The 40-Hour Teacher Work Week in Australia: Dream or Possibility?

LIZ BARTLETT
6 days ago
4 min read

A woman sitting quietly by a still mountain lake, symbolising balance and calm — representing the 40-hour teacher work week in Australia.

The 40-Hour Work Week: Is It Possible as an Australian Teacher?

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." – Leonardo da Vinci

There’s a question many teachers whisper to themselves in the car park before heading into school, or while they’re marking yet another pile of books at the kitchen table: Is it possible to be a good teacher and still work only 40 hours a week?

The reality for most Australian primary school teachers is stark. Officially, our contracts say 38 hours. In practice, the Grattan Institute has found many of us regularly working 50–55 hours. Lesson planning, assessment, parent communication, compliance paperwork, staff meetings, yard duty, professional learning — it all adds up, until the week begins to spill into our evenings and weekends.

And yet, there is another way.

Why the 40-Hour Work Week Matters

The 40-hour week isn’t just a number. It’s a boundary that protects your health, your family, and your ability to show up with presence in the classroom.

Working beyond this for months on end erodes energy, heightens stress, and leaves you feeling like you’re constantly chasing your own tail.

More hours don’t automatically mean better teaching. Beyond a certain point, extra hours bring diminishing returns. Fatigue dulls creativity. Stress shortens patience. Students don’t need the burnt-out version of you — they need the version who feels balanced, thoughtful, and able to model a sustainable life.

What Makes It Hard

Moving towards a 40-hour week isn’t simple.

System expectations often normalise long hours and the idea of “going above and beyond.”

Administrative demands pile up, from data entry to compliance reports, all competing for attention.

Perfectionism whispers that your lessons aren’t good enough unless they’re colour-coded, laminated, and backed by hours of preparation.

Staffroom culture can make leaving on time feel like slacking.

These pressures are real — but they don’t have to be the whole story.

What Makes It Possible

Teachers around the world — and here in Australia — are beginning to experiment with what Angela Watson calls the “40-hour teacher workweek.”

It isn’t about doing everything in 40 hours. It’s about choosing the right things and letting go of the rest.

Simplify planning: Use one-page lesson outlines instead of elaborate documents. Reuse and adapt past resources rather than starting from scratch.

Batch marking and admin: Create set blocks for assessment or emails instead of constantly dipping in and out.

Set boundaries: Decide what time your workday ends — and honour it. Perhaps that means leaving school at 4:30pm and shutting your laptop until morning.

Collaborate: Share planning with your year-level team and pool resources.

Say no (or not this term): Step back from committees or extras that don’t align with your priorities.

🌿 Words to Hold

Enough is not inadequate. Enough is wise.

But Don’t Teachers Get So Many Holidays?

This is one of the most common arguments raised when teachers talk about a 40-hour week.

The truth is, holidays are not the same as rest. Many of us spend the first week of every break simply recovering — catching up on sleep, shaking off the “end of term flu,” or finishing reports. These breaks are not bonuses; they’re recovery periods built into a system that runs at full tilt.

And recovery doesn’t cancel out overwork. Just as an athlete can’t train 16 hours a day and rely on a month off to heal, teachers can’t sustain 55-hour weeks because holidays eventually appear. Chronic overwork still takes its toll.

Other professions also have rhythms of downtime, whether through lighter seasons or flexible leave. Teaching is unique in its calendar, but holidays are not a justification for excessive weekly hours.

Ultimately, your students need the best version of you. Protecting time during term isn’t indulgence; it’s an investment in the quality of education you can offer.

A gentle reframe might be: Yes, teachers do have long holidays, but they exist because the term-time workload is already so intense. The real challenge is to make the school weeks sustainable, so that holidays become times of renewal and joy — not just survival.

A Gentle Redefinition of “Enough”

The hardest shift isn’t logistical — it’s emotional. Many of us equate long hours with dedication, and guilt bubbles up when we consider doing less.

But enough is not the same as inadequate. Enough is sustainable. Enough is wise.

Picture this: leaving school as the late sun warms your shoulders, your bag light, your mind clear. Saturday morning spent with a book, a walk, or coffee with a friend — not hunched over a laptop. Sunday evening that feels like rest, not preparation for battle.

This isn’t laziness. It’s sustainability. It’s showing students what balance looks like in practice, as they quietly form their own ideas about work, rest, and worth.

A Realistic Goal

Will every week be capped neatly at 40 hours? Probably not. Reporting periods, parent interviews, or concerts might stretch your hours at times.

But aiming for an average of 40–42 hours, with clear boundaries most weeks, is possible. Think of it as a rhythm rather than a rigid rule — a tide that ebbs and flows with the seasons. The point is not perfection. It’s reclaiming your life from the endless to-do list.

🌿 Try This

Set a leaving time and honour it for one week.
Choose one task you can simplify or stop doing.
Ask a colleague if they’d like to share a unit plan.

Closing Thoughts

The 40-hour week may not yet be the cultural norm in Australian primary schools, but it’s a vision worth holding. Each small step you take — simplifying, setting boundaries, saying no — brings you closer to a teaching life that is not only sustainable, but deeply human.

Perhaps the real question is not whether a 40-hour week is possible, but what rhythm of work and rest feels sustainable for you.