Teachers have more pupil time, inspectors claim

11 Oct 07
Efforts to reduce the administrative burden on teachers and allow them to spend more time with their pupils have borne fruit, education inspectors claimed this week.

12 October 2007

Efforts to reduce the administrative burden on teachers and allow them to spend more time with their pupils have borne fruit, education inspectors claimed this week.

But teaching unions were sceptical about Ofsted's assertions, saying too few teachers had been interviewed to draw meaningful conclusions.

In 2003 a new workforce agreement was introduced with the aim of lessening teachers' workload and raising standards. Ofsted visited 99 schools to evaluate progress. Its report, published on October 9, said there had been a 'revolutionary shift' in school working practices, with more than three-quarters of teachers saying they now had greater control over their work and more time to plan lessons and mark work.

Chief education inspector Christine Gilbert said: 'There has been an important change in the school workforce culture, as increasingly highly skilled people from fields other than teaching have taken on responsible and challenging roles in supporting teaching and assessment, and in some aspects of school management.'

But Chris Keates, general secretary of the National Union of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, said unions continually monitored the workforce reforms.

'To draw conclusions on the basis of contact with [99] schools out of 23,000 is risible,' she said. 'Despite the favourable assessment of schools' progress, the NASUWT will continue to question the contribution and value to the education service of Ofsted reporting.'

Martin Johnson, acting deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said there was still much to be done, in particular to reduce the workload borne by senior teachers and school leaders.

PFoct2007

Did you enjoy this article?

AddToAny

Top