Abstract
Background: Too long work hours of Japanese school teachers, along with an increasing number of teachers taking leave due to mental illness, are well known and recognized as a serious social problem. In order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 by reducing the density in the classroom, the Japanese government has decided to reduce the upper-limit of class size in primary schools after 2021, which is expected to result in lowering the student-teacher ratio. The aim of this study was to examine the association between student-teacher ratio, teacher work hours and teacher stress. Methods: Data on student-teacher ratio, teacher work hours, and teacher stress were obtained from a large-scale international survey conducted by OECD. The number of teachers participated in the survey was 3308 (primary school) and 3555 (lower-secondary school). After excluding teachers with missing observations, the analytic sample consisted of 2767 (primary school) and 3018 (lower-secondary school) teachers. Multivariate regression analysis was performed. Results: Regression results revealed that student-teacher ratio was positively correlated with total work hours and workload stress of teachers, and was negatively correlated with their job satisfaction. In particular, teachers working in schools with high student-teacher ratio spent more time on time-consuming tasks such as marking/correcting student work and communication with parents or guardians. The coefficient estimates suggested that lowering student-teacher ratio by five at lower secondary school would decrease total working hours by 2.5 hours per week (p<0.001). Conclusion: Our empirical results suggested that the class-size reduction policy starting in 2021 could reduce teacher stress and long work hours through the consequent decrease in student-teacher ratios.
Student-Teacher Ratio, Work Hours, and Workload Stress Experienced by Teachers