The notion of work overload is conceived as the amount of work that is loaded above the standard required by the Ministry of Education and which a teacher is expected to do (Goksoy & Akdag, 2014). Being overloaded and being underpaid are moral issues that affect the way in which teachers carry out their duties and responsibilities (Vulliamy, 2006). Classroom teachers in PNG secondary schools who have no teacher aide have to prepare lessons, mark work, prepare and mark
test papers, supervise out-of-class activities and at times step in for a teacher who is absent. The number of lesson preparations depends on the number of subjects and the number of classes the teacher is assigned. Additionally, teachers also carry out pastoral and administrative tasks. They provide students with guidance and counselling, see to teacher-parent correspondence, monitor students’ attendance and school work and are heavily involved in data entry and assessment reporting (Leithwood et al., 2004; Goksoy & Akdag, 2014). Attending to these responsibilities is time consuming, challenging and is may be twice the work expected for teachers if the class size is large. Agigo (2007) points out that the rewards and remuneration that teachers receive are not commensurate to the load and long hours they put into work. School leaders therefore need to pay close attention when assigning work to teachers as Bubb and Earley (2004) add, “teachers need time to reflect on their work, plan lessons, develop skills and knowledge and interact with colleagues” (p.3). For these reasons, school leaders need to ensure that teachers’ workloads are manageable to enable them to enact policy changes as well.
Apart from the mentioned responsibilities, a classroom teacher is also expected to maintain classroom control and transfer and evaluate information in the classroom (Easthope & Easthope, 2000). Furthermore, Goksoy and Akdag (2014) add that teachers plan, implement, and evaluate their teaching as well as the students’ learning progress. Moreover, secondary school teachers in PNG are expected to both monitor the behaviour of the students and report any disciplinary matters to the school management team. Teachers are therefore responsible to monitor students’ academic and behavioural performances. Research has revealed that disruptive conduct from students is related to poor academic presentation as a result of large class size, thus creating a bigger challenge for PNG secondary school teachers teaching in large class size schools (Finn et al. (2003). It is therefore vital that school leaders put in place professional development programmes to guide and mentor teachers so that they can manage these class sizes, especially when the amount of work they do is above the norm.
3.5.2 Initiatives for Teacher Well-being
The implementation of FEP in the secondary schools has come with insufficient guidelines for teachers to apply this policy effectively (Guy, 2009). Even though teachers are expected to meet standards set by policy makers, they are given very little assistance (Alton-Lee, 2003) in managing large classes. Finn et al. (2003) argue that the morale and enjoyment levels of teachers are much higher when they are engaged in working with small classes. In addition, Graue et al. (2007) affirm that reduced class size allows for more classroom space and makes increased teacher-student interaction much more likely. However, when teachers are adequately assisted in dealing with large class sizes a positive teacher-student relationship is created, allowing students to feel that they are supported and motivated to learn (Yunus, Osman, & Ishak, 2011). It is therefore crucial that a degree of enjoyment in teachers must also be evident. Nevertheless, Bubb and Earley (2004) state that teachers suffer greater levels of stress compared to those in other professions due to the amount of work they do. It is therefore evident that the well-being of teachers is affected by their workload.
Apart from classroom teaching, assessment and reporting (UNESCO, 2011) are two key areas that classroom teachers are pressured to complete on time. Secondary school teachers need extra time outside school hours to complete these reports to meet deadlines. The additional hours allocated to school work can have an impact on how well teachers manage large classes.
3.5.3 Community Initiatives in Supporting Policy Development
From a school’s context, the community includes the school board, parents, guardians and any other person or group who has an interest in the welfare of the school (Jacobsen, Hodges, & Blank, 2011). From the perspective of government policy makers, schools are deemed to be organisations that deliver services to the communities through educating students, with the perception that advancement will flow from these policies to change how teachers and head teachers work and relate to their community (Hoyle & Wallace, 2005). Any learning institution influences and is also influenced by the larger community in which it exists. Hence, the relationship between the school and its surrounding community is
interdependent (Johnson & Kruse, 2009). In other words, a school cannot operate without the assistance of its community. Bray (2003) affirms that the “assistance of communities in schools can spread the weight of resourcing and at the same time enhance the volume, capacity and influence of education” (p. 41).
Since class size has increased in PNG schools many secondary school teachers may need the support and assistance of parents and other stakeholders. Avolos (1993) argues that parents need to be educated on the changes in policy, to help them understand the purpose of this change and be aware of the challenges teachers encounter in implementing the policy. The support given by the community could alleviate some of the responsibilities that teachers are faced with. Bray (2003) advises that there should be more community involvement in human as well as material resources in the school.
As a human resource, parents could assist teachers in managing large class sizes, especially on out of school programmes, when students take field trips or play sports outside the school grounds. Parental involvement in such activities helps strengthen the relationship that schools have with the community (Henson, 2012). Despite government directives for non-collection of project fees, parents in a secondary school in the Southern Highlands supported their children by voluntarily paying project fees to build addition classrooms for the school. One parent donated ten sets of desktop computers to the school (Alphonse, 2015). The Indian Government also presented a cheque to St Charles Lwanga High School for the construction of staff housing (Salmang, 2015). These are the kinds of community support that schools need to progress despite the negative effects of the Free Education Policy.
Community initiatives in sustaining this policy change are vital as they could encourage a positive teacher-student relationship that supports motivation and classroom teaching (Bray 2003). A teacher-parents conference is a meeting time where parents have the opportunity to check on their child’s learning progress. Parents’ attendance at teacher-parents conferences could help teachers understand their students better, especially students who need special attention or have special needs. It is challenging when parents or guardians do not turn up at school to discuss matters particularly relevant to their children. Bray (2007) states that due
to lack of funding, some countries have experienced the lack of support by school board thus leaving teachers bear the workload on their own.
Bucholz and Rosenthal (2005) affirm that communities will become part of schools only if they are interested in what and how schools are doing. Carroll and Carroll (2011) argue that schools should take responsibility in creating strategies to gain community support. In support of this idea, Jacobson et al. (2011) add that students will succeed if schools find a way to engage the community. In a newspaper article, Waketsi (2015) reports that a private organisation in National Capital District (NCD) is assisting school children by running coaching clinics over the holidays. The founder of the organisation states that the group is aware of the high teacher-student ratio caused by FEP and therefore would like to assist in arranging one-to-one sessions with students, especially in preparations for national examinations. Based on Suzuki’s (2002) research, the possibility that teachers could leave students unattended is highly likely due to parents not paying any fees and the lack of community support (as cited in Bray, 2007). The community and especially parents need to be actively involved with schools to avoid such situations.