So what did the SEA achieve this school year?

26/06/2009 by April First.


I’ve just written my last newsletter of the academic year (the one which goes out via the post) and to do that I did the usual bit of looking back.  I think we’ve really had a bit of an impact this year.

 

Starting with our courses: both the National Certificate in Education Administration (which lasts one year) and the two month Work Management and Administration Course had record numbers attending this year.

 

The next date for applications for the next intake on to the QCA validated, one year distance learning course is 5 October, closing date for applications 25 September.   The next intake for the two-month distance learning course starts on 28 September 2009 - closing date for applications is 18 September.

 

There’s full details of both courses on www.admin.org.uk   For a printed prospectus phone 01536 399 007 or email prospectus@admin.org.uk

 

On the postal advertising front, our campaign has been to find the best way for firms to advertise to teachers, in terms of reducing administrator work and environmental impact.  As a result we have seen a cut in postal mailing to schools of 60% in the past 3 years – and a move to emails which go direct to the teacher, not via the school office.

 

Following our email campaigns over half of the secondary schools in the UK have now given us the individual email addresses of teachers so that appropriate emails can reach these teachers directly without any admin intervention.   The use of these email addresses is strictly controlled – the teachers get one email a week, and we never release the emails to any other organisation.

 

If you would like to reduce the number of emails for individual teachers you have to handle just email me a list of your senior staff, their job titles (eg Head of Maths) and their email address within the school.   At the moment about 5% of emails are travelling this way.  Our aim is to make this 30% by the end of next year – which will reduce your workload further.

 

You can reach me at Tony@hamilton-house.com 

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Cutting unwanted emails

22/06/2009 by April First.

About 55% of schools are now willing to give out the personal email address of heads of dept at school (as in gsmith@myschool.sch.gov.uk) according to a survey by the School of Educational Administration.  They say that having emails go directly to a teacher obviously reduces the level of email coming into the school office.

When asked, administrators in the schools that won’t give out the individual email addresses generally replied that ”it just means teachers will get loads of emails they don’t want”.

The SEA suggest that, judging from the answers they have received, it is possible that some schools are not using the “message rules” system to handle such emails.

Schools that use this system set up “message rules” on each of the individual email addresses and on the main school address so that any message that has a particular phrase in it, goes straight into a delete box.  So, for example (and I am going to mis-spell or split these examples just in case your system already has this), any email that arrives with the word “hang .over” goes straight into that box.  Another word that triggers this on my system is “pat ches” (you’ll see what I mean)

I know that the email address of some of my colleagues can turn up on lots of websites (where they have written articles) and so they get around 300 or so rubbish emails a day, but the system of deflection means that only about 10 or so get through a day.

It is a little time consuming to set up a message rule system at first for all the school addresses (it is generally thought to take half an hour at most), but the saving in day to day time thereafter is huge.  Then if you ever spot another group of emails arriving that has not been caught before, you set up a new message rule which takes maybe 1 minute.  And such a system allows the school office to be freed of sorting emails for individual teachers - which can knock 15 to 45 minutes off the work load a day.  Maybe more.

“Message rules” is the name that is given to the system on Outlook Express (click Tools, then Message Rules and the Mail), but all systems have this facility in there somewhere.

If you are in a school that is insisting that all email comes in through the school office, it might be worth going to whoever has made this decision and discussing it.  Someone on the staff is having to spend ages sorting through mail which could go elsewhere - without causing any problems - and the majority of schools are now following this system.   Obviously it is a matter for each school - but there is a solution.

If you would like to receive regular emails with updated news just visit www.schools.co.uk/aboutemn.html and click on the link to the Administrators Newsgroup.

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When you are asked to do work beyond administration

19/06/2009 by April First.


A discussion has arisen on the School Admin news group about the way the role of the administrator in school is changing – and it has raised a point that I think may be relevant to a very large number of administrators in schools.

 

In the past we have discussed the movement of jobs from the management (such as timetabling, induction, the handling of supply teacher issues) into the school office.   Invariably with such transfers training is given, and there is proper discussion and handover of such jobs.

 

However it has become increasingly apparent that among such job transfers, (which can be justified on the basis of efficiency), there is an increasing number of requests that take administrators into areas that have nothing to do with administration, for which the administrators involved are not trained or qualified and which are being handed over as a way of coping with the Workload Agreement.

 

A typical example involves having pupils who are feeling ill sitting outside the school office, under the “supervision” of the administrator.  Another example that has cropped up many times is that of taking break and dinner duty.

 

Among the most obvious issues that arise in such circumstances is the fact that all staff are entitled to a lunch break which is not taken on the job.   There is also the fact that no one should take on a task for which they have not been trained – and that includes break and dinner duty – not least because of the risks involved if an altercation breaks out.

 

One of the problems of course is that all of us seek to work in a positive manner with others in the school – we try and be helpful and we try and get things done, even if those things are not in the contract.  But there comes a point where taking on additional tasks may not be helpful to either the school or the individual.

 

If you would like to join in the debate about this and other topics of daily interest to administrators you can join the admin news group by sending an email to

ad.admin@schools.co.uk and writing the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.  You’ll receive an email once or twice a week.   There will never be anything to pay and you can leave the group at any time.

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Workload Agreement Update

17/06/2009 by April First.

There is a story doing the rounds that as from next September the Workload Agreement is to be implemented more rigorously.  For example, it seems that certain teaching trades unions are saying that, under the Agreement, from next September teachers can only cover for unexpected absences. 

 

Put another way, this means that teachers who go on planned visits or courses or who are away ill and signed off by a GP cannot have their classes covered by colleagues.

 

Of course, in some schools this already happens - but there are other schools that have continued to use teachers to cover lessons in this way.  

 

If a change affects these schools then (if the past is anything to go by) some headteachers might look for creative solutions to the problem. We have already found some schools in which administrators have been asked (or even told) to take on playground duty, without any training or discussion concerning their insurance in the event of an accident.  (The case earlier this year of the dinner lady who was seriously injured by boys playing in a playground and was unable to get any compensation, shows what a minefield this is.)

 

This doesn’t mean that I am suggesting that administrators are going to asked to look after classes, but it does suggest that there might be some further shifts in the way the Workload Agreement is implemented.

 

If you have come across any changes in your workload or indeed in the work you are asked to do, and would like to let me know in confidence I would really like to hear from you. You can email me at Tony@schools.co.uk  

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The Workload Agreement next term

05/06/2009 by April First.

There has been quite a bit of talk of late about the Workload Agreement. It seems that in some schools some trades unions officials are informing teaching members that from September 2009 they should only ‘rarely cover’ for absent colleagues. 

The question is, what exactly is “rarely” in this situation?

It is one of those questions that everyone can have an answer for. Here’s one answer, below, but it carries no official stamp of approval. Of course, you may not agree with this analysis, but I offer it in the hope that it might help you as you move towards a solution to this issue.

This approach does not take into account financial issues and practicalities – rather it looks at the Agreement as it stands – and as we all know the Agreement doesn’t include issues relating to whether a school can afford to pay! The merit of such an approach is that it starts from the same premise as the Unions – the Agreement says you have to do this, so do it. The ability to afford it, is not part of the debate.

In all working environments professional people are expected to be flexible.   Someone is taken ill or is off for the day unexpectedly so another professional steps in to cover the emergency. If a colleague is absent in an office, his/her phone is not left to ring without being answered, his/her emails are not ignored. Similarly in school, the class cannot be left untaught.

So the first issue that arises here is that, where it is known that an individual will be away (the most obvious example being the teacher who is going to be out on a visit), then that can be planned for, and within the context of the Workload Agreement it would be unreasonable to ask for a colleague who already has a full timetable to cover for that.

But there is a second issue. If you have 50 teaching staff in the school and you know that on average you have 3 teaching staff away sick on any day, that level of absence must be covered by supply teachers. Of course, if there is an epidemic and every school has 30% of staff off sick and no supply teachers are available anywhere, then you would expect an “all hands to the pumps” approach. But this is an extreme situation.  

So the key to any policy (following this line of reasoning) is one based on planning based on previous experience. A professional should step in and help out in a crisis, but if good planning could have avoided the crisis, the professional is certainly entitled to point a finger and say, “it is not my job to cover up the gaps in poor planning”.

Of course, you may see things in a different way. But whichever way you look at this, the answer given has to be logical and consistent, and that is the virtue of the above approach. It doesn’t solve everything, but it sets up a system that will cope with 99% of situations. The “unexpected” event which it does not deal with is, by definition, something that has not happened in the past four or five years, and so cannot be accounted for.

 If you would like to receive regular email news for administrators free of charge, just send an email to ed.admin@schools.co.uk and write the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

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Why everyone in school needs insurance

03/06/2009 by April First.

Everyone in school must have full insurance

 

It a remarkable and frightening court case a judge has ruled that an accident caused by a pupil who is not technically breaking a school rule, but which causes injuries to an adult, cannot then result in a claim by the adult.

 

What this means is that a teacher, governor, administrator, dinner lady, or anyone else who is injured by a pupil who is not behaving in a way that is breaking a school rule, will mean that the injured party cannot claim any compensation from the school, local authority or parent of the child.

 

Thus an administrator (for example) who is perfectly properly walking out of school at lunchtime, but whose journey takes her across a playground in which children are playing tag (in a manner that is allowed by the school) has no claim even if she is knocked to the ground and seriously injured through a collision with a pupil who does not look where he/she is going.

 

This shows that everyone working in a school really does need insurance against this type of accident.  Those members of staff who are in a union normally have insurance as part of their union membership.  Others tend not to.

 

In the defining case a dinner lady was bumped into by a boy who was being chased by another boy in the playground.   The judge said, “13 year old boys will be 13 year old boys who will play tag.  If they are not breaking any rules they should not be held liable in negligence.”

 

In this case the dinner lady suffered a broken nose, damaged teeth, and was in hospital for six weeks, having suffered serious brain damage, leading to partial paralysis and balance problems.  She has been unable to work since.

 

 

 

 

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