Teachers’ Workload and Distribution: A Comparison of Japan and the U.S.

• In Event: Education Policy and Educational Reform

Proposal

Background and Research Questions

Teachers’ heavy workload has been a major challenge for effective education both in Japan and the U.S. (MEXT, 2019; NEA, 2022). When teachers are overloaded, their well-being is affected (Hojo, 2021; Viac & Fraser, 2020) and they become more likely to consider leaving the profession (OECD, 2022). The global Covid-19 pandemic raised awareness about difficult working conditions in the U.S. (Diliberti et al., 2021; Pressley, 2021) as well as in other countries (Reimers & Schleicher, 2020; Reimers et al., 2020). Yet, the issue of heavy teacher workload has long been a problem well before the pandemic and Japan has implemented teacher workload reform since 2019 (MEXT, 2019). Previous research has identified heavier workload of Japanese and U.S. teachers compared to other countries (Hojo, 2021; Liang & Akiba, 2018), and both countries currently suffer from teacher shortage (MEXT, 2022; USDOE, n.d.).

Despite the concern over teachers’ workload in Japan and the U.S., no previous research has closely examined and compared what specific tasks contribute to heavy workload of Japanese and U.S. teachers, and to what extent their workload is equitably distributed based on the school poverty level. Because teachers should have a right to reasonable and equitable workload, understanding the nature of teachers’ workload is the first step toward demanding improvement of workload through social actions including protests and other means (2024 conference theme).

Using survey data from nationally representative samples of teachers and principals that participated in the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS), we asked the following questions:

1. How do teachers’ total workload and instructional workload compare between Japan and the U.S?
2. Other than teaching, in what tasks do teachers spend their time the most in Japan and the U.S?
3. How do teachers’ workload differ between high-poverty and low-poverty schools in Japan and the U.S?

Methods and Data

We used data from the 2018 TALIS administered by OECD. TALIS used a two-stage stratified cluster sampling method where about 200 schools are first selected, and then up to 20 teachers in each school are randomly selected within each school. This study used teacher survey data on the number of hours they spent per week on various tasks and principal survey data on school poverty level.

Results

Our data showed that, on average, Japanese teachers reported spending 56.0 hours per week total on job-related tasks compared to 46.2 hours per week among U.S. teachers. Japanese teachers’ total workload was the largest among 38 countries and U.S. teachers was the fourth largest, showing heavy total workload of teachers in both countries compared to the international average of 38.0 hours per week.

However, Japanese teachers reported that they spend only 18 hours per week on instruction (ranked 31 out of 38 countries), less than the international average of 20.1 hours per week. In contrary, the U.S. teachers reported spending 28.1 hours per week on instruction, which was second largest after Chile among 38 countries.

Outside teaching, our data showed that all teachers spend most time outside instruction for lesson planning. Japanese teachers spent 8.5 hours, U.S. teachers spent 7.2 hours, and teachers in 38 countries spent 6.6 hours on average. The second and third tasks, however, differ among these countries. Second and third most common tasks were extracurricular activities (7.5 hours) and administrative work (5.6 hours) among Japanese teachers, other tasks (7.1 hours) and grading (5.3 hours) among U.S. teachers, and grading (4.3 hours) and teamwork (2.8 hours) among teachers in 38 countries on average. The time spent by Japanese teachers for extracurricular activities and administrative work was the largest among 38 countries, showing these tasks contribute to the heavy total workload of Japanese teachers.

Inequitable workload between high-poverty and low-poverty schools in the U.S. has been reported in previous studies, but it is important to know in what specific tasks this inequality is most prominent. The data showed that there was no statistically significant difference based on t-tests between high-poverty and low-poverty schools in any tasks among Japanese teachers. However, statistically significant difference was observed in five tasks among U.S. teachers—instructional workload, teamwork, professional development, time for student counseling, and other tasks.

In the U.S., teachers in high-poverty schools spend 29.2 hours on average compared to 26.0 hours among teachers in low-poverty schools. These teachers also spend more hours for student counseling (4.1 vs. 2.2 hours), teamwork (3.9 vs. 2.8 hours), PD (1.9 vs. 1.3 hours) and other tasks (8.1 vs. 5.3 hours). Significantly heavier instructional workload in high-poverty schools is contrasted with similar hours spent for lesson planning and grading between teachers in high and low-poverty schools, which likely affect the instructional quality. More hours devoted to student counseling may be expected due to the greater needs of high-poverty students, but this adds to the heavier workload of teachers. Teachers in high-poverty schools also spend more hours for teamwork and collaboration and professional development, which could be either due to the necessity for meeting students’ learning needs or accountability requirements for low-achieving schools to devote time for Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) and professional development. Other tasks were not specified in the survey, but it may include bus or lunch duties, curriculum and assessment alignment work, or other requirements such as IEPs.

Conclusion

This comparative study has shown that both Japanese and U.S. teachers have heavier total workload than the international average, but the types of tasks for which they spend their time differed. Japanese teachers spend a large amount of time for extracurricular and administrative work, while U.S. teachers spend a majority of time for instruction. Inequitable workload between high-poverty and low-poverty schools characterized U.S. teachers, which raises a serious concern for meeting the needs of high-poverty students. Despite the workload inequality, there has been little policy attention on improving the workload of teachers in high-poverty schools in the U.S. Heavy total workload of Japanese teachers and inequitable workload of U.S. teachers are major issues that require a systematic reform with a well-planned and realistic implementation plan.

Authors

• Motoko Akiba, Florida State University

• Kenta Nagasawa, Florida State University