Reading the Department for Education’s new Workload Reduction Taskforce initial recommendations document that sets out ways to cut teacher workload, anyone with more than 10 years’ service in schools could be forgiven for thinking, “Plus ça change”.

Because, as one of its key proposals for how to reduce workload - an issue that has been dominating the agenda in education debates for some time - the DfE-convened taskforce states the following:

“A revised annex should be reinserted in the STPCD [School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document] with an updated list of examples of administrative tasks that teachers should not be required to carry out.”

That list - running to 23 examples and included in full below - contains tasks such as bulk photocopying, collecting money from parents or pupils and investigating a pupil’s absence.

Teacher workload: coming full circle

The first thing in this statement that deserves our attention is the use of the word “reinserted”. Because in 2013 such a list was already found in the STPCD on page 64, and it contained many similar points - 21, in fact.

Why was it ever removed? Well, in its 2014 report the School Teachers’ Review Body said that having a prescribed list wasn’t necessary and common sense should prevail.

“We believe that teachers and school leaders should be guided by...their professional judgement to decide what specific tasks should be undertaken, and by whom, according to the particular circumstances of the school,” it said.

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This suggestion was taken on by government and given full-throated endorsement by Michael Gove, who was education secretary at the time, in Parliament.

“The recommendations to remove the list of 21 administrative and clerical tasks and the section 4 guidance are particularly welcome,” he said.

“They will not only contribute towards the government’s objective of reducing unnecessary guidance and of simplifying and shortening the overall STPCD, but they will also provide greater flexibility for teachers and school leaders to use their professional judgement in exercising their professional responsibilities, and, as such, represent an important step in the reform of teachers’ conditions of employment.”

Fast-forward 10 years and it seems that vision has failed to deliver, and the list is set to come back - most likely in the next STPCD in September 2024.

The terms of your contract

Although that may seem like a long wait for teachers who feel they are regularly doing tasks that are not really their job, it should be noted that the current STPCD does give some guidance around this area on page 51:

“A teacher should not be required routinely to participate in any administrative, clerical and organisational tasks which do not call for the exercise of a teacher’s professional skills and judgment, including those associated with the arrangements for preparing pupils for external examinations such as invigilation.”

However, it seems clear from the taskforce’s recommendation - which the DfE has said it endorses - that providing teachers and leaders with a specific list is a useful way to give everyone clarity on what is a teacher’s responsibility and what isn’t.

But wait. Let’s remember that any academy school is not bound by the STPCD, and can set its own terms and conditions. So it wouldn’t have to abide by this new list of exempted tasks.

There are some caveats to this, however. For example, a school that converted to academy status but kept teacher contracts the same would still be under the STPCD. What’s more, most academies do follow the STPCD, in the same way that they follow the national pay scale.

The devil, then, as ever, will be in the detail - specifically the terms and conditions of your contract.

Here is the full list of the 23 tasks that teachers should not be required to do (subject to it being included in the next STCPD, of course).

The 23 tasks teachers should not have to do

1. Managing data and transferring data about pupils into school management systems (for example, Question Level Analysis) or printing electronic records for paper filing.
2. Reformatting data or re-entry of data into multiple systems.
3. Production of photographic evidence of practical lessons (for example, for assessment purposes or to evidence learning).
4. Creation or duplication of files and paperwork perceived to be required in anticipation of inspection, such as copies of evidence portfolios or regularly updated seating plans.
5. Administration or data analysis relating to wraparound care and preparation of food/meals.
6. Administration of public and internal examinations.
7. Collating pupil reports (for example, reports of pupil examination results).
8. Producing and collating analyses of attendance figures.
9. Investigating a pupil’s absence.
10. Responsibility for producing, copying, uploading and distributing bulk communications to parents and pupils, including standard letters, school policies and posts on electronic platforms.
11. Administration relating to school visits, trips and residentials (including booking venues, collecting forms and recording lunch requirements) and work experience (but not selecting placements and supporting pupils by advice or visits).
12. Organisation, decoration and assembly of the physical classroom space (for example, moving classrooms, moving classroom furniture and putting up and taking down classroom displays).
13. Ordering, setting up and maintaining ICT equipment, software and virtual learning environments (VLEs), including adding pupils to VLEs and online subscription platforms.
14. Ordering supplies and equipment.
15. Cataloguing, preparing, issuing, stocktaking and maintaining materials and equipment, or logging the absence of such.
16. Collecting money from pupils and parents.
17. Administration of cover for absent teachers.
18. Coordinating and submitting bids (for funding, school status and the like).
19. Administration of medical consent forms and the administering of medication on a routine or day-to-day basis.
20. Taking, copying, distributing or typing up notes (for example, verbatim notes) or producing formal minutes.
21. Producing class lists or physical copies of context sheets.
22. Keeping and filing paper or electronic records and data; for example, in school management systems or physical office files.
23. Bulk photocopying.
     

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