Slides for a talk on the workload crisis in schools. Giving an alternative view which engages with the complexity of time.

1. Workload – Thinking About Time in Education
PGCE Tutors’ Workshop July 2019

2. Reflecting on Workload and Time
WorkIntensity
Time
1. Begin by drawing a line for
overall work intensity across a
year
2. Add any lines for sub-
categories you wish to add
3. Annotate/exemplify any points
on the graph you think are
important

3. • Educational rganisations are increasingly changing from a character of
‘stable and durable’ to ‘ephemeral and temporary’.
• Educational rganisations are underpinned by the understanding and
meaning of time.
• The acceleration in educational organisations is in part the result of the
‘efficiency’ narrative. Has even translated into discussions about learning.
• Workload = efficiency measure = cost
• Rise of Homo efficientius (as with Homo Economicus, this is a mirage)
“In the past the man has been
first; in the future the system
must be first.”

4. 2000 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2013 2016
Primary
classroom teachers
52.5 52.0 52.5 50.5 50.0 52.0 52.5 51.0 50.0 59.0 55.5
(23.2)
Secondary
classroom teachers
51.0 50.5 50.0 49.5 49.5 49.0 50.0 50.5 50.0 55.5 53.5
(20.7)
Perceptions of workload %
Workload is a very serious problem 52
Workload is a fairly serious problem 41
Workload is not a very serious problem 5
Workload is not a serious problem at all 0
Don’t Know 2
Government Measurement of Workload

5. Time
• Time is conceptualised in very simplistic ways in
educational research and practice –
predominantly understood as ‘clock-time’
• Time is a very complex concept and can be
understood in multiple ways
• Temporality – perception and experience of time
• Rhythm – rhythmic, polyrhythmic, arrhythmic
• Chronos and Kairos

6. Reflecting on the Complexity of Time
Rhythm
Temporal Density
Intensification
Fragmentation/incoherence
Acceleration

7. Rhythms
Low
Temporal
Density
High
Temporal
Density
• Seeing time as rhythmic
• How do rhythms fit together across the
academic year?
• Increasing level of high temporal densities as
more ‘efficiency’ is sought
• Lack of low temporal density – less ‘slow’
time and ‘excess’ time

8. Time and Autonomy
• Constraint in work practices leads to a
feeling of time pressure
• Greater professional autonomy leads to a
lesser perception of time pressure
• Hence, giving teachers greater opportunity
to work collaboratively, and on issues they
feel are important, the less time pressured
they will feel

9. 2.3
2.6
2.9
3.2 3.2
4.2
4.4
Intensification Work beyond school General Perception Non-school activity Rhythms Relationships Autonomy
Summary of Workload Questionnaire
(n=7)
Insights drawn from a
primary school pilot on
understanding workload
morenegative
perceptions
morepositive
perceptions
Based on:
- Workload questionnaire
- Q-methodology
- Interviews

10. Group 1 (n=5) Group 2 (n=2) 1,3
Working with good colleagues eases the stress of workload. 2.237 I work hard but it is as much because I want to as needing to 1.955
I find I have to work most weekday evenings just to get my work
finished.
1.875 Some members of staff do less than perhaps they should 1.405
I am concerned about an ever-increasing burden of work 0.985 Working with good colleagues eases the stress of workload 1.347
I work hard but it is as much because I want to as needing to. 0.839 I feel that the amount and distribution of work we are given is
generally fair and reasonable
1.289
I can decide how I wish to spread my workload outside of lessons. 0.837 I can decide how I wish to spread my workload outside of lessons 1.101
I find it hard to say 'no' to others if they ask me to complete extra
tasks I know will make a positive difference to the children
0.836 I gain a great deal of satisfaction from my work, and occasional
overload is partially a necessary consequence
0.912
I find myself having to reshuffle my plans too often as 'new' work
arises.
0.810 I have a good work-life balance 0.854
I gain a great deal of satisfaction from my work, and occasional
overload is partially a necessary consequence.
0.081 when I feel overburdened it has as much to do with the relevance
of what I am doing as the volume
0.304
I often have no time for lunch as I am too busy with other issues or
tasks
-0.811 I have enough control over my workload so that I can only blame
myself if I become overburdened
-0.739
I have enough control over my workload so that I can only blame
myself if I become overburdened
-0.985 My sense of responsibility to other colleagues adds to my feeling of
being time pressured
-1.101
I can always find time to take a decent break during the course of the
day
-0.987 The volume of work I have makes it difficult to prioritize my work
easily
-1.159
I have a good work-life balance. -1.546 There are too many competing calls on my time -1.159
My sense of responsibility to other colleagues adds to my feeling of
being time pressured
-1.600 I often have no time for lunch as I am too busy with other issues or
tasks
-1.289
There is enough time to develop larger projects (such as new curricula
and materials) alongside the day-to-day work I need to do
-1.617 I find I have to work most weekday evenings just to get my work
finished
-1.709

11. Consequences • Accelerated existence – attempts to fit in
as much as possible in a given time slice.
Hence severe intensification of work
• State sanctioned black market in
professional time
• Reliance on the ‘ethic of care’ which is at
the centre of the values and philosophy of
majority of teachers
• Unsustainable timescapes being created –
retention and recruitment issues
Need to begin to think about time in other
ways……

12. Potential Impacts
• May start out enthusiastic and keen to develop ideas/practice/provision
• We end up doing more than we should per contract because we enjoy it
• Feelings of agency and professionalism
• Strong ethic of care – but impossible to ‘complete’ teacher work!?
• Organisations continue to catch us up – the enjoyable extra becomes mandatory
• Reach a threshold beyond which agency disappears
• Loss of autonomy
• Often loss of relationships and support structures – staffrooms like the Mary Celeste

13. • Zombie innovation
• Lack of time for development. Impact on
teacher identity
• Stress/Anxiety
• Overwork
• Burnout
• Impact on sleep and then mental state

14. 'Intuition, the internal compass that once allowed each of us to
distinguish between too much and too little, no longer has a voice.'
'Individuals are obliged to suppress their inner selves & ignore their
intuitions & desires. They sell their labour power, and are expected,
in return, not to disrupt the balance of the system they serve.'
'Many writings about burnout only take into account the professional
conditions that incite fatigue, as though family life could never
contribute to exhaustion.'
'In a complex world where we often feel as anonymous as water
droplets in a vast ocean, our quest for concrete signs of recognition
is altogether understandable.'
'What is burnout, if not a direct result of these excessive regimes?
Fatigue, anxiety, unmanageable stress, depersonalization, feelings
of incompetence – form this list of symptoms emerges a picture of
people who have given too much without getting what they needed,
who have neglected their own needs, not always by choice.'

15. Finding a Way Forward
Organisational Level
• Understand complexity of time – move away from ‘efficiency’ models
• Understand that all organisations run through rhythms (Pina e Cunha, 2009)
• Foster autonomy
• Make time for relationships
• Foster dialogue
• Honest and more accurate understanding of the time it takes to complete activities
• Use of action research to test ways of reducing workload

16. High-intensity chronos Low-intensity chronos
High-intensity Kairos Hypercompetitive organizations
Distinctive processes:
Time-based competition
Time as a competitive weapon
Pulsed organizations
Distinctive processes:
Synchronization
Time choreographies
Low-intensity kairos Pressed organizations
Distinctive processes:
Acceleration
Reaction
Out of time organizations
Distinctive processes:
Time decoupling
Closure
(Pina e Cunha, 2009)

17. Personal Level
• Re-evaluate our ethic of care
• Develop dialogues and practices focusing on temporal cultures (e.g. e-mail, work-life balance,
resource, sustainability, support levels to pupils/students).
• We have to accept the idea of working less if that is to happen.