British Journal qf Sociology if E(fucation, Vol. 21, No.

1, 2000 Intensification, Extension and Complexity cif Teachers' Workload CHRIS EASTHOPE* & GARY EASTHOPE, School qf Sociology and Social Work, University qf Tasmania, Australia ABSTRACT Teachers in Tasmania, Australia, gave accounts qf their experience qf increased workload in the 10 ]ears between 1984 and 1994. Thry reported working longer hours, teaching more student and having increased professional, pastoral and administrative duties. The reasons For this increased workload include: (1) less monry being spent on education; (2) changes in student assessment from a norm basis to a criterion basis; (3) a change in the administrative structure within the state colleges in which most respondents teach; (4) a change in the student population. The result, they reported, was that their workload was both increased and extended (intensified), leading to a much more complex workplace. Significantly, complexity was also produced by the attempt of teachers to maintain their professional commitment while adapting to the economic rationalist policies of administrators. However, loss qf teachers through redundancy, stress and a move to part-time work has meant that those teachers remaining have had to rationalize their work and reduce their professional commitment. Previous Writings on Teachers' Work There is extensive literature on teachers' work, including Apple (1986), Connell (1985), Durbridge (1991), Hargreaves (1990, 1992, 1994), Lee et al. (1991), Lingard et al. (1993), Ozga (1988), Seddon (1990, 1991), Thapan (1986) and Watkins (1993). All these writers point to the demands made upon teachers, the more recent writings strongly suggesting these demands are increasing. Lieberman (1988) described the teaching situation as one requiring more work, more students and less time, and as being more instrumental, less expressive, less effective, less satisfying and less professional than in the past. For most of these writers, these changes are theorised using labour process theory, which sees the changes in education as part of a post-Fordist shift in capitalism. A key implication of post-Fordism for education is the attempt to relate education more closely to industry (Watkins, 1994). This has particular implications for the curriculum in that there is a move towards teaching competencies rather than providing general education (Soucek, 1994). For teachers, the moves to link education directly to corporate industrial goals has meant a massive shift in the nature of their work. This shift has been conceptualised as a process of intensification. This concept, originally posited by Larson (1980) is developed by Apple (1982) and Hargreaves (1994). Hart,Tfeaves (1994, p. 108) describes intensification of teachers' work as, the 'hureaucratically driven escalation of pressures, expectations and controls concerning what teachers do and how much they should do within the teaching day'. The characteristic features of intensification (Hargeaves, 1994, pp. 118-120) are: (a) a lack of time, with no time for relaxation and no time to update skills; (b) the creation of chronic and persistent overload; (c) the replacement of time spent caring for students with time meeting administrative demands;

(d) the enforced diversification of expertise; (e) the production of packaged curricula and packaged pedagogy. Hart,Tfeaves (1994, p. 120) argues that many teachers 'voluntarily consort with the imperatives of intensification', seeing it as a move towards professionalisation. Hargreaves then, through qualitative analysis of interviews with teachers in Toronto in 1987, explores the effects of intensification with particular reference to preparation time, an issue over which teachers came out on strike. Hargreaves' work demonstrated quite clearly that intensification did affect teachers' perception of their work in Toronto in 1987. However, all the effects on teachers' work could not he explained by intensification. The increasing effort teachers put in was sometimes explained by their commitment to a professional ethos. Drawing directly from Hargreaves' work, we examined the experience of Tasmanian teachers and asked: \Vould intensification adequately explain the perceptions Tasmanian teachers had of their work or would other factors need to be invoked to explain their experience; what part did professional commitment play in Tasmanian teachers' experience and understanding of intensification, and what actions did Tasmanian teachers take to deal with the increasing pressures put upon them? Methods To answer these questions, we drew upon accounts collected as part of a more extensive study of changes experienced by teachers in Tasmania, Australia, 1984-94 (Easthope, 1998). The aim of that research was to gain an understanding of teachers' responses to the changes in education over the past 10 years. The teachers in the study taught in Tasmanian State Secondary Colleges and in private Secondary Schools (Years 11 and 12, students aged 16-18 years approximately). They were all Behavioural Studies teachers who, like the first author, taught a range of subjects including pre-tertiary Sociology and Psychology (subjects recognised for university entrance) and non pre-tertiary subjects such as Introduction to Sociology and Psychology, and a range of Child Development subjects. The teachers' responses were elicited either hy in-depth interviev.;ng (I) or focus groups (FG). Four teachers responded to in-depth interviews, a male teacher in the Catholic system who had pre\iously taught in a state college, a female teacher in a private school, a male teacher in a college and a female teacher in a college. All teachers who attended the annual meeting of TTOBS (Tasmanian Teachers of Behavioural Studies) in 1994 were invited to take part in the focus groups. Sixteen teachers took part in the three focus groups. The teachers represented all the Behavioural Studies courses. They came predominantly from state colleges, and were drawn from different localities and schools with students with different rural/urban and socio-economic status. Some worked part time and some taught in other curriculum areas in addition to Behavioural Studies. The twenty participants constituted about one in three of all Behavioural Studies teachers in the state at that time. Behavioural Studies teachers were chosen for two reasons. First, the first author had been a Behavioural Studies teacher for many years, had an understanding of their position, and easy access to them. Second, they were a diverse teaching work force: they had diverse discipline backgrounds and they taught classes ranging from pre-tertiary level to the less academic level. In the interviews, 'flashcards' with words such as 'students', 'workload' and 'administration'

acted as an initial projective device and then each teacher was invited to select some key words to discuss in greater depth. In focus groups, teachers were asked to talk about 'the changes you have seen in teaching in the last ten years'. The focus groups were ,,~deo-recorded and analysis took into account non-verbal cues. Using grounded theory, major themes were generated. In this article, we discuss the theme of workload. Grounded theory operates as a mode of analysis by iteration. The inten~ews and focus groups were coded using the teachers' own lan6ruage, and memos, notes, questions, insights, comparisons and summaries were made. Issues brought up in the inten~ews and focus groups were given a separate file, and the transcripts and tapes were again scanned for these themes. For each extract, multiple coding was used. Placing extracts into several appropriate codes at the same time meant that at the end of the process, the relative importance of each of the codes was signified by the number of pages printed out under each heading. Each theme was then colour coded and a hard copy printed out. Then, using the waIls of a study to stick on the sheets-and coloured twine to show relationships-the themes were analysed, diagrammed and mapped. Links between categories were ascertained by comparing and contrasting themes (Cicourel, 1974, pp. 124-125). This increased the level of abstractness and clarified the development of the theory (Glaser, 1978). A preliminary analysis of the data was presented to groups of Behavioural Stuclies teachers at the state subject meeting in 1996. This 'member check' (Fine, 1994, p. 44) produced general consensus that their situation was described correctly and their opinions reported accurately. Theory was generated by constant interaction between the inteniews, focus groups, the observation and experience of the first author as a teacher, the literature and the diagramming and mapping of themes. As Glaser (1978, p. 2) explains: 'Grounded theory methodolo6'Y explicitly involves generating theory and doing research as part of the same process'. The Framing of This Research \Ve locate increased workload in the changes brought about in education because of the adoption of the ideology of economic rationalism by administrators, and the consequent structural changes. Durbridge (1991, p. 85) writes that workload is in the middle of a causal chain which starts with the fact that Australian education 'is being driven by "rationalists" '. However, the ideological imperative of rationalism need not necessarily produce increased workload. Seddon (1990, p. 7) points out the paradox: economic rationalism should involve 'a productivity which is non exploitive, being concerned, not with more work or more money, but with "working smarter" through increased training, use of technology, and improved planning, work organisation and skill utilisation'. Causes, Effects and IInpact of Increased Workload Using a linear cause, effcct and impact model may seem somewhat modernist but we believe this form of presentation is a defensible means of following individual threads of interrelationships, to enable the reader to better understand our perceptions of causal relationships, many of which were also perceived by these teachers. Cause: Less Alonry is Spent on Education The Australian Education Union, Tasmanian Branch (1995a, p. 9) has shown that, as a percentage of the 1984-85 state budget, Education, Employment and Training received 27.0%. As a percentage of the 1994-95 budget, Education, Employment and Training received 24-.4%. Less money means fewer teachers and larger classes.

As a result of a consultancy inquiry (CRESAP, 1990), 552 teaching positions were abolished achieving $8736 million in savings in a year. Of these, 82 positions were in Senior Secondary Colleges, achieving a saving of $2886 million in a full year. This meant an increase in workload for those staff who were left. The increased workload was implemented in 1994 when there was a change from three 'lines' to four 'lines' per teacher. In order to accommodate four lines of what should be 5 hours contact in the 18 hours of class teaching, colleges have done various time-table manoeuvres, e.g. timetabling classes for 4.5 hours instead of 5 hours (the same amount of work has to be covered for assessment). Some colleges timetable teachers for 20 hours class time, arguing that teachers give the students a break in the 2-hour lessons and therefore they are not teaching then so they are only teaching, in effect, about 4.5 hours per line. The smaller number of teachers meant larger classes. There has been a marked increase in studentlteacher ratios from 12.4 in February 1990 to 16.3 in February 1994 (Australian Education Union, Tasmanian Branch, 1995b). These ratios appear generous but they include non-teaching or reduced teaching positions such as principals, assistant principals, counsellors and librarians, and the previously favourable studentlteacher ratios facilitated very successful colleges (Abbott-Chapman et al., 1986). One of the unanticipated consequences was that if classes could not meet minimum student numbers, they were cancelled. CE: What is the minimum number now? Ruth: 15, 18? It depends. It was 21 at our place this year wasn't it? (FG I) The result is that some subjects are not taught and students become angry when, at the beginning of the academic year, classes are cancelled and students re-assigned. It is not unusual for classes to start the year with over 30 students on the grounds (and with the hope?) that there will be wastage. Therefore, it is understandable that teachers may be less diligent in chasing up those who miss class, especially as those students are more likely to be the less motivated who will take a disproportionate amount of the teacher's time, which teachers believe could be more usefully spent on those who want to learn. Cause: Changes in Nfarking and Assessment The introduction of the Tasmanian Certificate of Education (TCE) saw changes in evaluation. Now evaluation is on 10 criteria (Criterion Based Assessment). The marking involved in Beha,,':ioural Studies examinations has become much more complex. Teachers generally approve of the style of the examination, their problem is with marking it. The emphasis is no longer on knowledge: the Head of the Tasmanian Senior Secondary Assessment Board (pre\':iously called the Schools Board) said, in 1999, 'Knowledge is an outdated commodity; it's all about accessing it' (i'vlercury, 10 February 1999, p. 19). Hence, the emphasis in marking is not on content, but rather on competencies. Each section of the examination has to be marked against two separate criteria. Added to this, there are now also Investigation Projects; these are substantial pieces of work which pre-tertiary students complete and which are externally marked according to set criteria. In 1984, the end of year examination was two pages long. In 1995, it was 16 pages long and included a common core with options in Psychology or Sociology. (In 1998, the subject Behavioural Studies became two separate subjects, Sociology and Psychology, and the examination papers were much shorter with four answers required.) Before the emphasis on criteria, teachers used their expert knowledge to mark papers. They met for moderation and took their papers to college or home to mark. \Vith the advent of Criterion Based Assessment, it was felt that it was too difficult to mark independently so markers had to mark centrally. This proved difficult for many teachers because of their other commitments. It was especially difficult for regional markers who did not wish to

be away from home for days. The effect of these assessment changes is increased feelings of pressure and resistance to undertaking marking because of a reduction in 'goodwill'. Sara: They were turning people away five years ago. Sue: Five years ago I wasn't allowed to do it because I had only taught it for one year! ]0: And I feel, personally I feel really sorry for the people who have marked, but I have no sense of guilt whatsoever because I think the chickens are coming home to roost. Sara: Yes. ]0: The Schools' Board has abused and abused and abused the same bunches of people year in and year out and 'Boys if this is what you want, this is what you get! You want a hacked, half hearted, messed up'. So now they have got university students and people who have never taught the course and all sorts! (FG2) Jo is clearly exasperated and angry at her situation. It is interesting to note the use of the term 'Boys'. I think these teachers are aware of gender inequalities in the Tasmanian educational system, which is male dominated. At the TTOBS meeting in 1994, it was suggested by the chair of T[OBS (a male assistant principal who did not teach the pre-tertiary course) and a female teacher from a private school, that the marking of the external examination should be made compulsory for all teachers who taught the pre-tertiary course. This proposal was defeated. Most teachers in this study agree that marking the end of year examinations was professionally enlightening (they were interested to see the answers students from other colleges gave). They saw it as part of their professional responsibility to the subject and to their students, and that it gave them more control over the assessment process. However, control is not a simple matter. As Blackmore & Kenway (1993, p. 43) point out, 'the hegemonic potential of corporate culture lies in its ability to readily subsume and appropriate social justice and affirmative action strategies into its corporate planning, under the guise of representation and participation'. CE: Avril: CE: Brian: CE: Brian: CE: Joan: CE: Brian: CE: Brian: Am I right then, in interpreting it, then, in the subject Behavioural Studies it is free and the teachers have a lot to say about the syllabus. And I think I'm picking up that you are happy with them? Urn. So in the subjects it's free and the students are freer, but the teachers are, have more central control?

\Yell, it is complicated because we have already said that the personality styles are no longer allowed to be authoritarian, but controls are being exerted now in different ways now. So how are they being exerted? They are being exerted more bureaucratically, controls going, there is more bureaucracy involved in practically everything you do in colleges and there is less 'Do this because I say so' but more 'because it's in the plan and this is what you said you would do last year'. And is it accountability for teaching or is it accountability for other things like equality of the sexes and things like that? The government is saying '\Ye are giving you this little bag of money and we want back heaps of satisfied voters in your area'. So what we are getting at is really quite interesting, what we are getting then is less control in the subject you teach, teachers being more questioning? Yes. And more centralised control tied to government money? And promotion and staying in colleges. (FG I) Cause: Cnange in Administrative Structures Ashenden (1990, p. 7) writes that teachers 'complain that they are asked to do too many things and that too many of them are not to do with teaching'. Our research has similar findings. Increasingly, teachers are being asked to perform duties previously undertaken by heads of departments, as these roles are abolished to be replaced by Advanced Skills Teachers 3 (AST 3s). When discussing what took up their time, in the focus groups and interviews, teachers said: Donna: Bill: Administration stuff. (FG3) Increased expectations in terms of workloads outside of the classroom ... If you are not involved in cross college things then, again, you are one of the ones who is regarded as being less effective as a teacher. You are not pulling your weight ... Mainly because they are putting all their effort into their classroom teaching but that's not sufficient. (1) Hargreaves (1993, p. lOll) refers to situations in which 'administrators take up or colonize teacher's time with their own purposes'. Teachers resent this and see it as an invasion of their 'life worlds' (Habermas, 1987, p. 117). The result of the change in administrative demands is that teachers have less time for preparation, teaching and interaction with students. Hargreaves (1994, p. 142) has demonstrated that teachers often feel guilty. As our research demonstrates, one response to guilt is anger towards the administration. This anger has taken the form of teachers saying 'No' to requests (for example, teachers refusing to mark the examination paper as noted earlier). However, when teachers say 'No', they also feel guilty and this guilty feeling further drives their anger towards an administration that overloads them. Some teachers who are seeking promotion consciously 'play the system' and neglect their teaching duties. Not all teachers have to teach an extra line, since some teachers in promotion positions such as AST3 (previously Senior Master/Mistress) teach only two lines and ASTI teachers who take on organisational duties may bargain to teach only three lines. This has many implications, a major one being that administration is seen as

a means of escaping overload. Teachers seeking promotion may further colonise classroom teachers' time. Sue: I go home very angry often because of everything extra we have to do. I also get very angry at those people who are climbing up the ladder who create things so they can be recognised and you go home and you have all these other things to do and you never have time to do what you need to do and your life is just so narrow. The only satisfaction I get is being in the classroom. I love being in the classroom because I know no-one is going to come and bug me ask me for my help: ask me to do five hundred and fifty things to help this person get principal somewhere or whatever and never get any feedback on it. I love being in the classroom; that is where my job is I think. If I had wanted another job I would have trained to do something else. (FG2) Those who concentrate on teaching see themselves as being punished by their dedication and, increasingly, the level of overload is reducing the satisfaction in teaching. These teachers perceive that the reward system favours those who do not concentrate on the classroom. There arc compounded problems of poor promotion prospects and an aging teaching population. It is not just promotion that is affected by the change in the administrative structure, but also chances of surviving in post. Administrative control is not exercised by waving a big stick but it is exercised implicitly: Joan: I think there has been a great deal of subterfuge because there has been an appearance of increasing democracy. You know there are millions of committees and principals are inspiring leaders; they are not little Hitlers any more and all of that sort of stuff and we are all having huge input into committees, but when it comes to the crunch we arc having our real authority stripped from us. (FG I) Brian: Ten years ago if the principal in our college said 'Wouldn't it be a great idea if we did so and so?' A lot of people would say 'Phew, pathetic idea, you know, forget it!' Now you have to look at what the principal and the other leaders in the college are suggesting and you have to say 'Yes there is something good about that' because otheMse what are you going to be doing? You are not going to be part of the plan, the program, the change that is going on in the college, you get marginalised and the next stop is out of the college perhaps in some way. (FG 1) Gender is also a relevant issue. O'Connor & Clarke (1990, p. 50) have pointed out that, 'Time and work-load pressures are greatest among teachers who are women, who are permanent teachers, who are highly committed to their profession'. It may be that teachers, particularly women, who want to teach rather than enter management, are particularly disadvantaged by the decline in the importance of classroom teaching. The other major change in the administrative structure was the decoupling of subject expertise from administrative positions. Heads of academic departments were replaced by AST3s who might be responsible for a 'functional area' (e.g. school-workplace liaison) coupled with a knowledge area (e.g. sciences), which might or might not be in their own area of subject expertise. Administratively teachers are considered equally capable of teaching any subject. This had profound effects on teachers' workloads. The movement of teachers into subject areas in which they had no expertise meant they had to rapidly

gain some expertise to survcive in the classroom. Those who did not leave teaching had to put in extra hours to gain that expertise. Furthermore, those who were still teaching subjects in which they had expertise also had to engage in extra work to bring their new colleagues up to scratch. Ruth: It is stressful when you are teaching a pretertiary C and you have never taught it before and every one, and every one, is too busy to help you and it is just grrr! (FGI) One consequence of this administrative change was a move towards simplif)ring the teaching task by the introduction of textbooks and by 'filing cabinet teaching': Bill: I walk into the classroom now and it's stuff I've just pulled out of the filing cabinet I've had from years past, it's not new material. (I) Cause: }vJore Heterogeneous Student Population There has been almost a doubling of Year 11/12 students from 5464 in 1984 to 10,062 in 1994. The number of students obtaining university entrance qualifications in 1984 was 1156; in 1994, the fi!:,TUre was 1983 (Tasmanian Senior Secondary Assessment Board 1995). Now, teachers in colleges teach a range of students from those capable of 20 out of 20 (the highest possible score for a university entrance subject) to those previously in special schools. It is possible for a teacher to walk out of a pre-tertiary class and into another class v.cith special needs students, and this class may not be in her area of expertise. As Batten et af. (1991, pp. 22-23) point out 'The demands on teachers' time and energy have and are increasing; as class sizes increase, the diversity of the student population increases, the need for new curricular and teaching approaches increases'. There is thus not only an increase in teachers' work because they are doing more of the same type of work, but also an extension of their work. (I) Teachers are teaching different sorts of students as a result of the policies of mainstreaming 'special needs' students and increases in retention rates. (2) Teachers are also teaching a wider range of subjects for some or all of the follmving reasons: (i) teachers are increasingly being expected to teach outside their subject specialities (as already mentioned); (ii) to accommodate the more diverse student population, it has been necessary to offer more courses, at different levels of difficulty, and courses of different duration for post-compulsory, mature age and evening students; (iii) previously relatively informal interactions with students, such as pastoral care and sporting and leisure electives, are increasingly being formalised and designated as specific short courses; (iv) teachers are dealing \\~th new social issues, e.g. AIDS, job search; (v) teachers are increasingly linking school and work by de,,~sing courses that involve work experience, and they have to liaise with workplaces, and organise and evaluate these courses. The result of these changes is that administration at the classroom level is becoming more complex because of: (i) the number of different courses, which can mean teachers teaching in as many as four or more subject areas; (ii) the different lengths and levels of courses; (iii) the indi~dual counselling needed to ensure that all students are doing appropriate courses at appropriate levels, e.g. to meet the pre-requisites for tertiary entrance. These difficulties are compounded by problems of control, which may result from some of the students staying reluctantly in schools. The recent (1999) Federal Government

policy to encourage young people, who want the means tested Youth Allowance, to be in full-time education, further exacerbates the situation for teachers by forcing many students to attend college for the sole purpose of obtaining government funding. If teachers are unable to motivate these students, they may be involved in 'damage limitation' to try to make sure that the disruption of a few students docs not interfere with the work of most students. All these factors entail more work for teachers. They also involve different types of work, and this extension of work includes planning, student/teacher interaction, marking, administration and pastoral care, as well as classroom acti\~ties. Pastoral care demands, in particular, are increasing: Alichael: I think, unintentionally, we are mo\~ng more and more into family welfare, social welfare, even the bits and pieces course like the Health Education course you have got to teach and they are now talking about putting in a Ci,,;cs course so kids know all their rights and obligations; the work experience programs are now being elevated as well, so you have two processes in parallel; you have got not only an increase in actual time demanded for face to face and planning but you also have additional time demands because you are now expected to be more than just a classroom teacher. (I) Some teachers fecl overwhelmed by the demands of their caring roles and arc tempted to avoid pastoral care, as in the case of this teacher who humorously describes her temptation to avoid a difficult student. Sue: And hours and hours of joyous counselling! And I said 'Oh my God he is coming round again! Quick let me hide!'. And then of course you don't hide! And then you wish you had! (FG2) Pastoral care has increasingly become a control mechanism rather than a form of interaction. For example, some colleges have introduced 'duties' where teachers monitor students at break and lunch. Previously, the ethos was more akin to institutions for adult learning, such as universities, where informal help and guidance were available to students from their teachers if sought. Increasing COInplexity The result of all these changes is that teachers' work is becoming more complex. The following extract illustrates the commitment and dedication still prevalent among teachers, and also demonstrates the breadth of their activities and the workload involved in planning and preparing courses. Donna: CE: Kay: CE: Eileen: Bec~: CE: Leena: Donna: leena: Donna: Leena: My thoughts at the moment for 1996 with Working ",;th Children

is to tag on a Work Inquiry A for 1996 and to put the work experience section into that but make it more, put more value on it and assess the developing competencies. Can I ask you, [what] is \Vork Inquiry, I don't know that, it must be a new one? \Vhich department does it come under? \Vork Studies area? Careers? I don't know! Social Sciences? I guess it is in the Social Sciences faculty, sort of. Dol'"s it come under Behavioural Studies umbrella? ;..Jo. The only time it would ever have anything to do \~ith us is through work placements working with students with children. Is it a growth area? A lot of kids do it. That's only an A Chris and there is \Vork Studies which is a B. Isn't it I think? \Ve do a lot of \Vork Inquiry A s. \Ve have a lot of those classes. I think that some colleges are heading towards the fact that if a student wants to do work experience, general work experience, that they have to do the \Vork Inquiry A as part of it. So they have to do all the resumes, they have to go for interview, they have to do their applications. (FG3) Complexity is also increased by changes in the duration of courses. C courses run all year, B courses might be 'long thins' and run throughout the year or they may be 'fat' and completed in half a year. A courses run for one term. Therefore, the teacher's workload may necessitate an 'overload' for part of the year. There are now so many courses that tcachers talk in letters and numbers-BH 715, A plus B making a C-rather than in the names of the subjects. There is a proliferation of committees, courses and demands on the teachers' time. The confusion and complexity that results is such that teachers arc themselves uncertain about the intricacies of their own circumstances. Teachers teaching in colleges have to obtain advice from other teachers when they enrol their own children because they are unfamiliar with appropriate levels and duration of courses. One teacher in a small college told me that 10 years ago, four senior staff enrolled all students over several days; in most colleges in 1994, it took the total staff 4 days to enrol students. Discussion The economy is becoming increasingly central to education (Marginson, 1989; Pusey, 1991; Seddon, 1996). Robertson (1994, p. 145) puts the situation clearly, if dramatically, when she writes of 'a virulent economic rationalist model which places education at the services of the economy'. The result of this is, as Watkins (1993, p. 66) points out, that 'The skills of teachers ... [are] being isolated, fragmented and made more explicit so they can be more easily codified and measured'. Such fragmentation and codification is but part of a labour process which leads to the deskilling or 'proletarianization' of teachers (Freedman, 1988, p. 133). Teachers are being deprofessionalised and, rather than being multi skilled, they are becoming deskilled. Apple (1986, p. 179), Hargreaves (1990, 1992, 199'1) and Seddon (1990), following Braverman (1974), have examined the labour process which leads to increased workload of teachers, and a consequent deskilling of teachers because they have to rationalise and routinise their teaching. This is the process we have described in this article. Teachers are increasingly

controlled. They teach outside their area of expertise. They no longer have time to interact as effectively with their 'clients' or to undertake professional activities like marking examinations and attending professional meetings. Teachers have been given no choice as to whether or not they introduce TeE, or whether or not they mark according to criteria. As did Hargreaves (1994, p. 103) in Toronto, we have found an increasing intensification of teachers' work. Intensification in the literature is used to signify two things. First, it is used to indicate more of the same work. Second, it is used to signify different work tasks being added to the teacher's day, e.g. Hargreaves (1994, p. 136) writes of 'more "social work" responsibilities, multiple innovations and increased amounts of administrative work' as indicators of intensification. Robertson (1994, p. 144) makes a similar point when she writes 'The role of the teacher was significantly expanded as a series of tasks were integrated into the one role'; a process she calls 'task integration'. The result is that teachers have to make choices. They have come to the realisation that it impossible to do all the work they would wish to do. For example,joan comments on the numbers attending the TTOBS Meeting in 1994: Joan: Jill: CE: Ruth and Avril: Ruth: It is probably significant though that I have never known one with so few people. Is this a reflection of teacher loss of dedication which people have been talking about? And maybe the teachers who are here are concerned about the marking that is in the car and the references that aren't written and I feel a bit agitated that I am here and not in school. Now is this an increasing workload or a decreasing commitment? Increasing workload. You have to make more choices than you used to. (FG I) Teachers do still have some choice, although as Seddon (1997, p. 236) points out, such choices are only a 'licensed autonomy'. However, we argue further that complexity is produced not only through the intensification processes of more work and clifferent work, but also by the fact that, for many teachers in this study, the professional ideology of teaching, in which they were trained, remained central to their view of teaching and of themselves as teachers. They sought to remain committed to that ideology while adjusting to the demands of the ideology of economic rationalism as expressed through the actions of the administration, both at school and state level. The core category to emerge from our grounded analysis was the imperative teachers felt to maintain actions congruent with their professional ideology while, at the same time, accommodating to the demands made by administrators committed to economic rationalism. Joan: There is a definite perception that students' needs are very low on the agenda. There is all this political correctness and stuff in the atmosphere, but when it comes down to the wire you feel as though students' needs are no longer predominantly eminent, so consequently you feel that nobody else gives a stuff about the kids so why

should I? I mean that is being very cynical and you probably wouldn't stoop so low, but nevertheless there is that feeling in the air ... (FGI) Economic rationalism has brought about an overruling of the teachers' 'taken for granted assumptions' about teaching, which is distressing to the teachers. Brian: Joan: So it is quite a shambles really, in that students are being counselled quite radically between one year or other on how many subjects to do based entirely on the way the funding operates, not really at all a kind of educational decision for students. (I) The focus has changed hasn't it? Yloney and centralised. ''''hat looks good. Away from what kids [need], from what is really going to benefit students, and I think they [the students] know they have been short changed ... (FG I) As Seddon (1990, p. 5) points out, 'teachers' work perspective docs more than simply capture the range and character of what teachers do, it constantly stresses the politics and ideology of teachers' work'. Teaching is now primarily related to productivity rather than to liberal notions of education. Teachers are deprofessionalised. They arc unable to carry out all their obligations. l.eena: I am sick. I don't 'chase up' if kids don't come to class now. I put in an absentee note. I don't chase them up, whereas before you were supposed to find out where they were. (FG3) This aspect of care for students is one of the first things which overworked teachers shed. However, the significance of this for the college climate is dramatic. The knowledge that dedicated teachers will do all in their power to find out immediately why someone is not in class is perhaps one of the major forms of displaying concern for students. It is also a means of controlling the students. The hidden and long-term effects on the climate of a college when teachers arc too pressured to carry out many of the caring activities they perceive as part of their professional identity can have significant effects on the attitudes, self-esteem and motivation of both staff and students. Teachers did not readily accept their deskilling and continued to demonstrate their professional concern. The ideology of economic rationalism was therefore often in conflict with their ideology or teacher proressionalism. The ideology of teachers is closely related to teachers' work and teachers as professionals (Connell, 1985; Goodson & Hargreaves, 1996; Maclean, 1991; Hargreaves, 1994; Seddon, 1996, 1997). One example of this conflict is the change in syllabuses. Administrators are becoming more prescriptive, not in the content or syllabuses, but in the function that syllabuses are expected to perrorm to satisfy the needs or employers, who are assumed to want skills which can be transrerred to the workplace (Souceck, 1994). But it is the teaching of higher-level cognitive knowledge which IS more rewarding for teachers trained and committed to the professional ideology. Gwen: Well in teaching it is a beautiful time ror me to actually see the penny drop in a kid's eyes and it can do that, which is just wonderrul, sometimes, when you, when you have put things to them and suddenly they will put a couple of things together. They might suddenly work out what a concept map is and how it works, or they might suddenly realise when they are looking at institutions, these

abstract things, what they actually arc. So that is really terrific, when I actually get kids to be critical or stuff that they read and sce, that to me is just wonderful because this lack of acceptance of everything that is written must be absolutely ... (I) This conflict increases the complexity or the teachers' situation and it means that teachers are often exhausted trying to maintain their professional ideology, while at the same time dealing with some aspects or the ideology or economic rationalism. If economic rationalism appears to succeed in schools, it is only because it has been adopted in addition to the professional ideology that is already in place. That is, teachers' work has increased in absolute terms (through both more tasks and a greater variety of tasks), but it has also increased in ideological terms as teachers face competing demands to be both a proressional teacher and an efficient manager. The result is that the requirements or economic rationalism overlay the 'professional culture or teaching'. However, this is not a long-term solution. The demands in terms of increased workload and teacher stress are such that teachers will be rorced to adapt to changes imposed upon them. Many teachers had come to accept that what Hargreaves (1994, p. 118) describes as 'chronic and persistent' overload is a normal part or their life: Gwen: ... There is definitely less time to get together and actually plan what we are going to do but rortunately l\:largaret and I have similar ways of saying 'Oh let's do this. Let's do that. This works. This doesn't work'. On the run. Planning on the run. Decision making on the run. (J) Some teachers adapted to this increased workload by reducing their commitment to proressional teaching, through reducing their input into the teaching task: Bill: I just look at it now and I mean, I don't do as good a job now as I did three years ago, rour years ago, because there is just not the time. Ir you have a 25% increase in workload something has got to give and basically it's preparation and it's marking ... There will be less of that time fi)r everything. I know that even on my part-time load that 1 have opted out or sport. (I) Other teachers have adapted by opting to work part-time. CE: Why do people want to go part-time? Ruth: They are driven. Eileen: This year has just been horrific for me and so next year I am dropping a line, I am going to 0.75 because Ijust can't cope! (FGI) Like Hargreaves (1994, p. I 19), we found that as the teachers strive to satisfy all the needs of all the students, and satisfy the requirements of the administration, there is a reduction in service to the students; and it is this reduction in senrice which generates the most stress and guilt on the part of teachers. Gwen: I try and do new things each year, and I'm not one of those ones who grab their notes from last year and start reading at page one and finish at page ninety-nine. I don't know, I try and get new stuff out of newspapers and there is the current stuff and I sometimes ... wake up and I feel 'My God! Am I giving those kids a fair go?' (I) The teachers' commitment to coping to protect their students means that problems and issues only emerge for the administration as individual crises which the administration then has to 'fix'. The attempt to fix the problem is, ironically, then read by the teachers as another instance of poor administration: a band-aid solution to what they perceive to

be a systemic problem, a lack of care and concern for both teachers and their students: Sue: Nancy and Sara: Sue: Jo: Yes but that is what I find with the whole education system now, it is not preventative, they just stick the band-aid on after it happens. Yes. Whether it's with the writing of the syllabus or anything like that, that is what they have done all along haven't they? 'Oh, that's a mistake we'll fix that up here.' They haven't done anything about it though! (FG 2) Teachers' work has been subject to intensification in Tasmania, as it has been elsewhere. Those teachers who have experienced it have experienced it as not just more work or even more diverse work, but as a more complex working situation. That complexity was caused, in part, by the concurrent increase in workload and extension of work tasks (intensification). But it was also made more complex by the sunrival of a commitment to professionalism, a professionalism that was focused on caring for students and maintaining academic standards. By the end of the research period, it was becoming apparent to many teachers that they could no longer continue to act on the basis of the professional ideology in which they trained. Teachers, generally, perceived this as a grave loss, both to themselves and to their students. Their reactions varied. Some chose to leave teaching rather than engage in what they saw as unprofessional action; those with strong professional commitments to academic subjects were often the first offered redundancy packages by the Education Department. Others reduced the strain by becoming part-time teachers. Others rationalised the teaching task, moving to 'filing cabinet teaching' and textbooks. Yet others, sadly, suffered stress and found themselves in connict with the Education Department in a different arena-the \Yorkers' Compensation Board (stress claims in Education constituted the greatest proportion of all stress claims from those in Tasmanian government senrice in the period I 99Q-93). Our rescarch demonstrates that in Tasmania in 1994, as in Toronto in 1987, intensification has transformed teachers' work. However, we argue that in Tasmania, the complexity produced by more work and more diverse work was only part of the process. Another important part of the process was the attempt by teachers to maintain their professional ideology of caring, an ideology in direct conflict with the administrative ideology of economic rationalism. For a period, the period of our research, this conflict between professional teaching and economically rational management was a key feature of teachers' experience in Tasmania. However, by the end of the research period, that conflict was abating. Those remaining in teaching, subject to increasing chronic overload, were forced into making choices between competing commitments; choices that led them towards the rationalisation of the teaching task and limitation of their professional commitment. This research project was concluded in 1994. Consequently, it provides a picture of a time in Tasmanian education when the old professional certainties were breaking down under the pressure of the new managerialism. It provides an account of how teachers committed to the the professionalism of public service, propagated in teacher training in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s that formed part of what we might call the 'old profession.tlism' (Seddon, 1977), were, precisely because they were committed to such values, doubly

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