There is disappointing news about teacher recruitment. Although political spin makes it difficult to unpick the figures, it does look as though we are facing a teacher shortage in three years' time. The reasons why are acrimonious and sway between changing policy, such as the introduction of School Direct, and the image of teaching that undergraduates are faced with.
Challenging students, political attacks and long hours. The reality of the life for a teacher has perhaps become more apparent through the string of "educating" reality shows. So, an investigation into teacher workload is timely.
The Workload Challenge was launched by the government via a survey on the TES website with the aim of finding out from teachers:
- Which unnecessary tasks take them away from teaching and where these come from.
- Strategies for tacking workload issues that can be implemented by the government, schools or others.
- Existing good practice in schools.
According to the website, more than 40,000 people have contributed to the debate and a "programme of action" will be published later this year. In the meantime, we asked some headteachers to explain what they are doing already to try and keep working hours realistic for their staff.
Planning
One trend in workload reduction seems to be a relaxation on planning scrutinies. There is a growing tide of opinion that a high level of forward planning does not serve any real purpose. Instead, short-term plans should be more responsive to the needs of the children on a day-to-day basis.
On taking up his new headship at Pontesbury CE Primary School in Shrewsbury, Richard Langford became aware of the pressure that regularly handing in detailed planning was placing on staff.
"The plans weren't really used for anything and staff reported that they felt under significant pressure to make sure they were in on time."
Rather than maintaining this routine submission of plans, Mr Langford wanted short-term planning to be integrated within the assessment process. "Short-term plans should evolve over the week and be informed by the day-to-day outcomes of the pupils," he explained. This approach raises perceptions of professionalism and makes staff feel that they are trusted; a feature of Mr Langford's relationship with his staff that he values highly.
This light-touch around planning seems to be reflected in Ofsted's current arrangements. Gareth Davies, headteacher of Holy Apostles CE Primary School in Cheltenham, is also an additional inspector.
"It is clear that, for the purposes of inspection at least, there is no automatic requirement for teachers to produce copious evidence of planning of lessons," Mr Davies explained.
Inspection is focused on outcomes including attainment and progress, he added: "If these outcomes are at least good, then the message to teachers is, 'whatever you're doing, keep on doing it'.
However, if pupil outcomes fall below this threshold then inspectors will be interested to see what planning/considerations teachers have made, because the likelihood is that they will require improvement."
Data
The need to produce planning might be lessened but there is a trend of increased teacher involvement in data analysis. Mr Davies is keen to emphasise that this is one area that cannot currently be reduced; "It is essential that teachers are fully informed about pupils' needs and capabilities so that next steps can be identified accurately, parents can be informed and pupils are enabled to make the progress they are capable of making."
Mr Langford makes sharing the Fischer Family Trust information with his staff a priority. Having had the need to hand in detailed weekly plans removed, staff were more than willing to take an increased role in analysing what was and wasn't working.
Mr Davies suggests that the employment of a central assessment coordinator can help to reduce the workload in this respect as long as they support and share with teachers rather than removing all responsibility from them.
Help in the classroom
The effective deployment of teaching assistants has long been one method that schools have used to reduce the workload for teachers. Previously this deployment focused around taking basic administrative tasks away from the teacher. Now it is often as a co-teacher who can release the member of staff and shares the workload.
Jeff Brown, headteacher of St Oswald's RC Primary School in Lancashire, recognises the benefits of employing teaching assistants: "Recently we moved to employing virtually two full-time teaching assistants per class through our Pupil Premium monies. We have found this greatly aids progress and facilitates teacher release time as appropriate for monitoring subjects without any noticeable reduction in pupil achievement."
Teaching assistants are no longer an additional set of hands in the classroom but a key part of the team for whom similar expectations are held. Mr Brown provides additional time to facilitate the planning to go with this approach.
He continued: "Many of our teaching assistants are paid for between 30 and 60 minutes before school, depending on the time commitment they are able to give. This allows teachers to concentrate purely on their lesson preparations for the day and, of course, provides an opportunity for dialogue as to expectations within the sessions."
Dedicated time
It can be all too easy for designated time to be eroded. Mr Brown believes strongly that planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) must be strictly adhered to: "If it ever has to be postponed due to the school timetable, the senior leadership team ensures that it is rearranged for another part of the week," he said.
Subject leaders also need additional dedicated time to enable them to complete monitoring and leadership tasks: "The senior leadership team employs an open door policy. Staff are openly encouraged to approach them if there is any further time required for this purpose."
Report-writing is another time when teachers can feel they are drowning in paperwork. Mr Brown provides a day in lieu each year for annual report-writing and enables staff to complete reports for governors during staff meeting time.
Prior to his current headship, Mr Langford was headteacher in a small, rural school. Consequently he understands how demanding juggling leadership responsibilities with class teaching is. He said: "I make sure that the delegation of tasks is matched by the time and resources to carry them out."
He ensures that there is time available for subject and key stage leaders to complete jobs within the school day and that there is real recognition of their roles. "Staff monitor the time required," Mr Langford continued. "I ensure that there is enough non-contact time to carry tasks out. Work/life balance is very important for us all."
Planning events
In the lead up to Christmas and the summer holiday, staffrooms can be volatile places to be. The pressure of the end-of-term tasks and traditional events such as sports day, Christmas concerts and parties can leave staff with little energy for anything else.
"We try to avoid holding too many lengthy after school commitments per week," explained Mr Brown. "For example, no other meetings will be arranged within parents' evening week, if twilight training has been arranged or when Christmas productions are imminent."
Flexibility
These are just some examples of how a small selection of headteachers are trying to make life manageable for their staff. Building time, resources and additional people into school routines can help. However, what staff perhaps appreciate most is a sympathetic headteacher when it comes to balancing family commitments and medical appointments.
Mr Brown explained: "The senior leadership team tries wherever possible to work with colleagues and we will aim to allow attendance of any unmovable health appointments and key family events wherever possible."
A balancing act
However creative our headteachers have been in enabling their staff to reduce workload, teaching still remains a hefty job that demands commitment. "Staff at St Oswald's still have to put in an incredible amount of time into the preparation, delivery and assessment of lessons,"
Mr Brown added. For heads, the challenge is to reduce workload and ensure that staff feel valued while also maintaining outstanding outcomes in the classroom. The Ofsted grading of the school can make a significant difference to the amount of paperwork that teachers can expect to produce. As Mr Davies pointed out: "The issue seems to be how well children are doing. If the outcomes are right then there is no reason why teachers should produce large amounts of paperwork. The difficulty is where this isn't the case."
- Suzanne O'Connell is a freelance education writer and a former primary school headteacher.