Teachers in Latvia work 35 hours a week on average, less than average in EU - study

RIGA - Since 2013, the share of teachers working full work load at schools has dropped, and teachers work 35 hours a week on average in Latvia, which is less than the average 37 hours a week in the EU, according to the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The authors of the study concluded that the share of teachers working full work load has dropped from 82 percent to 75 percent, while 10 percent of teachers work in more than one school.

Teachers in Latvia work 35 hours a week on average, compared to 56 hours in Japan, 47 hours in Canada and the UK, 46 hours in the US, for example.

The study also reveals that 42 percent of the working time the teacher works in class with pupils, 14 percent of the time the teacher spend on individual planning and preparation, 10 percent of the time is dedicated to evaluation of papers, in 7 percent of the time teacher provides consultations to pupils, and in 5 percent of time  it is team work and cooperation with other teachers.

TALIS was conducted for the first time in 2008. In 2018, the authors of the study surveyed participants in 48 countries. In Latvia, 2,324 teachers from 137 schools were surveyed.