AIBU to make a stand about an admin task

[BumpPower]

I know this is the staffroom and not AIBU but I need some teacher like perspective. At my school (been there since Easter) we have to complete a specific assessment sheet for a piece of work per term (think A5 marking cover sheet - around 50 of them). This is all fair and reasonable and fits within the current work load BUT they are insisting they are printed on green paper. As teachers share a printer this is a huge faff because it means going round checking no one else is going to print, finding the special paper, loading it in the printer and then of course someone somewhere else in the building will print on it etc etc. It genuinely add another hour or so to the job and means you can't just do it as you go which is how I like to work. So I just shaded the entire marking sheet table green and printed it in colour. This has been flagged, during school monitoring, as not being acceptable as I cannot create bespoke versions. I've attempted to kick up a fuss but I obviously didn't go about it the right way. My LM nodded and said he'd look into it and now the whole school has got a very polite reminder from the head as to where the coversheets are kept and how they are expected to be used.

So WIBU to just print it all out on white paper and file it and if I'm asked to reprint on green just explain that is an admin task and the office (who are lovely and very busy people so I would feel bad) could either photocopy all my sheet onto green paper or I can send them the electronic originals. In fairness with super swanky office printers that no one else has access to it wouldn't be the same nightmare job. I realise I am slightly on my high horse but no will explain to me the need for green anyway. They are filed in their own folders so all the cover sheets in there are green so it can't be to make them stand out.
I like my school. I like the people I work for should just suck it up like everyone else seems to be?

[lougle]

You need to get on with it. There are lots of things I do in my job that seem pointless, but they've been mandated for a reason and, frankly, if I've been directed to do it that's my job.

[DitheringDiva]

This would drive me mad, but having tried to make a stand in a school before, I'd say it's better to just get on with it, but at the same time, keep very politely asking why it is necessary, and politely explaining the faff, and wasted time it involves, and asking whether there is a better/quicker way eg. getting admin staff to do it (but if you seem to be riling people then stop!). Would it be possible for you to organise everyone doing their green printing at the same time? i.e get all the teachers on board to e.g. do it straight after school on one chosen evening, when everyone's done the assessments, and then it's just a case of putting a ton of green paper in, and everyone knowing they can then send their assessment, and nothing else, to the printer for the next hour (or whatever?). Managers prefer you to come up with a solution to your problems, rather than giving them an extra problem even though they're happy to dump extra work onto us

[AppleSnow]

Could you print it on white paper then photocopy onto green?

[BumpPower]

Thank guys. Just what a needed a little perspective. I think that would be the way forward Applesnow. A waste of paper by a huge time saver.

[MrsUltra]

Don't you have a printer at home you could use for that task? Okay you have the costs of a small amount of toner, but better than the hassle of your current situation.

[PurpleThermalsNowItsWinter]

Can you arrange to use the office printer at a time when no office staff are using it?

[annandale]

This is the kind of thing that makes me actually cry - and I quite like admin systems.

I would bend the ear of a sympathetic admin person and together we would identify a printer which could be allocated to green paper only, and hopefully she rather than I would fix the IT so that it was possible to select that printer which she would helpfully get electronically labelled GREEN.

[noblegiraffe]

This sounds like a fucking pointless waste of everybody's time and I bet the head isn't pissing about feeding paper into printers.

I don't know the admin set-up at your school but could you not just email them to admin staff and ask them to print on green on their printer?

If not, take paper and print on green at home at your leisure? (I suppose you're paying for the ink though).

[RustyBear]

Check whether your printer (presumably a networked printer) supports private print, where you put in a code in the print dialogue box and the printer doesn't output your work until you put the code in at the machine. Then you can put the green paper in and release your printing straight away. (This is also useful for printing confidential stuff ) Or if you can choose to print to more than one paper drawer, have one with green and one with white paper

[jellyfrizz]

Applesnow's suggestion is a good one. Or just do it in white, green paper for data records is not going to affect student learning. Realistically what will they do if you don't conplyother than send snotty emails?

[jellyfrizz]

comply, other than

[jellyfrizz]

This year I've started making a stand about nonsense such as this. If we all keep quiet and just do it nothing will change, and if it doesn't change I'm going to have to leave. I'd rather not, there is so much about the job I love.

[Orangeanddemons]

I think (as a teacher too) that this should be repro graphics job, and they photocopy 100s of these things on green paper, which are then placed in a box for people to take. Why does each teacher have to print them out separately? This is the sort of thing that should be done at the start of an academic year ready for use.

I happen to think its important for things to be colour coded in a school, as it makes it more recognisable for the students, but don't really think it's your job to print the, all out

[Wolfiefan]

Didn't the work thingy agreement with unions say no bulk photocopying for teachers?

[PotteringAlong]

This is not the thing to stick your head over the parapet about.

But yes, photocopy 200 of them onto green and you're done for 4 assessment cycles.

[LemonRedwood]

I would print them on white paper and photocopy onto green if they made a fuss about it.

I most certainly would not be using my home printer as a PP suggested. Printer ink is more expensive than bloody gold! No wonder teachers get walked all over and taken advantage of all the frickin time.

[RustyBear]

I assumed that the things were filled in on the computer and then printed because they have different information on them - but not necessarily totally different so you could probably c&p for those who achieved the same objectives or the same level or whatever. If you print them all first you'd have to fill them all in individually by hand.

[BumpPower]

Potteringalong I have to print out individual ones for each pupil - if I.could do a job lot and handwrite it wouldn't be a problem. I've been told I can't do it by hand, can't just shade the table (as that makes mine bespoke...)

[Pippidoeswhatshewants]

I second the private printing and/or designated green paper printers or trays.
Does your printer print from memory sticks? Just save onto that and print it all off in one go.

Option 3: shoot all the admin people and replace them with sensible ones. only half joking

[MrsPCR]

I was going to suggest having a printer assigned to green only too. That's seems the most logical to me.

We have to print on to a variety of different colours depending on how it relates to progress/assessment. One of 5, excluding white.....

Fortunately we can email repo. Personally, as much as it wastes paper, for the massive timesaver I would just photocopy on to green afterwards.

So jealous you only have to do 50 a term. We have to do 1-2 a half term, A5 for all 300+ students.

[jellyfrizz]

MrsPCR, in your opinion, does the colour of the paper have a noticeable affect on student learning?
And if actually so, would the time spent arsing around with colours be better spent doing something else? Planning, getting resources together, spending time with your family/friends? Or even getting some sleep?
and for having to deal with all that coloured paper.

[MrsPCR]

The colours are so that whoever is going a book scrutiny can flick the book and see the range of colours without bothering to actually look at the book, maybe double checking a coloured sheet has been used appropriately but if you write a lovely paragraph of feedback straight in the book, it will not 'count' and ypu risk not having enough personalised feedback in the book. Oh and if students haven't responded to said feedback in green pen, it doesn't really count either.

I don't think it makes a blind bit of difference to the students. But we shall have to see. The latest colour scheme has only been in place since September.

Apparently this is the way to be outstanding....

[jellyfrizz]

Grrrr. It makes me really angry that teachers are having to waste spend time doing things like this.

[jellyfrizz]

I think that a teacher's time just isn't seen as having any value. If we were paid by the hour I'm sure SLT would quickly rethink the importance of policies like this.

[BumpPower]

Indeed jellyfrizz bit then have you ever taken unpaid leave? I left for an emergency to pick up my sick child from nursery once and was amazed at how much I earn per hour when it's deducted from my wages!

I am all for colour coding in many ways my these green mark sheets all get filed together in one file per pupil so all the pages in that file are green thus making the colour coding pointless - it could be a white marking file where all the sheets if paper are white, that would save a lot of heartache!