The story of teacher ‘Timecreep’: a dystopian nightmare

The tale of how workload came to dominate the lives of teachers is so extraordinary, it sounds like science fiction...
25th September 2018, 5:17pm

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The story of teacher ‘Timecreep’: a dystopian nightmare

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/story-teacher-timecreep-dystopian-nightmare
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In the best tradition of science-fiction dystopias, the tale of the planet Calendar tells of a parallel existence that rings true to our own. The planet’s year, calibrated into 365 days, appears as landmasses of terms and seas of holiday. The landmasses have small oases of nights and weekends. In the folk memory of its inhabitants (known as “Teachers”), these oases were once transparent entities, clearly demarcated and uncluttered.

But as generations (known as cohorts) passed through this world, things began to change. Alien plant structures, akin to triffids, arrived almost undetected. This was not surprising since relatively benign plants, such as “School Plays” and “Parents’ Evenings” had been cultivated carefully for many a year, to the mutual advantage of teachers, parents and pupils.

Almost overnight, it seems, fast-growing plants known as “Events” began to appear. These new hybrids shared features of the indigenous plants, but some (notably the “Social Evenings”) began to take root in the former oases of time. The boundaries between school day and evening became blurred, as the Spirit of Calendar ruled that social evenings should start at six and go on for an hour to an hour-and-a-half. This left the inhabitants of the school day stranded. Some undertook travel to and from home in that time, while others did more work.

Simultaneously, the oases of weekends were becoming choked with weed-like growths: school outings and “Residentials”; these interrupted the health-giving sleep of the inhabitants of Calendar, as they maintained a careful vigilance over their charges.

Strangled by weeds

Then came a new and predatory species, “Marketing”. More weeds appeared in weekends and even encroached on the seas of holidays, as trips had to be recorded in the Annals of the School in the form of happy pictures and cheerful narratives. Open evenings that used to provide new pupils with information about their prospective schools became open mornings.

At this point, the process of Timecreep became stealthier. Open mornings extended their root mass: half an hour at the beginning for preparation and early arrivals, and half an hour at the end for tidying away and dealing with late arrivals. In some communities, both teachers and pupils had previously been given a compensatory oasis voucher (a Monday morning off, or a Friday afternoon to prepare), but these no longer exist, except in the dying folk memory.

Worryingly, some of the Timecreep weeds have evolved to the point where they can reproduce by binary fission. Thus, one event might multiply itself into two. “Awards Evenings” and occasions for prospective entrants have been among the Events to develop this facility. Most sinister of all are those clumps of senior- and lower-school functions, which have the capacity to spread overnight with no warning, as clearing up would be added to the social elements and extend themselves.

Unlike The Day of the Triffids, where the beleaguered inhabitants could retreat to the Isle of Wight, “Timecreep” offers no safe space away from the invaders. And perhaps what is most disturbing in this modern dystopia is the invasion within. For many years, new species such as “Deep Marking” and “Detailed Lesson-Planning” had been encroaching on the oases of free time. A succession of fairly futile, time-consuming activities would imprison the teachers within their own homes, when in former times they had met friends and relaxed…

No ending in sight

At this point - and before Chapter 7: The Invasion of the Consuming Creepers of Accountability - the writers were too depressed to continue and had to abandon the story.

Yet, it is clear that this dystopic tale in search of a happy ending poses many questions about our time. Are the inhabitants of Planet Calendar capable of finding a champion, a redemptive hero with the capacity (legal or emotional) to protect their oases of free time?

(It is understood that the authors had considered an uplifting ending whereby a clause restricting “Timecreep” encroachment was added by the Elders of the Planet, the Education Secretary and the Dee-Effee in a legally binding document. But it was decided that that would be the stuff of fairy tales.)

Yvonne Williams is head of English and drama at a school in the South of England, and a member of the post-16 committee at the National Association for the Teaching of English

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