S'pore teachers spend less time marking, and more time developing students

Their 47.3-hour work week puts them third highest in the world, says OECD survey

- Elisha Tushara Correspondent

Teachers in Singapore schools are spending fewer hours teaching and marking, but they are clocking more work time overall due to non-teaching tasks.

These include lesson planning, student counselling, co-curricular activities and communicating with parents, a new global survey has found.

Singapore's teachers reported working an average of 47.3 hours a week, higher than the OECD average of 41, according to the Teaching and Learning International Survey (Talis) released on Oct 7.

In the previous edition of the survey in 2018, teachers here said they put in 46 hours a week.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development study polled 194,000 teachers worldwide, with a total of 55 education systems joining the latest round.

The majority of Singapore teachers more than eight in 10 were satisfied with their jobs, noted the survey. The Ministry of Education (MOE) said that it will keep on working to ensure the teaching profession remains attractive for the long term.

Teachers here said they spend 17.7 hours a week on actual teaching, similar to the 18 hours in 2018. The OECD average is 22.7 hours.

The time they spend on marking is 6.4 hours, down from 7.5 hours in 2018. Administrative work and preparing lessons take up four hours and 8.2 hours, respectively. In 2018, teachers spent 3.9 hours and 7.3 hours on these duties.

Teachers spent 3.2 hours each week engaging in extracurricular activities, up from 2.8 hours in 2018. They also spent more time in 2024 counselling students, clocking 2.7 hours up from 2.5 hours previously.

The Talis report noted that Singapore teachers spent a substantial amount of time on curriculum design and training, among others. And many also engage in activities outside of their schools like workshops, conferences and field trips with students.

MOE said the total working hours recorded in 2018 and 2024 were similar.