I started a new role in January. I’m teaching reception for the first time in a 1 form entry school in a village. We have a nursery, so I’m not the only EYFS teacher, but obviously it’s different and there are no other schools close by and we are not in a MAT. There isn’t really anyone around I can ask about this. The previous teacher left with very little notice and did not get things up to date before she went.
Just before Easter break I was given a login to target tracker and a crash course in how to use it. I have to go through all of the statements from the curriculum (not just the early learning goals) and record if a child is able to do it and upload a picture as evidence. Apparently I only need photos for about half of the statements in each section. There are hundreds of statements and 30 children in my class. Is this a normal level of data tracking? It seems insanely excessive. The parents will not have access to it. It was presented to me as if it would be a wonderfully useful tool to help me identify gaps and plan what to teach, but I can already do that!
In the meeting I was very casually told that it should take me less than an hour per child once I get used to the statements. I did the first child yesterday and it took me a little bit more than 3 hours. I’m supposed to be on holiday! I have got my planning and resources ready for going back and I was looking forward to relaxing with my family during the break. Even if I magically manage to go fast enough to cut it down to 2 hours per child it’s still more than a week of full time work during the holiday. There will be no time given to do it during next term. Is this normal? I’m looking to leave teaching because I just don’t want to live like this. I work so hard during term time, my pupils are happy, healthy and learning and their parents are very happy too so I just don’t see the point in doing this. It’s not even used to help automatically generate parts of the end of year reports.