Teaching Workload and Physical Education Practice: A Comparative Analysis in the Post-Communist Eastern European Context

This study provides a comparative analysis of the teaching workload of physical education and sport (PES) teachers in 17 countries across Central, Eastern, and South-Eastern Europe: Romania, Hungary, Poland, Czechia, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia, Greece, Slovakia, Slovenia, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The research highlights significant differences between countries with sustainable educational policies (Estonia, Slovenia, Greece, Czechia, Croatia) and those where teachers are overburdened and poorly supported (Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). The results show that teaching workload varies between 16 and 21 hours per week, directly impacting teaching quality, teacher health, and the social prestige of the discipline. Positive models are characterized by reduced workloads (16–17 hours), official recognition of extracurricular activities, and investments in modern infrastructure. In contrast, high workloads (19–21 hours), combined with the lack of recognition of invisible work, lead to professional fatigue, demotivation, and lower quality of education. Article history: Received 2025 November 10; Revised 2025 December 30; Accepted 2026 January 05; Available online 2026 January 30; Available print 2025 January 30