Thursday, September 13, 2012

But where have all the teachers gone?

As schools get ready to implement the Right to Education Act, worries are mounting on where they are going to get their teachers from. Teachers are in short supply, and the situation is going to get worse

The single-storey brick-coloured façade could easily be missed if it weren’t for the arched iron signage perched over its entrance. The building — with its cramped rooms, white vitrified tiles and paan-stained walls — looks dilapidated. But the structure is actually a teachers’ training institute, one of the four run by Delhi University. The Maharshi Valmiki College of Education works out of a rented building that it shares with a government school.
“Located in Delhi, the capital, this should have been one of the best BEd (bachelor of education) training institutes in the country. But who is bothered,” asks a frustrated staff member.
Indeed, is anybody bothered?
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld a government decision to implement the Right to Education (RTE) Act in all schools except unaided minority institutions. One of the key features of this ambitious plan is to maintain a healthy pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) in schools. For every 30 students, there should be at least one teacher.
“But where are the teachers,” asks Ambarish Rai, national convener, RTE Forum, a civil society collective comprising around 10,000 non-government organisations and education networks.
Human resource and development minister Kapil Sibal says there is a shortage of 12 lakh government school teachers. The Unesco Institute of Statistics goes one step further. In a 2010 report, it says India will need 20 lakh new teachers by 2015.
“In Delhi alone, 12,000 posts in government schools are lying vacant,” says Rai. It is estimated that in addition to filling existing vacancies, the government will need to appoint another 5.1 lakh teachers to meet the new PTR norm.
Rai adds that almost 53.2 per cent of India’s schools have a poor PTR. The situation is going to get worse with the RTE seeking to ensure education for all. It is expected to reach out to an estimated 8.1 million out-of-school children in the 6-14 age group. The shortage will be more acute as new government schools come up to accommodate the student surge.
A generation ago, teaching in schools was still an attractive profession, with some of the best students opting for it. But with job opportunities mushrooming across sectors, it’s now one of the last choices of a jobseeker. After all, the salary of a call centre employee is double that of a mid-level teacher in a top private school.
“In India, teaching is not seen as a high status profession and toppers do not opt for it,” points out Aruna Sankaranarayanan, director, Prayatna, Centre for Educational Assessment and Intervention, Bangalore. “In countries such as Finland, Belgium, Singapore, South Korea and Japan, teachers are paid well. These countries make teaching competitive by selecting only the cream of graduates for teacher training programmes,” she adds.
There are many reasons those with good grades look down upon teaching. “Outdated teaching practices are keeping students away from this profession in government schools; in private schools it’s the poor pay,” says Ameeta Mulla Wattal, principal, Springdales School, Delhi, and vice-chairperson, National Progressive Schools Conference, a body of 120-odd private schools from across the country. “Most private schools don’t adhere to the Sixth Pay Commission salary scales,” Wattal adds.
Even graduates who are inclined to teach are finding jobs outside of schools. “Language teachers are in high demand in the corporate sector. Multinational education companies need teachers too,” says Rita Wilson, former deputy secretary, Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.
To tide over the shortage, state government schools have started employing para-teachers or contract teachers. According to a review analysis by the ministry of human resource and development (MHRD), 7.74 lakh teachers in government schools are untrained. Para-teachers are the norm in primary schools in Madhya Pradesh (with 52 per cent such teachers) and Chhattisgarh (41 per cent). “Para-teachers have no teaching qualifications. They undergo some refresher trainings and are paid salaries as low as Rs 3,000 a month,” Rai explains.
That the situation is dire can be gauged from the shortages in private schools. Though figures are not available, principals stress that filling up teaching posts is one of the biggest hurdles they face.
Take the case of Indus World School. When it was launched in 2006, promoters found it difficult to hire teachers who could adopt child-centric teaching methodologies. The school finally recruited candidates with strong subject knowledge, at times even without a BEd degree, and then trained them. “We hire high potential people and invest in quality training programmes,” says Sujit Bhattacharya, director, Indus World School.
Another reason for the shortage is the growing demand for Indian teachers in the West. “A teacher who earns around Rs 35,000 a month in India could be paid around Rs 1.5 lakh in Britain,” says Nikhil Indrasenan, head, training, Randstad India Ltd, a human resources outsourcing company. “Countries in Africa, West Asia and Europe have a demand for Indian teachers for English, mathematics and science,” he adds. Recently Vietnam also expressed an interest in hiring Indian teachers.
With some of the best teachers leaving for greener pastures, it’s not surprising that even private schools can’t retain teachers. “We have now started a no-poaching policy among our member schools [banning schools from hiring teachers from other schools],” says Anu Monga, principal, Bangalore International School, and chairperson, The Association of International Schools of India. “This is one way of curbing high attrition rates.”
Educationists stress that lack of training institutes is another serious problem. There are only 1,178 government-run institutions and 12,689 self-financed affiliated colleges running teacher education programmes. The training in many of the institutes is abysmally poor.
Private education firms are now running their own training schools. “We have to re-train our teachers as our BEd syllabi are outdated,” says Ranjan Mitra, principal, Future Foundation, Calcutta. Schools have started tying up with education companies to enhance teachers’ subject-specific skills.
Schools too have jumped on the bandwagon. “We’ve started our own training school in pre-primary teacher education,” says Vikram Ahuja, chairperson, Euro Schools, Jodhpur, and master franchisee for Eurokids Teacher Training Institute, Rajasthan. “Since we were in a small town, we faced a tremendous shortage of trained teachers.”
Government schools are also taking the help of private education companies. “We have conducted training programmes for government schools in collaboration with state governments, for example, in the Northeast,” says Naveen Rajlani, senior vice-president, ELT and School, Pearson Education India.
Remedial measures are now in the offing. The National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), a statutory body that looks after teacher education programmes, has revised the curriculum and set up a National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education, 2009, for universities to adopt. However, most states are yet to introduce the new measures.
“Till date we have made only some cosmetic changes to our syllabus. Delhi University too has introduced a new curriculum but it’s yet to be passed,” says Prabhjot Kulkarni, principal, Maharshi Valmiki College of Education.
To monitor the quality of teachers, every teacher being hired by government and aided private schools will now have to appear in a Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET) conducted by the CBSE. However, in 2012 — the second year of the CTET — 93 per cent of teacher candidates failed the test.
“The quality is poor because nobody is training teacher educators. Those languishing in government institutions need to be trained to impart skills of modern teaching methodologies,” holds Marmar Mukhopadhyay, former joint director, National University of Educational Planning and Administration.
The MHRD, on its part, accepts there is a problem. “It is unfortunate that we are unable to attract bright minds,” says minister Sibal. “The private training institutes are of poor quality and the government-run ones lack infrastructure.”
The minister, however, has ambitious plans of reviving education colleges. “We have set up a committee that supersedes the NCTE and will be inspecting training institutes. Universities will open up more training colleges,” he says. “Under RTE, all government schoolteachers will get 18 months of refresher training,” adds Sibal.
The government, he adds, has allocated Rs 6,000 crore in the 12th Five Year plan for strengthening these institutions. Six lakh teaching posts have already been sanctioned. The MHRD wants all schools to adhere to RTE norms by 2015. Non-compliance could lead to closure.
Till then, when an Indian child goes to school, the teacher is likely to be undertrained. But that’s still a lucky child. Somewhere else, there may be no teacher at all.

Number crunching in government schools
Existing shortage of teachers:
12 lakh
New teachers need by 2015:
20 lakh
Posts sanctioned in the states:
6 lakh
Additional primary teachers needed to meet RTE specification: 5.1 lakh
Contract teachers as of 2006: 5 lakh
Unqualified teachers in government schools: 7.74 lakh
(Figures based on MHRD, Unesco, Unicef)
Number crunching in private schools
Teachers with a BEd degree: 77 per cent
Schools having teacher appraisals only once every two or three years: 25 per cent
No involvement in policy decisions: 55 per cent
Teachers trained on teaching methodologies: 35 per cent
(Figures based on the Quality Education Study conducted by Wipro and Educational Initiatives)
Training the educator
Government-run training institutions: 1,178
Self-financed affiliated colleges: 12,689
(Figures by the National Council for Teacher Education)

Teachers and the Law

We hear often enough about the high expectations we have of teachers and the difficulties they face in terms of working conditions, compensation and resources available to do their job. We also hear about teachers’ strikes and the associated demands made by unionised teacher groups. While government teachers do have some form of recourse to speak up for their rights, teachers in the private sector are usually not adequately informed nor have access to means of demanding redressal of grievances. This article outlines some of the rights and legal provisions available to teachers. While the wide variation across teaching contexts and situations makes it difficult for any uniform application of legal or professional policies, teachers can take the first step to change by staying informed.
In October 2008, a teacher with work experience of nine years was offered a salary of Rs. 3,000/- per month by a city school, an amount that is probably less than what she would have spent on conveyance had she accepted the job.
This salary for the job of teaching a class of 40 students, correcting their notebooks regularly, conducting tests and correcting test papers, maintaining discipline, being a role model, inculcating in them good values, performing administrative and other duties that a teacher is called upon to fulfill. This salary of Rs. 3,000/- for imparting knowledge and building the nation.
In another instance, a school teacher was subjected to disciplinary action by the school management, for raising her voice at a student who was misbehaving in the class.Interestingly, there are about 38 Supreme Court judgments reported in Judis (Judgment Information Centre) on issues relating to teachers from January to August 2008. In All India Reporter, another database for court judgments, in 2007, about 21 Supreme Court judgments on teachers’ issues have been reported. Similarly, in the year 2006 it was 16, in 2005, 21, in 2004, 20 and so on. A miniscule number, one may say, compared to the total number of cases decided and reported every year. However, these cases only reinforce the growing discontent among the declining number of professionals taking to teaching.
No wonder, then, as noted by Mohammad Akhtar Siddiqui, Chairperson, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), in a recent media report, “There’s a shortage of three lakh teachers at the elementary level in India”. The situation at the higher education level is no better. The reasons, he believes are that “we give our teachers authority and responsibility but not autonomy to experiment and innovate”.

Under these circumstances, with the ever increasing demands/expectations from students/parents/management and the society on the one hand and an unequal rather mismatched reward mechanism in terms of status and economic compensation on the other, is it not apt for teachers to, at the least, be cognizant of their rights that go hand in hand with their responsibilities, if not fight for them?
In fact, the government at various levels, some NGOs and many organisations such as the Jan Shiksha Adhiniyam are working jointly and/or independently towards ensuring the enjoyment of rights by teachers. Yet, unless the efforts at individual institution level are strengthened, a perceivable change cannot be brought about.
It is imperative that teachers are made aware of their basic rights even as a host of responsibilities are thrust on them. Some of these rights are listed below:
  • Teachers cannot be deputed for non-teaching tasks except with explicit orders of Government so as to provide them with more time to focus on improving the quality of education.
  • Teachers have the right for their professional development.
  • Teachers, though governed by the rules of the organisation they work for, have full freedom to enjoy their fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression bestowed on them by the Constitution of India.
  • Dress codes such as sari cannot be forced upon women teachers. As long as they are decently dressed, it should suffice.
  • Minimum salary, as prescribed by the board to which the educational institute is affiliated to, has to be paid to the teacher.
  • Teachers cannot be subjected to racial/gender discrimination at the work place.
  • Teachers cannot be forced to practice, advocate a certain religion.
  • Teachers have a right to form unions/associations and put forth their requirements before the authorities concerned.
  • Teachers have a right to security of tenure (subject to contractual conditions).
  • Teachers have a right against sexual harassment at their work place.
  • Teachers have a right to human rights education.
  • Teachers have right to privacy, or to keep one’s image and likeness from being exploited without permission or contractual compensation.
  • Teachers have a right to publicity/use of one’s identity.
  • Teachers have a right to attribution, the right to have a work published anonymously or pseudonymously and the right to the integrity of the work (i.e. it cannot be distorted or otherwise mutilated).
It is pertinent to note that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and International Labour Organisation (ILO) framed recommendations, back in 1966, on improving the status of teachers in India by equipping them with adequate knowledge of their rights and responsibilities.
While it may be not be justified to say that the spirit and letter of the ILO recommendations have not been incorporated by the National Policy of Education, 1986, yet there is indisputably a lot more left to be done in terms of actual practice and implementation. This is evident from the fact that even today, according to a recent study, at least 50 per cent of the Indian teachers do not have access to information pertaining to their rights, leave alone demanding/putting forth their ideas.
Amidst this, at another, very theoretical level, some purists profess that responsibilities of a teacher alone need constant scrutiny and more stress, citing Abraham Lincoln’s (the sixteenth President of the United States) famous letter to the headmaster of his son’s school extracted below, which is certainly as relevant today as it was then:
“…teach him if you can, that a dollar earned is of far more value than five found… In school, teach him it is far more honourable to fall than to cheat… Teach him to listen to all men; but teach him also to filter all he hears on a screen of truth, and take only the good that comes through… Teach him to sell his brawn and brain to the highest bidders; but never to put a price tag on his heart and soul. This is a big order, but see what you can do…”
However, are these responsibilities, by being a tall order in themselves, not an adequate reason for a teacher to be provided with proportionate rights? In the contemporary context, it is perhaps superfluous to emphasise that the responsibilities of a teacher without parallel and proportionate rights are akin to a coin with just one side, an unthinkable proposition, to say the least, in common parlance and definitely a perceptible wrong liable to penal action in legal parlance.

Teacher Motivation in India


Teachers - An Overview
The 1964 National Education Commission report, penned by eminent educationist Dr. D.S. Kothari, comprehensively addressed most aspects of teacher management, motivation and performance. The report noted:
1. There should be no teacher at the primary stage that has not completed the secondary school course and does not have two years of training.
2. It is necessary to improve promotional prospects in order to attract and retain talent.
3. Qualified and trained teachers in primary schools should be considered for promotion as headmasters and inspectors of schools.
4. Salaries should be reviewed every five years and dearness allowances (linked to the cost of living index) should be the same as other government servants at the same salary.
5. The government must establish a welfare fund.
6. Retirement benefits, based on the principles of uniformity and parity, must be provided along with a high rate of interest on provident fund of teachers.
7. Minimum facilities required for efficient work must be provided (no details) – residential accommodation in rural areas.
8. Teachers in tribal areas should be given special allowances, residential accommodation and provision for education of their children in residential schools.
9. National awards.
10. Remove the isolation of teacher training from ground situations.
This report has been the reference point for all subsequent work on teachers in India. The 1986 National Policy on Education (NPE) and the supporting document - Programme of Action of 1992 - tried to reframe some of the main provisions of the landmark 1964 report. The NPE 1986 devotes a section on “The Teacher”:
The status of the teacher reflects the socio-cultural ethos of a society; it is said that no people can rise above the level of its teachers. The government and the community should endeavour to create conditions that will help motivate and inspire teachers on constructive and creative lines. Teachers should have the freedom to innovate, and to devise appropriate methods of communication and activities relevant to the needs, capabilities and concerns of the community.
The methods of recruiting teachers will be reorganised to ensure merit, objectivity and conformity with spatial and functional requirements. The pay and service conditions of teachers have to be commensurate with their social and professional responsibilities and with the need to attract talent to the profession. Efforts will be made to reach the desirable objective of uniform emoluments, service conditions and grievance-removal mechanisms for teachers throughout the country. Guidelines will be formulated to ensure objectivity in the posting and transfers of teachers. Systems for teachers’ evaluation – open, participative and data based – will be created and reasonable opportunities of promotion to higher grades provided. Norms of accountability will be laid down with incentives for good performance and disincentives for non-performance. Teachers will continue to play a crucial role in the formulation and implementation of educational programmes.” (National Policy on Education 1986 (with modification undertaken in 1992), MHRD, GOI, 1992, part IX, pages 43-44) While reiterating the fundamentals of the 1964 report, the Programme of Action of 1992 stressed four important issues:
1. Pay and service conditions of teachers have to be commensurate with their social and professional responsibilities and with the need to attract talent to the profession.
2. Teachers’ association must play a significant role in upholding professional integrity, enhancing the dignity of the teacher and curbing professional misconduct.
3. Teachers’ education is a continuous process and the pre-service and in-service components are inseparable. To this end, DIETs must be established to organize pre-service and in-service training. As DIETs are established, sub-standard institutions will be phased out. Secondary Teachers’ Training Colleges will be upgraded to complement the SCERTs.
4. The NCTE will be mandated to accredit institutions for teachers’ education and provide guidance regarding curricula and methods.
Educational, social and economic profile of teachers
“The primary school teacher is doing more difficult work than the middle or secondary level School teacher. The primary teacher has to start from zero, whereas the secondary teacher gets ‘ready students’ they just have to complete the course. It is unfortunate that the primary School teacher does more work, and receives less pay. Quite apart from this salary, the teacher is called a Grade III teacher. The definition by itself is lowly. The allocation of power is faulty. The person who builds the foundation is called ‘grade three’. This is an insulting way of grading a person. It creates dissatisfaction and is the cause of de-motivation too.”
Teachers in primary schools are expected to have completed 10 to 12 years of general education and acquired either a diploma or a degree in education. A two-year training programme was introduced in the 1950s and separate non-university teachers’ training establishments were set up for this purpose CABE, a statutory body that approves education policy and norms for the appointment of teachers), and the NCTE, another apex body established in 1973 that makes norms for teachers’ education, have stipulated that 12 years of general education plus two years of professional training are mandatory for appointing primary schoolteachers.
Pay and non-salary benefits
Teachers’ salaries in India are comparable with public sector employees with similar qualification. Furthermore, at 3.6 times the average per capita income, salaries of primary schoolteachers in India are better than those in middle-income countries as Chile, Costa Rica and Thailand, although worse than other low-income countries such as Kenya, Malawi and Zambia.
Entry-level salaries of schoolteachers are comparable with those of other professionals with the same educational qualifications (Table 3.11). Since 1997 (when the Fifth Pay Commission revised the salaries of government employees across the country), salaries of government teachers have become extremely attractive. While nearly all the teachers we met during the course of the study appreciated this increase, we found better salaries alone were not enough to enhance motivational levels.
The entry-level salary and allowances of a primary school teacher at 2001 value in 2003 is Rs. 90996 per annum, while the GDP per capita for India for the same period is US $ 462 at 2001 value in 2003 (HDR, 2003). This implies that the salary of a primary school teacher is 4.59 times the per capita GDP of the country.
The maximum salary of a trained teacher after 20 years of service may be nearly four times the entry-level salary. The government also provides fixed non-salary benefits like actual medical reimbursement, advances/loans for houses, retirement benefits (provident fund and/or pension on retirement @ 50% of the last pay drawn plus dearness allowances as declared by the government from time to time). Automatically, teachers move from one pay scale to the next after 9, 18 and 27 years of “satisfactory service”.
Incentives and awards
One of the ironies of the Indian education system is that there is practically no incentive for performers. Teachers move up the ladder according to seniority. The government had introduced a range of awards for teachers in 1950. Discussions with teachers and stakeholders revealed that selection for awards now rarely depended on performance on the ground and was more a function of a teacher’s ability to lobby with the decision-makers. They also informed us that the award system had become highly politicised in the last 15 years and the situation had deteriorated.
Job Satisfaction and Motivation
The issue of job satisfaction and motivation is explored from different dimensions. This selection start with the reasons for choosing and whether teachers are happy with their vocation, followed by teacher’s voices on why they are satisfied or not satisfied. It then explores what head teachers have to say about the motivation levels of teachers and the challenges they face in sustaining motivation levels among the teachers in their respective schools. We conclude by exploring what could be done to motivate teachers and the role of the head teachers, the government and the larger community.
Reasons for choosing teaching as a career:
“I wanted to become a Physical Training Instructor (PTI). Since jobs are difficult to get, I applied for the post of grade III teacher also. I got both the jobs but the call letter for PTI came late. So I decided to become a teacher (family pressure was also there).”
“I was selected for the job of a patwari (village level revenue official who maintains records and collects revenue). During training, I was told by the trainer that society always sees a patwari as a corrupt person even though he may be honest. I did not want the label of a corrupt person so I left the training half way. Those days a teacher was viewed with great respect in the community so I changed my profession.”
“I did not want to work but after I got married, my husband was posted in a remote place where I did not have much to do. Therefore, I applied for the job. I did a B. Ed and my marks were good. I had good contacts as my father was well connected. I got this job by luck. I am enjoying it, as the salary is good. I can buy things for myself and for the house and have lot of spare time in my hands. It is also non-transferable (outside the district). It is the best profession for women – I can strike a balance between family and job. I do not have much tension from the HM and enjoy a good understanding with my colleagues.”
Detailed interviews and focus group discussion revealed that some teachers chose the career on the rebound when they could not pursue their preferred career choice. A few teachers made a conscious choice because of the inherent “nobility” of the profession or inspiration from parents or a teacher. However, there is a significant difference between men and women. Women seemed to have picked the profession for different reasons, namely, respectability, security in addition, less work, “can also manage my home and house”. Women teachers talked about how this was the preferred choice of their parents or husband. Some of them took it on because they had nothing else to do, even though their first choice might have been to be a homemaker. The responses of women reflect in gender relations in society – with women citing different reasons for choosing the profession. Teachers pointed out that given the dismal employment situation in the state and the steep increase in the salary of schoolteachers, a number of rural youth were attracted to the profession. Few male teachers admitted that this profession was demanding and left them no time to pursue supplementary vocations. Some male teachers also saw teaching as a stopgap arrangement while preparing for civil service examinations (including entry into the police force, secretarial services, revenue services etc.).
Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction and morale are highly inter-related. To my mind, job satisfaction and morale require a certain basic seriousness about what one is doing. Thereafter, the level of satisfaction or morale may decrease due to prevailing work conditions or other factors. However, government schoolteachers lack this basic seriousness. There is a lot of dissatisfaction and frustration among them but it does not generate any action. Surprisingly, they do not seem interested enough to do anything about it. The blanket perception, therefore, is that the teachers are not satisfied. However, when interventions are designed for them and opportunities provided, one group responds enthusiastically (say about 70%). The remaining 30% still respond cynically.
If the family or community considers teaching a noble profession, the teacher will naturally be more motivated. When someone does their job well, their status in society increases. Until recently, villagers had respect for teachers. Though rich people have also reached the villages, the respect given to officers and the moneyed class is a surface phenomenon. They are driven by fear or sycophancy. The teacher is more respected and in a deeper way. I can give you a very good example: Kalyanpura village is in Chaksu block. Girls here were hardly sent to school. Their numbers were minimal. We started Pehchan Shala. The teacher appointed identified all the girls herself. She built a rapport with the community. Everyone was full of praise for her work. The villagers themselves organized her salary. She had to leave when she got married. A huge party was thrown for her and that day was called Balika Utsav (festival for girls). About 700 girls from all the nearby Pehchan Shalas participated. The villagers organized everything themselves. The function cost almost Rs 20,000!
Discussion with teachers revealed that most of them had not really thought about their vocation as a teacher. Their immediate response was, consequently, superficial: “all is well” and “we are satisfied”. However, this initial response was invariably contradicted as dialogue with them proceeded to deeper levels. In fact, the responses began to come from the heart when the investigators shut their notebooks and the discussions became less formal but more serious.

This is an important issue for researchers. There is little point in asking people to respond to a series of questions without providing space for serious reflection. There was a mismatch between:
• Responses to multiple-choice questions and more in-depth exploration of issues through discussions;
• “Formal responses” in the personal statements and the detailed open-ended responses;
• Casual conversations with teachers before /after the interview and during the formal interviews.
Motivation
We have five teachers in our school. One of them is a dakia, who responds to enquiries that come from above and dispatches data / information to the district or block office. The other is a halwai, who manages the midday meal. The third one is perpetually on training and the fourth is a clerk who has to maintain accounts and pay salaries. Who, then, is left to manage five classes and teach around 200 children?”
The dissonance between what they ticked in the questionnaires and structured interview schedules and what they said during informal interactions was marked when teacher motivation was discussed. We did not notice any significant difference between teachers in rural and urban schools or between men and women.
Teachers had a nuanced understanding of motivation – almost all of them admitted that “motivation” is a dynamic feeling; it changes from time to time. They linked it to the larger environment in which they work and how this affected their sense of self-worth. Their response of the teachers can be categorized as under:
Emotional level:
Teachers complained about feeling demeaned when they were sent out to collect data or for door-to-door polio campaigns. They argued that their job was not do research surveys and campaigns for the government and felt that when they had to do so it affected their social status. The government’s decision to hire Para teachers was a further blow to their self-worth. They felt they were no longer discharging a unique, special duty and that even untrained hands could do what they had been doing hitherto. It was clear that motivation in this case, like in others, hinged on the emotional energy of people. This intangible dimension of motivation had been ignored in the case of teachers. Their sense of emotional well-being had been disturbed by what they felt was shabby treatment when they were made to run errands like taking letters or doing non-academic duties. Their skills and unique strengths had not been appreciated and there was no positive affirmation and encouragement.
Financial level:
Non-receipt of salaries on time and, in particular, the inability of the administration to release timely travel reimbursements and other payments were cited as reasons for poor motivation. Teachers unanimously felt that timely clearance of dues could improve motivation levels. Many teachers said their motivation levels would rise if they were paid extra for performing additional duties and training, because most of them did not see the latter as opportunity for professional growth.
Physical level:
Improvement in the physical facilities – the infrastructure – of schools was perceived as a factor that influenced motivation levels, but physical infrastructure though necessary was not a sufficient condition. Ensuring one room for each class would work as an instant booster, they said. Cleanliness, transport, furniture, drinking water and toilets (for women teachers) – the list was long.
Academic level:
Nearly all teachers talked at length about the number of training workshops they had to attend and the poor quality of training doled out to them. They discussed the problems they faced in handling a multi-grade situation – where two to three classes had to be managed simultaneously. They explained how subject-specific training to manage multi-grade teaching situations would go a long way in enhancing motivation levels of teachers. Some teachers talked about access to better teaching-learning material (TLM).
Role of the head master / head teacher:
Prof. VV John, an eminent educationist once said, “If you have a good head teacher, then you need not do anything. But if you do not have a good head teacher, there is nothing that you can do to turn a school around.” This observation was reflected in practically all our discussions with senior administrators. The head master (HM) or head teacher was not just the leader but also a role model. Administrators said the HM’s role in maintaining discipline (regular attendance of teachers, functioning and teaching) and enhancing motivation levels was important. They admitted that the all-pervasive bureaucratic indifference or inability had rubbed off on the school system too, which had little power to do anything about a teacher who refused to teach. The ability of the HM to provide leadership was constrained by the larger system in which she/he had to function. Yet, a good HM could make a big difference. The tragedy of Rajasthan is that 4,364 posts of HMs are lying vacant and a senior teacher manages many schools. Equally, the head teachers are not given any special training or orientation besides being expected to do a number of administrative duties, including disbursing salaries and approving travel claims.
What administrators say about teacher motivation?
Teachers relax when they get a job. They feel they have achieved their goal once they get into government service. They do not want to work in rural areas – all of them want an urban posting. They lack motivation and commitment to their work.
Teachers are victims of the transfer and posting phenomenon. They have no security of tenure and are constantly haunted by the fear of being transferred. They have to acquire godfathers for protection. Once they develop these contacts and linkages, then there is not need for them to do their job seriously.
There is no database of all teachers at the elementary level or the details on their training. They are sent for training in an ad-hoc manner. Some may attend several training programmes only to escape going to school while others may not attend even one.
The biggest problem is that we have more than required teachers in urban schools and a huge shortage in rural schools. Even if we have to ensure two teachers in each rural school, a large number of teachers would have to be shifted from urban to rural areas. This will lead to strikes and protests by the teacher’s unions.
We met two kinds of administrators. The first group was empathetic to teachers and talked about systemic issues affecting regular teaching and learning in schools. They did not see teachers as villains but cogs in a giant wheel that were but trapped in a hierarchical system rife with corruption. The second group saw teachers as work shirkers and blamed them entirely for poor quality education. The latter was unwilling to explore the systemic issues and insisted that appointing low paid contract teachers was the answer to all the problems of education. It was as however, the two groups were talking about two entirely different worlds. Unfortunately, the latter worldview was more popular among senior civil servants, with a few notable exceptions. We found greater empathy and a more nuanced understanding of the problem of teachers in the lower echelons.
What stakeholders have to say?
We interviewed a range of stakeholders – former teachers, former administrators, NGO leaders and educationists involved in research and training and so on (list annexed). Each one of them had something to say. Reproduced below are some insights:
• If one were seriously dissatisfied about one’s job, one would do something about it. Perhaps, teachers are not really engaged with their profession and their work or feel deeply enough about it.
• The system is such that if you do not take the initiative you cannot go wrong, but if you do then you could get into trouble.
• There is monotony in school teaching. A teacher can be motivated on two things – excited about the way the child’s mind works or linked to the large social context in which schools function when both are absent then teachers have no reason to be motivated or excited with their vocation.
• Teachers are not at all committed to their profession. They treat teaching as a means/ instrument to achieving something they value more– like fewer working hours, being with the family, a good salary. Teaching itself is not a commitment or a passion for a majority of teachers.
• Remuneration is an important factor in teacher motivation. However, by itself, it does not do much. It can be said that it is necessary for teacher motivation but it is not a sufficient condition. A very low remuneration is definitely a de-motivating factor. However, a higher pay does not result in increased motivation. I do not think that a system of cash benefits can increase motivation.
• The workload is tremendous. There are many non-teaching tasks. In the current year, teachers have been involved in educational survey (SSA survey, child tracking), pulse polio (10 days a year), two elections (state, panchayat), electoral list revision and BPL survey. Additionally, the District Collector also involves them in several district-based assignments – working with self-help groups, family planning, drought relief / food-for-work programme etc. They are also co-opted in work related to the mid-day meal scheme, such as keeping records and management of the scheme.
• Training programmes are done with little advanced planning. Without prior schedule, they cannot do the training properly.
• Teachers now spend less time in schools. Actual teaching time is decreasing.
• Teachers have now become more vocal and can articulate their aspirations with the ‘right’ people. They are closer to active politics, can intimidate officials citing political connections.
• Unlike in the past, teachers have no personal linkage with the community. They depended on the local people when there were no facilities. Now better means of transport are available. For example, a teacher comes to school on a motorcycle and leaves after the day’s work is done.
It is difficult to synthesize the observations of stakeholders. We have used their insights and experience to understand this complex issue. Again, the stakeholders, (like the administrators) we interacted with, can be divided in two broad groups. One group understood and appreciated the systemic issues that inform the question of teacher motivation. The other looks at teachers in isolation, as a cadre of self-seeking government servants who are not committed to their work.
Teacher Motivation – What Are The Issues?
As we were preparing for a focus group discussion with teachers in Rajasthan, we realize that the word ‘motivation’ meant different things to different people. We casually asked the teachers if they could tell us who a “motivated teacher” was. After thinking for a while, one of them said, “A ‘motivated’ teacher comes to school every day, does what he is told and provides information the higher ups want!” The answer put us on the mat! We probed further. Apart from the teachers in all the schools, we posed the question to administrators and stakeholders as well. Nearly all the teachers believed that daily attendance and complying with orders and requests for information were reasonable indicators of motivation. Administrators at the district level described a motivated teacher as one who was regular, did what she or he was told and was, largely, compliant. Children were nowhere in the picture, nor were the teaching and learning processes. Learning was incidental to the mountain of data they gathered and fed into the system. Enrolment, attendance, mid-day-meal distribution and participation in training programmes and workshops – cold figures – had become the indices of education.
Administrators, at higher levels, associated motivation with:
• Low absenteeism
• Maintaining discipline
• Proper record keeping
• Collection and supply of educational data
• Utilization of funds allocated for teaching and learning material;
• Giving exercises in the classroom and correcting them.
It was worth to noting that the notion of “quality” was linked to efficient management. As a result, obedience and predictability became pervasive values sought in the system. Actual transaction time, classroom processes and learning outcomes of children did not figure in their first response. Further investigation revealed that the percentage of children clearing the terminal examination at the primary level was also an important indicator. For parents and community leaders, discipline in the school and regular teaching served as clinchers. A teacher, who came regularly, stayed in the school for the stipulated time, did not use excessive force (beating, abusive language, shouting and punishment) and taught with interest was, for them, a motivated teacher. The ability of their children to learn to read, write, and pass examinations was another important indicator.
Educationists, on the other hand, argued that a motivated teacher was one who could communicate with the children. He/she drew energy from his/her interaction with the children, was concerned about what and how much they were learning and his/her ability to attract and retain children in the school. They also believed that only a motivated teacher could build a rapport with the parents and the community and go beyond the call of duty to ensure that every single child attended regularly, even if it meant visiting their homes and persuading the parents to send their children to school.
Discussions on motivation, invariably, led to comparisons with private schools. Teachers, administrators and parents quickly pointed out that private schools attached great importance to discipline, regularity and successful results in yearly as well as public examinations (classes 5, 8, 10 and 12). Almost all the teachers we interacted with in the course of this study sent their own children to private schools. They admitted that irregular attendance of teachers was uncommon in private (aided and unaided) schools and that teachers taught for the stipulated hours/periods.
However, when asked why government schools were different, most could not give us any convincing answers. They ended up blaming the system where the dice is loaded against teachers in primary schools.
India is a large country. It is possible that the gap between the educationist’s perception of motivation and that of teachers, administrators and the larger community will be lower in educationally advanced states like Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh. Yet, administrators and the public agree that there is a definite problem with the education system as a whole. Laypersons and the media squarely blame the teachers – citing absenteeism, bad behavior, and politicization of teachers’ unions and, most importantly, lack of professional ethics. Teachers, on the other hand, argue that the system has pushed them to a point where they have to cultivate politicians to avoid frequent transfers or pay huge bribes to get a job. Administrators, sympathetic to teachers, argue that the obsession of the system with data and targets pertaining to enrolment and retention has deflected attention from the children themselves. The more sensitive among them admit that no one is interested in government schools that cater essentially to poor children. Poor parents and communities do not have a voice. Those who have an option and the resources to exercise it, simply send their children to private schools.
The answer to the question of poor motivation lies buried, perhaps, in the labyrinth of a complex education system. This issue was discussed at length in a recent national meeting of educationists, administrators and practitioners. What emerged is an intricate matrix of cause and effect – where one cannot really discern a clear, one-to-one linear correlation.
The key issues pertaining to the motivation of primary school teachers can be summarized as follows:
First, the education system has expanded rapidly and enrolment rates have shot up. However, growth rate in the number of teachers has not kept pace with the rise in enrolment. The classroom has become very complex. Children from extremely poor families and first generation school-goers account for an overwhelming majority of new students in government schools. Most rural schools are multi-grade with one, or, at most two, teachers managing five classes. Teacher-pupil ratios are also high in such schools.
Second, the social distance between the teachers and the children is wide in government schools (which cater to the very poor). Social attitudes and community prejudices play an important role in determining the ability and willingness of teachers to empathies with children and teach them love (PROBE 1999, Mazumdar 2001, Ramachandran et al, 2004). Recent press reports (especially in the last six months) reveal cases of sexual exploitation of girls in rural as well as urban (municipal) schools. Recently (18February, 2005) a headmaster and three teachers were arrested in New Delhi for raping a 14-year-old girl and another teacher was arrested for sexual abuse of young boys. Senior police officials said teachers used abusive language when they talked to/about children from very poor or socially disadvantaged communities. It was as though they were doing a big favour by teaching children from erstwhile “untouchable” communities or very poor migrant communities from other parts of India and Bangladesh.
Studies on classroom processes done under the aegis of the District Primary Education Project also revealed similar caste and community prejudices (Ramachandran (ed) 2004).
Third, teachers lack the skills to manage so much diversity in the classroom. Training programmes for teachers are designed keeping in view the situation in large urban schools where one teacher manages one class. The problems faced by teachers in multi-grade situations, where teacher-pupil ratios are high, are rarely covered in training programmes. Labels like joyful learning and child- centered learning do not mean anything to teachers who have to deal with social diversity, different levels of students and most importantly, children who are undernourished, hungry and frequently ill (Vimala Ramachandran et al, 2004b). Focus group discussion with teachers in Rajasthan revealed that teachers wanted subject-specific training for multi-grade situations. However, most training programmes focus on generic skills. The mismatch between the problems faced by teachers inside the classroom and training programmes designed by administrators and teacher educators (who have very little idea of a multi-grade class) is stark.
Fourth, systemic issues dealing with corruption (payment for transfers/preventing transfers, deputations, appointments, promotions and special assignments) have vitiated the larger teaching environment in the country. Teachers say this has politicised the environment and actual teaching is rarely monitored. Building networks with patrons and supporters is more important. Teachers, who are in leadership positions in trade unions or affiliated to political parties in power, rarely attend school. Continuation in the job and/or in preferred posts depends on the teacher’s ability to strike the right chord with the people in power. As a result, a highly motivated and honest teacher is one who is transferred to difficult areas. He/she is saddled with a number of non-teaching duties and made a scapegoat when the need arises. Therefore, even though there may be no incentives for performing better, it certainly pays to build networks and cultivate godfathers.
Fifth, teachers’ unions and block and district-level administrators’ claim they are asked to do a range of non-teaching tasks which them away from the classroom. For example, the Rajasthan Government had asked teachers to motivate couples for terminal family planning methods. This led to a series of protests by teachers in February 2005. In 2001-2003, the state government directed them to maintain the books of women’s self-help groups and monitor if loan repayments were made on time. District Magistrates rely on teachers to distribute drought or flood relief supplies, and identify beneficiaries for government welfare schemes. Discussions with teachers revealed that while the task of meeting family planning targets may be given to all the teachers, the more difficult and time-consuming non-teaching duties go to teachers seen as dedicated. Teachers with political links or the ones active in trade unions are not given additional duties. Both the central and state governments contest this. Senior administrators in the Government of India point out that less than 5% of the teaching days are taken up by non-teaching duties. Recent DISE data collected information on non-teaching duties and the days spent therein. While state-wise data has not been made public, a recent presentation made by Dr. Arun Mehta (NIEPA, January 2005) indicates that non-teaching duties accounted for only 1.6% of working days. Teachers’ unions and local administrators disagree. They argue that the government may expect teachers to do such work after school hours, but invariably the teachers spend the teaching time performing non-teaching assignments. The problem gets particularly severe during January-March when annual targets (especially, family planning) are reviewed by the district administration.
Sixth, teacher training has picked up since 1994 with almost all teachers expected to attend a range of training programmes every year. Many of these workshops are held during the academic session. Teachers are eligible for compensatory leave if they attend these workshops during vacations. This reduces teaching days. While the training programmes are intended to improve knowledge levels as well as skills – especially in child-centered teaching processes – teachers claim that these programme add little value when the overall teaching environment, the examination system and other aspects of the school remain unchanged. Nearly all the teachers interviewed in Rajasthan said training was a burden - it was neither planned well not did it cater to their needs.
Seventh, teachers and administrators are continuously embroiled in court cases to do with promotions and placements, claiming arrears due to them and disciplinary action-related issues. Administrators explain that a lot of their time do teachers file spent attending to court cases. Teachers argue that they have no option but to go to court for justice. Teacher cadre management is highly politicised – both administrators and ordinary teachers are caught in a web of allegations and counter allegations. This has affected recruitment of new teachers in several states.
Concluding remarks:
In course of the study, we came across teachers who loved children and were highly motivated regardless of where they were posted. These were exceptional people. It was, indeed, humbling to meet teachers who worked hard despite all odds. We came across situations where good teachers received tremendous community support that led to improvement in their teaching and overall results. The reverse was also true. There were villages that had a wonderful teacher in the past but could do little to motivate/support a new teacher who just refused to teach.
The most dismal picture was in schools with only two teachers and many children. Teachers could not cope with the situation and had simply given up. There were teachers who were indifferent to the children and did not really care if they learnt to read and write. They promoted children, maintained records and did what they were asked to do.
We discovered no correlation between motivation levels and teacher qualification, training, residence, gender and pay scale. However, a school with good infrastructure and connectivity could hold back more teachers for more hours. It is difficult to say whether this translates into more instruction time or higher learning levels. As discussed in the opening paragraphs of this paper, teachers said they were motivated – but their understanding of motivation is different from ours. Both teachers and administrators gave a lot importance to daily presence, compiling and sending the necessary data and maintaining discipline. They valued justice and fair play. They were ready to work with administrators and political leaders who they felt were just, and appreciated and rewarded hard work. However, rapport with children, learning levels and actual classroom environment were not seen as being a part of motivation.
These factors did not figure in any discussion with teachers or administrators!
Teacher motivation is a complex issue in Rajasthan, indeed across India. There is virtually no incentive for teachers who go beyond the call of duty and empower their students to learn and move on in life. On the other hand, teachers who network with political leaders and local bureaucrats manage plum postings and, if they are lucky, teachers’ awards too!
Everyone – the different categories of people we spoke to – was of the opinion that 25 to 30% teachers are highly motivated and work very hard regardless of their personal circumstances. Another 30% comply with all the formal requirements – regularity, attendance, data on enrolment and retention, mid-day meal distribution and so on. These teachers have the potential but the system has worn them out. The remaining 40 to 45% can be categorized as ‘indifferent’– they are just not motivated and really do not care.
Strict monitoring – by a highly motivated head master or a block/district official – can tip the scales and ensure better functioning. Given the right stimulus, teachers are known to perform well. The fundamental problem is that this stimulus is lacking. Most educated middle-class professionals – those who form the backbone of the administration and the larger community of stakeholders – have abandoned government schools. Their children study in private aided or unaided schools. They do not have a personal stake in making the system work. Therefore, they just let the system drift along while making sure the data that is fed upwards is acceptable.

WORK-LIFE BALANCE IN UK SCHOOLS

GUIDANCE ON DEVELOPING POLICIES FOR SCHOOLS

Introduction

1.                  The Annual Conference 2007 Resolution highlighted the fact that the Government’s workforce reforms had not brought about a significant reduction in workload for teachers and pointed out that the key to resolving this situation lay in schools being committed to developing and implementing purposeful work-life balance policies which also take account of the statutory duty on schools to promote gender equality.

2.                  The findings of the 2007 School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) Workload Survey bear witness to the fact that teachers overall have not benefited from a significant reduction in workload.  Most categories of teacher in 2007 continue to report working over 50 hours a week.

3.                  From information held by the Union and consistent with its policies, we have distilled the components of a good work-life balance policy which divisions can seek to include in local authority policies.  It may not be possible to incorporate all elements in every policy.  All policies should, however, cover at least some of them.

4.                  Where entitlements are statutory, or contained within nationally agreed conditions of service, governing bodies have no discretion in their application.  It is important that both head teachers and teachers have a good understanding of statutory and contractual entitlements.  Where local agreements have been negotiated with the local authority, community schools are obliged to honour them.  The governing bodies of foundation or voluntary aided schools, however, can choose whether or not to adopt the policy.   In general, voluntary aided schools have tended to follow the local authority practice and the Union would wish this to continue in the case of foundation and trust schools and academies.

5.                  There are, however, many additional ways in which all individual schools can take the initiative in supporting staff, both by following local authority guidance and by considering additional supportive measures.  This document examines both statutory and contractual entitlements, as well as other `good practice’ initiatives.

Rationale for Implementing Work-life Balance Initiatives

6.                  A lack of work-life balance adversely impacts on all staff and reduces their chances of good health and their ability to balance workload and other activities, such as learning, sport, leisure and family life.  Women teachers are disadvantaged to a greater degree because women cite workload in teaching as incompatible with raising their family as they struggle to discharge caring responsibilities.

7.                  Where reluctance is expressed on the part of local authorities to establish guidance for schools/model policies, or negotiate local agreements, or where schools are reluctant to implement their own policy, the arguments set out below may prove persuasive.

(a)               Work-life balance is about helping staff combine work with their personal commitments and interests.  Good work-life balance is an essential factor in staff effectiveness and satisfaction, which in turn supports pupil learning.  It is, therefore, in the interests of schools to adopt policies that allow employees to balance their working lives with their personal needs and interests, and caring responsibilities.  The introduction to any work-life balance policy should emphasise this key point.

(b)               The Equality Act 2006 amended the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 to place a `general duty’ on all local authorities and schools in England and Wales, when carrying out their activities, to have regard to the need:

·                     to eliminate unlawful discrimination and harassment; and

·                     to promote equality of opportunity between men and women.

Schools and authorities are required to publish gender equality schemes.

Providing opportunities for male and female teachers to balance their work with other aspects of their life will help reduce the disadvantage experienced by women working within the teaching profession.

(c)               Head teachers are required by their conditions of employment (see below for more details) to address this area.  Governing bodies also have health, safety and welfare responsibilities.  See section below ‘Who is responsible for improving work-life balance’ for more information on health and safety responsibilities.

(d)               Attention to work-life balance issues also has other ‘knock on’ effects, including:

·                     reduced stress and sick leave, leading to financial savings on supply cover;

·                     improved outcomes for pupils in primary classes in particular where classroom teachers are not affected by ill health absence;

·                     a more motivated workforce with high morale;

·                     better communication within the workplace;

·                     making it easier for disabled teachers to stay in the profession when they acquire impairments or impairments change;

·                     improved pupil behaviour and learning as staff wellbeing increases (TSN survey);

·                     promoting gender equality, because the long hours associated with full time teaching contracts discourage women seeking promotion and mean women are over represented in part time teaching;

·                     a recognition that working excessive hours might actually reduce staff effectiveness.  Staff should be valued for their skills, experience and contribution, not their working pattern;

·                     increased job satisfaction;

·                     fewer problems with recruitment and retention – a good work-life balance policy will give schools an ‘edge’ when seeking to attract and retain staff of the highest calibre;

·                     work-life balance is not mainly about doing less – it is about maintaining, or even raising, performance by living healthier, more productive, lives.

Who is Responsible for Improving Work-Life Balance in Schools?

Health and Safety Duties

8.                  Local authorities, where they are the employers, bear overall responsibility for safeguard, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of employees.  Governing bodies, where they are the employers, carry this responsibility in, for example, voluntary aided and foundation schools.

9.                  Head teachers have a professional duty as set out in Section 2, Part 9, paragraph 57.3 of the 2007 School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document to ‘have regard to the desirability of teachers at the school being able to achieve a satisfactory balance between the time required to discharge their professional duties ... and the time required to pursue their personal interests outside work’.

10.              Even where the governing body is not the employer, it has a duty under the Equality Act 2006 to assess the impact of its policies on gender equality and issue a scheme with gender equality objectives.  Improving work-life balance for all teachers will be a key way of improving gender equality.

What about the Head Teacher’s Work-Life Balance?

11.              Head teachers are entitled to a reasonable amount of time during school sessions for the purpose of discharging leadership and management responsibilities.

12.              It is up to Governing bodies to ensure that head teachers are able to take this time, which is known as ‘Dedicated Headship Time’.  In some cases governing bodies and head teachers may need to discuss reducing the head teacher’s teaching commitment so as to reduce the need to work on school business at weekends.  An increase in headship time must not, however, lead to additional workload for other overburdened teachers.  Governing bodies will, in such cases, need to consider additional staffing.  More detailed advice on work-life balance for head teachers follows later in this guidance document in the section headed ‘The Position of the Head Teacher’.

Key Aims of a Work-Life Balance Policy

13.              The key objectives of a work-life balance policy are described below.

·                     To acknowledge that staff need to balance work commitments with other aspects of their life and to assist in this process so that staff can achieve their best at work and manage other areas of their life effectively.

·                     To help address the problem of excessive workload among teachers.

·                     To recognise that long working hours have a negative impact on all families, as well as teaching and learning.

·                     To benefit the school and its employees.

·                     To acknowledge the need for management, governors, employees and trade unions to work together to identify realistic solutions to improve work-life balance.

·                     To make employees feel valued and to foster mutual respect.

·                     To acknowledge that the needs of both the school and its staff will change over time.

·                     To reduce physical and mental ill health of staff.

·                     To communicate good practice to staff on a regular basis so that they are reminded of the provisions from which they can benefit as and when their circumstances change.

·                     To operate in a fair and consistent manner.  It is important that work-life balance is not simply viewed as a benefit for working parents but as a way of organising work so that all staff have a life outside school, which could include learning, sporting, leisure or other interests.  Other staff, for example those with caring responsibilities for disabled or elderly relatives, should not feel that a good work-life balance approach simply favours those with children.  Staff who do not have children must not automatically be expected to assume the workload of working parents who have been granted leave of absence.  This would be unfair and would generate resentment and division among staff.

Examples of good practice in work-life balance provision

14.              The rest of this document comprises information on statutory entitlements and NUT policy on work-life balance issues, as well as examples of good practice extracted from local authority and school policies.  Together this information represents the basis for a sound approach to work-life balance.


·                     Role of the Governing Body

15.              Nomination of a work-life balance Governor with responsibility for promoting and monitoring work-life balance in the school is a sensible first step, particularly for schools which have thus far not given much consideration to work-life balance issues.  Giving responsibility to a governor should help kick-start the whole process.

·                     Consultation with staff

16.              The involvement of staff is the key to the success of any policy.  A good place to start is to find out what problems staff have with their current working arrangements and ask what options would help staff balance work and home lives.  Set out below are various examples of what form such consultation should take.

-           Regular review, discussed at annual staff meetings, of how effectively the school is taking into account the work-life balance of all staff.

-           Consultation with staff on the timing of meetings, INSET, Report Schedules, school trips etc., when drawing up the calendar for the academic year. 

17.              Calendars should include all the above, as well as concerts, open days, sports days, activity weeks and other events that sill impact on work-life balance.  If teachers know what is coming up, and when, they can adjust their own workload.  For example, they can set homework which requires less marking or which can be marked by pupils in class, if reports need to be written or an evening event is taking place. 

18.              Employees who are members of a recognised union are entitled to take a reasonable amount of unpaid leave during the working day to take part in union activity.  Because there is no statutory right to paid leave for union activities, union meetings tend to take place after school.  Good teacher/management relations can be fostered by schools agreeing not to hold after-school meetings on days when trade union meetings have been arranged, provided that reasonable notice of such meetings has been given.

-           All new initiatives, for example, extended schools, to be considered in terms of their impact on work-life balance.

-           Properly conducted exit interviews, or use of exit questionnaires, when staff resign to find out if problems with work-life balance led to the resignation.

-           Consultation between the head or deputy head and NQTs, new appointees, and those promoted internally, 6 weeks after they take up their new post, to explore work-life balance issues and to see if the school can offer further support.

-           Clear and up-to-date identification of duties and responsibilities, relating to individual teacher’s roles in job descriptions and consultation prior to any changes.

19.              The Equality Act 2006 requires governing bodies to consult staff in order to gather information upon which to base gender equality objectives for the school’s scheme.

·                     Time off in Lieu

20.              Provision of time off in lieu for staff who volunteer to stay late for additional, untimetabled meetings could involve permission to leave early or come in late on another day.  Another example where such an arrangement could operate is for Open Evenings for prospective Year 7 or Year 12 pupils and parents.  Schools could choose to close early on the day of the Open Evening, to allow staff extra time to prepare classroom displays, and take a break, and could open an hour later than normal the following morning to compensate for the late working required.  Such a policy would ensure that teachers take the 11 consecutive hours’ rest, in a 24 hour period, which is their entitlement under the Working Time Regulations 1998.

·                     Training

21.              Working with all staff, including those who work part-time, to provide appropriate training to enable them to do their jobs effectively within normal hours. 

22.              Ensuring that training, including CPD, takes place during the school day, not at the end of the day when staff are tired and less able to concentrate.

·                     Facilities/Equipment

23.              Consideration as to whether on-site child care facilities can be provided.

24.              Purchase of equipment, for example laptops, to help staff work more efficiently.

25.              Provision of suitable workplace facilities for rest and relaxation and, separately, for PPA time and healthy lunches.

·                     Welfare

26.              Arrangements to allow even those staff who are on playground duty time for a drink and short break, or for TAs to cover break times and then take their break afterwards.

27.              Celebrations for staff birthdays.

28.              Parents’ evenings changed to Parents’ days or Academic Review Days.





·                     Working at home

29.              Many people feel that they are at their most productive when working at home without distraction.  The introduction of ‘Home Admin Days’ may, therefore, be welcomed by many staff working on significant curriculum projects or Annual Reviews/Reports.  Provided that such days are agreed in advance, recorded in the office calendar, and that staff are contactable at home during school hours,  such days should not be detrimental to the efficient running of the school. 

30.              Some teachers will wish to work at home during their PPA time.  For others it may not be feasible, because of the timing of their PPA time or because of where they live.  Decisions on whether to allow teachers to work at home during their PPA time are at the discretion of the head teacher.  It is hoped, however, that, subject to appropriate monitoring systems, many head teachers will be persuaded that teachers do not necessarily have to be on the premises to undertake certain tasks.  Time set aside at home can help teachers to focus on tasks and can be a highly efficient and cost effective way of working.

31.              Where PPA time is taken on the school premises, it is essential that teachers have access to appropriate work areas, free from interruption.  Without such access, work which should be able to be completed during the school day, will need to be completed at home, with inevitable impact on work-life balance.

·                     Organisation of Meetings

32.              Sensible arrangements for meetings are a key element in any work-life balance policy and are essential to prevent meetings encroaching on time when teachers should be at home.

33.              NUT policy is that meetings should last no more than 60 minutes, be held on no more than an average of one evening per week during term time, with a maximum of two evenings in any week.  Pre-school briefings should be within this 60 minute maximum.

34.              Meetings should be timetabled at the beginning of the academic year and should have a clear purpose.  Only staff whose presence is essential should attend.

35.              Part-time teachers should not be required to attend meetings at times when they are not on the premises, unless this has been taken into account in the terms of their contract.  Due to other commitments, many part-time teachers will be unable to come into school at times when they are not timetabled to work.  Head teachers should respect this position and should not seek to direct teachers to work in circumstances where such a direction would be unreasonable.

36.              More information about meetings is contained in the NUT document ‘Teachers’ Working Time and Duties’ available on Hearth and www.teachers.org.

·                     Flexible working

37.              Work-life balance policy should support, as far as is reasonably possible, requests for flexible working from both men and women teachers.

38.              Teaching is a challenging, at times exhausting, profession to work in.  Combining it with parental responsibilities, or any other kind of caring responsibilities can be too much for some teachers.  One way of preventing the loss of experienced colleagues is for a school policy to promote flexible working and be supportive of reasonable requests for time off.

39.              The term flexible working covers a wide range of practices, including job share, part-time working, time off for family and domestic reasons, and parental leave.

40.              There are minimum statutory requirements which local authorities and schools must adhere to, and which are described below.  The best employers will, however, seek to go beyond the minimum required by law.  It is important that work-life balance policies make teachers aware of the minimum statutory provisions described below, as well as any improvements in place through local agreements.

41.              As stated earlier in this document, where divisions are able, by virtue of local agreements, to incorporate superior provisions into teachers’ conditions of service, these provisions will apply to all teachers employed by the authority.  To ensure a ‘level playing field’ in terms of recruitment and retention, however, other types of school, including foundation, voluntary aided and trust schools, as well as academies might be prepared, if approached, to match the local authority improvements, rather than applying statutory minimums.

42.              A school work-life balance cannot ignore gender. It requires consideration of how to reduce and remove the gender discrimination which exists within the teaching workforce, as it does in every sector of the workforce. School work-life balance policies should:

·                     aim to remove the economic disadvantages suffered in terms of pay, progression and pension by those to whom current gender norms allocate greater caring responsibilities (currently, women);

·                     challenge current gender norms by enabling families to share caring responsibilities more equally between men and women;

·                     acknowledge the value to society of the unpaid ‘care’ that employees juggle outside their paid employment;

·                     acknowledge that increasingly all adults wish to contribute to both caring and paid employment.

43.              It is important that school work-life balance policies and flexible working policies enable male teachers to become more involved in caring for babies and children. It is important also that policies do not encourage gender stereotypes or reinforce gender inequalities in the home or in employment by assuming that caring is female.


Statutory Right to Request Flexible Working

44.              Male or female teachers may request a change to their hours, time or work or place of work in order to care for a child under the age of 6, a disabled child under the age of 18, or an adult aged 18 or over who is related to, or living at the same address as, the employee.  There is unfortunately no absolute right to be granted the request.  Formal requests for flexible working can only be made under the Flexible Working Regulations every 12 months.

45.              A good work-life balance policy would, therefore, point out that there is nothing to prevent staff from submitting informal requests for flexible working since these are not covered by the Regulations.

46.              The long hours working culture in schools undermines the right to request flexible working.  Both issues are connected in policy terms.  Unless the dominant school culture is seen to be supportive of reducing working hours for all teachers, including men, then not all carers/parents will take advantage of the right to request flexible working and the policy will not achieve its aims.  The greater the difference in hours between full time teachers and those working “flexibly”, the more likely the latter will be penalised in terms of pay, career development and promotion.

47.              Divisions who require more information on the right to request flexible working will find an NUT guidance document on Hearth and on www.teachers.org.

Statutory Right to Unpaid Time Off for Family and Domestic Reasons

48.              All employees have a legal entitlement to take unpaid time off to deal with incidents involving employees’ dependants.  A dependant is defined as:

·                     a spouse or civil partner;

·                     a child;

·                     a parent;

·                     a person living in the same household, other than as an employee, tenant, lodger or boarder.

49.              By this definition, partners of the opposite or same sex and living together, will be classed as dependants.

50.              A dependant is also any person who reasonably relies on the employee for assistance on an occasion when the person falls ill or is injured or assaulted, or to make arrangements for the provision of care in the event of illness or injury.  This will include, for example, elderly relatives or same sex or opposite sex partners not living in the same household but reliant on the employee to assist them in the event of illness or injury.  A dependent is also any person who reasonably relies on the employee to make arrangements for the provision of care.

51.              No qualifying period of service is required, and all employees have the right to time off. A “reasonable” amount of unpaid time off is allowed, although there is no definition of what is “reasonable” and it will, therefore, vary according to each case and each set of circumstances.

52.              As noted above, the statutory right to unpaid time off for domestic and family reasons is entirely separate from, and additional to, any entitlement to parental or maternity leave. 

53.              A good work-life balance policy will allow some element of paid leave to assist with incidents involving dependants.  See `Leave of Absence’ section below.

·                     Leave of Absence

54.              Work-life balance policies should recognise the difficulties that teachers face because they do not have the same flexibility to take annual leave as other employees.

55.              It is important, therefore, that local authorities and trade unions negotiate local agreements which specify minimum levels of paid leave for different circumstances.  As described in the introduction to this guidance document, such agreements will apply automatically in community and voluntary-controlled schools but will only apply in voluntary aided and foundation schools if the governing body has agreed to adopt them.  Head teachers can then use their discretion to grant additional unpaid or paid leave.  Examples of reasonable arrangements are listed below.  Note that this is not an exhaustive list.

56.              Examinations – paid leave to attend the examination and award or degree ceremony.  Discretionary study leave.

57.              Interviews – up to 3 days’ paid leave per year for teachers seeking an alternative post within any local authority.

58.              Funerals of close relatives/friends – paid leave as necessary.

59.              Wedding or civil partnership of a near relative – one day’s paid leave.

60.              Medical appointments/medical screening – where possible teachers should arrange these in their own time but where this cannot be arranged, paid time off will be granted.  Paid time off must, however, be granted for ante-natal appointments.

61.              Moving house – one day’s paid leave if on a school day.

62.              Time off to care for a sick child or other dependant – paid leave as necessary.

63.              Public duties – Section 50 of the Employment Relations Act 1996 gives a statutory right to time off for public duties.  The Burgundy Book provides that ‘teachers shall have entitlements comparable with those of local authority officers so far as paid and unpaid leave entitlement is concerned for jury and other public service’.  Reasonable time off should, therefore, be granted for public duties or for serving on public bodies, including service as:

·                     Justices of the Peace;
·                     members of local authorities;
·                     governors of schools;
·                     members of a police authority;
·                     members of any statutory tribunal;
·                     members of advisory bodies of trade unions;
·                     members of the General Teaching Councils for England and Wales;
·                     members of a health authority or a primary care trust.

64.              Where a teacher can claim an allowance for loss of earnings, this should be done, and the school will then deduct this from the teacher’s pay.

65.              Schools could also demonstrate their commitment to supporting teachers with young children by considering requests for limited amounts of time off to attend their children’s Christmas or end of Summer Term performances.  Such requests would generally only amount to an hour or two away from school but agreeing such requests, provided they are submitted well in advance, would generate large amounts of good will among staff concerned.

66.              If such requests are genuinely problematic, a practical solution would be to allow teachers to attend during their PPA time, or swap/rearrange their PPA time with colleagues so as to facilitate their attendance without increasing workload for those teachers who do not need time off.

·                     Time off for Religious Observance

67.              Under the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 it is unlawful to discriminate against workers because of their religion or belief.  The regulations do not say that employers must provide time off and facilities for religious or belief observance in the workplace. It is, however, good practice for employers to consider whether their policies indirectly discriminate against staff of particular religions or beliefs and, if so, whether reasonable changes could be made. There is always a balance to be struck, but in general the NUT advises that schools should seek to be sufficiently flexible to accommodate a teacher’s religious observance where that is reasonably practicable.

·                     Time off for Fertility Treatment

68.              The NUT believes that schools should deal appropriately and sensitively with requests for time off for fertility treatment.  The NUT believes also that paid leave of absence should be given for medical appointments for initial infertility investigations and for other medical appointments during the treatment cycle and should not be counted against the teacher’s sick leave entitlement.  Sickness absence resulting from the treatment should be counted against the teacher’s sick leave entitlement in the usual way.  The nature of the treatment may mean that absences cannot always be planned in advance but it is reasonable to expect teachers to give as much notice of the need for time off as is possible.


69.              Requests for time off for fertility treatment are not likely to come from large numbers of teachers at any one school.  This fact, together with the possibility of falling foul of sex discrimination legislation may encourage local authorities/schools to be supportive of teachers. 

70.              Seeking, undergoing and, in many cases, paying for, fertility treatment is difficult and stressful.  Anything which schools can do to support teachers will help minimise this stress.

·                     Statutory Parental Leave

71.              Parental leave allows employees who have or expect to have responsibility for caring for a child the right to take a period of unpaid time off to look after their child.  Employees who have completed 1 year’s qualifying service with their employer by the time they want to take the leave can take 13 weeks total leave for each child (18 weeks if the child is disabled).  The leave must be taken by the child’s fifth birthday or the fifth anniversary of the date or adoption (18th birthday if the child is disabled), although there is an extension to this for children born or adopted before 15 December 1999.

72.              Local authority and school work-life balance policies should refer to these statutory arrangements.

73.              In the absence of local agreements, individual schools could improve upon the arrangements by exercising discretion with regard to the deadlines for taking leave, if there are compelling reasons to do so.

74.              Heads should recognise that fathers need plenty of encouragement to take parental leave.  Most couples are likely to conform to current gender norms so that the mother takes most of the leave.  Workplace culture is important.  Where taking parental leave is common practice, so schools develop practices to cover for those on leave, and the school culture supports it, parental leave is more likely to be taken by fathers in full.

·                     Statutory Paternity Leave

75.              Partners of mothers or adoptive parents who have the requisite service have the right to one or two weeks’ statutory paternity leave paid at £112.75 per week from 1 April 2007.  There may be existing local agreements on paternity leave which improve upon this rate for all or part of that period or which have wider eligibility for leave.

76.              Offering all, or at least part, of the two weeks at full pay is a positive gesture of financial and emotional support to partners of mothers which enables them to support their partner, and any other children, in the weeks following the birth or adoption of a child.

·                     Maternity and Adoption Leave and Pay

77.              Information on these arrangements should be referred to in work-life balance policies.  The NUT’s comprehensive guidance document called ‘Maternity Matters’ is available from Hearth and teachers.org.  Information on local authority maternity/adoption arrangements which improve upon the Burgundy Book scheme is set out in Circular 05-177/CoS, ‘Best Practice in Maternity Agreements’ (November 2005).  Guidance on contractual and statutory adoption leave and pay is also available on Hearth.

·                     Part-time Working

78.              Part-time working can help employers with recruitment and retention as well as demonstrating their commitment to equal opportunities.  In particular, it may encourage more women teachers to remain in teaching after maternity or adoption leave or to return to teaching.  It can also reduce turnover because teachers with convenient hours of work are more likely to stay in post.  It may also reduce teacher stress, tension and illness, enabling teachers to come to the job fresher and more energetic.

79.              Schools then benefit by having more highly motivated teachers who feel that their professional experience and expertise is well rewarded.  The results have been demonstrated by OFSTED research which found that the quality of work of part-time teachers was “significantly above the national average” with benefits for the quality of educational provision and pupil progress.

80.              Although there is no general legal right to move to part-time working from a full time post, the law protects employees from less favourable or discriminatory treatment.  If a teacher is employed to teach full-time but wishes to request a move to part-time working, it is good practice for employers to consider such requests objectively and in some circumstances employers may be legally obliged to do so.

81.              In some cases teachers are able to rely on local agreements or informal requests for flexible/part-time working.  Where such requests are not granted teachers with a child under the age of 6 may seek to exercise their statutory right to request flexible working, as described in the section on flexible working above.

82.              Detailed guidance on part time working is available on teachers.org, entitled ‘Part Time Teachers – Guidance on Pay and Conditions’.

·                     Job Sharing

83.              A policy on work-life balance would not be complete without a positive commitment to consider applications for job shares.

84.              Many local authorities have job share policies, negotiated with the NUT, which are helpful in persuading schools to agree to applications for job sharing.

85.              ‘Good practice’ policies should permit job share arrangements unless the employer can demonstrate that in respect of a particular post, or posts, it is completely impracticable to operate such arrangements.

86.              The following arguments may help schools to embrace the idea of job shares.


87.              Job shares can:

·                     help with recruitment and retention;

·                     reduce staff turnover (teachers with convenient hours are less likely to leave;

·                     motivate teachers;

·                     offer pupils a wider range of teaching experiences;

·                     offer a certain amount of flexibility in timetabling;

·                     provide pupils with role models of co-operation;

·                     reduce stress and sick leave.

88.              Job shares are not just about helping teachers combine work with playing an active role in bringing up children.  Their positive effect on work-life balance extends beyond this.  Work-life balance policies should, therefore, recognise that the following categories of staff may be attracted to job shares, as a means of enriching other aspects of their lives:

·                     existing part-time teachers seeking the opportunity to obtain posts of responsibility while remaining in part-time employment;

·                     mature teachers who, after an absence of some years from the profession, would like to return to teaching preferably on a part-time basis;

·                     teachers who would welcome a decrease in their professional responsibilities and workload because of responsibility for a dependent relative or other personal commitment;

·                     teachers who wish to pursue courses of study;

·                     teachers with disabilities or progressive medical conditions who may, with a lightened teaching load, be able to remain in employment longer;

·                     teachers nearing retirement age interested in a “phased retirement”.

·                     The Position of the Head Teacher

89.              A good work-life balance policy will advise head teachers on how to help themselves, thereby setting a good example to their staff.

90.              There is a wide range of advice for head teachers, much of it from other head teachers, on how to maintain an appropriate balance between work and home life.  Policies which are drafted following consultation with head teachers and which encourage them to share experiences and ideas will have more credibility among head teachers than those which ignore this important area.  Some of these suggestions are listed below and will help head teachers to ‘set the tone’ for the rest of the staff.

·                     Decide on at least two lunch breaks which are ‘yours’ and leave the premises.

·                     Spend quality time with children.

·                     Go home early at least once a week and don’t feel guilty.

·                     Do something you enjoy such as reading or listening to music, for at least an hour a day.

·                     Don’t attempt to be a supply teacher/police officer/builder/architect/electrician/plumber/painter.  Leave this work to those who can do it better.

·                     Have time out once a fortnight working from home (but set a time deadline and stick to it).

·                     Wherever possible, arrange for governors’ meetings to take place in school time.

·                     Have only one in-tray and don’t read everything, particularly if it’s not statutory.  Don’t let papers accumulate.

·                     Read papers with a highlighter in your hand.

·                     Delegate appropriately to staff (not to those who are already overburdened) and trust them to get on with things.  It helps to give staff ownership of, and responsibility for, a task.

·                     Call upon the local authority for support – that’s what it’s there for.

·                     Run tight, well planned, productive meetings.

·                     Lead by example.  Show that you have a life outside work.  Don’t feel you have to be the first in and last out of school.

91.              School leaders and managers often work the longest hours and it is sometimes said about headships and leadership posts in schools that their jobs are the least able to be done by part timer or job share basis. The NUT believes this is not the case.

92.              Increasingly it is becoming more acceptable for teachers in management positions, including head teacher posts, to work part time or on job share basis. Studies find that job sharing managers and those working flexibly have greater problem solving and analysis skills, as well as better planning and organisational skills than full time colleagues.



Reducing Workload in Order to Promote Gender Equality

93.              The long working hours in teaching is one of the main stumbling blocks to promoting equality between mothers and fathers in terms of caring responsibilities and labour market opportunities.  Many women teachers are restricted to part time teaching because the long hours associated with full time teaching are incompatible with the long hours that their partners work, either in teaching or in other sectors of the economy.  This restricts the father’s ability to take part in caring for their child and the mother’s availability to take up opportunities for promotion.  Women continue to take responsibility for child care and having children therefore has a far greater negative impact on the promotion prospects of women rather than men.  This is partly because the peak time for promotions coincides with the main child bearing and caring years.

Government Action

94.              The Government claims to be actively supporting employers on work life balance. One element of the campaign is the Challenge Fund which has provided £10 million to support employers taking action. This fund is administered by the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) Work-life Balance team (0207 715 5000) and information about how to apply can be found by employers at www.berr.gov.uk.