Experts urge holistic measures, warn teacher workload threatens mental health and classroom quality

Experts are calling for a comprehensive approach to address teacher workload, which is causing mental health issues and negatively impacting classroom quality. Dr Mohammad Faiz Ikhlas, a Senior Lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, highlighted that teacher workload stems from various factors such as filling out excessive data, unstable online entry systems, student discipline problems, and assignments given outside of working hours.

The pressure to meet school performance targets often forces teachers to work late, leading to emotional stress, fear, fatigue, and even burnout, which in turn affects their personal lives and teaching quality.

Contributing to this issue are external tasks like weekend training for competitions and financial constraints that force teachers to fund their school's participation. Dr Anuar Ahmad, Deputy Director at the Malaysian Inclusive Development and Advancement Institute, emphasized the need for the Ministry of Education to clearly define the scope of teachers' duties based on their position and grade.

He stressed that reducing the workload should be implemented gradually, including reducing class sizes, increasing teacher staff, and improving support systems in schools. Both experts agree that addressing teacher workload must be a continuous effort involving sustainable measures and clear communication among all stakeholders to ensure educators can focus on teaching and positively impact their students.