Students could spend fewer hours in the classroom if teachers in the ACT were granted a four-day working week without a drop in the quality of learning, a teachers' union has said.
The Australian Education Union, which represents teachers in the territory's public schools, has told a Legislative Assembly inquiry into the future of the working week fewer hours for teachers would help retain staff and address issues of workloads and over working.
While the union's model would include a 20 per cent cut to the time ACT teachers spent teaching, and a 20 per cent cut to their hours overall, schools would remain open five days a week.
The union suggested a combination of job sharing - already done by teachers and familiar to students - and more structured non-class time in schools supervised by assistants to effect the working-time change.
The change would not have a negative impact on learning and student outcomes and Australia already has a very high number of teaching hours for school-aged children compared to other countries in the OECD, the union said.
"Many countries, including many who perform better in the [Programme for International Student Assessment] than Australia, have fewer hours of teaching in their school week," the union said.
"Australian students spend relatively more hours in the classroom without any demonstrable benefit, and ... there would not necessarily be a trade-off in student performance if teaching hours were reduced."
The union's submission to the inquiry noted Finland, frequently held as a world-leader in children's education, had a "total of five fewer years spent in instruction hours over a student's lifetime" compared to Australian students.
A four-day working week for teachers would also help the ACT attract and retain teachers, the union said.
"Given previous measures to attempt to reduce teacher workload have largely failed, a bold move like a four-day work week may be the kind of catalyst that could trigger meaningful change. If such a move attracted more teachers to the ACT and alleviated the teacher shortage, this would have significant flow-on effects on teacher workload and wellbeing," the submission said.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation said in its submission to the inquiry shorter weeks would help attract and retain healthcare workers to the territory.
"It would also make clear that the government genuinely values the work undertaken by nurses and midwives," the federation's submission said.
The ACT government previously told the inquiry Canberra would become one of the most progressive cities in the world if it adopted a four-day working week in a "massive change", which could make it easier to attract quality staff.
Submissions to the Legislative Assembly inquiry into the future of the working week close on December 16.
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