§ Adam PriceTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what measures she plans to take to reduce the time teachers spend on administration. [23977]
§ Mr. TimmsMy Department keeps administrative requirements on all schools under continuous review. We have taken a number of actions to reduce the burdens on schools, including simplifying the Standards Fund, providing extra funding for small schools to meet proportionately higher administrative costs and to encourage the development of collaborative approaches to reducing burdens, such as shared ICT technicians, and actively screening all mailings to schools. In addition, in the school year 2000–01, we achieved a significant reduction in the number of pages sent to schools by the Department.
We recognise that there is more to be done to make teaching a more manageable profession. The PricewaterhouseCoopers study of teacher work load, published on 5 December 2001, has put forward further practical ways of addressing work load issues, which the Department and other stakeholders are considering.