Will the new School Workforce Pathfinder project, running in 32 schools in England, reduce teacher workload?
Laura Pank asks heads and teachers at three secondary schools involved in the programme how it’s working in practice When the Department for Education and Skills chose a cross-section of schools to receive support as part of the School Workforce Pathfinder initiative in April, the brief was that the schools should find innovative ways of working which would relieve teacher workload. This, in turn, would benefit pupils by enabling teachers to focus on raising teaching standards. The idea behind the scheme is that whatever is working for the Pathfinder schools will then be shared with schools across England. Package deal The package offered to all Pathfinder schools includes laptops for every teacher, additional teaching assistants and administrative staff, extra training for new roles and support to give teachers more non-contact time. Each school initially formed its own Change Management Team, made up of a cross section of the whole school workforce, to discuss teachers’ ideas about w
