Kindergarten teachers in Oslo: – Lose planning time and rarely get paid overtime

This is shown by a new survey conducted by the Norwegian Education Association among kindergarten teachers in Oslo. Over 600 kindergarten teachers have responded to the survey.

In recent years, many kindergarten teachers have told of increasing work pressure, and that they often do not get the four hours for planning and pre- and post-work that they are entitled to.

– It often happens that I don’t get to use my planning time. As a rule, due to a lack of staff and illness, Trine Mæsel, educational manager at Kvaleberg kindergarten in Stavanger, told Utdanningsnytt last year.

A survey then showed that two out of three kindergarten teachers answered that they often or very often spent their free time on planning and preparation work.

Now the Education Association has investigated the situation among kindergarten teachers in Oslo.

Lose planning time

Oslo municipality has a separate working time agreement for kindergarten teachers, which differs somewhat from the rest of Norway. In Oslo, 33.5 of the hours in a working week are so-called tied time, while the four hours of planning time are untied time.

This means that kindergarten teachers employed by Oslo municipality can themselves choose when and where they carry out the four hours of planning time. In the rest of the municipalities, kindergarten boards have control over where and when the planning time is to be taken.

So what do the kindergarten teachers in Oslo answer about their situation?

Almost half say they often have to work more than 33.5 hours of fixed time.

A large majority respond that this comes at the expense of the four hours they have for pre- and post-work and planning.

The vast majority also answer that they usually do not get back the lost time, for example the following week.

This means that much of the planning time is simply wasted.

Kindergarten teachers in Oslo are entitled to overtime pay if they work more than 33.5 hours of fixed time, and they are required to work more than 7.5 hours per day. But they rarely get that, the answers show.

More than 7 out of 10 answer that they never or only sometimes get paid overtime even though they are entitled to it.

Staffing problems

So what is the reason for the four planning hours falling short for the kindergarten teachers?

In the main, there is sickness absence among the employees. Simply put, there are not enough people at work to be with the children, so the employees have to be juggled to get the solitaire up. Then the planning time quickly expires.

Several of the kindergarten teachers in the survey have also elaborated on their answers in their own words.

– It is difficult to take time off when ill, then the children go first and we plan less. It is rare that you get more than two hours in a week. It turns out that you work at home “for free” because you are conscientious and want to give the children good days, writes one of them, according to the report.

Plans educational work

So, what are the kindergarten teachers and the kindergarten missing out on when part of the planning period breaks?

To this, the kindergarten teachers in the survey reply that they spend this time on:

More to do, less time

At the same time, three out of four kindergarten teachers answer in the survey that the scope of tasks that are not direct work with children has increased.

This means that there are more tasks that should be done during the planning period, while most respond that this time is something that is often de-prioritised due to a lack of staffing.

6 out of 10 respond that the four hours set aside for planning rarely or never cover the need. And two out of three believe that they have little or very little time to keep professionally up-to-date in areas that they consider important for their work.

This is what they answer when asked what they don’t get enough time for:

In the free text responses, several of the kindergarten teachers write that a lack of planning time affects a number of tasks.

– Everything from educational activities, planning and evaluation, follow-up of children, parent talks, etc., cannot be carried out unless you work for free and in your spare time. Everyday life is just about survival and making sure no children get hurt. So I/we don’t get to do the work that we want to do, and the children don’t get the educational offer they are entitled to, writes one of them, according to the report.