16 November 2001
Morris said there needed to be a 'remodelling' of school management and staffing. Central to this is a plan to give classroom assistants more responsibility, allowing them to conduct lessons that have been planned by a qualified teacher, and provide cover when staff are absent.
'We recognise that teachers need more time in the working week to plan high-quality lessons and we are willing to engage in a debate on how best to deliver that,' Morris said.
'I want teachers to be free to get back to what they do best – teaching. To do this we must take a long, hard look at how teachers are working now and then embrace new and radical ways of working.'
Morris, speaking to the Social Market Foundation think-tank, said she wanted more teaching assistants, technicians and administrative staff in schools. This would allow many of the tasks currently performed by teachers, such as photocopying teaching materials, to be given to other staff.
Her comments reflected the findings of a draft PricewaterhouseCoopers report, released the same day, which recommended the much wider use of support staff. It also said teachers should have guaranteed non-contact time every week to allow them to plan lessons, and called for more use of technology in areas such as planning and marking.
Teaching unions gave the report a mixed response. Nigel de Gruchy, general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers, said he was 'very disappointed'. He added: 'It is not sufficiently focused on the right solutions.'
Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, was more upbeat. 'The report emphasises the accuracy of the NUT's complaint about the excessive hours demanded of teachers. It was never intended that PwC would determine solutions, but the evidence in the report strengthens the union's case for changes in teachers' contracts.'
The final PwC report will be passed to the School Teachers' Review Board for consideration.
PFnov2001
