Key steps

On this page you will find details of key steps which the Department requires all schools to undertake. In particular, the 24 non-teaching tasks that should be transferred from teachers to support staff by September 2003.

Teachers should not routinely do administrative and clerical tasks. The School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document will be changed to reflect the provisions below.

Teachers should have support so that they can focus on teaching and learning and expect administrative and clerical processing to be done by support staff.

Consequently, teachers should not routinely be required to undertake administrative and clerical tasks, including:

Collecting money
Chasing absences: teachers will need to inform the relevant member of staff when students are absent from their class or from school
Bulk photocopying
Copy typing
Producing standard letters: teachers may be required to contribute as appropriate in formulating the content of standard letters
Producing class lists: teachers may be required to be involved as appropriate in allocating students to a particular class
Record keeping and filing: teachers may be required to contribute to the content of records
Classroom display: teachers will make professional decisions in determining what material is displayed in and around their classroom
Analysing attendance figures: it is for teachers to make use of the outcome of analysis
Processing exam results: teachers will need to use the analysis of exam results
Collating pupil reports
Administering work experience: teachers may be required to support pupils on work experience (including through advice and visits)
Administering examinations: teachers have a professional responsibility for identifying appropriate examinations for their pupils
Administering teacher cover
ICT trouble shooting and minor repairs
Commissioning new ICT equipment
Ordering supplies and equipment: teachers may be involved in identifying needs
Stocktaking
Cataloguing, preparing, issuing and maintaining equipment and materials
Minuting meetings: teachers may be required to communicate action points from meetings
Coordinating and submitting bids: teachers may be required to make a professional input into the content of bids
Seeking and giving personnel advice
Managing pupil data: teachers will need to make use of the analysis of pupil data
Inputting pupil data: teachers will need to make the initial entry of pupil data into school management systems.

Consequently, the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document will be changed so that every teacher, including the headteacher and other members of the leadership team, has a timetable that provides (in addition to PPA) a reasonable allocation of time in support of their leadership and management responsibilities. This would be additional to provisions about work/life balance as above.

These provisions cannot hope to cover all the time needed to discharge the relevant responsibilities: for most staff, they will make only a contribution. Schools' ability to make progress with this area of change will depend critically on their use of available resources.

The changes will be promulgated in draft early in 2003, to take effect in every school from September 2003 at the latest, with schools working towards the changes as far as possible prior to that.

As you may be aware there is also a 25th task for this list:

Invigilating examinations

The target date for the transfer of this task is September 2005. However, you should be working towards the changes as far as possible prior to that. During the period to September 2005, schools should maximise the use of support staff as external examination invigilators.