Making teachers’ lives easier: Reframing efficiency part 1
Rethinking Efficiency in Education
As educators, the term "efficiency" often feels more like a corporate buzzword than a meaningful tool for teaching. Economic ‘encroachment’ in education is nothing new, and many teachers are rightfully skeptical that such concepts have value in our people-centred profession. But if unpacked thoughtfully, could the economic concept of “efficiency” offer valuable insights into how we allocate our most precious resource: time?
As teachers, we especially understand the challenge of juggling the demands of in-class instruction with that of planning, assessment, and administrative tasks outside of these hours.
In this special post with guest collaborator Chris McGuire, Head of Boys’ Education and Professional Learning at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide, we delve into the economic meanings of ‘efficiency’.
Two Classrooms, Two Approaches
Ms. Volpe: Comfortable Yet Sometimes Rushed
In Ms. Volpe’s class, the atmosphere is relaxed. The teacher spends time connecting with students, chatting, and setting a comfortable tone. Lessons unfold at a gentle pace, transitions can sometimes take several minutes, and students wait (usually patiently) for Ms Volpe to find the materials she needs for the next segment. Students find time to distract each other, and thus take longer to resettle when the next part of the lesson is ready.
Mrs. Fahir: Focused and Intentional
Now consider another classroom. From the start, Mrs. Fahir sets a brisk but purposeful pace. Expectations are clear, transitions between activities are efficient and more or less seamless, and whilst it feels like the lesson goes quickly as students are always instantly moving to their next pair share, whiteboard response, cold call or choral reading, there is more time to spare for purposeful completion of the independent tasks. There are high expectations, and Mrs. Fahir’s students know she means business, but the focus is palpable.
Below we will return to see how these classrooms turn out …
Efficiency in Teaching: Understanding the Definitions
This blog explores how the concept of allocative efficiency can help teachers like these make better decisions about time—our most equitable and scarce resource. By focusing on how you allocate time in and out of the classroom, you should make better use of your time, reduce stress, and foster both high expectations and moments of genuine connection with your students.
The main question we hope to address below is: how can we maximise the impact of our time while preserving the quality of our teaching?
Two Meanings of Efficiency: Be Sure Which One You Bring
The concept of efficiency is central to economics, yet there are two rather distinct efficiency concepts. Any debate falls over when there is a misuse of definitions, so here we will be clear about which definition is being used.
Definition One: Technical Efficiency
The first efficiency concept is all about having the least cost and most output, called “technical efficiency.” How can the organisation produce more product for less money? These measures of cost and output are easy for companies producing physical things, but as teachers, we know that ‘cost’ and ‘output’ are much harder to measure in education. After all, we are in the business of producing lifelong learners—it’s hard to measure that!
Attempting to use this ‘technical efficiency’ definition in education is rightly challenged, as in any of the service professions. It is a reductive, less-than-useful concept here. Indeed, efficiency has unfortunately been wielded as a euphemism for extracting more output from teachers in less and less paid time. There is good reason why the workload of teachers is a perennial issue!
No, this is not the appropriate efficiency for a teacher and their work.
So, let’s look to the other efficiency which we argue may be much more helpful…
Definition Two: Allocative Efficiency
The other efficiency is defined as allocating resources to their best use. Economists call this other efficiency “allocative efficiency,” and it is the optimal state. Let's see if we can apply allocative efficiency to teaching. Importantly, we could consider allocative efficiency at a school level, faculty level, and as we are doing with the case studies, right down to the decisions of a single teacher in how they allocate.
The Resource in Question: Time
Time is readily recognisable as a scarce resource, especially in schools. However, time is also an equitable resource. Every human has the same amount per day/per week. Usually (and thankfully), as teachers, we have considerable autonomy over how to allocate it; we are the decision-makers.
Let’s return to our two classrooms and how these teachers are deciding to allocate their time.
Ms Volpe: Comfortable Yet Sometimes Rushed (Continued)
Frequently, it seems there is more time for students to absorb the material, and they may be assigned twenty or thirty minutes for independent or group work on the task. If students are honest, though, not all of this time is well spent. It’s also a chance to catch up with mates, and as the end of the class looms, a problem emerges: the core work of the lesson isn’t finished. Ms. Volpe anxiously asks the class to speed up, and the calm atmosphere quickly feels rushed. Students scramble to complete tasks or leave with unfinished work. The class is less settled, more off-task behaviour occurs in the mayhem of getting it all done, and as the bell rings, students rush out carrying that stress into their next lesson. The teacher, too, feels the burden of “catch-up,” knowing they will need to make up for the missed content next time.
Mrs. Fahir: Focused and Intentional (Continued)
As students move to guided and independent work, Mrs. Fahir keenly surveys the class and looks for signs of students who need support or reminds them to stay focused on their task. Because the work is prioritised and more or less completed on time in Mrs. Fahir’s classroom, there is actually a little room to relax—a moment to reflect before the bell and check in on progress. The final minutes of the class can be spent in meaningful discussion, celebrating successes, or even enjoying a well-earned break. Both Mrs. Fahir and her students leave feeling accomplished, calm, and ready for what’s next.
Allocating Time to Its Best Use
The Value of In-Class and Out-of-Class Time
“Best”-ed-ness is a hard measure, but here is a simple way of thinking about it. Consider time in just two categories: in-class time and out-of-class time:
In-class time: As a teacher, this is the opportunity to claim attention from 20 to 30 learners. Thus, any time lost to learning in-class is multiplied by a factor of 20 to 30. For students, this is PRIME-TIME. Well-managed prime-time might be the only distraction-free time that young people experience in their 21st-century, connected, notification-driven lives.
Out-of-class time: This is teacher trade-off time. Autonomous teachers make professional trade-off decisions about this out-of-class time every single day. This time should be used to do the hard (cognitively demanding) thinking that leads to optimal activity during in-class time (student prime-time).
The Takeaway: A Shift in Mindset
By embracing allocative efficiency, we shift our mindset from simply “getting through the day” to intentionally directing our time where it matters most. Whether it’s maximising the impact of in-class prime time, the goal is to strike a balance that benefits both teachers and students.
In a profession where time is always scarce, this approach allows us to stay focused on what really counts—ensuring that every minute spent teaching helps unlock the full potential of every learner. With thoughtful time allocation, we not only manage our workload more effectively but also create classrooms where learning thrives and where teachers feel like their professional and personal time matters.
Join us for Part Two soon, where we’ll drill down into how assessment and pedagogy choices can edge towards greater or less efficiency for students and teachers.
Nathaniel Swain and Chris McGuire
Our guest contributor this week is Chris McGuire, Head of Boys' Education and Professional Learning at Prince Alfred College, Adelaide.