There has been a growing interest in the work of teachers in recent years, particularly in their increasing workloads and in the changing nature of their work. While the significance of teaching and the importance of teachers continue to be strongly affirmed, there are growing concerns being expressed at the extent to which recent changes are impacting on the teaching profession. In particular, concerns have been expressed about the intensification of teachers’ work and the negative impact that this may have on teachers, their work lives and their work-life balance – and also by extension on the quality of teachers’ work and on their students’ learning experiences.
This intensification which is central to the changes in teachers’ work may well reflect more general workplace trends, from which the education sector is not immune or protected. Trends such as increasing work demands and constraints on workers, the pervasiveness of a business management-oriented framework with a focus on ‘marketization’ and managerialization’ have all been cited as impacting on teachers – as well as the special demands of being required to educate children for the future in a fast-changing and globalised world (Helsby, 1999).
In this chapter, we shall review current trends in the intensification of teachers’ work, focussing on the nature, sources and impact of intensification. These three issues will be examined from a general perspective and then from the perspective of a particular group of working teachers who participated in a recent case study of teachers in the Australian state of Tasmania.
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Williamson, J., Myhill, M. (2008). Under ‘Constant Bombardment’: Work Intensification and the Teachers' Role. In: Johnson, D., Maclean, R. (eds) Teaching: Professionalization, Development and Leadership. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8186-6_3
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