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Why are some headteachers still micromanaging teachers even during lockdown?

Some heads are still finding ways to micromanage staff – and parents – during the school shutdown…

Anonymous
by Anonymous
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With very short notice and very little guidance, schools were told in March that they were closing but staying open for key worker children.

Countless phone calls were made and hundreds of messages were sent out to parents to find out how many children would be attending school. It was a tremendous effort.

On top of this, schools were dealing with staff self-isolation, anxious parents, free school meal provision and ensuring safeguarding concerns for particular children were being addressed.

Book scrutinies and learning walks were immediately cancelled. Good leaders sensibly balanced the need for education provision alongside pupil, family and staff wellbeing.

However, I was also inundated with teachers concerned with what was being asked of them. My inbox had never been so busy. It was very clear that some heads didn’t want teachers to be at home doing nothing. They didn’t want teachers being paid for nothing.

So they set out some very clear guidance as to how they should spend their time.

Firstly, some schools told all staff to come in even though they knew only a small number of children would be present. Surplus staff were asked to tidy cupboards, update display boards, complete curriculum mapping or order resources.

Soon, some schools devised a timetable for when staff should come in (to cover Easter holidays too). Part-time staff were told that they had to come into school on days they wouldn’t normally teach.

In addition, teachers were given CPD tasks to do at home and had to complete evaluation sheets when they’d finished them. Chapters from educational books were sent out to read. Some heads were asking for September planning to be completed by Easter.

In one school, teachers had to email a daily summary of the work they’d done at home by 3pm and state how long it took.

On top of this, teachers were being asked to plan for both children who were not coming to school and those who were.

Online platforms were quickly set up so children could upload work for teachers to look at. A friend of mine was told she had to make comments on anything a child had uploaded within 24 hours.

A very upset teacher told me that the head had informed staff he wanted to moderate some of the online work being uploaded by Y3 pupils.

Some teachers were suddenly expected to provide online lessons using platforms they were unfamiliar with. Others refused to take part in online conferencing with pupils because of safeguarding concerns.

One teacher told me she was put under enormous pressure to provide video calls with pupils to ensure ‘progress doesn’t slip’.

Another complained that his head unexpectedly appeared in a live online video lesson he was teaching with students. He didn’t say anything – just listened for a few minutes and then left.

Later, it transpired that the head was carrying out quality control observations to ensure children were still receiving a good education. Madness.

As a parent myself, I appreciate my children’s school. They uploaded some ideas for pupils but said it was voluntary. If we wanted to, we could share the children’s work on an online platform the school had set up. Parents are working at home too and trying to homeschool is not easy for some.

One teacher anonymously sent me a copy of the letter that was sent to parents. They were being encouraged to follow the same 9am-3pm routine at home. The letter encouraged parents to teach all the subjects as normal to ensure ‘consistency’. The teacher was furious.

The letter went on to say that expectations of work were still very high, and that work would be sent back to pupils if it wasn’t good enough.

As a teacher, I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching my own children over the last few weeks. We do a bit of maths and English and a foundation subject. Some days we don’t do anything, while on others we do more.

I haven’t had to follow a long list of non-negotiables and nobody is dropping into my lessons with a clipboard to scrutinise every second of my teaching. I’ve loved it.

It would be great if some leaders could use this time to reflect on their micromanagement ways and think more about reducing workload, excessive scrutiny and accountability measures, ready for when schools open again.

It’s going to take a long time for schools to recover from this, but some good might come out of it. Fingers crossed.

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