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Paper Thin Protection

15/2/2011

2 Comments

 
It's a pretty much universally accepted fact that there's too much paperwork in teaching.  There's this belief amongst managers, inspectors and government bodies that, if something's written down on paper, it is automatically a positive thing.  And, if said piece of paper exists, someone will actually find the time to read it, follow it, deal with it, review it, update it.

In my books I've constantly railed against the idea that the 'best' or most 'outstanding' lesson is always the one that was written out in triplicate ahead of time.  As most teachers will attest, the best lessons are often those where you deviate from your carefully planned out lesson, in response to something a child has said or done.  That beautifully planned lesson is no use at all to you, if you can't adapt it during the heat and motion of the average lesson.  Just as that 100 booklet of policies is not worth the paper it's written on, if no one actually reads it or follows it.

When I run training sessions I will often ask for a show of hands, as to how many teachers have actually read the school behaviour policy.  Because let's be frank, you can't expect them to apply it, if they haven't actually read what it says.  And do you know what?  In the average school, about a third of the hands go up in the air.  In some instances, it's hardly surprising that they haven't read it, because it runs to 20 or 30 pages or more.

Hot on the heels of excessive policy making and over long planning documents comes the current obsession with evidence.  More and more, teachers are asked to collect (usually paper based) bits of evidence to prove what progress their students are making.  In other words, we don't trust teachers to use their professionalism, to know, understand and adapt for each child as an individual.  We need to see the evidence that the child has achieved this point or that point on the scale.

My vote is for a return to an instinctive feel for 'where your kids are at', for lessons that are scribbled on the back of a fag packet moments before the lesson begins, for teaching inspired by the kids in front of you and maybe a really cool resource, rather than a long list of 'success criteria' and 'learning outcomes'.


Better stop there, before I start railing against the acronyms and abbreviations which blight our noble profession.  Because that's material for another post entirely ...

2 Comments
arvind link
15/3/2011 04:24:54 pm

While the intention may have been to call for a sense of balance, the opinion your piece conveys is that any paperwork is mindless bureaucracy. Not quite. True, fat policy documents aren't worth the paper they're written on, and rapidly degenerate into "paper compliance" bearing no relationship with "real work". But the back-to-instincts approach you seem to be advocating swings to the other extreme. And doesn't scribbling on the back of a fag packet amount to writing it down on paper? The debate is not about paperwork per se, but about how much is the bare minimum and how much is too much.

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wire spools link
29/4/2012 03:40:28 pm

You made a great point right there. I made a investigation on the topic and found many people will agree with your article. Any way I'll be subscribing to your feed and I wish you post again soon.

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    Elephants in the Classroom

    You know that saying, about there being an 'elephant in the room': something everyone knows is there, but no one wants to mention?  In teaching, there isn't just one elephant in the classroom, there's a whole herd of them, rampaging through the room. In this blog I plan to turn a spotlight on some of the unspoken and sometimes unpalatable truths about our noble profession (and the good stuff too). Because if we can't be honest about what makes a good learning experience, an effective school, or a good teacher, and equally what makes a bad one, then everyone loses.

    As the saying goes: 'Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.'

    There's no point in denying these truths, because they will still be there when we turn back around. Or to put it another way, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean there no one's following you.

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  • Home
  • About
  • Books
    • Extracts >
      • The Seven E's of Reading for Pleasure
      • The Seven R's of Great Group Work
      • The Seven T's of Practical Differentiation
  • Training
    • Live Online Training
    • Behaviour Management
    • Differentiation
    • Thinking Skills
    • Voice Training
    • Writing Skills
  • Teachers
    • Lessons I Love
    • Free Downloads
    • Teachers TV
    • Practical Strategies >
      • Low Level Disruption
      • Students being argumentative with each other
      • Pacing lessons so that students maintain focus
      • Motivating boys to write
      • Tapping/wandering while you are talking
      • How do I know when to deal with/ignore behaviour?
      • Getting the class back to you
      • Arrogant/don't care/poor attitude
      • Arguing back
      • Calling out/shouting across the room
      • Controlling noise levels during group work
      • Engaging students who 'just don't see the point' in a subject
      • Giving feedback, efficient marking and showing progress
      • Refusal to start a task
      • Work life balance and time management
  • 100 Ideas
    • 100 Nursery Rhymes
    • 100 Tips for Artful Educators
    • 100 Books for Teens
    • 100 Tips for NQTs
    • 100 Tips for Writers
    • 100 Books for Little People
    • 100 Female Education Authors
    • 100 Tips on Behaviour
    • 100 Funny Poems and Poets
    • 100 Books for KS2
    • 100 Tips for Developing Young Writers
    • 100 International Classic Books and Authors
  • Blog
  • Conferences
    • Bury Secondary Headteachers
    • Cambridgeshire NQTs
    • Children with Special Needs Contact Day
    • Teach First
    • Firm Foundations
    • Football Association
    • Association of British Schools of Chile
    • NUT Reading for Pleasure
    • Sweden