DepEd hands teachers streamlined workload

The Department of Education (DepEd) has issued a workload policy that would ensure that teachers are able to devote more of their time to classroom teaching. This as the DepEd earlier removed from the role of teachers the performance of many school administrative tasks.

By defining the allowed teaching and teaching-related tasks, the policy fleshed out Republic Act 4670 or the Magna Carta for Public School Teachers, as well as DepEd Order 002-2024, which directed the immediate removal of administrative tasks from public school teachers.

Under DepEd Order 05-2024, teachers are provided with a streamlined teaching workload of six hours of actual classroom teaching and two hours for ancillary tasks, the latter spent within or outside the school premises.

The teachers’ ancillary tasks would fall under curriculum planning, delivery and pedagogy, assessment of learner’s progress, and homeroom guidance and management.

Other tasks that do not fall under the specified teaching-related and ancillary tasks of the teachers shall be delegated to the administrative personnel of the schools.

In addition, the issuance also indicated the guidelines and procedures on the appropriate teaching load to be given to teachers and, more importantly, the extra pay for those who would exceed the prescribed number of hours.

The payment for teaching overload shall be made every quarter, subject to the extent of allotment for the purpose. However, in case of insufficiency of funds, teaching overload hours shall be converted to earned Vacation Service Credits provided under existing DepEd policy.

On 27 January 2024, Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte issued an order removing non-teaching duties from teachers so that they could focus on teaching.