Three teachers’ associations see the reason for the teacher shortage in the overload and call for measures. According to the education department, these only exacerbate the problem.
There is a shortage of teachers in the canton of Zurich. There is no improvement in sight.
Three different teachers’ associations have joined forces for the criticism. Your dissatisfaction is directed against the Zurich Education Directorate. The associations accuse him of doing too little to counteract the “overburdening” of teachers. “The quality of the Zurich elementary school is at risk,” says a media release published on Friday.
The associations of Zurich teachers, secondary school teachers and kindergartens support their criticism with numbers: A full-time workload should accumulate an average of around eight weeks of unpaid overtime per year, according to a study by the umbrella organization. “Or to put it another way: The working hours made available to the teachers are not sufficient to complete the tasks assigned to them in the required quality.”
More and more teachers are switching to part-time work due to the overload. An urgent correction is necessary. Because the problems exacerbated the teacher shortage – and this is already acute.
Report confirms grievances
The timing of the criticism is not random. On Friday, the Education Directorate published one report, which sheds light on the working conditions of teachers. This confirms, at least in part, the findings of the associations.
The report is an external evaluation of the “redefined professional mandate”. This was introduced in 2017 and defines the workload of the teachers in the form of an annual working time. The idea behind it was actually to prevent time overload. If the teachers have their way, this goal was missed.
The respondents primarily criticize the recording of working hours. Class teachers also complain that the hours made available are not sufficient to complete the tasks. Overall, the professional assignment is only implemented reluctantly, not very productively and sometimes inconsistently, it is said.
The professional assignment is not only unpopular with those affected, but is also not used as desired in everyday life. Nevertheless, a majority of those questioned want to stick to their job. However, she considers it immature and demands conceptual adjustments.
Clear demands
The teachers’ associations already have a clear idea of what these adjustments could look like: a lesson in the timetable should be worth more in the future, the function of the class teacher should be upgraded, and supervised breaks should count as working time at the kindergarten level.
Christian Hugi, President of the Zurich Teachers’ Association, sees a clear connection between the workload and the shortage of teachers. The working hours are simply not enough, so many teachers reduced their workload to protect themselves from burnout.
“The need for action is acute,” says Hugi. “It needs adjustments to the employment conditions.” For years, various studies have revealed the same problems. But nothing ever happened.
“No context”
Myriam Ziegler, head of the Zurich elementary school authority, disagrees: “We can’t see any connection between the job and the shortage of teachers.” The tasks of the teachers would not have changed with the newly defined professional assignment. Only the existing, legally anchored tasks were quantified within an annual working time model.
Ziegler also does not consider the demands of the teachers’ associations to be expedient. “All these demands mean that more teachers are needed. This means an aggravation of the current shortage and of course also has significant cost consequences. »
However, Ziegler also recognizes the need for action. However, it is not necessary to develop a model from scratch, but rather to adapt an existing model. The Directorate of Education is now working on adjustments so that the professional assignment can “achieve its desired effect”, as the statement says. “The specifications should be simplified.”
patience required
The associations and the elementary school authority agree on the subject of a shortage of teachers. “The situation is very tense,” confirms Ziegler. In addition to the constantly increasing number of students, the general shortage of skilled workers is also having an effect. It cannot therefore be ruled out that individual positions cannot be filled with adequately trained teachers at the beginning of the school year.
The teachers’ associations are calling for more speed in the improvements. However, this hope is unlikely to be fulfilled. “How long the political process will last cannot be influenced,” says Ziegler. Some changes require adjustments at the level of laws and ordinances, which the cantonal council must pass. So patience is required.
The genesis of the “redefined professional mandate” also took a long time. As early as 2008, the government council commissioned the education department to adjust the professional mandate. The adjustment came into effect in the 2017/2018 school year – almost ten years later.