Next week Canberra's government school teachers will vote in a ballot to take protected industrial action as part of their campaign for a pay rise, reduced contact hours and increased professional development.

They have passed a motion of no-confidence in ACT Education Minister Joy Burch after a year of negotiations over a new enterprise bargaining agreement and will meet with Chief Minister Andrew Barr in the coming fortnight to discuss their issues directly. Ms Burch is also expected to be at that meeting.

In a ReachTel Poll survey of 1158 Canberra residents on Monday evening, the union received community support for the notion that more administrative staff should be employed to take some of the burden off teachers.

Two in three (66 per cent) agreed with the idea to employ more administrative staff "to free up teachers' time for ongoing training".

More than two-thirds (67.4 per cent) believed that employing more teachers across Canberra schools represented a good investment and this support increased to 75 per cent when the question was asked of people with school-aged children.

Almost seven out of 10 (69 per cent) of Canberrans believed that a teacher's job was tougher than ever before while 57 per cent believed that the industrial changes being campaigned for by teachers were in the best interests of children.

There was overwhelming support for the continued evaluation, training and support of teachers to improve their professional skills at 94 per cent.

Only 3 per cent disagreed with this proposition.

On an issue arising out of a recent NSW Coroner's recommendation regarding the need for more qualified psychologists to work across schools, a massive 78 per cent of Canberrans agreed with the recommendation that every school should have a ratio of at least one school psychologist for every 500 students. Currently, the ratio in Canberra is 1:1000.

ACT AEU secretary Glenn Fowler said it was good to see public support for teachers revealed in independent polling.

The union has paid in excess of $10,000 for the work.

"We need to commission this sort of polling to take some of the guesswork out of our campaign and aspirations for improved working conditions for teachers," Mr Fowler said.

He downplayed one result showing 14 per cent disagreed with the proposition that the teacher's campaign was in the best interests of children.

"It's hardly surprising that appreciation is not unanimous for what teachers are trying to achieve, but the level of support generally amongst Canberrans has always been and continues to be amazing."

Mr Fowler said it was "unsustainable for the average ACT teacher to work 50 hours per week, and for principals to work between 55 and 70 hours per week."

"A small reduction in face-to-face teaching hours for each teacher, with the time devoted to professional development… would rescue teachers from the growing pile of non-teacher jobs so they can do more of what they are paid to do and stay focussed on teaching and learning."

Director General of the ACT Education Directorate Diane Joseph said the latest offer to teachers would deliver a 12 per cent pay rise over four years and has pledged to "support every teacher to focus on their core role of teaching students by finding a minimum of 20 hours workload reduction for every teacher."

"This will be achieved, in part, by identifying a teacher's core role, monitoring workload and making time during normal hours for quality professional learning focussed on teacher practice in the classroom," Ms Joseph said in a statement when the offer was formally made in March.

But the union has rejected the offer, with Mr Fowler saying "Lip service, statements of intent and even some good words in an agreement are not enough. Real human resources are desperately needed to create the conditions teachers need to produce truly world-leading results with students."

He also noted support in Canberra community for the provision of more school psychologists was clear.

"People know the behavioural complexities that are presented in schools every day, and the support of fully qualified professional psychologists or counsellors is crucial. A school of 800 teenagers should not be forced to get by with a psychologist on deck for a three days per week. I think people would be truly shocked to know that this is the situation currently."