I read a tweet and I felt really frustrated and upset*
My perception of the tweet was that it was ridiculing the intention of making every second/minute count in a lesson and school.
To quote Charles Darwin:
“A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life”
For too long in teaching, time has not been respected.
Disrespecting time is to waste time, time that our pupils and colleagues do not have enough of.
1. We must not waste the time that pupils have in school so MAKE EVERY MINUTE COUNT
A quality education is the birthright of every child.
Our pupils are entitled to this education. So that their adult lives are filled with choices, doors are opened and that they can walk through any door that they choose. We need to use every minute to give them this. So every minute DOES count.
As teachers, we are there to enrich the lives of every pupil walking through our school doors whether academically, through extra-curricular activities or even every millisecond interaction (even a smile in the corridor!). So every minute DOES count.
In Britain, a first world country, it is inexcusable that children leave school illiterate and innumerate. Whether we want to face it or not, the past few years have been a challenge for pupil learning. The stats about progress during the pandemic means that we now have to be focused. So every MINUTE DOES count.
If we want to give our pupils the best, we do not have time to waste. We have to think about every detail of a pupil’s day and how we can maximise on it (from entry to school, transitions, in lesson routines).
Note: making every minute count does not mean pressure, it means we value time by thinking about how we use our time (whether in a lesson or across a school with whole school routines)
2. We must not waste the limited time of our colleagues SO MAKE EVERY MINUTE COUNT
A teacher’s time is finite not infinite.
When I entered the teaching profession I was shocked by how much time was spent on marking, creating resources, data, reports, how meetings over ran and so much more. In my previous career, our minutes/hours had to be logged (I would monitor my entire department’s time to track which client we were using our time for and get paid accordingly). The legal profession also do this! Time is money!
Although I would never wish time recording to happen in teaching, we should consciously make an effort to think about how we use every minute.
For example:
- How many minutes did that lesson take to resource? These minutes add up. So every minute does count
- How many minutes extra did a meeting last? Could we streamline the conversation? These minutes add up. So every minute does count
- How many minutes did I spend on printing? Can it be printed centrally? These minutes add up. So every minute does count
- How many minutes did this data drop take? Was the data drop even needed? These minutes add up. So every minute does count
- How many minutes did those emails take to send/read? Can we strategise how communication is delivered? These minutes add up. So every minute does count.
When comparing the 2019 and 2016 DfE Workload surveys, there has been a slight reduction in weekly working hours (in 2016 when 44,000 teachers were asked, their average working week was 54.4 hours!). I question how much of this time is effective.
The DfE School Workload Reduction Toolkit has clear recommendations to reduce workload so that we can actually make every minute count.
We need to keep teachers in the profession, make sure that teachers are not tired/overworked/being asked to do ineffective pointless tasks, so every minute of their time DOES count.
So, what do I do now as a classroom teacher?
I actually don’t know. Yes, I know, it is just a tweet that has frustrated me, but gosh I am tired. Tired of silly tweets.
I worry that a tweet shows that this mindset could be everywhere!
- How can pupils fully progress in their education when there are those across the country (many in more ‘powerful’ positions) happy to join the narrative that we have time to waste for our pupils?
- How can teachers progress in their career (or stay in this career) if there are those not thinking about how their colleagues use every minute of their time?
Important Note: There is still the narrative that if we suggest effective use of our time for our pupils or colleagues (even when we back it up with research), that teachers are being ‘difficult’ (gosh, we have a way to go when applying Radical Candour in the workplace)
Ultimately:
Our pupils do not have time to waste as this is their one chance at an education.
Our colleagues do not have time to waste as life is too short.
We must make every minute count for us all.
*I am unwell whilst writing this so going onto Twitter was probably not the best idea. Writing this might be just be therapeutic for me*
