Teachers planning, football changes and instructional coaching

Howdy Tappsters!

The end of the academic year 2023-24 is already upon some of you, and for the rest you are very nearly there!

What did you want the new Education Secretary to know?

Last week we asked what you would want to say to the new Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, an amazing 5,500 teachers responded and we’ve compiled them all into one letter that is winging its way to the Department of Education.

But what kinds of things did you want to tell her? The top issue was, unsurprisingly, school funding.

Here are some example responses that we’ve included in the letter:

“Please listen to teachers when we say the system isn’t working and is in dire need of funding. It’s not because we want pay rises, it’s because schools are struggling!”

“We don’t have enough funding to give children the education they need and deserve. My heart is breaking.”

“Funding is in dire straits. Having more children and fewer staff never drives up standards.”

Other topics included in the letter are: focus on retention, not just recruitment; SEND reform; wider support for mental health.

We will let you know if we get a reply! 📮

Football crazy, football mad

The Euro dreams for England have ended, but in the playground ball games continue ⚽️.

Secondary teachers who “never” see girls playing football has remained at 38%, and those who do see girls playing football “most days” has gone up a smidge to 12% (a two percentage point increase) since summer 2023.

Although those reporting seeing girls playing football every day in primary schools has dropped to 25%, this is still above the levels reported in 2022 (22%).

There is more good news 🥳⚽️ there has been an increase in the number of schools with girls football teams in primaries compared to last year (47% up from 45%) and in secondaries (61% up from 56%).

This means that in primary the number of schools with boys football teams is almost the same as girls (52% vs 47%).

Secondaries still have some way to go before they close the gap (82% vs 61%).

How many schools had a late start thanks to football?

England were through to the finals of the European Cup! Hooray! 🎉BUT it had an 8pm kick off on a Sunday night. Boo. 😒

How many schools took matters into their own hands and opted for a later start time?

⏰ 16% of primary school pupils could put their alarms on snooze with either a late start of a ‘soft opening’.
😴 Far fewer secondaries took the same steps with just 2% allowing a late start.

How free are teachers to teach what they want?

Planning a lesson can be a quick scribble in a planner, or hours compiling resources. But when it comes to the content how much say do you have over what is taught?

🥳 The good news – NOBODY is being forced to use pre-planned lessons without being able to adapt them.

But what are schools insisting upon? Following long term plans was the most common approach in primary (30%) and a number of secondaries are doing this too (19%).

The most common response in secondary was the use of pre-prepared adaptable lessons (29%) whereas in primary just 10% do this.

Which schools or subjects have more rigid rules?

Teachers in independent schools have the most freedom, with 43% allowed to teach whatever they want.

As you might expect, teachers in large MATs are more likely to be asked to use prep-prepared lessons and adapt them compared to teachers in local authority schools (28% vs 13%).

When it came to different subjects, we saw differences here too:

📚 English were the most likely to have pre-prepared lessons to adapt (43%)
🧬 Science was the next most likely, with 33%
🧮 Only 23% of maths teachers had the policy to use adaptable pre-prepared lessons.
🎨 In the arts department, this approach was the least common (18%).

🤔 We have more questions to ask about this (including finding out more from those who reported their schools adopted a mixture of approaches) so watch this space for updates on this topic soon…

Instructional coaching

Anyone who has been involved with ECTs is likely to have heard the phrase “instructional coaching”.

Teacher Tapp partner, Steplab define instructional coaching as:

“Instructional coaching involves one teacher working with another teacher, to help them take small, personalised steps to improve their practice. Instructional coaches help their teachers to get better by doing two things on a regular basis:

Identifying an area for improvement, usually based on a short observation.
Providing teachers with opportunities to rehearse, get feedback, and make a habit of their improvement.”

You can read more about what instructional coaching is here.

What do teachers think of instructional coaching? Opinions seem a little ambivalent.

Over a third of primary and secondary teachers neither agreed nor disagreed with the statement (37% and 35%).

37% of primary school teachers agreed that they had personally found instructional coaching useful with 8% saying they strongly agree. Secondary teachers were broadly similar with 33% agreeing 9% strongly agreeing.

At the other end of the scale, more secondary teachers disagreed or strongly disagreed that they had found instructional coaching useful (24% vs 18%).

Teachers in areas of the highest disadvantage were more likely to say they agree or strongly agree that they had personally found instructional coaching useful compared to teachers in fee-paying schools (47% vs 32%).

Were you one of the teachers who didn’t agree or disagree? Or perhaps you haven’t had any experience of instructional coaching…yet! If there is a question you would like to ask our panel of Teacher Tappers then get in touch hello@teachertapp.co.uk and let us know! 🙌.

How to say goodbye?

At this point in the year goodbyes are being said all across the school as pupils and staff prepare to move on to new settings.

An ‘exit interview’ gives staff a chance to speak candidly about their experience and hopefully assist school leaders in making changes that lead to improving working conditions.

But how many leaders are making the time for these one-to-ones? It seems they are growing in popularity with 16% of primary teachers and 29% of secondary teachers reporting being offered an exit interview when they left their last school.

Since 2020, that is an increase of 5 percentage points in primary, and 6 percentage points in secondary.

Top events

This week’s top event is Thrive’s Supporting SEND on-demand video 🙌.

If you want to know what edu-events are coming up then check the app and filter for your phase and subject.

Ups and Downs

On the rise 📈

Stressful primary classrooms – Last summer 33% of primary teachers said they ‘agreed’ or ‘strongly agreed’ that being in the classroom was stressful for much of the time, this year that has gone UP to 43% 😢.

Heading down 📉

Deputy headteachers – School structures seem to be changing with fewer schools reporting they have multiple deputy heads. The number of schools with 3 or more deputies is DOWN compared to 2022 (11% vs 16%).