Working Together to Lessen the Burden of Planning
Dear Colleague
The NUT's spring term focus on helping members to take back control of their lesson planning is now in full swing.
Have you read the article on planning in the January/February issue of The Teacher? It contains useful tips on how the NUT thinks lesson planning should be managed, alongside examples of how improvements have been introduced. You can read it, together with the most recent edition at http://www.teachers.org.uk/teacher-online. Further information on the NUT's campaigning on workload including posters and leaflets is available at http://www.teachers.org.uk/workload
We are delighted that our focus on reducing the burden of lesson planning has now been taken up by Ofsted.
"We have been told that some teachers think that inspectors will expect to see a detailed written lesson plan for every lesson they observe. This is not the case. Inspectors will not routinely scrutinise teachers' individual plans, although they will look at them when they are offered by teachers" (Ofsted, December 2010).
Here's a reminder of our good practice planning protocol.
No weekly scrutinising of lesson plans by head teachers
No prescribed format
Re-use plans whenever possible
Plan jointly with colleagues
Use material already available.
Tell the Union if you are successful in changing the culture around planning in your school. Success stories inspire other members so send any good examples to s.lyons@nut.org.uk and we will publicise them in The Teacher.
NUT GENERAL SECRETARY
