'Working together on workload'

[lovelyjubilly]

Sorry if this has been done before. I'm on maternity leave and have only just seen this video by Damian Hinds on the expectations of ofsted when it comes to unnecessary workload.

Anyone else seen it? What did you think?

neu.org.uk/workload

One of the best things about online exam marking is the red pen! It may be virtual but I just love dragging and dropping that ole red cross. I also really like the abbreviations TV for Too Vague and TNCE for Theory Not Clearly Explained.

I had to get rid of the WIN and FAIL stamps a friend bought me though for fear I'd actually use them.

Seriously though, I didn't leave the state sector because of unnecessary workload. I left because the necessary workload was too great. One piece of work x 165 students x say 5 minutes each is about 14 hours. I don't actually have 14 hours on top of planning and teaching a full week of lessons, commuting and occasionally sleeping and eating.

They can't deal with workload until they deal with class sizes IMO.

‘Turn to page 23’ won’t work with bottom sets either, to be fair Piggy!

I left because the necessary workload was too great.

What is now deemed necessary workload has creeped up slowly over the years though. My school introduced a second set of mocks in March of Y11. They would probably now argue that these mocks are necessary to check progress from the November mocks and identify weaknesses still needing to be addressed in time for the real thing. We now enter marks for every single question on every single paper for every single student onto a spreadsheet to generate personalised revision checklists and booklets. These are necessary otherwise students wouldn’t know what they needed to revise.

But they create a huge workload. They could be binned, but students may do worse as a result, and therefore that’s unacceptable to schools.

It’s the pressure put on schools and hence teachers to squeeze every last mark out of our students that is causing the workload. Until the pressure goes, neither will the workload.

Yeah, that necessary workload almost certainly wasn't...

I'm part of an SLT that changed recently policy to not as often but diagnostic and purposeful, banned all users emails to all except the Head (who rarely uses it) and we stop emailing staff between 7 and 7 (and not on weekends). Any paperwork that does not service pupil progress or child protection or serves a legal obligation is banned. No pivot tables, other spreadsheets or whatnot.

They get 15% PPA time if on full time and 20% if HoD.

We expect excellent teaching and interventions and SLT tell parents what we're going to do at the same time their kids are failing.

Exam results have increased quite substantially. Few leave. Go figure.

Recently changed marking policy, that was meant to say.

Better get my red pen out....!

crazycatguy our school did the email durring limited hours for a week. It would be fine for those who wanted to work between 7 to 7 but ridiculously controlling for those who prefer to leave school at 3.30 and then start working again much later or get up early.

It's fine to send them whenever , so long as you don't expecta reply! Parents need to eb told the email thing, too, for it to properly work imo.

I had an awful line manager once, who ignored all my emails for weeks at a time (there were many; it was pastoral ) and then, one day, I would wake up ,open my emails at 7 , and find twenty to thirty replies (usually containing deflections or immediately actionable instructions) sent between 11 pm and about 2am. I found that unutterably stressful : part of it was his inability to manage his own workload, but not all of it. He has left now, thank the Lord (been promoted obviously...)

I don’t start working in the evenings till 8pm after the kids are in bed, that would be really annoying to be told I couldn’t send emails! Better advice would be to not have your school email connected to personal devices so you aren’t getting alerts when you’re not doing school work.

No, I wasn't passive piggy, I now teach little ones once a week but am no longer in the UK where I taught secondary so I am out the loop in terms of what the latest Ofsted requirements are. When I was still active (!) in the UK the buzzwords were having learning objectives written down and a huge emphasis on plenaries. Pair assessment was a big thing.Not forgetting the onset on teaching styles every year. Plus ça change...
So if Ofsted swoop down with 24 hours notice now, are you all on red alert all the time...we used to have weekly book inspections which did my head in. What have been the worst developments recently?

inset even

It’s not even 24 hours notice, you get the call lunchtime the day before. You’re not on alert the whole time as you know from the inspection cycle roughly what year you’re due - unless it’s a triggered inspection.

Worst developments lately have been scrapping levels and leaving it up to schools how to measure progress, and the complete bottom-to-top overhaul of the curriculum and assessment structure in a rushed and poorly-thought-through fashion.

Are value-added and positive residuals still an obsession?

Oh yes; it's all about how many levels progress they make, even when there are no levels to measure progress from...

If you're part time and The Call comes on your day off you don't even know until the inspector arrives at your classroom and you're doing a "poster lesson" thanks for the heads up colleagues

OMG Cuckoo How mortifying!

I know. I did my best to defend it but I don't think the head ever forgave me. Oops.

The head should have had a system in place to inform part time staff.

I only knew about an Ofsted inspection because I happened to use the main entrance to leave one day and the office staff were getting letters ready for the kids so mentioned it in passing. I wasn’t told by my HoD or teaching staff. Which was kind of them 🙄