Views & Opinion
Teaching at an academy isn’t all about more pay and longer holidays
Comment by Amanda Godfrey, Executive Head of Spiral Partnership Trust
Teaching at an academy school means innovation. But that innovation must support the need for continual improvement and progression in education, while having the power to deviate from what has previously been a rather rigid structure. To date however, much of the hype surrounding the draw of joining an academy school, has been centred on better salaries and longer holidays. And while in some cases this might ring true, the real message should be about using the opportunity to change, to make a positive difference to children’s lives and to better-support teachers in their roles and responsibilities.
Increased workload is an ongoing battle in the teaching profession. Aside from the greater numbers of children currently in mainstream education, there are a number of contributors to increased workloads on teachers today. The provision for children with special educational needs, the complexity of individual needs of children, the lack of funding for that provision and of course, higher parental expectation that children’s needs are met to a high level, all have an impact on workload.
Changes to the curriculum have also meant that it’s no longer satisfactory for teachers to simply deliver the curriculum, they need to design it too along with the assessment framework. So you can see how a teacher’s workload can easily spiral.
For teachers generally, this is exacerbated by the continual pressure on schools in terms of what they should be providing educationally not to mention social and pastoral care. Pressures on other public sector services such as the NHS, social services etc. mean that it has become the duty of many schools to take the necessary steps to bridge that gap. Where the academy school can flex to adapt to these trends, is through its decentralisation, because with that comes more freedom and more flexibility. Although more freedom makes it easier to make changes it also brings with it more pressure. In particular Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) will have an additional layer of leadership to alleviate that pressure and to help provide clear structures, support and guidance as to what ‘good teaching of mathematics’ looks like, for example. There is also greater freedom to give clearer expectation and a framework to support teachers such as NQT ‘clusters’.
The ability to exploit certain freedoms such as changing school hours, creating extended days, such as an extra hour at the end of the school day where specialist providers are brought in to deliver music, sport, dance etc. gives teachers more time to cover the curriculum within normal school hours. Frankly, teachers are looking for more than greater pay and holidays – yes, these are important as with any profession but they aren’t the reason people choose to become teachers. They want to make a difference to children’s lives, they want a vocation not just a job, they want autonomy and they also want to buy into the ethos of a school. But there is even more to it than that. Today’s teachers also want opportunities for continual professional development. They want to take part in exciting innovations that will keep them motivated and enthused. Being given the chance to take the lead, develop their leadership skills and change schools to move into new positions if they so wish is important for career progression. It is down to the school to provide those opportunities and the right support for teachers. Schools need to provide new challenges to revitalise teachers’ love of teaching. This is where the academy school structure and MATs, can challenge the status quo and make the difference to teachers that really matters.
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www.education-today.co.uk
Open days or academic results: what
matters more? Comment by Holger Bollmann, Director at HE/FE payments specialist, WPM Education
Research conducted by YouGov, commissioned by WPM Education, looked to uncover the factors that have the greatest influence over college and university choice among students and their parents. It is no secret that education institutions today are under a great deal of pressure to increase attendance; and that means not only attracting students to their institution but keeping them there too.
The research revealed some interesting insights, starting with the fact that parents and students place a greater importance on their experience of open days than academic results of an intuition when selecting a college or university to attend. In fact, 31 per cent of respondents ranked open days as ‘very influential’, while 29 percent categorised academic results as the same.
This came as a surprise at first glance, but delve a little deeper and it makes sense. Open days enable students (and their parents) to see beyond an institution’s website and other marketing material and actually engage with fellow students, speak with teachers and lecturers and explore the course options available in more detail, bringing together many influential factors in one place. The study, completed by over 3,000 students and parents, also lists student recommendations (ten percent), parental advice (eight percent) and the advice of friends (seven percent) as key factors in their decision process.
What does this mean? Many might think that academic results alone are the biggest factor in influencing a student’s choice of institution, and while this ranks very highly, this is just part of the decision process – colleges and universities need to focus on the whole customer experience during recruitment. In this regard, good communication is the key driver behind a good customer experience for both parents and students, with 82 percent and 69 percent respectively listing the quality of communication received from the institution during the application and before course commencement as either important or very important. Not forgetting that for students, access to academic support (69 per cent) and ease of access to information online (69 per cent) are as essential.
Respondents were also asked about their attitudes to payments as part of the customer experience. Parents reported that a consistent payment experience is either very important or important (FE: 71 percent; HE: 72 percent). In the event of a poor payment experience, 26 percent of HE parents and 22 percent of FE parents state they would be much less likely to recommend that institution. Many might have assumed that academic results alone are the biggest factor in influencing a student’s and parent’s choice of institution, but the research reveals this is just one part of the puzzle. Colleges and universities must consider the whole student experience during recruitment and thereafter, from the open day and communication of important information, to the effectiveness of their payments processes. Only then can they increase student attendance, safeguard reputation and deliver the customer experience that students and parents deserve.
October 2015
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