Here because of the children: Primary teachers’ work and wellbeing The impact of New Labour’s education policies on primary school teachers’ work A second report by Rosemary Webb and Graham Vulliamy for the Association of Teachers and Lecturers
Executive summary
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CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
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2 THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF PRIMARY TEACHERS
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3 THE PROVISION AND IMPACT OF PLANNING, PREPARATION AND ASSESSMENT TIME
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Constraints on planning, preparation and assessment time 4 PRIMARY SCHOOLS AS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES Continuing professional development
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5 RELATIONSHIPS WITH PUPILS
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6 PRIMARY HEADTEACHERS: REWARDS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES
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7 CONCLUSION
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INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY
CHAPTER 1
The research project commissioned by ATL into the impact on primary school teachers’ work of the New Labour government’s education policies was conducted in two phases (2003-06 and 2006-07). The report on the first phase documented teachers’ perspectives on, and experiences of, the reforms and their impact on classroom practice and teacher professionalism (Webb and Vulliamy, 2006). This report, based on the entirety of the project database, examines whole school issues relating to the management and leadership of change and documents the impact of government reform on primary teachers’ professional environment and wellbeing. The research incorporated a longitudinal dimension through the replication of a previous ATL-funded research project carried out between 1992 and 1994 in 50 primary schools in England and Wales. As with this project, the 1992-94 ATL study produced two research reports: The first, Eating the Elephant Bit by Bit, which identified the impact of the 1988 Education Reform Act (ERA) and the introduction of the national curriculum on classroom practice, and the second, After the Deluge, which examined the impact of the ERA on whole school issues and the management of change. The research questions addressed by the project were: ■
What effects are the New Labour government’s educational policies having on primary teachers’ attitudes, values and experiences?
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What are primary school teachers’ perceptions of the changes in their roles and responsibilities over the last decade?
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How do primary teachers respond to these changes and how do they impact on teacher self-identity, notions of teacher professionalism, job satisfaction and school cultures?
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What formal and informal strategies are adopted by teachers, especially headteachers, individually and collaboratively to cope with, manage, harness and/or challenge the demands made of them? Four aspects of New Labour reforms in education have particular relevance to the issues addressed in this report. The first, the standards agenda, whilst primarily focused on teaching and learning strategies in the classroom (the central theme of the earlier report) gave rise to the performativity culture that has had a pervasive impact on teachers’ working conditions and sense of wellbeing. The other three areas of reform: workforce remodeling, the inclusion agenda, and leadership and management, have in their different ways had major implications for the organisation and nature of teachers’ work.
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Introduction and methodology
The same qualitative research strategy based on condensed fieldwork was used as in the 1992-94 research. In its first phase (2003-05), this project involved day-long visits to 50 schools in 16 local authorities (LAs) throughout England and comprised 188 tape recorded in-depth interviews with primary teachers in these schools, supplemented by school documentation and classroom observations of 51 lessons. With two exceptions the sample schools were the same as in the earlier study. The second and final phase of the research incorporated further fieldwork visits and interviews in a 50% sample of the 50 schools during 2006-07. This sample included all the 15 schools which had the same headteacher at the start of the research in 2003 as had been in the schools in the earlier 1992-94 research. Owing to the longitudinal dimension of the research, it was considered important to interview those headteachers who had been in post throughout the intervening period. The other 10 schools were chosen so as to ensure a full variety of school type in terms of attributes such as size, location and intake. Fieldwork visits involved interviews with the headteacher and, in most cases, one or more other staff.
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THE WORKING ENVIRONMENT OF PRIMARY TEACHERS
CHAPTER 2
Many of the schools, which had received little building work beyond the most basic repairs since 1992-94, from 2000 onwards were in the process of major alterations and/or extensions involving comprehensive updates and redecoration. In two instances schools were re-housed in totally new buildings. In many schools staffrooms were extended, refurbished and resourced to facilitate planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time. Having builders working in the school over long periods posed considerable organisational and health and safety issues and disrupted teaching and learning. However, the building improvements were welcomed by headteachers and teachers for their very positive effects on the experiences of pupils and staff. The relationships that teachers had with colleagues were an important source of pleasure, support and advice. Having colleagues who were willing to listen and help was extremely important and a factor in teacher retention. Conversely, where there were conflicts and tensions this made teachers feel negative about their work. The leadership and management of the headteacher was the other key factor influencing teachers’ morale and motivation. Headteachers attached considerable importance to the creation of a school culture in which staff could feel valued and supported and work together towards achieving an agreed vision for their school’s future. The data revealed that, while such school cultures took a long time to develop, they could be decimated almost immediately by key teachers leaving and/or staff conflict. A major change in primary schooling since 1992-93 was the growth in numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) and administrative staff and the creation of new support roles, such as ICT technician, all of which had increased the size of school staffs, often by more than double that of a decade ago. Their crucial role in the smooth running and effectiveness of the school made them highly valued and raised their status. Bringing all the staff together to promote a sense of community and to encourage teamwork and a shared vision for the school was regarded by most headteachers as extremely important. The unremitting pressure on headteachers, teachers and pupils exerted by the Government’s standards agenda was exhausting and caused younger teachers, in particular, to feel disillusioned with teaching as a career and to consider alternatives. Class teachers held an overwhelmingly negative view of the key stage 2 national tests. Year 6 teachers, who were well aware that good key stage 2 results were vital to the school’s reputation and position in the national assessment league tables, felt under particular pressure. The measures introduced to determine value added between key stage 1 and key stage 2 were viewed by headteachers as unfairly lowering league table positions and determining the outcome of OfSTED inspections.
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The working environment of primary teachers
From September 2000 schools were required to introduce a system of performance management to underpin the performance related pay policy. Data from the first phase of the project revealed that performance management had made little impact on schools. However, by the second phase of the research: ■
teachers were more likely to be able to recall their targets and describe progress made towards achieving them;
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targets were usually related directly to teachers’ roles and responsibilities;
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generally at least one target identified from the schools’ school improvement plan (SIP) was the same for all teachers;
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pupil performance data were being used increasingly to assess teachers’ performance;
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performance management was more often acknowledged to have positive outcomes, such as creating space to discuss professional development;
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younger teachers were finding the outcomes of performance management useful for reflecting on their career profile and for writing job applications;
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headteachers and deputy headteachers were delegating performance management to key stage co-ordinators or in larger schools to heads of year teams. In 2005, a shorter but more frequent system of inspection was introduced with a strong emphasis on schools undertaking self-evaluation. All headteachers found the initial completion of OfSTED’s self-evaluation form (SEF) involved an enormous amount of work for them and the school’s senior management. However, generally headteachers felt that maintaining the SEF as new data came in would not prove overly time-consuming. They also regarded it as a potentially useful ongoing tool for ensuring a more in-depth examination of school strengths and weaknesses. A combination of having the SEF and OfSTED inspectors, who on the basis of the SEF were prepared to accept a school staff’s analysis of their situation, appeared to have brought about a change in the nature of the process and enabled schools to feel much more in control of inspection outcomes.
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THE PROVISION AND IMPACT OF PLANNING,PREPARATION AND ASSESSMENT TIME
CHAPTER 3
Since September 2005 all teachers at a school (including headteachers) with timetabled teaching commitments, whether employed on permanent, fixedterm, temporary or part-time contracts, have had a contractual entitlement to guaranteed PPA time within the timetabled teaching day. Schools created PPA time for teachers in three main ways: ■
engaging teachers (full-time ‘floating’ teachers, part-time teachers and supply teachers);
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using TAs especially those qualified as higher level TAs (HLTAs);
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employing a range of external experts, such as peripatetic musicians and sports coaches. Within the individual schools these approaches to providing PPA time were used to varying degrees and in different combinations. PPA was received in various blocks of time with the larger amounts of time regarded as the most productive. Generally headteachers preferred teachers to remain in school for their PPA time in order that:
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they could work collaboratively and make use of school equipment and resources;
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the use of PPA time could be monitored;
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staff were on hand if needed;
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parents could not observe them doing non-work related activities. In schools where staff could take PPA time at home headteachers considered that the flexibility in working arrangements and trust placed in staff improved their motivation and willingness to take on extra tasks. In addition, it accorded to staff opportunities that previously were only open to headteachers making a more equitable working situation. PPA was timetabled, routine and ‘sacrosanct’ and therefore could be relied upon. Teachers were extremely enthusiastic about its positive professional and personal benefits. It was welcomed as recognition by the Government and the school that the complexity and demands of teachers’ work required time within the teaching day to be adequately addressed. Those benefits most commonly cited were more thorough planning and preparation for lessons, time for marking and completing pupil records and less pressure. Most PPA time was spent on immediate class requirements and short-term planning rather than longer-term tasks.
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The provision and impact of planning, preparation and assessment time
Headteachers stressed that the sports coaches, musicians and artists that were brought in were not ‘just fill-in’ but about ‘curriculum enrichment’. Teachers considered that pupils benefited from the greater expertise that external experts brought into the school. The benefits to pupil learning of HLTAs’ specific subject interests, expertise and commitment were also acknowledged. Systems of performance management for TAs were being developed and personal targets for career advancement, in particular the achievement of HLTA status, were encouraged. There appeared to be a growing expectation that HLTAs would train to become teachers. The contribution made by HLTAs was increasingly recognised and accordingly they were ‘treated as teaching staff’. Headteachers and staff felt uncomfortable about the inequitable level of pay that they received.
Constraints on planning, preparation and assessment time The greatest constraint on the provision of PPA time was the perceived inadequacy of the school budget to continue to fund the provision put in place. Loss of staff, a decrease in continuing professional development (CPD) and fewer resources were the main cut backs made to cover PPA time costs. There was also a move away from employing outside expertise and additional parttime teachers to cheaper alternatives such as doubling up classes for ‘less important subjects’ and using two or more TAs to supervise the completion of work set by the teacher. A major concern for headteachers was that cover teaching would lead to a drop in standards as: ■
class teachers spent more time away from their classes;
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children were taught by unqualified teachers or teachers unfamiliar with the school;
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TAs, who had previously taken intervention groups and supported children with learning difficulties in the classroom, were used to provide cover. Generally, the administration involved in finding appropriate PPA cover and timetabling and monitoring PPA time was regarded as having increased the workloads of headteachers and deputies. The larger the school and the more diverse the cover used the more complex the timetabling became. Teaching headteachers in small schools appeared to find it difficult to create PPA time for themselves.
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The provision and impact of planning, preparation and assessment time
There remained considerable ideological resistance amongst teachers to their classes being taught by unqualified staff. Some teachers used detailed planning to exert control over the content and teaching methods of cover lessons thus affirming their professionalism and maintaining the differential between themselves and HLTAs. Teachers complained about the ways in which their workload ‘swallowed up their leisure time’ preventing a work-life balance. There was evidence that for some teachers PPA time was making a noticeable reduction to the amount of work that they took home and was contributing to their motivation and selfworth. However, as PPA time became routine, it was possible that headteachers’ expectations of teachers and their over-conscientiousness could make potential benefits short-lived.
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CHAPTER 4
PRIMARY SCHOOLS AS PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES The Government encourages schools to become professional learning communities (PLCs). The idea of a PLC overlaps with, and is informed by, earlier work on schools as learning organisations and school improvement research. Collaborative working involving teamwork in schools, networking between schools and collaboration with the wider community is a key characteristic of a PLC. The main strategies used by headteachers to develop a collaborative culture were through: ■
modelling their commitment to the school and ways of working and relating to others;
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monitoring, supporting and praising staff and promoting their professional development;
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appointing teachers who shared their educational values. In schools where teachers took their PPA time together enabled them to share and work collectively on plans and resources. In some areas proactive clusters of primary schools and pyramids of secondary schools and feeder primaries reduced potential rural isolation, expanded the pool of expertise available for policy-making and school-based training and created opportunities for joint CPD. Five schools in the project were Beacon schools and four were members of Education Action Zones; both initiatives brought extra funding which promoted collaboration with other schools. The growth in complexity and diversity of headteachers’ responsibilities resulted in greater delegation of duties and distributed leadership. Headteachers found it hard to relinquish control because they had strong notions of how tasks should be tackled and were ultimately accountable for all aspects of school life. The Government’s standards agenda with its emphasis on accountability had strengthened the mechanisms available to headteachers for controlling the work of staff. Subject co-ordinators worked to develop their subject within the priorities and targets of the SIP and school systems and national externally determined requirements. Particularly in the core subjects there were few ideas and processes initiated by them for which they could claim ownership. Nevertheless they took pride in their work and being able to motivate and support colleagues. An extended interpretation of a PLC is one incorporating not only members of the school staff but also pupils, parents and the local community who all work together to identify shared aims, values and an agenda for action for their school. Some of the projects in which the schools were engaged, particularly in relation to personal, social, health and citizenship education and environmental awareness, involved actively seeking and acting on community views.
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Primary schools as professional learning communities
Continuing professional development Over the last five years, CPD activity has been driven by national priorities and initiatives linked to the Government’s standards agenda. Headteachers retained oversight of CPD in order to ensure that it supported the SIP and related to the strengths and weaknesses of individual staff members identified through performance management. The ability to attend a course on an area of particular interest was viewed as enjoyable and motivating and statusenhancing. The state of the school budget, financial cost, lack of time, heavy workload, and distance from training opportunities were important constraints on access to courses. A programme for staff meetings and training days was drawn up by the headteacher and/or the senior management team at the end of the summer term based on the SIP, performance management, OfSTED, and forthcoming government initiatives. Curriculum coordinators and advanced school teachers advised colleagues, produced plans and resources for their subjects, organised and/or provided school-based training. To play a leading role required support from the headteacher such as release time and the opportunity to keep up-to-date and develop new skills. Primary schools appeared as a particular kind of PLC geared predominantly to the implementation of government initiatives. Professional learning for teachers, whatever form it took, was linked into the Government’s reform agenda. The Government’s call for personalisation of learning for pupils needs to be mirrored by personalisation of CPD for teachers in order to address their particular weaknesses, experiences, interests and career phases.
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CHAPTER 5
RELATIONSHIPS WITH PUPILS ‘The kids are great’ was how a class teacher in a small school summed up why she loved her work. The main reason that primary teachers enter the profession is because of their love for children and interest in seeing them grow and develop. Many teachers considered their potential influence on children’s attainment and progress was a privilege and sought through their work to make a difference to children’s lives particularly those growing up in disadvantaged areas. Forming good relationships with children was viewed as of fundamental importance to effective teaching and learning. Teachers’ leadership roles and the growth of bureaucracy associated with teaching took up time that teachers once gave to talking to, and counselling, individual pupils and running extracurricular activities. Insufficient time to respond to children’s interests and needs was viewed as demotivating for children, damaging to pupil-teacher relationships and undermining teachers’ sense of vocation and job satisfaction. Many teachers felt that the changes in society and family life and the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda meant that they should be spending more, rather than less, time in building relationships. Despite claims by OfSTED that behaviour had improved since 1996-97, most teachers perceived pupil behaviour as having deteriorated and reported increases in disruptive behaviour in the classroom and around the school. The difficulties teachers experienced trying to manage the challenging behaviours of particular pupils were regarded as exacerbated because they lacked appropriate specialist knowledge. The main constraints on obtaining support were identified as bureaucratic and time-consuming statementing procedures, lack of funds and LA advisers/inspectors who were often viewed as out of touch with the issues. Teachers regarded the role of the headteacher as of paramount importance in promoting good behaviour. Most schools had a clear staff hierarchy of responsibility for addressing behaviour problems, frequently reviewed behaviour policies and valued the role of TAs in behaviour management in the classroom. Several of the sample schools were involved in national initiatives and/or school projects, which had brought funds for additional staff to work with pupils with EBSD. The cessation of such projects due to lack of funds could result in wasted energy and expertise and low staff morale. Most schools used similar kinds of sanctions to control pupil behaviour which commonly included the removal of privileges and involvement of parents. Exclusions were given to provide teachers with a break from the challenging behaviour, to serve as a warning to parents that such behaviour would not be tolerated and to achieve LA support. Fixed-term exclusions were seldom regarded as a deterrent for the child. The most common rewards to promote good behaviour involved whole school recognition of achievement, the award of certificates and opportunities to choose activities.
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Relationships with pupils
Teachers used personal, social, health and citizenship education, art and drama, circle time and school councils to develop pupils’ social skills, to review school rules and routines and to access children’s views and enable them to contribute to decision-making, particularly in relation to the school environment. A number of schools also had systems of prefects and house captains that enabled Year 6 children to assume management responsibilities. Several schools had administered pupil questionnaires to gain generic feedback or to address specific issues as part of their school self-evaluation. A number of schools also collected pupil views by supporting some of the older children in carrying out ‘market research’ projects. The development of ways of accessing the ‘pupil voice’ and enabling pupils to contribute to decision-making is in its infancy in most schools. It is constrained by the power differentials between teachers and pupils, the differing importance teachers and pupils attach to the issues raised for discussion, the inequality between pupils caused by the reliance on speaking and listening skills and the degree to which tradition and government prescription renders the curriculum and many aspects of school life seemingly non-negotiable. However, by seeking pupils’ views teachers can develop an increased respect for pupils and understanding of their perspectives, which makes a positive contribution to pupil-teacher relationships.
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CHAPTER 6
PRIMARY HEADTEACHERS: REWARDS, CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES The majority of the project headteachers thoroughly enjoyed being headteachers and were extremely committed to their schools. Most of all they loved the daily interactions with the children although only a few taught regularly. Headteachers frequently characterised themselves as ‘person centred’ as in all aspects of their work building and maintaining positive relationships were crucial. Listening to staff, parents and others who made up the school community and responding sensitively to dilemmas and conflicts was emotionally demanding and provided little or no emotional support in return. Maintaining ‘a professional front’ and controlling their emotions, usually characterised as ‘staying calm’, was regarded as extremely important for conveying to staff ‘that everything is under control’. Being a headteacher was regarded as ‘very exciting’, ‘providing variety and stimulation’ and ‘a buzz that you feed off’. Headship was also very satisfying because it provided access to ‘the wider picture’ within the school, the LA and nationally. Whereas class teachers often saw primary teaching as an opportunity to make a difference to the lives of the children in their class, headship was perceived as offering the possibility for ‘shaping and changing the future’ of a larger group of children. Some of their best moments as headteachers were particular successes achieved by children. Increasing the skills, motivation, self-esteem and confidence of teachers was a source of job satisfaction for most headteachers and for some equalled that of working with children. Resolving contentious situations involving conflict between staff, between parents and staff and/or the headteacher and staff were cited as giving rise to the worst moments headteachers had experienced and the cause of stress, anxiety and depression. The ‘compensation culture’ was thought likely to provoke an increasing number of parents to seek litigation in response to incidents involving their children, particularly in relation to bullying, given its high profile nationally and in the media. Sometimes headteachers felt overwhelmed by the amount and pace of change and its associated accountability and bureaucracy. While they welcomed the publication of the ECM agenda with its intention to place the child at the forefront of service delivery, the drive for inter-agency working with its blurring of professional boundaries and overlapping specialisms between agencies posed new challenges for headteachers and raised questions about education’s particular contribution. The growing administrative burdens associated with headship in the New Labour era made the continued existence of teaching headteachers in small schools almost impossible.
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Primary headteachers: rewards, challenges and opportunities
Compared to the 1992-93 study most headteachers appeared to be involving their deputies much more in the management and leadership of the school and in many cases created half a day or more for work associated with the role. Nevertheless, the deputies increasing responsibilities continued to outstrip the time made available. Several young deputy and assistant headteachers interviewed planned from the outset to become headteachers and sought positions that would enable them to achieve the necessary experience as quickly as possible. Most deputies were ambivalent about becoming headteachers. The majority of headteachers were unable to maintain a balance between school work and the rest of their lives. The constant unanticipated demands and distractions and the fragmented nature of their role made keeping to a work plan and identified priorities almost impossible. Key strategies for coping were: ■
complying with government directives from the outset;
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not trying to be a perfectionist;
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distributing tasks and responsibilities among staff;
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making time for hobbies and pursuits, even if doing so resulted in an even more crowded day;
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using humour as an emotional outlet;
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deriving support from a convivial, collaborative school ethos. For headteachers who were unable to cope, the personal price to pay in terms of professional identity, self-esteem and health was very high. The Government should do more to ensure the demands of headteachers are realistic. The mindset and conscientiousness of headteachers may need to change because while they are prepared to make personal sacrifices to meet government requirements the unrealistic demands seem set to continue. There was a predictable uniformity of concerns reflecting government policy but an enormous range of contexts in terms of school size, locality, staffing and pupil intake in which these concerns were to be addressed. While headteachers managed some manoeuvrability to pursue their vision for the school, they deserve more opportunities to develop their schools according to their perceptions of what is needed rather than central prescription.
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CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION The school physical environment and ethos can strongly influence primary teachers’ motivation and the quality of their work. The impact of government spending on improving, extending and upgrading school buildings was immediately obvious in the majority of the schools visited. The philosophy and approach of headteachers to leadership and management, the nature of the relationships and interactions that teachers had with colleagues, opportunities for staff to work collaboratively, professional development opportunities and the nature and implementation of an agreed behaviour policy were identified as the most important factors influencing that ethos. Experienced headteachers, who were settled in their schools and had established a collaborative culture, were particularly concerned to promote professional learning and to have a transformatory role. However, the climate of performativity generated by national testing, targets and league tables continues to favour instructional leadership that minimises the central importance of such professional values which headteachers might hold, stifles teachers’ creativity and constrains school innovation. While the Government’s rhetoric on teachers’ CPD promises diverse forms of professional learning, for the majority of teachers the reality is that it consists of training courses focussed on government initiatives to meet national needs and school-based training to determine a school response to these needs. Primary schools as PLCs in which teachers identify a wide range of concerns affecting pupil learning, and work towards solutions together with pupils and their parents, cannot be realised when the focus, nature and extent of teacher learning is centrally prescribed, audited and controlled. The reconstruction of the educational system and the ‘new professionalism’ expected of primary teachers has forced experienced teachers to reconsider their values, beliefs and practices and challenged key aspects of their identity. Where aspects of their changing role prevented them from giving children the time, attention, care and experiences that they felt ought to be given, their professional identity was at odds with their self-concept. When teachers are diverted away from what should be their central consideration, the children, they then lose enthusiasm and commitment to the detriment of the profession. There is growing interest in accessing ‘the pupil voice’. While teachers’ voices appear seldom to be listened to, they are not really in a position to act on pupil perspectives particularly in relation to the curriculum and assessment. The climate in education, both inside and outside school, is not a democratic one. Teachers continue to feel constrained and pressurised by the standards agenda and subject to unremitting change and escalating demands. In the name of public accountability their work is subject to ever increasing forms of control. Teacher wellbeing needs to be firmly on the Government agenda alongside pupil wellbeing in order to ensure that teachers continue to be committed and motivated to do their best for the children in their classes and schools. Headteachers need to be both willing and in a position to set an example of how to keep work and life in balance. 18
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