100 signatures reached
To: Nicky Morgan, Education Secretary
Trust teachers to teach!
Stem the tide of teacher resignations by cutting their impossible, counter-productive workload
and trusting them to teach.
and trusting them to teach.
Why is this important?
In a recent statement, Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said “Teachers’ workload is currently at unprecedented levels and is driving many teachers from the profession. Our latest survey shows that 48% of primary teachers, 61% of secondary teachers, and 49% of leadership members are considering leaving the profession within the next two years. These should be alarming figures for the Education Secretary. Such a ticking time bomb simply can’t be ignored." (See more at: http://www.teachers.org.uk/news-events/conference-2016/workload-dfe-working-group-reports#sthash.UAKpV2Go.dpuf)
One excellent primary school teacher told me that for her the crunch came when her eight-year-old daughter bought an alarm clock and set it for 6am so that she could get to see her mother: who had been working 65 hour weeks in a school in special measures. Teachers are, on the whole, a dedicated and caring group who will always be willing to go the extra mile for the sake of the children: but what is being asked of them is not only impossibly time-consuming but utterly counter-productive, stealing valuable teaching time and preventing more creative approaches which would do far more to improve children's motivation and progress.
The excessive - one might almost say paranoid - amount of testing, assessment and accountability is recognised by parents to be unhelpful, stressful for children and unnecessary. Any teacher worth their salt is well able to give an accurate assessment of a child: equally, or more accurate and comprehensive than any one-off test. (A recent article on Finnish schools in The Week demonstrated very good results from minimal testing.)
It is welcome news that the Government has conducted a survey into teachers' workloads, prompting 44,000 responses from teachers, which recognises the extent of the problem: and it is most encouraging to know that Nicky Morgan is on side. Announcing the plans to the NASUWT teachers’ union conference in Birmingham, Mrs Morgan, the first Conservative Education Secretary to speak at a union’s conference in nearly two decades, said: “Nothing is more damaging to the profession than wasting the passion and expertise of teachers and school leaders on unnecessary tasks.
“That’s why I’m publishing the results of the three workload review groups on marking, planning and data collection – the three biggest concerns raised by teachers through the workload challenge. These reports are a great example of the profession taking charge of their own development and I want them to make a difference to the lives of teachers.
“I am pleased to say I am accepting all the recommendations for government in full.”
(Read more: http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/local-news/mp-hails-plans-to-cut-teachers-workloads-1-7847559#ixzz45tPis7CX)
Nicky Morgan has pledged to monitor the situation to ensure that this report is not allowed simply to be a 'word document' but a tool with power to change a tragic and unnecessarily damaging situation. Please sign up to encourage her to do this. And it's urgent: children are being sold short and so many teachers broken. And many more are likely to vote with their feet. Please sign now.
One excellent primary school teacher told me that for her the crunch came when her eight-year-old daughter bought an alarm clock and set it for 6am so that she could get to see her mother: who had been working 65 hour weeks in a school in special measures. Teachers are, on the whole, a dedicated and caring group who will always be willing to go the extra mile for the sake of the children: but what is being asked of them is not only impossibly time-consuming but utterly counter-productive, stealing valuable teaching time and preventing more creative approaches which would do far more to improve children's motivation and progress.
The excessive - one might almost say paranoid - amount of testing, assessment and accountability is recognised by parents to be unhelpful, stressful for children and unnecessary. Any teacher worth their salt is well able to give an accurate assessment of a child: equally, or more accurate and comprehensive than any one-off test. (A recent article on Finnish schools in The Week demonstrated very good results from minimal testing.)
It is welcome news that the Government has conducted a survey into teachers' workloads, prompting 44,000 responses from teachers, which recognises the extent of the problem: and it is most encouraging to know that Nicky Morgan is on side. Announcing the plans to the NASUWT teachers’ union conference in Birmingham, Mrs Morgan, the first Conservative Education Secretary to speak at a union’s conference in nearly two decades, said: “Nothing is more damaging to the profession than wasting the passion and expertise of teachers and school leaders on unnecessary tasks.
“That’s why I’m publishing the results of the three workload review groups on marking, planning and data collection – the three biggest concerns raised by teachers through the workload challenge. These reports are a great example of the profession taking charge of their own development and I want them to make a difference to the lives of teachers.
“I am pleased to say I am accepting all the recommendations for government in full.”
(Read more: http://www.northumberlandgazette.co.uk/news/local-news/mp-hails-plans-to-cut-teachers-workloads-1-7847559#ixzz45tPis7CX)
Nicky Morgan has pledged to monitor the situation to ensure that this report is not allowed simply to be a 'word document' but a tool with power to change a tragic and unnecessarily damaging situation. Please sign up to encourage her to do this. And it's urgent: children are being sold short and so many teachers broken. And many more are likely to vote with their feet. Please sign now.
