Comments on: British teachers support instructional autonomy http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/10/03/british-teachers-support-instructional-autonomy/ Sun, 12 Oct 2008 14:02:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Doug Belshaw http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/10/03/british-teachers-support-instructional-autonomy/#comment-19026 Doug Belshaw Wed, 04 Oct 2006 19:37:09 +0000 http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2006/10/03/british-teachers-support-instructional-autonomy/#comment-19026 Over the last few weeks I've had about a half timetable whilst being in school full-time. I've been expected to do more than the average amount of cover for other teachers, as the main reason for my employment at the school is to take over from a teacher who is going on maternity leave at the beginning of December. Although at first I thought I had <em>too much</em> free time, as the weeks progressed I have found that it's just enough time to deliver the types of engaging, relevant lessons I want to teach, whilst finding time for assessment and all the other things that one has to fit into the school day. And that's on a half timetable. Teachers need <em>way</em> more free time to develop lessons around a core curriculum. Why do teachers teach boring lessons? Because they don't have time to deliver anything other than the bare minimum. We should campaign for more PPA time! :-) Over the last few weeks I’ve had about a half timetable whilst being in school full-time. I’ve been expected to do more than the average amount of cover for other teachers, as the main reason for my employment at the school is to take over from a teacher who is going on maternity leave at the beginning of December.

Although at first I thought I had too much free time, as the weeks progressed I have found that it’s just enough time to deliver the types of engaging, relevant lessons I want to teach, whilst finding time for assessment and all the other things that one has to fit into the school day.

And that’s on a half timetable. Teachers need way more free time to develop lessons around a core curriculum. Why do teachers teach boring lessons? Because they don’t have time to deliver anything other than the bare minimum. We should campaign for more PPA time! :-)

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