Bureaucracy burden on primary school teachers

[patslatt]

Primary teachers in England have long complained about excessive bureaucracy in the form of too frequent examinations and detailed daily report filings on the progress of students. England's OFSTED inspectorate of schools and the British government which create this bureaucracy are very centralised and bossy and do not listen to the grassroots.

Recently when I met two primary school teachers who teach in Ireland, I asked them how their bureaucratic burden compared with England's and they said it was just as bad here. They spend hours every day on reports and lesson plans. When they first started out twenty five years ago,they relied on their personal knowledge of the children to evaluate them and direct their education. Now everything has to be overanalysed,reported on and ticked off in boxes. Both plan to take early retirement because their job satisfaction is diminished by this.

Bureaucracy continues to grow like weeds in this country. It reminds me of that funny radio commercial where a person is requested to fill out a series of forms and finally when he asked for a glass of water he was told to fill out the application for a glass of water form.

Maybe one day a single issue political party will form whose sole function will be to stamp out bureaucracy.

[CreamCracker]

Yes, there is increasing needless paperwork that hardly anyone ever looks at or uses. Pointless. And schoolchildren just lose out in the end as teachers have less energy to give to actual teaching.
Of course, we're stupidly aping what England is doing and the bureaucracy is growing over here too. I don't think it's as bad in Ireland though (yet).

[futurefastfoodworker]

Primary teachers in England have long complained about excessive bureaucracy in the form of too frequent examinations and detailed daily report filings on the progress of students. England's OFSTED inspectorate of schools and the British government which create this bureaucracy are very centralised and bossy and do not listen to the grassroots.

Recently when I met two primary school teachers who teach in Ireland, I asked them how their bureaucratic burden compared with England's and they said it was just as bad here. They spend hours every day on reports and lesson plans. When they first started out twenty five years ago,they relied on their personal knowledge of the children to evaluate them and direct their education. Now everything has to be overanalysed,reported on and ticked off in boxes. Both plan to take early retirement because their job satisfaction is diminished by this.

Bureaucracy continues to grow like weeds in this country. It reminds me of that funny radio commercial where a person is requested to fill out a series of forms and finally when he asked for a glass of water he was told to fill out the application for a glass of water form.

Maybe one day a single issue political party will form whose sole function will be to stamp out bureaucracy.

I completely agree. The use of targets and great swaths of tests in the UK have made education superficial and marks oriented, as opposed to trying to inspire and develop useful skills. Like here, they have stopped teaching grammar and spelling and standards in the English language have correspondingly declined. School has also become much more stressful because of the pressure to attain high scores ad because of the frequency of testing.

The bureaucracy is a direct result of this. Schools are under pressure to justify their funding and subject the kids to this state-sponsored 'Gradgrindery'.

*edited for spelling

[riker1969]

I Think the trend is called the "New Managerialism" and is based on a lack of trust and constant supervision of your workers. I have been doing some research in the area and am not sure this trend has actually made huge differences in UK Educational standards. The Focus seems to be on results rather than effective learning. In other words are kids learning how to process information effectively? I have no doubt Ireland will head in British direction because Managerialism is now every where in Ireland. "This call is being recorded for quality control purposes" The Irish system also focuses on outcomes rather than process but we have not yet fully bought into treating teachers like assembly workers. At least here the individual teacher can plot how he/she wants to achieve these results rather than being overseen to death by inspectors/management like England.

If it does go that way its because teachers themselves have little backbone. They gripe about their Unions but prefer to sit at home watching TV rather than attend a union meeting. They are essentially self centered to a degree that will eventually torpedo them.

[Kate P]

riker1969 wrote

At least here the individual teacher can plot how he/she wants to achieve these results rather than being overseen to death by inspectors/management like England.

I wonder how much WSE has changed or will change that? It requires a level of documentary planning and co-operation that's relatively new to teaching, if not it its quality then certainly in its quantity.

[campbeca]

Recently when I met two primary school teachers who teach in Ireland, I asked them how their bureaucratic burden compared with England's and they said it was just as bad here. They spend hours every day on reports and lesson plans

I severely doubt that. I would doubt there is even 2hrs of bureaucracy required for teachers per week on average.

We do need mechanisms to prompt teachers that have lost their love for the job to not be allowed to take the easy way out (ie counting the minutes) but unfortunately it seems every initiative in this area just creates a further line of red tape that further demotivates teachers.

[patslatt]

Recently when I met two primary school teachers who teach in Ireland, I asked them how their bureaucratic burden compared with England's and they said it was just as bad here. They spend hours every day on reports and lesson plans

I severely doubt that. I would doubt there is even 2hrs of bureaucracy required for teachers per week on average.

We do need mechanisms to prompt teachers that have lost their love for the job to not be allowed to take the easy way out (ie counting the minutes) but unfortunately it seems every initiative in this area just creates a further line of red tape that further demotivates teachers.

What's your evidence for thinking that there is even 2hrs?

[CreamCracker]

Recently when I met two primary school teachers who teach in Ireland, I asked them how their bureaucratic burden compared with England's and they said it was just as bad here. They spend hours every day on reports and lesson plans

I severely doubt that. I would doubt there is even 2hrs of bureaucracy required for teachers per week on average.

We do need mechanisms to prompt teachers that have lost their love for the job to not be allowed to take the easy way out (ie counting the minutes) but unfortunately it seems every initiative in this area just creates a further line of red tape that further demotivates teachers.

You haven't a clue because you're clearly not a teacher.

[stewiegriffin]

[

You haven't a clue because you're clearly not a teacher.

Codsarnit ! There goes my astronaut thread . It would be clearly pointless now that I have gained this new wisdom .

[riker1969]

Its important not to be dismissive of people's opinions . Irish education is in transition. Teachers sometimes assume that every Gov iniative is New Mangeralism which basically means we dont trust you and will monitor you closely. Its unclear whether there is a hidden agenda. Take WSE-it has its positive points. The Department of ED have a right to see how state money is being spent and whether a school is properly run or not. Some elements of it are pointless such as Department plans (for subjects) when no real steps have been taken to encourage collegiality. The Gov wont spend money paying peo to be heads of departments so in many schools there is no real History or English Department.

We need to focus on the way kids learn as they are a generation that will require constant learning/retraining. However if the Irish Times agenda of League tables succeeds then we will have focus on outcomes and rote learning. Within five years of leaving school you prob forget most of what you learned but you learned to learn and more focus needs to be put there. In england they concentrated on results and measurable outcomes and treat their teachers like assembly line workers. We can avoid that here but I ask how many teachers perusing this site actually go to union meetings and speak out??