Here is a list of tasks which do not call for the exercise of the teacher's professional skills an judgement, according to the ATL teachers’ union. Some of them are genuinely no-nos; others should be avoided by teachers early in their career, but become inevitable when a teacher gains extra responsibility. Others, though, need to be treated with care; in some circumstances, they represent valuable opportunities.
1. Collecting money from pupils and parents.
So if Mrs Johnson thrusts an envelope at you breathlessly and explains with a smile ‘the money for tomorrow’s school trip – sorry it’s late’, you simply draw back, flatten yourself against the wall, and gasp ‘no, no, the school office is that way’? Not if you want to enjoy your teaching life, you don’t. Just accept that you were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and promise to drop the money into the school office for her. In some situations, however, you should say ‘No’. It is not your job to train parents, but it is your job to train pupils. You should therefore know in advance where students hand in their money: the school office? the reception desk? the accounts lady?
2. Investigating a pupil's absence
You're not expected to be a detective. You are, though, expected to ask for explanatory notes from parents if you are a form teacher. If your little lambs are typical, this can be quite a task in itself. The trick is to display a week's attendance when you take a register, not just the current day. You can then see which students have been absent earlier in the week, and remind them they need to provide an explanation. Additional guidance is available here ***
3. Bulk photocopying (eg for whole class use).
Virtually all schools have a support team member to carry out reprographics (ie photocopying, scanning, binding etc). You should plan your time and location in order to minimise effort – certainly visiting the reprographic office no more than once a week. You should also ensure that you maintain good relations with the support team, as urgent jobs are sometimes needed, and they tend to occur when everyone else needs urgent jobs too. Most schools also provide photocopying facilities which teachers can use themselves for smaller, ad-hoc copies. You should (a) make sure that you can use these machines without stress or help and (b) make sure that you never need to use them in a hurry - your pressing need will guarantee that the machine malfunctions.
4. Typing or making word-processed versions of manuscript material and producing revisions of such versions.
You should seek to have electronic versions of all your teaching material - it will save you time. If support staff are available to help with this, all well and good, but otherwise you should be prepared to invest some time - at quieter periods in the school year - to get all your material word-processed, scanned and backed up on a memory stick.
5. Word processing, copying and distributing bulk communications, including standard letters, to parents and pupils.
It is interesting that 'word-processing' is seen as an add-on task - the implication is that the communication will initially be hand-written. You should ensure that your typing speed is far in excess of your fastest hand-writing (see IT skills audit here) and routinely word-process everything you write. The bulk communication aspect, however, should not form part of your job.
6. Producing class lists on the basis of information provided by teachers
You should routinely keep your own class-lists (to monitor progress) and seating plans, and should be able to extract a class-list from the school administration database to a spreadsheet - without difficulty.
7. Keeping and filing records including records based on data supplied by teachers
You should maintain your own filing of lesson resources and correspondence, and understand how the department and school filing operates, but ONLY with regard to matters which directly affect you. This will vary depending on your role in the school, but you must be able to find or get any important pieces of paper, regardless of where they are filed.
8. Preparing, setting up and taking down classroom displays.
You should be able to prepare electronic designs for what you want to see, as well as hand-drawn sketches.
9. Producing analyses of attendance figures.
...and...
10. Producing analyses of examination results.
You should not be analysing any metrics. You may of course, choose to collect your own.
11. Collating pupil reports.
You should seek to provide the necessary information for pupil reports with as little effort as possible. This is unlikely to involve keying reports into the school administration system (see ***). A word-processed or spreadsheet solution is likely to be involved, in order to do the work efficiently.
12. Administration of work experience
Of course, teachers will offer advice, may visit students and complete feedback forms. The definition of what is and isn't 'administration' appears to be negotiable.
13. Administration of public and internal examinations.
Teachers are likely to be involved, though the level of involvement will vary from course to course and school to school. If specialised facilities are required (Computing, Art, etc) or if students need specialised guidance on the examination process, a teacher is likely to work in tandem with an examinations officer, particularly for internal examinations. From a time-management perspective, the key point is that you should make sure that you know well in advance exactly what is expected of you, and address
14. Administration of cover for absent teachers.
If a teacher is absent, a non-teaching member of staff may take the lesson (in different schools this role has different names, including cover supervisor and learning supervisor) or a cover teacher may be hired for the day. Teaching staff should provide cover only in exceptional circumstances, and you should contact your professional association if you are routinely asked to do work of this kind.
However, if the absence is unexpected (for example sudden illness) there may not be time for lesson material to be prepared, and in this situation, your goodwill may be drawn upon to help.
15. Ordering, setting up and maintaining ICT equipment and software.
...and...
16. Ordering supplies and equipment.
...and...
17. Cataloguing, preparing, issuing and maintaining materials and equipment and stocktaking the same.
The activity of ordering materials - especially specialist equipment, varies from school to school. In some, teachers play no part. In others, there is a two-stage process. in these schools, the placing of purchase orders with external suppliers is carried out by support staff, but those orders are based on requirements provided by teachers. Of course, this has an advantage for the teachers - they get exactly what they ask for; but frequently this involves little less work than doing the orders themselves. If you are asked to contribute to ordering, of if you feel the need to contribute, make sure that this does not become a distraction from your main role, and make sure that it does not set a precedent.
18. Taking verbatim notes or producing formal minutes of meetings (teachers may be required to coordinate action points if necessary).
...and...
19. Coordinating and submitting bids (for funding, school status, etc). (Teachers may be required to give input into the content of the bids.)
Again - like ordering - in some schools a two-stage process has evolved, where teachers do not write or submit the bids, but just 'provide information' which is then copied into the bids. Again, if you are asked to, or feel the need to contribute, time box that contribution and avoid any precedent.
20. Transferring manual data about pupils into computerised school management systems. (Teachers should not be expected to input initial data electronically.)
...and...
21. Managing the data in school management systems.
Do not do data entry.