Professional engagement Is it really needed for compliance?

IEU Professional Engagement Coordinator Pat Devery sets out the next steps in addressing unnecessary administrative workload.

By now members should be well acquainted with the NESA Fact Sheets on school registration recruitments and programming and record keeping.

NESA produced these Fact Sheets after listening to concerns from the IEU about teachers being asked to complete unnecessary administrative work in the name of compliance.

See p10 for a double page pull-out poster in which the IEU provides some commentary seeking to guide teachers on how to use the Fact Sheets to address workload issues.

The IEU has developed a sample list of activities which might be happening in your school, and are not required by NESA.

The common themes across schools include excessive unit evaluations, annotations and/or reflections, excessive detailed annotations for every lesson, and inconsistent standards of program requirements.

Members also identified overuse of General Capabilities and Cross Curriculum Priorities, uploading and linking student work samples, and excessive collection of work samples as contributing to work intensification.

In Catholic schools, members reported they were required to record the Catholic World View or Catholic Values repeatedly throughout programs, with excessive explanations and in every KLA. The NESA Facts Sheets advise schools to carefully consider the purpose of any additional expectations.

This sample list is available on the IEU website for consultation by IEU chapters. In some instances, we have also provided suggested solutions or alternative work practices which might be adopted to address workload issues.

If chapters identify activities identified as excessive in their school, they are encouraged to commence a professional discussion with the principal and school leadership team to address the unnecessary workload issues these activities create.

IEU organisers and professional engagement officers are available to assist in these professional discussions to ensure workload issues are meaningfully addressed. We have developed a draft chapter motion should it be required.

Please encourage all your colleagues to join the IEU and be part of the solution in improving workloads and conditions.

Link to sample activities see bit.ly/nesaworkloadlist