Something has been playing on my mind since last Saturday. It's been niggling away at the back there, despite my efforts to keep it buried and despite the demands of three children during a wet half term holiday.
When I was at the Ofsted celebration, I sat with one of the YR teachers. She is highly committed and experienced. But one thing she said had me sitting up straight in my chair. Outside school, she teaches drama and speech and when she was younger her dream was to go into acting. The Head asked her whether she ever regrets not following that dream and she said, "Only when I'm spending 5 hours recording my anecdotal evidence."
My immediate thought was - if she is spending 5 hours doing that, she is not spending 5 hours on something that will be improving pupils' learning. Nor is she spending 5 hours with her own family or doing something that is relaxing and beneficial to her.
What I don't yet know is what the anecdotal evidence is used for, so it may be that it has its advantages. But I am sure that there must be a way to get someone else to do the recording, while she concentrates on creating great lessons.
My question to you is this;
What do you or your school do to make teachers' lives easier so that they can concentrate on the most important issue which is delivering great lessons and maximising learning?