annual basis, and also teachers could be offered more training by moving to another school. A key theme of this report is flexibility.” Te report also found that low pupil-to-teacher ratios did not necessarily improve academic achievement. In the SNP’s 2011 manifesto, they pledged to reduce class sizes. But McCormac insists the focus should be on the quality of the teacher rather than “further marginal reductions in class size”. In response, Ken Macintosh, Labour’s shadow education spokesman, said: “McCormac has given the SNP an opportunity to clarify this matter. Where on earth do they stand on class sizes?” With a view to time spent in the classroom,
McCormac decided no change was necessary to teachers’ 35-hour contracted week, with no changes being made to salaries in the short term. Councils looking to make savings by pushing for the working week to be increased by a few hours will be disappointed. Glasgow estimated this measure would save them £16m a year, while Aberdeen figured it could save taxpayers £7m. However, what the report does recommend is that there should be “flexibility” within the 35-hour week. Class contact time, which is set at 22.5 hours a week, should be organised over a month or term. Planning lessons over 90 hours each month should allow them more flexibility when completing out-of-class duties, the report said. And, more controversially, within that time teachers should “play a substantial role in the wider learning community”. “Tere needs to be flexibility in the way teachers are deployed,” says John Stodter. “Tis idea of chunks of time added up and being counted over a week doesn’t really fit in with either the idea of a profession, or with the idea of a dynamic approach to learning and assessment.” Under McCrone, teachers could take work home and do it at a time of their choosing within their 12.5 hours of prep time set aside each week. But primary school teachers have pulled the short straw from McCormac’s raft of proposals. Now they must remain on site during the school day even if they do not have a class to teach. Lord McConnell argues the biggest problem with hours is “culture”. He says: “Te settlement in 2001 was never meant to be a maximum for every teacher that stopped them becoming more professional in the way they carried out their jobs. All professionals on the kind of salaries teachers now have in Scotland, with the conditions that are attached put voluntary effort into their jobs to do their jobs to the best possible standards. Tat is a culture that we need to create in Scotland’s schools, it is a culture that is in the best schools led by the best headteachers, but it needs to be in more schools adopted by more teachers. Tat requires leadership from the very top and an understanding of the importance of teachers inside and outside the classroom.” For Ronnie Smith, reconfiguring working hours spells trouble for teachers already
burdened with administrative jobs. “Under the guise of ‘flexibility’ even greater burdens and controls are proposed for teachers who will have to rely on the benevolence of the headteacher to spare them from excessive workload,” he says. “If the proposals are implemented, they would encourage a “clock-watching approach that sits uncomfortably with enhanced professionalism.” However, McCormac makes reference to a recent OECD report in his review which reveals teachers in Scotland spend more time in the classroom than their peers across the developing world. Only teachers in Chile, the US and Mexico work longer hours than Scots. In terms of pay, the ‘Education at a Glance’ report also
says: “We have a problem because the supply of teachers exceeds the demand at the moment. Tere is a mismatch of skills. We have to get to a situation where the signals that we get from that market place have to be much more accurate about what we require for the training of teachers.” But Ronnie Smith is critical of the shift away
from set time limits and the lists of prescribed tasks laid out in McCrone, believing it will further burden teachers. He tells Holyrood: “I think that’s one of the issues that will upset teachers a lot. And to remove the list of duties they should not be performing is pretty strange. We introduced that list of non-teaching tasks because the teachers had been diverted from teaching to do things like photocopying, collecting their
“If the proposals are implemented, they would encourage a clock- watching approach that sits uncomfortably with enhanced professionalism”
found that Scottish teachers are the ninth best paid in the developed world – perhaps not such welcome news for teachers facing mounting contributions. But what of this emphasis on community spirit? And those already disillusioned by a pay freeze will surely not take too kindly to being pushed into more “cross-curricular development”. Liz Smith, a former teacher at George Watson’s College in Edinburgh, thinks teachers should get more involved in extra-curricular activities. She says: “I’m a great believer in that to enhance the teaching profession, we need teachers who are willing to do extra activities. I think that’s fundamentally the right thing for children to get involved in, and I think it’s very good for staff too.” But she also notes that teachers are in short supply. She
dinner money – tasks that don’t require a graduate, least of all Masters-level teachers. Why would you remove that? Especially at a time when we’re seeing budget cuts. Tere’s a real risk that we’re moving back to the bad old days where these tasks would be slipped on to the shoulders of teachers. It’s a negative move.” Ken Macintosh agrees: “With the number of teachers plummeting under the SNP, teachers are already under significant pressure – never mind piling more on to their plates. Teachers should be left to teach, not dish out school dinners or repair computers,” he said last week. Another controversial
proposal is the suggestion that “external experts” should aid teachers in classrooms. Tese “experts” could be sports specialists, linguists, artists, musicians or lecturers who, though not licensed to teach, will be allowed to take lessons in schools. Given the context of a two-year pay freeze for teachers already gloom- ridden over proposed changes to pensions, Ronnie Smith finds the action “offensive”. He adds: “It is particularly disappointing that the review joins the ranks of the diluters who wish to lessen the input of qualified teachers to children’s education and introduce unqualified, unregistered persons in their place.” In the experience of leading education expert Keir Bloomer, who is also a former leader of the ADES, previous attempts by the Government to introduce teaching assistants have been clumsy.
19 September 2011
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