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Mr Alan Stevens Sawtry Community College England, United Kingdom
Currently, headteachers are being encouraged to develop a strategy that will create an e-school with e-confident staff. Creating a strategy to implement a connected learning school, in a connected learning community, has been supported by the National College of School Leadership, the Specialist Schools Trust and Microsoft Partner schools offering a variety of courses and support.
Headteachers and senior staff should be taking a lead to become e-confident, by harnessing the benefits of video-conferencing to bring innovative staff and teams together. By taking a lead, other staff will be encouraged to follow. There are clearly pockets of excellent work being undertaken in the south-west of England, and by schools through www.global-leap.com but there is still not enough video-confidence amongst senior staff to break the pattern of meeting in traditional ways.
Over the past three years we have all been part of Broadband Consortia and NCSL Learning Communities. There has also been online administration and curriculum video-conferencing. The development of a National Grid for Learning could also be the revolution we have been waiting for, to establish a National Grid for Communication.
Connected Learning Communities could really take the initiative and conduct meetings and inservice training without having to move. The Connected Learning Community of South-West Northamptonshire is currently piloting an online continuous professional development website, distance learning via seventeen schools linked by video-conference and interactive whiteboards and innovative team meetings via video meetings and workshops. This approach by the schools in this group is to resolve the response all busy staff give when they are asked to examine further ways to raise student performance: ' If only we had more time ' .
The Meeting Without Moving (MWM) Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation committed to creating and promoting a new work and travel culture. It aims to save lives and reduce accidents; cut costs and boost productivity; enhance the work/life balance, protect the environment and save people time that could be used far more constructively. A culture in which unnecessary travel is recognised as irresponsible, undesirable and anti-social.
' Meeting Without Moving provides a less stressful work environment, improves the work/life balance, reduces exposure to risks and serious injury, whilst conserving energy and protecting the environment. The adoption of a Meeting Without Moving culture makes a positive statement about an organisation ' s commitment to its own people. '
' Video conferencing should not be regarded as a technology. Video conferencing is a brilliant communication medium and a super efficient business weapon in the battle to cut costs, boost efficiency, increase turnover/productivity and improve safety. '
' IQ should come before IT, particularly when one is looking for an efficient, cost effective method of communication. ' (Noel Edmond, Chairman MWM Foundation)
Every week in the UK there are 270 serious incidents involving ' at work travel ' . There are 20 fatalities occurring as a result of ' at work travel ' , as distinct from seven in the workplace each week. All companies and managers have a responsibility under the Health & Safety at Work Act to manage work-related road safety.
The UK is facing a major energy crisis and a pressing need to make a contribution to the global reduction of CO2 emissions. An integrated, efficient transport network, without the delays caused by congestion, essential works or terrorist threats, cannot be delivered without staggering investment and vast damage to the environment.
Business productivity can be significantly boosted by the adoption of simple new work practices, particularly related to travel and both internal and external communications. Present volumes of business travel have a tangible and easily measurable negative impact on business efficiency and competitiveness, whereas Meeting without Moving enables organisations to reduce travel costs and make better decisions more quickly.
In addition to the reduction of ' at work travel ' risks and freeing up the non-productive time of valued staff, further evolution and enforcement of the Working Time Directive (48 hours maximum week, including travel) is already placing greater significance upon the need to balance work priorities, as well as personal commitments.
The Work/Life balance issues in schools are requiring creative solutions on a sustainable scale. ' Only one-third of headteachers believe that the workload of their staff was their responsibility and actively managed it - most said it was down to teachers ' own ' professional autonomy ' to decide these matters ' (Pricewaterhouse Coopers Final report).
What the Pay and Conditions Guidance says: ' a school that is committed to work/life balance:
These changes are part of a wider commitment to secure downward pressure on the excessive hours worked in schools over the next four years, with progressive year-on -year reductions from the current level of some 52 hours per week during term time.
Teachers with leadership and management responsibilities are now entitled, as far as is reasonably practical, to a reasonable allocation of time within school sessions to support the discharge of their responsibilities. This is in addition to the contractual provisions on work/life balance and guaranteed PPA time, which will be introduced on 1 September 2005.
Time for leadership and management is likely to be identified and teachers released from student contact time that does not include teaching, eg, student supervision, registration and attendance at assemblies.
From September 2005 governing bodies will be expected to ensure that headteachers have dedicated headship time.
Workforce re-modelling and workload reduction can be enhanced by harnessing the potential of video meetings. In a lot of cases, the connectivity and equipment are already in place and therefore only requires the allocation of funding towards training and technical support. In some cases, there is the potential to hire out the video conference equipment and attract businesses to contribute towards the purchase or lease of equipment. For example, in the SST Eastern Region, five specialist schools are piloting a video conferencing project with the Video Meeting Company.
As well as Meeting without Moving, there are other benefits to education and learning that derive from using video conferencing, which makes the investment cost effective and sustainable. However, the greatest challenge is for educational leaders in the 21st century to become global e-leaders and raise educational standards through collaboration between connected learning communities via video meetings.
Ms Sarah Joyce, Communications Director, MWMPhone (UK): 020 7605 1335 Video ( UK): 020 7603 3544 Email: sjoyce@meetingwithoutmoving.comWebsite: www.meetingwithoutmoving.com
Useful websites are:
Mr Alan Stevens is the Associate Principal of Sawtry Community College, in Cambridgeshire, England, in the UK.
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