Heads call for cuts to 'red tape'

Schools complain they are asked to do too much administration

Head teachers in England have called for the government to cut bureaucracy in schools to "free up" time for staff to work in classrooms.

The Implementation Review Unit, an independent government-appointed group of heads, said meetings and paperwork should be reduced to a minimum.

Ministers' initiatives should be shown to have a definite purpose, it added.

Education Secretary Ruth Kelly said she agreed that bureaucracy should be kept to "an absolute minimum".

'Shine a light'

The review unit (IRU), made up of 12 head teachers from primary, secondary and special needs schools, says new initiatives should replace old ones, rather than simply be added to them.

It asks heads to query requests from local authorities and central government for information they are not compelled by law to supply.

IRU chairman Chris Nicholls, a head teacher from Essex, said: "I feel now we have shone a light on this issue, people can really begin to see the true amount of work those working in schools have shouldered in recent years and that's a very encouraging start.

"The real test will be when those working in schools actually begin to notice a difference with a lessening of their workload which must be a benefit to the children in their care."

Ms Kelly said: "I will not, of course, always agree with everything they [the IRU] say.

"I do share completely their objective to create a culture whereby bureaucracy is kept to an absolute minimum - to the point where there is no longer a need for the IRU to exist."

The IRU was set up in 2003 after the national agreement on workload was signed by the government and most of England's teaching unions.

This takes certain tasks, such as photocopying and calling the register, out of teachers' hands, while providing more time for lesson preparation and professional development.

But opponents, such as the National Union of Teachers, complain that it will allow classroom assistants to take lessons.

This, the union argues, threatens the quality of teaching and learning.