2025-10-31
On World Teachers Day, new analysis shows that Australian teachers are contributing $11.5 billion in unpaid labour every year, demonstrating the scale of the overwork crisis that’s driving teachers out of the classroom and holding back millions of public school kids.
The analysis by the Parliamentary Library, requested by the Australian Greens, shows that on average Australian teachers are working 50 hours a week, or more than 30% over the standard 38-hour work week, and uses teacher earnings data to measure the value of their unpaid labour.
The new analysis comes after a recent international report found that Australia’s teacher shortage crisis is one of the worst in the OECD, with nearly 60% of public school principals saying they do not have enough teaching staff – more than double the OECD average. The same report highlighted that the shortage of teachers is even worse in schools with a higher percentage of students experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage.
The Albanese Government has claimed that they’ve done a deal with the states to deliver full “Gonski” funding to all public schools by 2034, but the new agreements contain loopholes that will ensure that the public system will remain underfunded for the next decade and beyond.
Comments attributable to Greens Primary and Secondary Education spokesperson Senator Penny Allman-Payne:
“It’s no wonder teachers are leaving the profession in droves.
“Our teachers are overworked, undervalued and face increasingly difficult and unsafe conditions in the classroom.
“As a public school teacher myself for more than 25 years, I can tell you there is nothing more demoralising for a teacher than feeling like you’ve failed a student because you didn’t have enough time or enough resources.
“For most teachers, teaching is a labour of love. But they can’t unlock our kids’ potential while they’re being smashed by pointless admin and standardisation, in a grossly under-resourced system.
“Not only does Labor have no plan to ever fully fund public schools, on their watch poverty, hunger and housing insecurity are rising, and the public health system continues to decline.
“This World Teachers Day, we need Labor to fully fund public schools now and reverse the growing inequality gap that threatens the futures of millions of kids.”