Natasha Watt has been in the teaching profession since the mid-90s, and while a lot has changed to benefit student outcomes she said it's largely come at a cost to educators.
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Workloads have increased immensely for public school teachers, but an independent inquiry into the profession has found the hours of preparation time allocated hasn't changed since the 1950s in secondary schools and the 1980s in primary schools.
Ms Watt said the role of a teacher has become more "complex" (such as research and data collection) and was welcomed by the profession as it had better student outcomes, but there were only so many hours in a day.
"The planning and the programming that teachers put together to meet the students' needs has a greater emphasis now than it did decades ago," she said.
"The work itself is important for teachers to do, but they need time to do it well."
Because of the time spent face-to-face in the classroom, the extra responsibilities tied with producing lesson plans and ensuring each student was achieving their best, meant teachers often worked into the night, on their weekends and their holidays, according to Ms Watt.
On Wednesday, NSW Teachers Federation president Angelo Gavrielatos was at Windang Public School to speak to a cross-section of Illawarra teachers, principals and parents about the stark findings of the Valuing the Teaching Profession report - which echoed Ms Watt's sentiments.
The report was the first investigation of its kind since 2004 and revealed teachers had not been compensated for the rise in their skills and responsibilities, with a decline in salaries when compared to the average of other professions.
"Teachers and principles are toiling under unsustainable workloads without the time and support they need to do the job that's expected of them," Mr Gavrielatos said.
"The government is predicting an increase of 200,000 students in the next 20 years, that will require thousands upon thousands of teachers. We have to change the policy settings to attract and retain teachers."
Since 2004, he said there had been a 300 per cent increase in students with disabilities along with higher numbers of pupils from disadvantaged and non-English speaking backgrounds, while a "teacher shortage was on the doorstep".
"Principals are working, on average 62 hours a week while teachers are working, on average 55 hours a week now, attempting to meet all the needs of students while dealing with the compliance and administration," Mr Gavrielatos said.
The inquiry has made a number of recommendations including an increase in time allocated for class preparation, increased teacher support and permanent teaching positions, pay increases, and changing the government's timeline to introduce a new curriculum.
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