‘If schools stop teachers fleeing the profession, budgets will look after themselves’

One department head provides her advice on maximising resources, reducing workload and improving productivity in schools
31st July 2017, 2:29pm

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‘If schools stop teachers fleeing the profession, budgets will look after themselves’

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/if-schools-stop-teachers-fleeing-profession-budgets-will-look-after-themselves
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The recent article by John Blake and Mark Lehain starts in suitably combative fashion, pitting one priority (arts curriculum) against another (senior leadership).

Schools continue to feel the pinch in terms of both financial and human resources, and fear the imminent bulge in the secondary school population. 

It is natural to focus on short-term cutting. In the 80s one way of achieving this was through flatter hierarchies cut beyond the bone, with some management duties devolved to classroom teachers. With today’s teacher working an average of 54 hours a week, this is not an option.

No one would deny that now is a good time to review policies and procedures to avoid incurring unnecessary expense. Staffing inevitably absorbs most of a school’s budget because of the intensely human nature of its core business. 

Schools and trusts that see staff as a cost will suffer the consequences of a deficit model, namely being stuck in a constant recruitment drive. Those who see the professionals in their employment as an investment will enjoy the benefits of a more constant talent pool.

Best practice prioritises good retention. Losing teachers is intensely expensive: finding replacements costs hundreds in job advertising alone. Often vacancies are difficult to fill, necessitating further rounds of advertising and temporary teaching arrangements.

School budgets are audited to the last penny. Similarly, a full audit of teachers’ tasks and skills might absorb many senior management hours but would provide a basis for streamlining. 

With increasing class sizes almost inevitable, the clutter will need to be removed so that teachers can fulfil their primary purpose of educating children. Teachers are not afraid of hard work. Liberated from counter-productive additions, they can spend more time honing their practice. 

Sceptics may see the workload reports as palliative at best. But with the government and Ofsted agreeing to implement the sections directed towards them, the ball is now firmly in the court of senior leaders to make work more “meaningful, manageable and motivating”. 

Good morale boosts productivity

Ditch the multi-coloured marking, excessive data collection and micro-detailed planning. Teachers are far more engaged by their subject and their pupils than by the minutiae of the paperwork. Those who are administratively inclined have already found more lucrative posts for their bureaucratic talents.

The pay-off for schools would be improved staff morale. Teachers are more productive when they know their time is valued and their direction is aligned to the most effective practices. They are more loyal and long-serving, so easier to retain.

If schools were better at using the creative talents of their staff they could cut down on textbooks and expensive IT packages

Rather than relying on costly awarding body-endorsed resources, which have been created for just one specification, schools should demand more generic materials that will be more enduring.

Most specifications have a lifespan of about five years - perhaps less if schools decide to jump ship mid-term. Can we even recycle some of the materials we used in the past?

Maintaining morale will minimise long-term sickness absence. 

Many schools alert their teachers to counselling and telephone services to help them manage insurmountable pressure. However, senior leaders could avert some of the causes of stress by being sensitive to the effects of management decisions. 

Support before a crisis is better than “firefighting” during an unplanned, unpredictable, possibly long-term absence.

Are schools paying too much to third parties for short-term supply? Lists of suitably qualified and experienced teachers used to be maintained by the local authority or by schools themselves. This could be a valuable function for trusts to undertake centrally for the schools.

While there are times when schools need external help - such as school improvement partners - is there a case for fostering more long-term expertise within the organisation? 

Teachers encouraged to pursue action research, act as examiners and undertake more substantial professional development can repay the investment by leading Inset.  They may even be able to offer more up-to-date information than consultants can. 

The most forward-looking organisations create their own internal consultants. At the very least, schools could collaborate and share expenses when there is an identified and urgent gap.

Performance-related pay (PRP) does not work as a motivator: it disillusions and demotivates the majority of staff. And it fuels workload, because the only way to achieve a higher salary is for teachers to spend more time on related tasks to compete with their colleagues. Often this just makes more work the norm for everyone. 

PRP consumes the time of those filling in the forms and of those evaluating the performance. It leaves many teachers disenchanted when their schools cannot afford to fund rises in full. And it has failed to retain those teachers it was supposedly designed to retain; those teachers in their first four to five years.

Wouldn’t it be more cost-effective in the short and long-term to just pay the increments?

Yvonne Williams is a head of English in the south of England and member of the Department for Education’s marking workload group.  The views expressed here are her own

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