Graham Butt

Teacher Job Satisfaction: Lessons from the TSW Pathfinder Project.

Government policy assumes that modernization and remodelling will be effective as external intervention mechanisms to improve job satisfaction. Based on data collected as part of the evaluation of the ‘Transforming the School Workforce Pathfinder Project’, an argument is presented here which suggests that internal management models may be more effective in improving teacher job satisfaction. By comparing the responses of teachers within primary and special schools with those from secondary schools, internal factors are identified which may be more relevant than externally imposed measures.

Secondary Teacher Workload and Job Satisfaction: Do Successful Strategies for Change Exist?.

This article analyses the views of secondary school teachers involved in the Transforming the School Workforce: Pathfinder Project—a project designed to address issues of teacher workload and job satisfaction. The initiative was launched in 2002 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to enable 32 pilot schools to explore ways in which they might restructure their working practices and reduce teacher workload. Funding was provided for schools to benefit from consultancy support, the training of headteachers, the employment of additional teaching assistants, the provision of ICT hardware and software, the training of bursars/school managers and for capital build projects. Here we concentrate on the evaluation of the Pathfinder Project with particular reference to possible changes in workload and job satisfaction of secondary teachers in the 12 secondary schools involved in the project. The reported weekly and holiday hours worked by secondary teachers are analysed across the duration of the project, as are patterns of evening and weekend work. Teachers’ views on job satisfaction are also analysed in conjunction with their perspectives on workload, culminating in a discussion of their solutions to the problems of excessive workload. The relationship between teacher workload, job satisfaction and work-life balance is explored within the context of the future modernization of the entire school workforce.

Modernizing the Roles of Support Staff in Primary Schools: Changing Focus, Changing Function.

In this article we describe the ways in which primary schools involved in the ‘Transforming the School Workforce: Pathfinder Project’ in England addressed the opportunity to restructure their working practices. The Project was established in 2002 by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) primarily to help fund pilot schools to make interventions into the ways in which they were resourced, managed and organized—interventions that have often affected the whole schools workforce, and in particular the focus and function of the work of their support staff. Here we concentrate on the evaluation of the Pathfinder Project with particular reference to the changing roles of teaching assistants in primary schools, although we draw upon evidence gathered from all the schools involved in the Project. The range of different initiatives introduced to change the work of support staff is explored, as well as the resultant impact on the workloads of teachers within the schools. We discuss how the Project has facilitated innovative practice in remodelling the work of support staff and place this within the context of the changing policy agenda on workload in English schools.

Mentors’ Use of Dialogue within a Secondary Initial Teacher Education Partnership

ABSTRACT This paper analyses conversations between mentors and students, recorded during a major placement on a 1 year secondary Postgraduate Certificate in Education course. Analysis of dialogue between eight mentors and 15 students confirms the complexity of the mentor role which others have described. The importance attached to particular roles seems to vary from one mentor to another and this may lead to a mismatch between the needs of individual students and what the mentor offers. Scrutiny of the nature of the interactions, based on discourse analysis, indicates significant differences between mentors. An extension of the range of roles which mentors are able to play together with the capacity to vary style of interaction may help to maximise the potential for student learning within the mentoring context.

Teachers, time and work: findings from the Evaluation of the Transforming the School Workforce Pathfinder Project

Teachers work and workload have been major factors in the recruitment, retention and revitalization of the profession. In January 2003 the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) launched a major reform known as remodelling, by which the work–life balance would be improved by freeing teachers up to teach, and using other members of the workforce (teaching and learning support assistants, administrators and bursars, technicians and welfare and counselling staff) to take on work that teachers need no longer do. This reform is in progress, and while there is anecdotal evidence of both the benefits and concerns of remodelling, there is no formal research evidence. However, prior to this initiative the DfES trialled these changes in 32 pilot schools, and a team from the University of Birmingham evaluated it. In this paper we examine this data with regard to the possibilities and opportunities afforded by remodelling and we consider how the pilot data generates important questions and illuminates contradictions in the modernization project.

International perspectives on the future of geography education: an analysis of national curricula and standards

Geography as a school subject is expressed in a wide variety of ways across different national jurisdictions. This article explores some of the issues arising from attempts to represent geography as a subject for study in schools through the organisational structures offered by national standards and/or national curricula. It serves as an introduction to this special issue, which primarily concerns itself with the contemporary analysis of geography education in seven national settings across the globe. We stress the importance of considering political, cultural, social and philosophical traditions when analysing the curriculum choices made for geography education. Although it may be assumed that geography as a disciplinary specialism is concerned with a body of knowledge that is common across the globe, the creative tensions generated between the disciplines, educational trends and matters of social or policy concern play out differently, making comparisons across jurisdictions hazardous. Understanding this, we argue, is of great significance to those who plan and shape the geography curriculum. Despite the difficulties we hope to offer something more useful than a series of descriptions of geography teaching in different national settings. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a set of robust and irresistible arguments for the inclusion of the study of geography in schools. We argue that geographical knowledge is a vital component of the education of young people across the globe, even though it may be expressed in different ways in different national settings.

‘I am not the teacher!’: some effects of remodelling the roles of teaching assistants in English primary schools

Remodelling the roles, responsibilities and working practices of all school staff has been central to the governments modernisation agenda for English state schools. This is typified by a determination to review and change the distribution of tasks undertaken by teachers and teaching assistants (TAs). Whilst there has been a substantial increase in the numbers of TAs employed in schools there is still a lack of clarity about their roles and about the impact of remodelling on the working lives of both teachers and assistants. Evidence from the Transforming the School Workforce: Pathfinder Project, conducted immediately prior to the launch of the National Agreement in 2003, indicates that initial concerns about the ways in which TAs were being deployed are still very apparent. Here the authors focus on management and professional development issues arising from TAs adopting more pedagogical roles in schools.

Influences on British South Asian women’s choice of teaching as a career: “you’re either a career person or a family person; teaching kind of fits in the middle”

This article reports the findings of the first year of a four year research project into the influences on British South Asian women’s choice of teaching as a career. Trainees from minority ethnic groups on a secondary PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) course in the English West Midlands were invited to discuss, both in focus groups and in response to semi‐structured interview questions, the reasons why they chose to enter teacher training and the issues they faced during the training period. The results reported here highlight the strong, positive influences of family and culture on the trainees’ choice of career, and their perceptions of why teaching offers them flexible and high status employment at the point of career entry. Subsequent research has tracked these trainees’ at the culmination of their first year of teaching, and will also monitor their views at the end of their third year in schools. The study is located in the UK, referring to both policy and literature relevant to this context. In contrast to the findings of much published research into the experiences of minority ethnic trainees in Initial Teacher Training (ITT) in the UK, which present negative perceptions of the training process, this study found that British South Asian women were broadly positive about the courses they took, their relationships with tutors, teachers and mentors, and the provision made for them by partnership schools. They were mainly optimistic about their prospects of career advancement and confident that they could combine a job in the teaching profession with other life demands relating to family, religious faith, culture and community.

Boys' Underachievement in Geography: An Issue of Ability, Attitude or Assessment?.

Considerable evidence now exists of the problem of boys’ underachievement in a wide range of academic subjects, including geography. This paper offers examples of, and suggests tentative solutions to, problems of underachievement based on the findings generated by a research project conducted in an English secondary school. In so doing it raises questions about the ways in which geography is often taught and assessed, and considers the extent to which these factors determine the different levels of performance of the genders. We conclude by questioning whether the readily observed gender differences in assessed performance in geography are predominantly related to the students’ innate abilities, attitudes or to the types of assessment regularly used to measure their levels of attainment.

Exploring the use of complexity theory and action research as frameworks for curriculum change

This paper considers the impact of a small-scale action research project which focused on the development of an emergent approach to curriculum making in a general certificate in secondary education course in geography. In this context, we argue that complexity thinking offers a useful theoretical foundation from which to understand the nature of dynamic pedagogic change resulting from the application of action research methods. Results show that process-focused curriculum change can bring about shifts in both learning and assessment. This is seen as being the result of an emergence orientated approach to action research as a counter to more reductionist approaches which are often used and advocated in educational settings by teachers. We conclude that a combination of complexity thinking and action research can offer a valuable medium through which the educational needs of learners and teachers can be addressed in different, localized contexts.