Australian Classrooms Lose a Third of Teaching Time to Misbehaviour, Survey Finds
A new survey of Australian teachers finds student misbehaviour is costing a third of classroom teaching time, with female educators bearing the brunt.
Student misbehaviour in Australian classrooms has reached crisis levels, with roughly one-third of teaching time lost to disruptions, according to a new survey of more than 370 teachers.
The survey, conducted by Blaise Joseph, a former teacher and education director at the Centre for Independent Studies, found that students miss an average of 12 weeks of learning each year because of classroom disruptions.
Teachers reported losing about nine minutes out of every 30 minutes of lesson time to inappropriate student behaviour.
"Losing almost one-third of teaching time to student misbehaviour is of sufficient scale and urgency," Joseph said.
He described misbehaviour as anything that disrupted learning and prevented teachers from teaching, noting that it was often "low level". Over time, such behaviour proved exhausting for educators and had a significant impact on their wellbeing.
One in 10 teachers said the behaviour had a significant negative effect on their health and wellbeing in the past week, according to the findings.
Female teachers reported losing more teaching time to student misbehaviour than their male counterparts, with a pronounced effect on their health and wellbeing. Joseph said there was considerable anecdotal evidence in recent years that female teachers were especially bearing the brunt of misogynistic conduct from students.
The findings echo data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the international test taken by 15-year-old students worldwide every three years. In 2022, about 42 per cent of Australian students reported noise and disorder in their maths classes, compared with an OECD average of 30 per cent.
The survey results come shortly after the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) testing revealed that one-third of Australian students were not meeting expectations in literacy and numeracy.
Education Minister Jason Clare called disruptive behaviour a "big issue" that was stopping children from learning. He said the government had introduced a number of reforms, including banning mobile phones in classrooms, improving teacher training, and providing teachers with new resources.