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Abstract

As a,result of a change to state legislation at the end of 2003, attendance at
Prep became compulsory for all five year old children enrolled in Tasmanian
Government schools in Australia, from the commencement of 2004, This
changed provision was mandated by the State Government with a minimum
of stakeholder consultation and resulted in the abolition of previous
transition-to-school practices for Prep children who were five years old and
starting full-time schooling, A research study was undertaken to explore the
impact that this changed attendance provision was having on the personal and
professional lives of Tasmanian Prep teachers. A dual-method research
procedure sourced data via postal surveys from Prep teachers (n=I72) and
five focus group interviews (n=28). Results revealed that 54% of Prep
teachers in the study believed that the change had impacted negatively upon
their personal health, with 28% of respondents stating they felt 'stressed',
'pressured,' or 'exhausted'. Teachers claimed that teaching a Prep class, of
twenty five plus (25+) children, had become more demanding as they tried to
deal with non-cooperative, tired children during the afternoons and later days
in the school week. Other teachers indicated they felt disorganised in their
teaching, owing to the lack of planning and preparation time which had
previously been available. As well, some teachers reported they were working
longer hours than before the new legislation and that they missed the
professional developmen

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	Boardman, M
Journal or Publication Title:	Australian Research in Early Childhood Education
Publisher:	ARECE
ISSN:	1320-6648
Related URLs:	http://www.education.monash.edu/research/conferenc...
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