Investigation and attributes exploration on teacher overload in public schools of Nanchang City, China

Abstract

This study mainly aimed to investigate the teacher overload in public schools of Nanchang City, China. A questionnaire based on Teacher Workload Survey (2016), Department of Education in United Kingdom was adapted and used in this study. The total of 10,380 public school teachers from all the primary, secondary and high schools of Nanchang were used as the population for this study. Questionnaire distribution and data collection were under the direction and assistance of Nanchang Education Department. The study proved that teacher overload in schools of Nanchang is at the level of moderate. Comparing teachers’ overload with their demographics, it found that the male teachers, teachers working for 21-30 years, teachers with doctoral degrees, and teachers working in the high schools were overloaded the most. Furthermore, the study also revealed that the significant multiple correlations with the multiple coefficient of determination R Square=.686 or 68.6% of teacher overload could be explained by the attributes, from the high to low rank were Long Working Hours, NoneTeaching Tasks, Salary and Income, Students’ Achievement, Parental Expectation, Position Evaluation or Promotion, Teaching Evaluation, and Public Concerns on Teachers. Analyses of teacher overload and strategies for reducing teacher overload for public schools in Nanchang city was provided in the discussion.