non-teaching tasks.
It was found that teachers' level of acceptability of individual non-teaching task was primarily determined by the value add of the task on their students. Non-teaching tasks that were related to the function of collecting money, fees or forms were deemed unacceptable by more than 50% of the respondents.
Most teachers reported spending 20% to 30% of their working time on non-teaching tasks. They considered non-teaching workload as a heavy burden which has affected teachers' teaching performance. Most reported that only some non-teaching tasks should be part of a teachers' workload and they felt that non-teaching workload is an issue worth investigating.
The teachers' overall perception of non-teaching tasks was found to correlate with their extent of involvement and level of acceptance of non-teaching tasks but not with the proportion of time that they spent on these tasks.
No significant differences were established between teachers' overall perception of non-teaching tasks and academic qualification, marital status and years in service. Differences were however found to be significant for gender, position held in school and school type.
As teachers' duties are commonly assigned by the school management, the findings of this research also provided the knowledge base upon which decisions on assignment of non-teaching tasks could be made. Implications from the findings of this study were to engage auxiliary staff to assist teachers in non-professional duties such as administrative and clerical tasks, to streamline job duties so that each teacher is assigned to a greater role in a few non-teaching duties instead of playing a small part in many non-teaching tasks, and to set up an opt-in system where teachers opt to perform the non-teaching tasks in accordance to their perception and preference. Teacher education programmes could also place more emphasis on the important roles and responsibilities that teachers perform outside the classroom, in the school and its community.
Date Issued
2003
Call Number
LB2806 Lim
Date Submitted
2003