How Much Time Do Teachers Spend on Teaching and Non-teaching Activities?

Abstract

The annual number of teaching hours of teachers differs greatly from one country to another and tends to decrease as the level of education increases. On average across countries, teachers spend half of their working time in non-teaching activities including planning lessons, marking and collaborating with other teachers. Keeping order in the classroom, generally the biggest concern for new teachers, occupies an average of 13% of all teachers’ time across countries. Schools could further benefit from developing ways to use teachers’ time more efficiently so that they could devote more time to professional development, teaching-related work and learning.