Centralised school lesson plans ‘do not reduce workloads’
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Standardised curricula do not reduce workloads for teachers and remove their independence to design lessons, according to a new study co-authored by Goldsmiths academics.
Professor Anna Traianou was the Principal Investigator and Dr Sarah Pearce a co-investigator of the project, commissioned by the National Education Union (NEU) to review the impacts of standardised curriculum packages (SCPs) on teachers’ working lives.
SCPs are units/schemes of work, programmes or packages that are pre-prepared, often by third party providers or centrally by a multi-academy trust, ready for teachers to follow in teaching in both primary and secondary schools.
They have been introduced by the government with the aim of reducing teacher workloads.
The report particularly looked at teacher responses to the Oak National Academy, an executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the Department for Education with significant public funding to provide SCPs.
Data was collected through a survey of over 1,600 teachers and interviews with 40 teachers. Key findings of the report include that SCPs reduce teachers’ sense of professional autonomy, impacting job satisfaction, and have no meaningful impact on reducing workloads. The report also identifies that Oak National Academy usage was low when compared to other third-party providers.
Teachers raised concerns about expectations of SCPs being used like scripts, and about a lack of flexibility leading to issues tailoring resources for different pupils’ diverse needs.
The report also provides recommendations, based on its findings, for government, local authorities, multi-academy trusts, the NEU and individual schools.
Professor Anna Traianou, Department of Educational Studies, said: “Oak National Academy claimed that its materials were high quality, well-used and an answer to problems of teacher workload. Our research suggested that these claims were difficult to sustain. Teachers found Oak's materials useful in some circumstances, but generally uninspiring.
If teachers have to implement standardised curricula that they have had little part in designing, there is a clear risk that they feel their skills are undervalued and their belief in themselves as educators will be reduced. If the government is aiming to improve the classroom experience and increase teacher retention, it should take the findings of the report into account.
Professor Anna Traianou, Department of Educational Studies
Professor Howard Stevenson, Emeritus Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Nottingham, added: “Although standardised curricula are often presented as the answer to problems of teacher workload, we found no significant difference in workload between teachers who used standardised curricula and those who did not.
“Problems of teacher workload are very serious, but they are also very complex. Our research suggests that rigidly imposed standardised curricula do not materially improve workload, but they can contribute to job dissatisfaction.”
The authors of ‘Are you on slide 8 yet? The impact of standardised curricula on teacher professionalism’ are Professor Anna Traianou, Goldsmiths, University of London; Professor Howard Stevenson, University of Nottingham; Dr Sarah Pearce, Goldsmiths, University of London; and Dr Jude Brady, independent consultant. The report was launched at the NEU conference.