DOCUMENT RESUME
ED 438 446 CE 079 754
AUTHOR
Martinez, Paul; Pepler, Giles
TITLE Reducing Bureaucratic Burdens on Lecturers.
INSTITUTION
Further Education Development Agency, London (England).
ISSN ISSN-1361-9977
PUB DATE 2000-00-00
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FE Matters; v2 n12 2000
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DESCRIPTORS
Adult Education; *Bureaucracy; *Faculty Workload; Foreign
Countries; Noninstructional Responsibility; Postsecondary
Education; *Teacher Responsibility; Technical Institutes;
Vocational Education
IDENTIFIERS *Great Britain
ABSTRACT
Administrative demands in further education in Britain are
heavy and unrelenting throughout the year; most work related directly to
students and could not be cut. A survey of 84 colleges, and in-depth work
with 10 colleges, yield an analysis of background and problems. Almost
two-thirds of administrative tasks are paper based; almost one-third involve
oral communications. Administrative tasks are usually urgent; over 50 percent
require action on the same day. Increases in bureaucracy are associated with
a number of curriculum trends and changes. The solution in colleges appears
to lie in a more widespread, rigorous, and systematic application of
practical strategies to reduce bureaucracy. Solutions developed in colleges
to reduce bureaucratic burdens on lecturers fall into six main categories:
curriculum redesign and re-engineering; re-engineering of administrative
systems; a better use of information and communications technology;
increasing administrative support; managing change; and changing management.
Agencies external to colleges have opportunities to reduce or mitigate their
demands on colleges. They play important roles in creating a unified quality
framework, combining disparate sources of funding in a single funding
framework, reestablishing a more equitable balance between devolved
responsibility and centralized audit and control, taking a lead in
development of communications media, and developing a unique identifier for
each individual student. (Contains 49 references, research methods, and
instruments.) (YLB)
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Reducing bureaucratic
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Reducing bureaucratic
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Published by FEDA
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ISSN 1361 9977
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted
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without prior written permission of the copyright owner.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks are due first to Adrian Perry who initially sug-
gested this research. FEDA also wishes to express app-
reciation to Giles Pepler who undertook much of the
research in the first phase and Chris Parkin who man-
aged the first phase.
A group of 48 college lecturers and managers from six
colleges devoted a significant amount of time to gath-
ering data. FEDA is indebted to them for this.
A second group of college managers provided help,
encouragement, information and critical support and
inspiration for the section on ways forward. They are:
Colin Butler, Coventry Technical College
Maggie Chattaway, Luton Sixth Form College
Robert Fisher, Colchester Institute
Mary Green, City College Birmingham
Martyn Park, Sutton Coldfield College
Jeff Purkis, Cornwall College
Clare Ring, Braintree College
Cliff Shaw, Herefordshire College
of Art and Design
Kevin Smith, Runshaw College
Sumitar Young, Bridgwater College
4
2
FEmatters
Vole No12
Vole No12
Contents
Summary
Introduction
The nature of bureaucracy in colleges
Causes of bureaucracy
Reducing bureaucratic burdens on lecturers
Reducing externally driven bureaucracy
Conclusions
1 Introduction
Objectives
The schools sector
2 The nature of bureaucracy in colleges
Perceptions of teachers and managers
Patterns of administrative activity
Increases in bureaucracy and
overall lecturer workload
5
7
8
3 Causes of bureaucracy
15
4 Reducing bureaucratic burdens on lecturers
18
Curriculum redesign and re-engineering
Re-engineering administrative systems
Information and communications technology
Increasing administrative support
Managing change
Changing management
5 Reducing externally driven bureaucracy
30
Funding
Statistical and other returns
Accrediting and awarding bodies
Implications and key messages
6 Conclusions
32
References
33
Appendices
1 Research methods
35
2 Coding the administrative items
37
from the case-study colleges
3 Briefing and student record sheet in
38
Intermediate GNVQ in Art and Design
(Herefordshire College of Art and Design)
4 Assessment record (Herefordshire College
43
of Art and Design)
5 A-level student self-assessment form
45
(Sutton Coldfield College)
6 Standardised assessment format for
46
GNVQ assignment (Colchester Institute)
5
FEmatters
3
Areas in which applications seem to be particularly eff-
ective in simplifying or speeding up processes include
enrolments, student tracking, initial assessment, regis-
tration and student surveys.
As well as enhancing student-staff interactions, the
same ICT applications provide a foundation for more
effective, more responsive and more devolved man-
agement.
College intranets provide an effective communication
medium and a platform for shared access to infor-
mation. They have a great future potential for holding
learning materials, both static and interactive.
Effective use of ICT applications depends on access to
hardware and software and to staff development.
Effective implementation of these applications depends,
in turn, on the involvement of representative groups of
staff in planning and on an effective partnership bet-
ween strategic manager, management information ser-
vices (MIS) specialist, lecturers and administrative staff.
ICT-supported re-engineering depends on knowledge-
able IT-systems people working with high quality soft-
ware. Both can be expensive but can repay the invest-
ment through improvements that cannot be achieved
by manual systems.
Increasing administrative support
The more intensive and flexible use of administrative
and technical staff has sometimes reduced the level of
support available locally to lecturers.
The administrative work undertaken by lecturers should
be reviewed and, if appropriate, passed to administra-
tors and clerical assistants.
Case study examples of initiatives to redistribute admin-
istrative tasks include the appointment of additional
administrative and clerical staff to deal with student
enquiries within a curriculum area, additional admin-
istrative resources to support tutoring and the use of
external markers and student reference writers.
Managing change and
changing management
Colleges that have developed the most systematic
strategies to reduce bureaucratic burdens on teachers
have made them a management priority, committed
resources to diagnosing and resolving problems and
created management mechanisms to drive the process
forward.
6
Devolution of managerial responsibilities and account-
abilities and flattened management structures have
been criticised for widening lecturer responsibilities
and lessening time available for teaching and learning.
The present research supports the view that, if imple-
mented effectively, decentralised decision- making can
reduce bureaucracy.
Specifically, there is evidence that devolution can speed
up and improve decision-making without diverting
lecturers and programme leaders from their teaching
and student priorities.
REDUCING EXTERNALLY
DRIVEN BUREAUCRACY
There are opportunities for agencies external to col-
leges (notably those to do with funding, inspection and
qualifications) both to reduce or mitigate their demands
on colleges and to play a more determined role in sup-
porting the development of less burdensome adminis-
trative mechanisms.
Agencies outside colleges also have an important role
to play in:
Creating a unified quality framework
Combining disparate sources of funding
in a single funding framework and limiting
competitive bidding to discretionary funds
to support development work
Re-establishing a more equitable balance
between devolved responsibility and
centralised audit and control, particularly
for qualifications
Taking a lead in the development of
communications media particularly
between colleges and awarding bodies
Developing a unique identifier for each
individual student to be used across
educational phases.
CONCLUSIONS
There is considerable scope to reduce bureaucratic
burdens on lecturers more systematically. Most of this
work will have to be done in colleges. The combination
of strategies reviewed here include:
Curriculum redesign and re-engineering
Re-engineering administrative systems
Greater application of ICT
Increasing administrative support
Managing the process of change effectively
Changing and developing a number of
managerial tasks and functions.
FEmatters
7
Vol 2 No12
1 Introduction
Issues around administration and bureaucracy arouse
intense feelings in colleges. There are almost universal
beliefs that there is too much bureaucracy, that the
time devoted to administration and other support activ-
ities is eating into the time available for teaching and
that overall administrative workloads have increased
substantially.
It is no exaggeration, moreover, to say that the quantity
and loudness of complaints increase the closer one
approaches the whiteboard.
These views will be familiar to anyone who has even the
slightest contact with further education. Indeed, they
have been surveyed and recorded in a number of recent
research projects (NATFHE, 1998; Taubman, Lucas and
Leney, 1998; Warren, 1998; Lucas, 1998; FEU, 1995).
Insofar as there are divergences of opinion, these relate
more to the causes of bureaucracy than to its extent.
Thus, senior college managers are inclined to blame the
demands of external stakeholders, notably funding
and inspection agencies. College lecturers on the other
hand tend to attribute increases in administration either
to a different set of external stakeholders typically
awarding bodies or to internal stakeholders in the
shape of college managers.
The surprise is that, at least at first sight, so little is being
done to reduce red tape and bureaucracy.
OBJECTIVES
This report is based on research that started at the end
of 1996 with three main objectives:
Investigate the size and nature of
administrative burdens on lecturers
Identify the causes of such
administrative burdens
Propose ways of reducing
the administrative burden.
Field research on the first two objectives (the 'problem')
was completed in the spring of 1997. Follow-up work
with a different group of colleges on practical ways of
VO1 2 No12
reducing bureaucracy was undertaken in autumn 1998.
A technical note on research methods is included in
Appendix 1.
THE SCHOOLS SECTOR
One of the overriding priorities of the incoming minis-
terial team at the DfEE in 1997 was to raise standards in
education. Reducing the time spent by school teachers
on 'bureaucratic activities' was seen as a key means to
this end.
In July 1997 a working group was established by Estelle
Morris with a wide-ranging membership from teacher
organisations, other public-sector organisations and
industry. The working group in turn commissioned field
work that was subsequently published (Coopers and
Lybrand, 1998) and reported to ministers in January
1998.
Although the present report is based entirely on empiri-
cal work in the FE sector, this school-based research is
referred to where comparisons are useful.
Definitions and approaches
The terms 'administration' and 'bureaucracy' are used
interchangeably in this report without the pejorative
connotations usually attached to the latter. Adminis-
tration and bureaucracy comprise all those tasks, com-
munications, meetings, reports, student and course
records, etc., which are required of teachers and which
do not directly form part of the design, facilitation,
delivery and assessment of learning.
In the report that follows, findings are summarised in
five chapters:
The nature of bureaucracy including its
volume, shape, components and timing
The causes of bureaucracy
Reducing bureaucratic burdens on lecturers
Reducing externally driven bureaucracy
Conclusions.
8
FEmatters
7
2
The nature of bureaucracy
in colleges
PERCEPTIONS OF TEACHERS
AND MANAGERS
An initial questionnaire provided a picture of colleges'
views on administrative workloads. The questionnaire
was tested in six colleges then sent to half of the col-
leges in England and Wales 84 colleges responded
(around 40%).
All colleges reported an increase in administrative work-
loads over the past five years and almost 90% perceived
this increase to be substantial. Senior managers iden-
tified the funding councils as the principal source of
the increase, while course coordinators and lecturers
identified internal college procedures as responsible for
the largest increase. The study showed that most internal
communications are still paper based.
Colleges perceived that the increase had affected all
grades of teaching and support staff, both full and part
time, although there was some suggestion that the larger
part of the increase has been carried by full-time staff,
both teaching and support. Following this up in dis-
cussion with staff in the case-study colleges, it seems that
the protracted contracts dispute in FE colleges, coupled
with the growing use of third-party providers, has red-
uced the scope for part timers to carry out administrative
work. Further, the administration of part-time contracts
has added to the workload of full-time managers.
These changes in the numbers and profile of staff in
sector colleges have been documented by the Associ-
ation of Colleges (AoC) and the Sixth Form Colleges
Employers Forum (SFCEF). The responses of senior
managers provide further evidence.
The increasing complexity of planning procedures and
student tracking is reflected in the lack of marked troughs
of activity in internal administrative processes in any
of the four quarters of the college year. There are, how-
ever, peaks in administrative demands associated with
external agencies and largely reflecting the annual plan-
ning cycles of the funding councils, TECs and the EU.
Senior managers perceived their most time-consuming
administrative tasks to be linked with the Individual
Student Record (ISR), but course leaders and main-grade
lecturers identified the tasks associated with personal
tutoring, and maintaining and updating the related rec-
ords as requiring the largest proportion of their admin-
istrative efforts. Other particularly time-consuming tasks
were associated with internal verification procedures.
Both senior managers and main-grade lecturers described
the most irritating administrative tasks as those where
identical or similar information was required more
than once in different formats. Senior managers iden-
tified statistical requests for student achievements from
the funding councils and the DfEE as their particular
bugbear and several lecturers criticised the repetitious
information-gathering involved in student enrolment
in their colleges. Some identified the taking of messages,
particularly telephone messages, as a significant source
of irritation.
Very few examples of good administrative practice
were cited in the initial survey, either in internal college
systems, or from external organisations. Almost the
only example of good practice ascribed to an external
organisation was the administrative systems of BTEC
(now EdExcel). Other colleges identified effective int-
ernal processes, e.g. IT-based registration or student
tracking systems. It is likely that the lack of other ex-
amples reflects the general unease about administrative
workloads and an apparent inability to stem the tide
of paper. There also tended to be a gap between the
theoretical performance of electronic systems and the
practical impact on lecturing staff.
Overall, therefore, responses to the initial question-
naire suggested strongly that administrative burdens
on teachers had increased. Although a questionnaire
9
FEmatters
Vol 2 No12
of this type is, to some extent, an invitation to complain,
the strength and consistency of the assertions show
that there are significant problems.
Summary of key points
On one hand there is a growing volume of complaints
concerning bureaucratic burdens on lecturers; on
the other, little is apparently being done to address
the problem.
Complaints in the college sector find a significant
echo in the schools sector.
Senior college managers tend to blame external
stakeholders, particularly funding and inspection
agencies; lecturers tend to blame different stake-
holders, particularly awarding bodies and their own
college managers.
This research provides detailed empirical evidence for
the first time to substantiate some of these complaints.
The burden of bureaucracy is, moreover, unre-
lenting throughout the academic year and places
continuous demands on lecturers.
PATTERNS OF
ADMINISTRATIVE ACTIVITY
The second dimension of the research involved
working closely with lecturers, managers and business
support staff from six colleges. The object of the
exercise was to conduct a detailed analysis of all the
administrative tasks undertaken by staff during two
separate sample weeks from the academic year.
Six colleges were selected to represent a broad range
of characteristics of the sector:
1. A medium-sized general FE college in southern
England, with a largely rural catchment area on a
single main site. The college has strong links with a
regional university and a growing portfolio of HE
programmes.
2. A medium-sized tertiary college in the north of
England with a mixed urban/rural catchment area
and the bulk of its accommodation on a single site.
Vol
2 No12
3. A large tertiary college in London, which serves an area
of significant social and economic disadvantage.
4. A very large community college in a northern conur-
bation, based on a number of sites, one of which
is more than 10 miles from the others. The college
delivers a very wide range of programmes from
foundation to HE levels and has a significant pro-
portion of HE work.
5. A sixth-form college serving a largely urban area on
the edge of a major conurbation in the north of
England. Although this is one of the largest sixth-
form colleges in England, it is small in comparison
with most general FE and tertiary colleges.
6. A small specialised college in south Wales, situated
on the fringes of a conurbation, but serving a largely
rural community with some students travelling a
considerable distance to college.
Forty-eight staff from six colleges declared a total
of 2635 administrative items during the two weeks
response period (see Figure 1). Over the two weeks the
average number of items varied from 34 to 63 per
person, with the lowest numbers in the two smallest
colleges. There is some evidence that the size of the
administrative load correlated positively with the size
of the college, though differences in recording make
this only a tentative conclusion.
Over half the administrative items recorded involved
paper communication (65%), with 30% involving oral
communication and only 5% declared as involving IT.
Discussions with respondents showed that oral items
(especially brief telephone calls) were often under-
recorded. Some of the paper items may also have been
originated by electronic communication but the pro-
portion of communication by IT remains quite small.
The picture that emerges from the six colleges is one in
which paper-based communications continue to dom-
inate, in spite of the enormous advances in electronic
communication systems over the past five years.
The ratio of internal to external communications was
around 3:1, but, as Figure 2 shows, there were consid-
erable variations between the six colleges. These vari-
ations showed no correlation with college size.
BESTCOPYAVAILABLE
10
FEmatters
9
Figure 1 Number of items per respondent by college
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FEmatters
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Vole No 12
Figure 3 Deadlines for action
111 Action on same day
Less than a week
More than a week
No deadline
Over half of the recorded items required action on the
same day, although at the other end of the scale, almost
one-fifth had no deadline attached (see Figure 3). There
was a common pattern between the six colleges:
Although relatively few of the items concerned HE
work (around 12.5%), there was some suggestion that
HE-related administration was less urgent. Just over
a third of the HE-related items required a same-day
response. Obviously, judgements of urgency or pri-
ority are to an extent subjective. Some staff give pri-
ority to administrative deadlines at the expense of
other activities; others have different priorities.
Just under two-thirds of the items took less than 15
minutes and half of these (28%) took less than five
minutes. These were typically registers and brief
written memoranda. At the other end of the scale,
nine per cent of items required more than an hour's
work. From interviews with respondents, many of
these were major planning or organisational activ-
ities requiring substantially more than 60 minutes
per item and some took two or three hours.
Four general types of item accounted for over three-
quarters of those recorded:
Written memoranda
Meetings and discussions
Paperwork and pro-forma completion
Telephone calls.
Volt No 12
Analysis of this data by college shows some interesting
differences in patterns of activity and communication.
In one college, meetings and discussions predominated
over all other activities. In another, there were relatively
few meetings and discussions; maintaining records,
pro formas and paperwork and written memoranda were
the dominant activities. In a third (one of the smaller
colleges) the proportion of telephone calls greatly
exceeded other items.
In addition to identifying activities using a limited
range of general codes, items were coded in more detail
to identify the particular types of activity to which
they related.
The following codes were used:
Curriculum and qualification development (e.g.
developing course proposals and submissions,
course development, evaluation, etc.)
Recruitment and enrolment (e.g. providing
information to enquirers, processing
enquiries, applications and enrolments)
Teaching and learning (planning, preparation,
development of course materials, etc.)
Externally related (including parents, careers
services, awarding bodies, industry, etc.)
Management issues (including college
planning, audit, satisfying FEFC
requirements, etc.)
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
FEmatters 1 2
Estimates of the amount of time spent on adminis-
trative work showed even wider variations. There was,
however, a general correlation between staff status and
administrative workload, with management staff gen-
erally undertaking less teaching and spending more
time on administrative matters.
There was also some support for the suggestion in some
of the initial college questionnaires that increases in
administrative workload have fallen disproportion-
ately on full-time staff, with part-timers, especially those
working through third-party providers, escaping much
of it.
The first week of the study covered the end of
November and beginning of December, when many
lecturers reported a high level of student-related work
connected with UCAS references. The second week
covered either the first or second full week of the spring
term and several middle managers reported peaks of
activity in the administration of part-time contracts
and, in a few cases, in admissions and enrolments.
It was originally anticipated that the two weeks might
show different patterns of activity but in fact,
the overall levels were very similar, confirming staff
perceptions that internally generated administrative
workloads are relatively constant throughout the
main academic year, once the major peak of autumn
enrolment has taken place.
INCREASES IN BUREAUCRACY AND
OVERALL LECTURER WORKLOAD
A 1994/95 NFER study into lecturer workloads and
stress, commissioned by NATFHE, produced estimates
of an average 43.6-47.0 weekly working hours for main
grade teaching and management staff in FE. The
NFER study was based on questionnaires and com-
mented that similar diary-based exercises tended to
produce slightly higher figures. Given the small and
heterogeneous sample in this FEDA research, it was
not possible to generate authoritative figures for
overall weekly workloads. Aggregation of teaching and
administrative hours for staff who were able take a
more detailed, diary-based approach to recording sug-
gests that average working hours are similar or only
slightly higher than those in the NFER study.
14
This gives rise to an apparent contradiction: adminis-
trative demands are said to have increased substan-
tially but overall working hours have not.
In the absence of conclusive evidence, I infer that two
different processes are taking place. Lecturer contact
time and related administrative tasks have expanded,
mainly at the expense of preparation time. At the same
time, the increase in time devoted to administration
has been constrained by lecturers working both harder
and 'smarter'. Indeed, there is considerable anecdotal
evidence from respondents to this effect.
Summary of key points
Lecturers are dealing with around 30 administrative
items, on average, each week.
Just under two-thirds of all such tasks take 15 minutes
or less but a substantial minority take over half an
hour and about one task in ten requires more than
an hour's work.
Most tasks originate within colleges and the great
majority of them either support teaching and learning
processes or relate directly to students, or both.
Meetings take up between 2 and 21/2 hours per week
for teaching staff and substantially more time for
managers.
Almost two-thirds of administrative tasks are
paper based and almost one-third involve oral
communications.
Administrative tasks are usually urgent: over 50%
require action on the same day.
Overall, weekly hours of work do not seem to have
increased in proportion to the growth in adminis-
trative tasks.
The main effect of increasing bureaucracy appears
to be on the preparation time available for teaching
sessions.
The increase in time taken for administration
appears to have been limited mainly by the efforts
of lecturers to work both harder and 'smarter'.
FEmatters
15
Vole No 12
The increase in the proportion of continuous
or modular assessment and the associated
administration of review and action planning
A greater focus on quality, standards and
accountability with a consequent increase
in requirements to record, report and
provide evidence
An extension of the responsibilities
of many lecturers to coordinate,
plan and deliver teaching in teams
An increase in the volume and complexity
of managerial tasks associated with a more
professional or business-like approach
to teaching
The devolution of a number of managerial
responsibilities to teaching teams (e.g.
planning, market research, marketing,
quality control, etc.).
All of these changes are well documented, have been
widely discussed and debated, and have provided a
source of either celebration or regret since incorpo-
ration (Yarrow and Es land, 1998; Somekh et al., 1999;
Warren, 1998; Taubman et al., 1998; Lucas, Betts, 1996;
Goulding et al., 1998).
Four aspects of this list are particularly striking. First,
most lecturers actually support these changes and
think they improve teaching and learning. Second, the
changes are mainly associated with students, teaching
and learning.
Third, the changes are mutually reinforcing in their
effect on administration. If lecturers are teaching a
more and larger groups in an extended teaching week,
administrative tasks increase accordingly.
Fourth, and most ominously in the context of this dis-
cussion, all the developments listed above are likely to
continue in the foreseeable future. The volume and
complexity of administration associated with these
changes are likely, therefore, to continue to grow.
. .
The difficulty of the problem can be amply represented
by a single example from one of the case-study colleges
(see case study, above). This is contained in an account
given by a lecturer of the procedures associated with
joining a vocational programme at his college.
This illustration is very telling. On one hand, the
admissions and enrolment system has been improved
to facilitate student choice and appropriate course
placement. On the other, this improvement is asso-
ciated with a complex administrative process involving
several people and discrete tasks, over a significant
period of time.
Our research suggests that this sort of extended bureau-
cratic and repetitive process will be widely recognised
i6
Case study A college enrolment process
All students who wish to join the college complete and
submit an application form, complete with photograph.
This form is sent to the admissions unit, which
processes the form, arranges an interview, sets
up a file and tracker sheet for the student, prints
labels for the replies and collects references
(where applicable). Entry tests are arranged
for the courses that demand them.
During the interview, the lecturer will use the tracking
sheet to make notes based on the standard set of
questions devised for that course. Once over, the
interviewer will make the student an offer of a place
(or not, as the case may be). The tracking form is com-
pleted and all the paperwork is returned to admissions
for a confirmation letter to be sent to the student.
Once the student accepts the place they must fill in an
(internal) form with the same information as on the
application form, which must be signed and completed
with the correct course code by the lecturer. As this
form is then retained by MIS, the information it contains
is lost to the course tutor. The student has therefore
to fill out another form with name, address, contacts,
work (where relevant) and national insurance (NI)
number for college use. The student is also issued
with an enrolment card that indicates the start place
and time of the course, and has space for a receipt.
by
both lecturers and students. From the student per-
spective, lengthy admission and induction procedures
can be confusing and demotivating; from the lecturer's
perspective, the procedures can be time-consuming,
irritating and stressful, particularly if the lecturer per-
ceives that identical or very similar information is being
collected more than once in different formats.
Early experiences of college life are important for stu-
dents in establishing positive perceptions. They may
be critical in determining attitudes toward study,
reinforcing motivation and enhancing retention and
achievement. Bureaucratic and time-consuming admin-
istrative procedures around the point of entry may
therefore have significant negative outcomes for teacher
and student alike.
All the case-study colleges paid close attention to the
wide range of needs of their varied student populations.
Two of the colleges had particularly extensive personal
tutorial systems, and these were highly valued by stu-
dents and staff. In each case, the student referral systems
occupied much administrative time. Teaching staff in
both these colleges were strongly committed to the
values and ethos of their systems. They also acknowl-
edged that the bureaucratic complexities associated
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17
Vole
No12
with the tracking and cross-referencing of information
on students meant that they often took shortcuts with
the administrative procedures, or side-stepped them
altogether.
All colleges reported much time spent on giving financial
advice to individual students, especially in connection
with discretionary student awards and interpretation
of the social security benefits system.
In addition, the voracious demands of the ISR were
almost universally seen by English senior managers as
a burden whose benefits did not justify the time spent
on recording information, completing and verifying
returns.
This is the nub of the problem. Teaching and learning
represent colleges' raison d'etre and main business.
The bulk of the increase in bureaucracy is directly or
closely related to this core business. Further, teachers
accept that student-related administration is impor-
tant. Indeed, lecturers interviewed as part of this study
made a point of giving particular and in the main
uncomplaining priority to administrative tasks that
were directly supportive of students, the assessment
of their learning and of their progress and personal
development.
This undoubtedly explains why so little has been
done to reduce the bureaucratic burdens on teachers.
Ultimately, the tasks (although not necessarily the ways
in which they are currently performed) are actually
necessary. Thus, the real issue is to identify ways in which
these necessary tasks can be made less burdensome and
provide a real return to lecturers in terms of data that
is useful, produced in a format that is simple and in
which they are actively involved to their benefit.
This approach seems more useful than attempts to
distinguish between necessary and harmful (i.e. 'unnec-
essary') bureaucracy in the schools sector (Coopers and
Lybrand, 1998; NUT, 1998a), for five main reasons:
It is empirically based
It is clearer
V012 No 12
It makes a logical distinction between
teaching and activities to support teaching
It reflects more closely the experience
of teachers and managers in colleges
It avoids the problem of circular reasoning
(for example, where bureaucracy is defined
as work that could be done by others and the
predetermined solution is therefore to assign
the tasks to someone else).
The search for wholly unnecessary and redundant admin-
istrative tasks is unlikely, therefore, to provide a com-
prehensive solution to the problem of bureaucracy.
On the other hand, and to reiterate an earlier point, the
overall hours of work of most lecturers do not seem to
have increased in proportion to the increase in admin-
istration. At least part of the explanation must lie in
successful efforts that colleges have already made to
lessen administrative burdens. The next chapter will
review some practical initiatives developed in the group
of colleges that responded to the second survey in
summer 1998.
Summary of key points
Most lecturer-related bureaucracy either directly sup-
ports teaching and learning or relates to students
or both.
Increases in bureaucracy are associated with a number
of curriculum trends and changes, many of which
are actually supported by many lecturers.
These curriculum trends are likely to continue for
the foreseeable future.
The situation in colleges appears to differ from that
in schools; in the schools sector many of the admin-
istrative tasks of teachers appear to be extraneous to
the curriculum and to originate outside the school.
The solution in colleges appears to lie in a more
widespread, rigorous and systematic application
of practical strategies to reduce bureaucracy. Such
strategies are already in evidence in some colleges.
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18
FEmatters 17
4
Reducing bureaucratic
burdens
on lecturers
The pragmatic solutions developed in colleges fall into
six main categories:
Curriculum redesign and re-engineering
Re-engineering administrative systems
Information and communications technology
Increasing administrative support
Managing change
Changing management.
These are similar to findings in the schools sector
(Coopers and Lybrand, 1998; Working Group, 1998),
but suggest a more sophisticated and robust approach
to management and process issues in the college sector.
CURRICULUM REDESIGN
AND RE-ENGINEERING
Process redesign and re-engineering was very fash-
ionable in industrial and commercial management in
the early 1990s (Garvin, 1995; Guha, 1993; Hall, 1993;
Hammer, 1995; Hammer and Champy, 1993; Johannson,
1993, Lowenthal, 1994). Davies and West-Burnham
(1997) have argued that these principles can and should
be applied in education management. The approach has
also been condemned for making exaggerated claims,
and for neglecting 'people' factors. Some critics have
underlined the irony that re-engineering efforts are led
and supported by employees whose jobs might well dis-
appear as a consequence (Evans, 1994; Bartram, 1994;
Grey and Mitev, 1995; Mumford and Hendricks, 1996).
In fact, FE colleges have been committed to re-engi-
neering efforts for at least the past 10 years. Indeed,
the work to create student pathways and the devel-
opment of threshold, on-programme and progression
Mechanisms suggest that colleges could teach other
industrial sectors a thing or two about it!
The general principles of process re-engineering are
quite simple. They involve:
Identifying key processes (e.g. marketing
and recruitment, teaching and learning,
assessment, guidance and support)
Mapping key processes between
the beginning and end states
18
Case study i Herefordshire College of Art and Design
At Herefordshire College of Art and Design, teaching
and learning processes have been radically recast.
The curriculum is organised around eight student
projects per year, each of which addresses and
integrates several different learning and performance
outcomes (see Figure 8). Students are allocated to
studios under the general direction of year leaders.
The year leaders control budgets for consumables.
Both full- and part-time teachers work with students
individually and in small groups. A single document
acts as a project brief, provides a focus for student
planning and tutorial discussion and records assess-
ment outcomes. Overall student progress is recorded
and reported using a single overall tracking sheet
(see Figure 9 for a GNVQ Intermediate Art and Design
example). A briefing and student record sheet for one
of the GNVQ Intermediate projects is included as
Appendix 3. The college has also developed
an assessment record designed to:
Reveal student progress at a glance
Provide opportunities for qualitative comment
as well as a summary of elements and units
that have been completed
Be flexible enough to cope with
resubmissions, if required
Give students the chance to
record their comments
Provide a single document for student,
assessor, verifier and curriculum manager.
A copy is included as Appendix 4.
This curriculum redesign provides an opportunity for
active and flexible project work that integrates GNVQ
learning outcomes in a coherent way. Administrative
demands have been simplified and reduced to a
minimum. In passing, this curriculum model permits
a highly individualised curriculum to be efficiently
delivered, with a student-staff ratio of 24:1.
Students may access technical workshops at any
point in the week. Tutors can also design projects
that insist on students using workshops thus
relieving teaching burdens at certain times.
FEmatters
19
Vol 2 No 12
Simplifying the steps of each process
(through, for example, the sequencing
of steps and reduction in their number)
Identifying and removing any bottlenecks
Realigning processes (for example,
to ensure that recruitment and assessment
processes are congruent with teaching
and learning strategies)
Creating an overall manager or point of
contact for each 'customer' (in colleges
typically a personal tutor).
The practice is widespread in colleges without being
explicitly or formally linked to re-engineering theory.
Four examples illustrate how curriculum re-engineering
can affect administration.
Case study 2 Sutton Coldfield College
The same sort of fundamental curriculum redesign
is demonstrated at Sutton Coldfield where the
GNVQ curriculum has been re-organised around:
Enhanced recruitment, advice,
screening and initial testing procedures
Additional learning support which is contex-
tualised and integrated wherever possible
Development of a single foundation-level pro-
gramme organised around basic and key skills
Redesign and refocusing of tutoring to provide
an emphasis on student progress and performance
A phased programme of assignments
to provide timely assessment and to
signpost accomplishment
Introduction of dedicated learning resources
and learning support through a GNVQ centre,
now further developed as a key skills centre
Conscious efforts to develop course teams.
Associated with the redesign, and in a sense
underpinning all aspects of it, the college took
steps to simplify administration to:
Provide current data for monitoring purposes
Record student achievement and provide
a cumulative sense of progress
Ensure that administrative requirements were
delivered correctly, promptly and efficiently.
VOI 2 No 12
Case study 3 Bridgwater College
A third example of re-engineering has been developed
at Bridgwater College for learning support processes.
Many colleges report that learning support
is particularly problematic, notably in the low
take-up of additional or basic skills support by many
students with diagnosed needs. Student failure to
access such support is associated not only with drop-
out and underachievement (Basic Skills Agency,1997),
but also with the extra administrative work connected
with internal liaison between subject teachers,
personal tutors and learning support staff.
At Bridgwater, learning support has been
re-designed around three models:
Learning support that is fully integrated into
courses where student groups have substantial
learning support needs
A more differentiated model. here learning
support will be fully integrated for the first term
and then provided to individual students
following discussion
Support via English and maths workshops.
The student's personal tutor is responsible for
monitoring overall progress (including any learning
support). The allocation of students to any of the
three learning support streams is determined by
initial testing and follow-up discussion against
clear criteria.
Case study it Colchester Institute
A different example of curriculum redesign is being
considered at Colchester Institute. The intention is to
replace the administratively burdensome and time-
consuming, paper-based NVQ portfolio with assess-
ments based much more on live evidence. This could
give rise to a paperless portfolio. Notwithstanding
the criticisms of the bureaucratic nature of much
NVQ assessment (Beaumont, 1995), the college's
progress in this area is being constrained by conflicting
or contradictory positions being adopted by different
awarding bodies and, on occasion, by differences
between external verifiers from the same body!
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FEmatters
19
Figure 8 Herefordshire College of Art and Design: GNVQ key skills tracking sheet
Name
Course
GNVQ Intermediate Art and Design
Project title
Element
Application
of number
Element
V
Communication Element
t i
IT
Coin collection
2
123 4 5 6 2.1 1 234 2.1
1 2 3 4
marble run
2.2
i
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1 I
2.3 1 2 3 4 5
Catch up
key skill
2.1
2.2
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
2.1
1 2 3 4
2.3 1 2 3 4 5
Greeting cards
21
1 23 4 5 6 21 I 2 34 21 1 2 3 4
2.2
4
2.2 1 2 3 4 5 6
21 1 2 3 4 5
2.3 1 2 3 4 5
Lightening
the load
2
45 6
2.2
4
Supplementary
task A
2
23 2.1 1234 2.1 1234
2.2 1 2 3 4 5 2.2
1 2 3 4 5 6
2.3
1 2 3 4 5
Mankind (1) 2.1 1234
2.2
1 2 3 4 5
-1
i I i
2.3
123
2.4 1234
Professional
practice
mankind (2)
2.1
12 3 4
2.3
23
Colour essay 2.2
12 345
2.3
1 2 3
2.4 1 2 3 4
IT evaluation
2.4 1 2 34 5 6
20
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21
Vole
NO 12
Figure 9 GNVQ element tracking sheet
Name
Course
GNVQ Intermediate Art and Design
Elmt
Performance
criteria
Project title
Weeks
1
Assmnt
point
Unit 1 2D visual language
12 3 4 5
Bee, Moon, Barbed wire
12 3 1
Week 7
Explore 2D visual language
6
Colour
3
1
Week 7
1.1
4 5 6
Greetings cards
8 910
2
Week 13
12 3 4 5 6
Life drawing
Ongoing
Murals*
2
Week 13
Use 2D media technology,
processess and techniques
5
Enterprise scheme*
Colour essay
12 3
3
1
1
Week 7
Week 7
12 3 4 5
Greetings cards
8 910
2
Week 13
1.2
Murals*
2
Week 13
Enterprise scheme*
Ongoing
Workshops
Ongoing
Unit 2- Explore 3D
12 3 4 5
3D drawing
4 5 6
1
Week 7
Explore 3D visual language
2.1
12 3 4 5
Lightening the load
11 12 13 2
Week 13
1
Coin collection marble run
17-19 20
3 Week 25
Use 3D materials,
technology, processess
2.2
12 3 5
12 3 4 5
3D drawing
Lightening the load
4 5 6
ii 12 13
1
2
Week 7
Week 13
and techniques
12 3 4 5
Coin collection marble run
17-20 3
Week 25
4
Workshops
Ongoing
Unit 3
Exploring others'
art, craft and design work
12 3 4
Lightening the load
11 12 13 2
Week 13
Explore historical and
contemporary references
3.1 12 3 4
12 3 4
Mankind (task i)
Supplementary task A
14 15 16
27 28
3
4
Week 25
Week 31
Investigate professional
4
Lightening the load
11 12 13
2
Week 12
practice
3 2
1 2 3 4 5
12 3 4 5
Murals*
Enterprise scheme*
2
Week 13
Ongoing
12 3 4 5
Mankind (task 2)
14 15 16 3
Week 25
Unit 4 Applying the
1 2 3 4 5
Greetings cards
8910
2 Week 13
...
creative process
12 3 4 5
Lightening the load
11 12 13
2
Week 13
Clarify brief and
carry out research
4.1
12 3 4 5
Murals*
2
Week 13
12 3 4 5
Coin collection marble run
17-20
3 Week 25
Originate and develop ideas
12 3 4 5
Greetings cards
8 910
2 Week 13
4.2
12 3 4 5
Lightening the load
11 12 13 2
Week 13
12 3 4 5
Murals*
2
Week 13
Produce final work
12 3 4 5 6
Greetings cards
8 910
2
Week 13
4.3
12 3 4 5 6
Lightening the load
11 12 13 2 Week 13
12 3 4 5 6
Coin collection marble run
17-20 3
Week 25
Evaluate and present work
12 3 4 5 6
Greetings cards
8 910
2
Week 13
4.4
12 3 4 5 6
Coin collection marble run
17-20
3 Week 25
Optional units
All for 2D or
2D (5 and 7) or 3D (6 and 8)
All
3D options
Optional units
23-26
4 Week 31
* Denotes voluntary group projects
Vol 2 No12
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22
FEmatters
21
RE-ENGINEERING
ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEMS
All the colleges that responded to the second survey
had been involved to varying degrees in re-engi-
neering administrative processes. This involves applying
the same sort of re-engineering principles to bureau-
cratic tasks.
Efforts have mainly been directed in three areas:
Student tracking
Paperwork and procedures
Course files and records.
Difficulties in creating effective tracking systems are
relatively well known and have been discussed at length
elsewhere (Donovan, 1996; QUILT, 1997). Examples
of tracking systems developed at Bridgwater, Luton
Sixth Form, Runshaw, Colchester Institute and Sutton
Coldfield Colleges illustrate different ways of redesigning
this aspect of college administration.
Paperwork and procedures
Colleges have sought to standardise and simplify their
paperwork and procedures. These efforts have three
major objectives, to:
Embody best administrative practice
(greater simplicity, shortest time)
Streamline, simplify and combine procedures
Improve or maintain quality.
Examples of approaches designed to address the first
two objectives are to be found in :
The adoption of common documentation
across a whole college within an IS09000
framework (East Birmingham College)
Standardised formats for all GNVQ
assessments, tracking and recording
(Colchester Institute, Runshaw College,
Sutton Coldfield College, Herefordshire
College of Art and Design). An example
from Colchester Institute is included
as Appendix 6
Standard letters (Bridgwater College,
Luton Sixth Form College).
Standard paperwork for quality control
and quality assurance procedures
(Cornwall and Sutton Coldfield Colleges)
Common internal verification paperwork
(Runshaw College,Colchester Institute)
Standard templates for project work on
student tracking (Herefordshire College
of Art and Design).
22
Case study Bridgwater College
Identified problem
Student information dispersed throughout the college.
Solutions
After commencement, subsequent information
on attendance, progress reviews and achieve-
ment are attached to the same record
This system has operated manually until now
but two curriculum areas are currently piloting
spreadsheet-based systems for attendance
Key skills tracking or log sheets
An overall summary sheet that
records student progress.
In most respects, the relevant documentation resem-
bles that developed at Herefordshire College of Art
and Design and reviewed on ppi8-21.
Case study Sutton Coldfield College
Sutton Coldfield has extended this sort of system
to encourage students to take part in tracking
and evaluating their own progress.
The mechanism used is a Student Tracking and
Achievement Record (STAR). The initial forms are
printed for tutors by the college information system
and provide all relevant student details. Tutors then
use the forms in early tutorials with their students to
discuss, agree and record personal student targets.
A second form is completed by students providing
a template for them to reflect on how they manage
their time and use learning resources. Students
record their performance against such criteria as
weekly attendance, punctuality, hours of private
study, hours of part-time employment and so forth.
The layout of the form indicates clearly the sorts
of student behaviour (and hence performance)
that on past experience are associated with either
achievement or non-achievement. The forms can
be customised for specific courses and an example
for GCSEs is Figure io page 23.
Students complete the exercise at least once, and more
often twice, each term. Their self-assessment forms a
basis for a tutorial discussion to assess performance
and set targets. After the initial discussion, students
are asked to reflect on their performance and progress
since the previous discussion. They identify issues
for discussion and agree actions with their tutor. An
example of a form used to generate such reflection
for an A-level student is included in Appendix 5.
Tutors maintain a tutorial file for each student which
contains copies of all the STAR forms and any other
relevant information.
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23
Vol
2 No 12
Figure io Sutton Coldfield College self-assessment form
Register week no.
Sutton Coldfield College
GCSE subject title
(The best ways to reach a pass standard in each of your subjects)
Student's name
Tutor
Successful subject profile
Standard of
presentation
Complete
set of notes
Homework
(hours per week)
Classroom
contribution to
discussions
Essay
grades
Deadlines
Talking in
class/distracting
other students
Concentration
in class
Average
grades
Predicted
grades
A* Excellent
Extra notes
Over 3o Always
A 100% Never Excellent
A A
B Very good Some extra notes 30
In most classes
B
95%
Hardly ever
Very good
B B
C Good Complete set
2.5 Frequently
C 9o%
Rarely Good C/C C
Fair
Several pages of
notes missing
1.5 Sometimes
D Below 85% Sometimes
Fair D
D
Poor
Many pages
missing
1o
None
Rarely
Never
E
Below 5o%
Coursework
Often
Always
Poor
E E
Approved/not approved for examination entry (delete as applicable)
Minimum target: Grade C standard
Student's result: Grade C
*Off target
io categories of achievement
Student's result:
categories of achievement
* Close to target
24
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25
There are also examples of standardisation that address
the third issue. Coventry Technical College has developed
a single quality framework that partially resolves a
major source of irritation in many colleges
the over-
lapping but separate audit and quality requirements
specified by FEFC and TECs. It is referenced to the two
sets of quality standards, relatively brief (seven sides of
text in a landscape format) and straightforward. Figure 11
illustrates a sample page.
One of the main barriers to streamlining paperwork
and procedures appears to be vested interests,as they
can be used to mark and control territories. For example,
a finance department could oppose the electronic cre-
ation of purchase orders by a head of department. In
this context, even apparently straightforward attempts
to simplify paperwork can require whole-hearted com-
mitment across the college.
Course records
Partly inspired by the need to improve record-keeping
(for both management and audit purposes), partly to
provide a more effective administrative platform for
team-based teaching and partly to facilitate access to
information, all the colleges included in our second survey
have developed course manuals, logs or information
files that contain in one place all relevant course records.
Such files therefore include the course syllabus, policy
documents, assessment materials, schemes of work, per-
formance data, assessment schedules, relevant pro formas,
etc. Colleges invariably prescribe minimum standard
contents for such files but teaching teams have a dis-
cretion to include additional material.
As the next section shows, these are increasingly being
kept in an electronic format on college intranets.
Figure ii Coventry Technical College: FEFC/TEC Quality Audit tool (extract), sample page i of 7
Prompt.
Quality statement/
assessment question
Make a
judgement.
Evaluative
statements
Is it a
strength or
a weakness?
Can you
prove it?
Sources of
evidence
Where is it?
Ref. no./
location
Reference
T = TEC
F = FEFC
Is training effectively planned,
documented and delivered so that
it meets the needs of trainees
and employers and the require-
ments of awarding bodies and
government programmes?
Do training arrangements appro-
priately specify the following:
Standards
Objectives and
expected outcomes
Context
Training methods
Learning opportunities
for key skills
Timescales for delivery
Assessment methods
Responsibilities for trainers,
work-based supervisors
and assessors?
Is training effective, and are on-
and off-the-job learning oppor-
tunities used creatively to give
trainees the skill and knowledge
which they need to achieve the
required standards?
24
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26
Vol 2 No 12
Summary of key points
Process re-engineering which has been popularised
since the early 1990s but practised in most colleges
since the 1980s, provides a simple and robust method-
ology to cut through red tape.
In many colleges, reductions in bureaucracy have
accompanied radical redesign of the curriculum.
In other colleges, re-engineering principles have been
applied directly to administrative systems, particu-
larly student tracking systems, simplified and stan-
dardised paperwork and procedures and centralised
course files and records.
Given the potential benefits of ICT (see following
section), every opportunity should be taken to involve
an IT systems person in significant re-engineering
project teams.
INFORMATION AND
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY
The problems that continue to beset many an MIS
do not need to be covered again here. The experience
revealed by this project more than justifies the notes of
caution sounded elsewhere in discussing electronic
tracking and information systems (Barwuah and Walk ley,
1997; Martinez and Munday, 1998).
Problems continue to exist in many colleges even after
the introduction of new ICT-based systems because of:
Unreliability
Poor choice of soft or hardware platforms
The time needed to de-bug systems
Time and effort needed to check and correct data
Irregular, infrequent or obscure reporting formats
Information overload at one extreme and
an information desert at the other.
There is also evidence, from this research, that ICT is
beginning to make a substantial contribution to reducing
bureaucracy. Indeed, there is growing evidence to show
that the benefits in terms of efficiency and effectiveness
claimed at the beginning of the 1990s are now being
realised (DES/Welsh Office, 1990).
There are many applications of ICT:
Machine-read scoring of initial assessments
in communications and numeracy
(Cornwall College, Colchester Institute)
Optically mark-read (OMR) registers
(Coventry Technical College
and Bridgwater College)
Swipe card-driven registration
(Luton Sixth Form College)
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Registers input by clerical assistants into an
electronic format (Sutton Coldfield College)
The maintenance of student-tracking records
in an electronic format (Runshaw, Colchester
Institute, Cornwall, Sutton Coldfield and
Coventry Technical Colleges)
Machine-read student questionnaires
(Cornwall, Coventry Technical Colleges)
Development of college intranets
for internal staff communications
(Cornwall and Bridgwater Colleges)
Use of the college intranet to facilitate
access to common documentation
(Sutton Coldfield College)
Computerised student records to generate
end-of-term reports, standard letters, address
labels for each student, letters to arrange
visits (Coventry Technical College)
Use of a college intranet to make available
student records to college teachers and
administrative staff, with varying levels
of access (Sutton Coldfield and
Bridgwater Colleges)
The use of OMR bar codes to support
enrolment procedures and produce instant
student timetables (Runshaw College)
The use of barcoded student ID cards
to monitor use of drop-in, learning
resource centre and leisure facilities
(Sutton Coldfield College).
These applications are straightforward and do not need
an extended commentary. What may be less self-evident
are some of the benefits colleges identified and some
aspects of their implementation of ICT that they regarded
as particularly important.
Several colleges mentioned the following important
components for successful development of their ICT-
based administration. The first was provision of access
to the hardware. At the most basic, this involves the pro-
vision of on-line access to all staff. By extension, lecturers
and business support staff can update data (East Bir-
mingham College). In one college, each staff room is
equipped with pentium chip personal computers on a
ratio of one personal computer to four staff. Software
is common across the college and has also been
licensed for home use (Coventry Technical College).
The second was staff training. The need for effective
training is reinforced by the number of complaints from
lecturers recorded in the first phase of this research.
These focused on the lack of access to adequate training;
rushed or inconvenient in-house training, and expensive
and largely ineffective external training.
27
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BEST COPY AVAILABLE
A third significant factor in the success of ICT devel-
opment is the involvement of large and representative
groups of staff including lecturers, managers, business
support staff and MIS specialists (Runshaw College
and Colchester Institute). In another college, the key
preconditions for the development of effective ICT-
based administrative systems were the overall lead-
ership of MIS by a curriculum specialist and the MIS
director's understanding of the information needs of
lecturers and administrative staff, as well as those of
managers and external bodies. At the time of writing,
a project team funded by Essex TEC is working with
Colchester Institute and its other training suppliers.
The team is exploring how a BT 'First Class' Intranet
system
might
avoid unnecessary visits,
reduce
paperwork and provide an electronic means of
assessment for NVQ key skills.
The benefits that flowed from the development of ICT
included the resolution of the major problems asso-
ciated with internal communication systems,
i.e.
incomplete or limited access to information (Reuters
Business Information, 1994).
Better, quicker and simpler management information
has been achieved at Coventry Technical and Sutton
Coldfield Colleges. MIS is fed directly from registers
and teacher inputs to provide on-line access to data to
monitor both student progress and the activity of teams
and schools against targets, with remedial action taken
as required.
Whether directly through OMR registers or indirectly
via data input, electronic attendance information is
being
used to
support
tutoring, track
student
progress, and provide monitoring information (by
exception) on students and sessions, and indeed on
programmes (Sutton Coldfield College, Bridgwater
College, Luton Sixth Form College). Similar benefits
were reported by other colleges in Martinez, 1997 and
Martinez and Munday, 1998.
A student who has filled in an application form at
Luton Sixth Form College does not have to provide
any further details. GCSE results are downloaded
directly from schools. The results are then printed on
enrolment forms (which are already printed with the
student's names, address, college number, etc.) and
course details are entered on pre-printed learning
agreements. Tutors receive printed sheets of student
details and achievements which they can update with
notes from tutorials.
The often complicated and time-consuming recording
of student progress and tracking between assignments,
mandatory and optional units and key skills have been
simplified considerably at Coventry Technical College
26
through the creation of linked spreadsheets that are
also held locally on the college intranet.
Luton Sixth Form College has developed an ICT- based
system to raise student achievement, support tutoring
and student target-setting and facilitate a dialogue
between students and tutors. Thus for all A-level stu-
dents, GCSE scores are collected at the beginning of
the year. They are entered on a spreadsheet and ALIS
`predicted grades' are calculated automatically. Teachers
make regular predictions of grades on the basis of
coursework and these are entered to the student progress
database and used as the basis for dialogue and review
of progress, targets and action plans. The same database
can also be used to generate a list of 'at-risk' students,
i.e. students whose predicted grades have suddenly dete-
riorated or who are failing to achieve predicted grades.
As well as the 'student progress database', college staff
have ready access to summary student data comprising:
Average GCSE score: the average of the student's
GCSE score when they entered the college
ALIS point score: the predicted score for
that subject using the average GCSE score
and the ALIS equation
Current grade: the most recent
half-termly progress grade
Average mark: equivalent points
awarded for current grade
ALIS residual: the difference between
the current grade and the ALIS score
UCAS grade: the grade sent/decided
on at the end of year 1
College prediction: the predicted grade that
goes to the exam board for external use
Final grade: entered after the results are known
Coursework
Attendance updated half-termly.
Room and staff resources at Runshaw College are trig-
gered by enrolments that are optically mark read. This
avoids the sort of complex and time-consuming iter-
ative processes often associated with manual adminis-
tration. The same enrolment data ultimately drive the
creation of delivery sets, staff timetables, consumables
budgets and exam entries.
MIS software at Luton Sixth Form College produces
student timetables through the automatic allocation
of students to classes and produces seating plans for
examinations. Similar ICT applications at Coventry
Technical College allow managers to collect live infor-
mation from the MIS to monitor activity against
targets and take remedial action as required.
Some colleges are seeking ways to apply Web tech-
nology to the management and utilisation of college
data. Braintree College, for example, has developed a
FEmatters
28
Vo/2 No12
search engine that seeks out data from a variety of
college information sources. Here, the application of
the search engine through the college intranet can pull
up information (on a given student, for example) from
a number of data sets. In this sense, it provides a one-
stop-data shop (or more properly, a 'cross-repository
search feature').
There appears to be considerable scope for the further
expansion of ICT-supported administration. Possible
applications are legion but a single illustration should
suffice. At present, communication channels between
students, teachers, tutors and awarding bodies con-
cerning, for example, assessments, are time-consuming,
complex and elaborate. In principle, the problem should
be amenable to an ICT solution. Colchester Institute is
already involved with RSA in piloting electronic certifi-
cation based on a connection between the college
intranet and the awarding body. This sort of process
could be enhanced still further through the creation of
dedicated satellite links (VSAT technology), providing
instantaneous communication.
Summary of key points
Present research suggests that in most colleges, ICT
has yet to produce the benefits of less bureaucracy and
enhanced quality of teacher work.
In some colleges, however, ICT has led to significant
reductions in bureaucracy and delay.
Applications that seem to be particularly effective
in simplifying or speeding up processes, include those
for enrolments, student tracking, initial assessment,
registration and student surveys.
As well as enhancing student-staff interactions, ICT
applications provide a foundation for more effective,
more responsive and more devolved management.
College intranets are providing an effective com-
munication medium and platform for shared access
to information and have huge potential as a holder
of learning materials both static and interactive.
The effective use of ICT applications depends on
access to hardware, software and staff development.
Effective implementation of these applications
depends, in turn, on the involvement of represen-
tative groups of staff in planning and on an effective
partnership between
strategic
manager, MIS
specialist, lecturers and administrative staff.
ICT-supported re-engineering depends on know-
ledgeable IT-systems people working with high-
quality software. Both can be expensive but can
repay the investment through improvements that
cannot be achieved by manual systems.
Vol 2 No 12
INCREASING ADMINISTRATIVE
SUPPORT
There has been a clear trend in the FE sector toward
more intensive and flexible use of administrative and
technical staff through multiskilling. In some colleges
this has been accompanied by the movement of
support staff from departmental to central man-
agement, together with the disappearance of junior
administrative posts. Lecturers in this research com-
mented that this increased the amount of time they
spent on routine filing and clerical tasks; several staff
regretted the demise of the 'office junior' who would
have handled routine, non-confidential, clerical tasks.
These now have to be handled by teaching or more
highly paid administrative staff. There were also
reports that the same trend had affected some techni-
cians, with the result that they had less time to support
teaching and learning than before.
On the other hand, colleges also demonstrate that
there is substantial scope to increase clerical and
administrative support for tasks that would otherwise
be required of lecturers and so allow them to concen-
trate on more highly valued activity.
Thus, at Coventry Technical College, one head of
school used his discretion within his managerial role
to increase the administrative support available to his
18 full-time equivalent lecturers by recruiting:
A half-time administrative assistant
A full-time administrative trainee
A student on work placement.
Substantial effort has been devoted to training this
administrative team so that it is as familiar as possible
with the work of the school and can, for example,
respond to all but the most complicated student
enquiries. Since the school receives several thousand
such enquiries over a year, this represents a consid-
erable saving of lecturer time. In addition to the
support based in the school, the college employs a
central team to input register data into a electronic
format and provide other central support.
Sutton Coldfield College has made similar efforts both
to reduce burdens on teachers and, by the same token,
to allow them to focus their energies on more critical
tasks. Thus, register data is input by clerks to MIS
which in turn generates attendance data for use in
tutorial discussions.
An extension of the same principle at Runshaw College
has involved a reconsideration of some of the tasks
usually associated with teaching. Current pilots include
the use of external markers or examiners: part-time
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29
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
27
staff who will be paid to mark student work and provide
objective feedback both to students and to teachers,
and the employment of other part-time staff or recently
retired teachers to write references for students. The
college is currently considering whether to introduce
support staff to help students create their UCAS appli-
cation forms.
At Colchester Institute schools have been reorganised
into three faculties. Each faculty has an adminis-
tration manager who is the line manager for all the
support staff in the faculty.
Summary of key points
The more intensive and flexible use of adminis-
trative and technical staff has sometimes reduced
the level of support available locally to lecturers.
The administrative work undertaken by lecturers
should be reviewed and, if appropriate, passed to
administrators and clerical assistants.
Case study initiatives include the appointment of
additional administrative and clerical staff to deal
with student enquiries about a curriculum area, addi-
tional administrative resources to support tutoring
and the use of external markers and student ref-
erence writers.
MANAGING CHANGE
Distinguishing features of the colleges whose work has
been reviewed above include:
A commitment to resolving and mitigating the
perceived problem of administrative overload
A willingness to commit resources to
diagnosing and addressing issues around
the administrative duties of lecturers
The creation of standing bodies and short-life
task groups or working parties to review
and manage the process.
Herefordshire College of Art and Design has a standing
body in the college with a remit to keep under review
administrative tasks and lecturer workloads, and
make recommendations to the college's head of
Academic Affairs.
There are three main processes in the School of Science
and Health Studies at Coventry Technical College to
review and improve administrative procedures. Overall
responsibility is held by the operations manager. His
work is informed by the school management group.
The group receives recommendations from course team
28
leaders. Beyond course teams, other school forums
(for example, the forum for tutors) meet twice a term
to check on improvements and make new proposals.
One of the most fully articulated processes for man-
aging change has been developed at Runshaw College.
The college has made a conscious decision to focus on
process management as part of a general business
excellence approach linked to the UK Quality Award.
A workload working group is convened by the deputy
principal and comprises the college personnel manager,
staff development manager, curriculum managers and
teachers. The working group is charged with devel-
oping a holistic approach to securing improvements.
All processes at Runshaw College are reviewed
annually. If a process is critical to the college's success
and if it requires review, a process quality team (PQT)
is established.
PQTs report to the senior management team and under-
take specific projects. They map, review and improve
key college processes. In the last three years PQTs have
looked at process improvements of performance man-
agement, timetabling, part-time staffing and arrange-
ments for GCSE results day. Indeed, to all intents and
purposes, the PQTs provide a management forum to
undertake the sort of redesign and re-engineering activ-
ities discussed above. The principle is being extended
to more operational matters through QITs: quality
improvement teams. One of these is, for example, cur-
rently working on the implementation of electronic
registration.
CHANGING MANAGEMENT
The Herefordshire College of Art and Design case
study reviewed above (pp18-21), illustrates the sixth
aspect of college strategies: simplifying and shortening
lines of management and accountability.
Again, this is a complex issue that can only be touched
on here. Approaches to management do, however,
seem to provide a necessary complement to the other
strategies to reduce bureaucracy.
The drive to flatten management structures, speed up
and improve decision-making, enhance effectiveness,
improve customer value and reduce costs is a familiar
component of contemporary management thinking
(e.g. Handy, 1994; RSA, 1994). It finds an echo in
further education in discussions around case loading
(Carroll, 1996), networking (Nasta, 1993), flexibility
( James, 1989; Turner, 1990; Goulding et al., 1998)
and empowerment (Gorringe, 1994).
FEmatters
30
Vole No12
It is also a somewhat double-edged sword. What may
look like greater effectiveness and reduced costs from
one point of view, may well resemble increases in
responsibility, workload, complexity and anxiety, from
another.
The present research suggests that devolution and decen-
tralisation, when implemented in a sensible manner,
can reduce administrative burdens.
Specific approaches include:
Internal resource allocation models where
budgets are predicated on student numbers
and other income generation and are
adjusted according to activity levels
The consequent devolution of budgets
and reduction in the time and energy
required for spending decisions
The devolution of associated responsibilities
to execute, monitor and change levels of
planned activity, within annual processes
of business planning and review
Devolution of operational decisions so that,
for example, schools or departments can
determine activity levels, individual teacher
workloads, rooming, timetabling and
administrative matters within parameters
determined by the college
The reduction in reporting demands through
the employment of appropriate levels of
aggregation and reporting by exception.
Summary of key points
Colleges that have developed the most systematic
strategies to reduce bureaucratic burdens on teachers
have made them a management priority, committed
resources to diagnosing and resolving problems
and created management mechanisms to drive the
process forward.
Devolved managerial responsibilities and account-
abilities and flattened management structures have
been criticised for widening lecturer responsibilities
and lessening time available for teaching and
learning.
The present research supports the view that, if
implemented effectively, decentralised decision-
making can reduce bureaucracy.
Specifically, there is evidence that devolution can
speed up and improve decision-making without
diverting lecturers and programme leaders from
their teaching and student priorities.
Vole No 12
FEmatters
29
5
Reducing externally driven
bureaucracy
All the practical strategies discussed so far have
addressed aspects of administration that are largely
driven or mediated by college managers, systems and
structures. Clearly, however, some of the adminis-
trative burdens that fall on teachers and perhaps even
more on managers, are driven strongly by external
agencies. Complaints about external bureaucracy that
were made in the context of the current research have
already been noted. Four issues in particular were
mentioned by managers and lecturers, particularly the
former:
The sheer volume of information demands
particularly in connection with funding
The requirement to produce statistical
and other returns in different formats
or using slightly different data for
different stakeholders
The administrative workload demanded
by accrediting and awarding bodies
The lack of responsiveness on the part of
some accrediting and awarding bodies.
FUNDING
Our research found an echo of widely expressed con-
cerns over aspects of the funding regimes in place in
England and Wales (Leney et al., 1998; Gravatt and
Pert, 1996). Particular complaints were directed at:
The complex nature of the funding
methodologies themselves
The administrative consequences of changes
to the funding mechanism or to audit
requirements, sometimes introduced
at short notice
The audit requirements themselves
The development of a 'bidding culture',
i.e. the growing volume of resources only
available through competitive bidding
or tendering (instead of through
mainstream funding).
30
STATISTICAL AND
OTHER RETURNS
While there have been some improvements, college man-
agers and, ultimately, lecturers may still be required to
produce similar but different information for the funding
councils, the DfEE, TECs, the EU, HE partners and
awarding bodies. Similarly, they are subject to dif-
ferent quality requirements determined by funding
councils, TECs, a variety of awarding bodies, HE
partners, commercial customers and QCA.
ACCREDITING AND
AWARDING BODIES
The criticisms levelled by Beaumont (1995) and Capey
(1995) at the bureaucracy associated with competency-
based qualifications are well known. Unfortunately, the
unintended consequence of efforts to improve rigour
and raise standards, could actually be to exacerbate
existing problems.
Thus, to the already extensive array of quality proce-
dures (course review and evaluation, self-assessment,
internal verification, external verification) will be added
the administration of time-constrained tests which
will be externally assessed. This will create 10 levels of
checking. There will be interfaces between vocational
and key skills standards moderators and senior stan-
dards moderators, regional and national coordinators,
QCA and the awarding bodies. We will also have:
Benchmarking assignments (subject
to external assessment/verification
and standards moderation)
Vocational units portfolio standards moderation
External time-constrained key skills tests;
externally set time-constrained key skills
assignments (subject to external re-assessment
and external verification via standards
moderation)
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32
V012
No 12
Key skills portfolio standards moderation;
and final 'reconsideration'
In the event of any problems at the centre, students
may be required to resubmit work or have their work
remarked with all the attendant delay, frustration and
demoralisation that this could entail. And each of
these activities carries separate procedures and forms.
Whether individual or summative, centre-devised or
external, they will all have to be completed.
A further point made by college respondents is the
lack of user-friendliness of some exam board systems.
Some awarding bodies allow resit applications before
results are published and then delete all who do not need
to resit. Others are far less helpful and do not allow
any resit applications until results are known. At least
one awarding body dispatches GNVQ answer sheets
by candidate number (different for each paper) which
then take several days to resort into GNVQ groups!
Some professional bodies, moreover, still decline to send
any pass lists to colleges, arguing that their sole
responsibility is to the candidate.
IMPLICATIONS AND
KEY MESSAGES
Beyond sensible gatekeeping and the sort of internal
improvements suggested in the previous chapter; there
is relatively little colleges can do to moderate or reduce
bureaucratic demands from external stakeholders.
A number of improvements can, however; be inferred
from this brief analysis. In very broad terms, these
messages are similar to the approaches being con-
sidered in the schools sector.
Messages to the funding councils
The administrative burdens associated with quality
control and assurance would be lessened considerably
if the funding councils were to bring to a speedy con-
clusion the initiative to produce a single, unified and
common quality framework for funding council,
European, TSC, TEC and HEFC stakeholders.
The administrative demands of external and internal
stakeholders can only be satisfied through the sys-
tematic and effective implementation of ICT. While
some colleges here have solved some of the problems
V012 No 12
associated with their MIS and other ICT applications,
many others have not. It would, therefore, be helpful
if the funding councils would support development
initiatives to improve ICT in administration.
Message to DfEE
Student tracking, which is essential from a variety of
viewpoints, will be facilitated by the completion of work
that has already started, to produce a unique student
identifier for use across all phases of education.
Messages to the
funding councils and DfEE
At present, colleges are involved in a substantial, time-
consuming and growing need to bid for external funds
from the funding councils, DfEE, Welsh and English
HEFCs, EU, TECs., etc. There is a logical and substantial
case for distinguishing between funding to support
development in a few colleges (on behalf of the sector
as a whole) and mainstream funding.
There is no obvious reason why the mainstream funding
should not be placed in a single funding stream and
brought within the current funding council arrangements.
Messages to awarding bodies and QCA
The QCA and awarding bodies might consider re-
viewing and simplifying their procedures to establish a
more appropriate balance between, on the one hand,
trust and devolution of decision-making and, on the
other, control and maintenance of standards.
QCA could provide further encouragement and funding
to implement and embed the principles of alternative
modes of evidence of competency, `paperless' port-
folios and the use of electronic media for assessment.
QCA could provide a lead in the development of
enhanced electronic communication links between
college centres and awarding bodies and explore, for
example, the possible application of satellite-based
Internet links.
On the evidence reviewed here, the simplification of
awarding body administrative systems and an increased
responsiveness to colleges would not only assist lec-
turers but could well confer competitive advantages.
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
33
FEmatters 31
6 Conclusions
This research goes some way to resolving the riddle of
bureaucracy in colleges: why does it provoke so much
complaint, but so little action?
The reason that relatively little progress has been
made is that most bureaucratic tasks undertaken by
lecturers are closely related to teaching and learning
and to students.
This implies that the search for swathes of wholly
pointless or unnecessary red tape is a chimera. Indeed,
the flexible, individualised, inclusive, relevant and
modern curriculum to which most lecturers are com-
mitted, implies an increase in administrative tasks.
That teaching has not been overwhelmed by such
demands is largely attributable to an increase in the
intensity of lecturer workloads and a reduction in
preparation time. There are also a large number of
often uncoordinated and spontaneous attempts to
simplify and limit bureaucratic demands by stream-
lining and improving student-related administrative
procedures and processes.
The review of the work of nine colleges in chapter 3
suggests strongly that there is considerable scope to
reduce bureaucratic burdens on lecturers. Most of this
work will have to be done within colleges. The combi-
nation of strategies reviewed here include:
32
Curriculum redesign and re-engineering
Re-engineering administrative systems
Greater application of ICT
Increasing administrative support
Managing the process of change effectively
Changing and devolving a number of
managerial tasks and functions.
Agencies external to colleges also have an important
role to play in:
Creating a unified quality framework
Placing disparate sources of funding into
a single funding framework and limiting
competitive bidding to discretionary funds
to support development work
Re-establishing a more equitable balance between
devolved responsibility and centralised audit and
control, particularly in respect of qualifications
Taking a lead in the development of
communications media, particularly
between colleges and awarding bodies
Developing a unique identifier for each
individual student to be used across
educational phases.
At the risk of stating the obvious, the more directly the
college customer is involved in such changes, the better
the final outcomes will be.
FEmatters
34
Vol 2 No12
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Appendices
APPENDIX 1:
RESEARCH METHODS
The genesis of the project
This research
into
bureaucracy, paperwork and
administration was designed as a small project to test
hypotheses about the nature and extent of adminis-
trative workloads in colleges. It sought to establish how
far lecturers' administrative workloads had changed,
to identify the main causes of change, and to search for
ways in which administrative burdens can be reduced.
Method
The method involved a mix of quantitative and quali-
tative research, together with a brief review of relevant
literature.
Initial test of hypotheses
An initial questionnaire was used to provide a broad-
brush picture of colleges' views on administrative work-
loads. The questionnaire was developed through testing
in six colleges, and distributed to half the English and
Welsh FE sector colleges. The response rate of well
over 35% suggested that the focus of the project was
perceived as relevant to colleges and with almost 20%
of English and Welsh colleges providing data, the
sample can be considered reasonably representative.
Selection of colleges
A sample of six colleges was selected to represent a
broad range of characteristics of the sector. It covered
examples of:
Large, medium and small colleges
Urban and rural colleges
General FE, tertiary, sixth form
and agricultural colleges
Colleges with high and low
average levels of funding
Colleges with widely varying
amounts of HE work
English and Welsh colleges.
Vole No12
Fieldwork with case study colleges
In each of the case study colleges between six and 10
lecturers (according to college size) were invited to
record their administrative work over two separate
weeks, the first at the end of November and beginning
of December 1996 and the second at the beginning
of the spring term in January 1997. Lecturers were
requested to record details on three separate forms: an
administrative items pro forma, a log of meetings and
a form for recording comments and estimating
the
total amount of time spent on administrative matters
during the two weeks.
Before the start of the first recording week, meetings
were held with participating staff in each
of the six
colleges to discuss and clarify the recording systems.
As a result, some minor changes were made. Partici-
pating staff were also asked to complete copies of the
initial questionnaire that had been sent to the full
sample of English and Welsh colleges.
Following the second week of recording and prelim-
inary analysis of the data obtained from this, full day
visits were made to each of the six sample colleges to
verify and clarify the data and explore the issues arising
from the exercise. These visits took place at the end of
January and start of February 1997 and were fol-
lowed by a project workshop in mid-March, to which
three participants from each college were invited.
A combination of personal circumstances and other
college commitments meant that it was not possible
for all 10 lecturers in the larger colleges to complete
the fieldwork. However, a minimum of six in each of
the larger colleges were able to do so, and others made
detailed written submissions.
Identifying practical solutions
In the summer of 1998 a questionnaire was addressed
to the senior curriculum manager in all English and
Welsh Colleges. Included in the same mailing were two
further questionnaires on college strategies to improve
retention and achievement and on the use of value-
added methodologies in vocational qualifications.
37
FEmatters
35
In the letter that accompanied the questionnaires,
colleges were asked to complete and return the ques-
tionnaire on 'reducing bureaucracy' if they had 'taken
steps to reduce administrative burdens on teachers' and
`were willing to share (their) experience with others'.
Only 24 replies were received to this questionnaire.
The low response is particularly striking when set against
the high rate of response to the other questionnaires
included in the same mailing which both attracted
over 200 responses.
Follow-up discussions indicated, however, that the low
response almost certainly reflected a lack of progress in
addressing the problems of bureaucracy or, in some
colleges, a lack of priority assigned to the issue.
Eight colleges were selected for follow-up research.
The objectives of the selection were to gather information
to illustrate a range of strategies to reduce bureaucracy,
on the one hand, and to provide a range of colleges by
size and location. A list of the respondents is included
in the acknowledgements on page 4.
Discussions with stakeholders
and other organisations
Alongside the fieldwork, a number of discussions were
held with external stakeholders in FE and other public
sector organisations. These included NCVQ (now QCA),
FEFC, City and Guilds and Leicester Royal Infirmary
NHS Trust.
36
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V012 No12
APPENDIX 2:
CODING THE ADMINISTRATIVE
ITEMS FROM THE CASE-STUDY
COLLEGES
The administrative items related to the following
activities:
Management issues
College planning
Audit
external or internal
FEFC-related various
(FEFC)-inspection related
Room availability
Health and safety related
Other
Curriculum and qualification
Assessment and examination
development
Exam(inations) used generally
Exam entry
Preparing/developing course proposals
Assessment
general
Course submissions/prepare
GNVQ assessment
for validation and visits
NVQ assessmenti`paperwork'
Other course development
GNVQ verification
Course evaluation/review
NVQ verification
GNVQ (not assessment)
(National) Record of Achievement
NVQ (not assessment)
Other
External bodies (not NCVQ)
Other
Recruitment/enrolment
Course enquiry
Student application form/admissions
Enrolment/registration
Course information
Teaching and learning
Lesson/teaching
Preparation/preparing talk
Course/lesson planning
Course materials
Following up students with regard to
learning and achievement, results, etc.
Other
Parent/liaison and
external stakeholders
Parents
Parents evening
Careers service (agencies)
Industry/commercial/company
(other not marketing)
Work placement/experience
Award/exam/professional body
Other
Vole No 12
Liaison with other staff
Staff (not specified further)
Messages from other staff
Timetables
Arrange cover
Contracts
Staff development
Lesson observation
Performance/appraisal
Other
Liaison with students
Students (not specified further)
Student enquiries
Absence notes
Reference for students
Student guidance
Careers (internal/college)
Interview
Student withdrawal
Other
39
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APPENDIX 3: BRIEFING AND STUDENT RECORD SHEET
IN INTERMEDIATE GNVQ IN ART AND DESIGN
(HEREFORDSHIRE COLLEGE
OF ART AND DESIGN)
Student
Project
Title
Elements
Materials
Introduction
INTERMEDIATE GNVQ IN ART & DESIGN
HEREFORDSHIRE
COLLEGE OF
ARTEDESIGN
Coin collection I marble run
Unit Description
2.1
Explore 3D visual language
2.2
Use 3D materials, technology, process & technique
4.1
Clarify brief and carry out research
4.2
Produce final work
4.4
Evaluate and present work
Unit
4
Applying the creative
process.
Also includes:
2.1 Explore 3D visual language
2.2 Use 3D materials
Criteria
Met
Staff Initial &
Date
See attached list.
Evidence
This project is aimed at further developing the skills you have covered
so far on
the course. During this project record your progres at every stage using your
sketch book, work diary and project folder.
Your project should also be supported by design sheets.
You will have already covered these skills through your course work
so far, all of
them will be covered again through this project.
Research
Design
Construction or decoration
Application of number
Recording information
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
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40
FEmatters
Vol 2 No 12
APPENDIX 3 CONTINUED
Tasks
Deadline
Task 1
Select a location and purpose for a charity box (you may use a marble instead of
a coin if you wish). Consider ethical, environmental and educational causes when
selecting your charity.
Investigate/research your chosen charity. This should include writing a
letter to them for information.
Research existing collection boxes.
Write your own brief - you may work in pairs:
Use layout provided.
Task 2
Specifications (your charity box will have to meet the specifications listed below)
Your 'coin collection/marble run' charity box must meet the following
requirements.
Size - estimate and agree size of structure before making it.
Mechanism - at least one mechanical action is to be developed.
Decoration/appearance - decorate your charity box or choose materials
which give it a cerain 'look' or theme.
Timing - the coin/marble must take a minimum of 10 seconds to drop.
Research and experimentation.
Look at and research 'automata' and other mechanical devices. Draw
diagrams of how they work, make sketches, photographs and notes.
Look at cogs, pivots, levers, push rods etc
Build test rigs to try out your ideas.
Record your findings when 6 variables are applied such as angle of
slope, change in surface etc.
Task 3
Evaluation, presentation and test run.
You will be asked to demonstrate, explain and present your ideas for this project
to the group.
letter to
charity.
Workbook,
sketchbook.
Design brief.
Ideas sheets.
Research
(sketchbook,
photos etc).
Models,
samples.
Evaluation
notes on 'test
rig'.
Group crit:
Discussion
Presentation-
notes /method
BEST-COPY AVAILA13LE
" Don't lose your marbles*:
Vole No12
FEmatters
41
39
APPENDIX 3 CONTINUED
Evidence Record
Evidence Required
Unit
Written brief and research
4.1
Final work
4.3
Presentation / Discussion
4.4
Visual investigation
2.1
Design development
2.2
Communication
Group presentation
(Discussion/audience)
Letter
Information Technology
Word processing of letters graphs
and tables.
Application of number
See attached sheet.
Unit
2.1
2.2
Unit
2.1
Unit
BEST COPY
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FEmatters
42
V012 NO 12
APPENDIX 3 CONTINUED
Project
Title
INTERMEDIATE GNVQ IN ART & DESIGN
HEREFORDSHIRE
COLLEGE OF
ART&DESIGN
KEY SKILL CHECKLIST - APPLICATION OF NUMBER
Coin collection / marble run
Unit
.
-
Use this checklist in relation to your project, this way you will
have integrated
Application of Number into your practical work.
Experimentaion= practical research
Build test rigs to explore time and motion.
Consider
Constants
Variables
Weight (of coin/marble)
Friction
Distance travelled
Velocity
Angle of incline
Trigger mechanism
Calculations
Using time taken for the marble to travel as a measurable reference,
calculate
your findings from your practical
research in seconds over a given distance.
Slow down and speed up the process by adjusting the variables.
Outcomes
Record your findings using appropriate means of presentati6n, eg. graphs,
bar
charts etc.
Calculation
Estimate the overall size of your structure
-
calculate the area
-
calculate the volume
Outcomes
Record the use of appropriate formula
Calculations
Produce a scale drawing of your overall design, including measurements.
Use PERCENTAGES, MULTIPLICATION and DIVISION to calculate
the following:
- what percentage
of passers by donated money?
- how
much'is the average donation per.person?
- how many average
donations will it take to reach:
£50
£100 £1000
Make sure you use the backup Application of Number sheets to
help you
ESTCOPYAVAILABLE
Vol2 No12
FEmatters 41
APPENDIX 3 CONTINUED
4/
CHECKLIST
for coin collection marble run project
Name Date
Bar charts and
graphs
To show 6 measured experiments, for comparison of time taken
against 6 variables
Area
show how to calculate these, and the measurements
Volume
Scale Drawing
to appropriate scale
in mm (metric), and inches (imperial)
of materials, construction
Measurements
Specifications
Estimate - size
the overall size of your structure
what % of passers-by will donate (how many in every 100)
what is an average donation
Estimate - %
Estimate - £
Calculate - X
using multiplication, how many donations to reach £50
using multiplication, how many donations to reach £100
using division, how many donations to reach £1000
Calculate - X
Calculate - -t-
Example of letter
written by you - word processed
Written Brief
explaining objectives
Worthy cause
identify and investigate
Research
into existing 'AUTOMATA (mechanical toys etc.)
Develop/record
own samples/drawings of mechanical devices
Design sheets
for 'AUTOMATA' design and your overall design
Working prototype
of your overall design
Evaluation
of design outcomes, material selection, meeting the brief
Programme of work
completed diary/planner sheets.
Present your work in your folder and sketch books together with larger work sheets
and models
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
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FE matters
4 4
Vol 2 No 12
ADVANCED GNVQ IN ART 8 DESIGN - YEAR 1
Student
Date
Assessors
ASSESSMENT RECORD
Planning
Information Seeking / Handling
Evaluation
Quality of Outcome
General Comments
Key Skills
Drawing Protect
1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Crit/ evalualion
White sat 8
Black sat
8
drawings + I collage
drovtings . I cdlage
Fill a Frame
6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4
Wow.. pia
8 dreiche.
Research / malarial
samples
E.aluatic6
A2 sheets & I
am.
tw.....F...............
You've Been Framed
3.2, 3.3, 4.1, 4.2
Plan a diary,
scalp modal
R.,.,a, /workbook)
Record (phosos
ex, & ...Id processed e
nahon
Conitruct see
& prasenwion
4V ".....7.176..''"......L26*.t/
.........3
Vt...has
=PP..' !op..'
2
ass. ttraan 9...n a a..,i
].In
w. -7:1,.,
3.3.:,-.na
Enlarger
1.1, 1.2, 3.2
Chaos. irn
go
Expesimonts
Evaluation
Task I I A2
enloygnd wads
sheet +samples
Task 2
I
.M. Enle.ped
GO...,
..erk 1123
2
Colour Work
1.1, 1.3
Task I
I colour
media colour
study Task 2
oi least 4 nixed
Padilla
Drawing Interior Spaces
1.1, 1.2, 1.3
Choose irderisre
and rnediumdmaterials
6 dro.aings/
. A2 studies /4 alms.. campodnon
45
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46
Student Comment
Student signature
Re-submission details
Assessors signature
Assessors signature
Internal Verifier
"
47
48
APPENDIX 5: A-LEVEL STUDENT SELF-ASSESSMENT FORM
(SUTTON COLDFIELD COLLEGE)
Student self assessment(term 3)
Name
Date
Please write in the name of each A-level
3
I am coping far better since the first assessment
2
I am progressing well
1
I am a little more comfortable with the subject since the last assessment
o
Things are the same
-1
I am a little more anxious about the subject
-2
I believe I am getting more behind with work
-3
I urgently need help if I am going to be able to continue with this subject in the second year
A-level
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
A-level
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
A-level
-3
-2 -1
0
1
2
3
General studies
-3
-2
-1
0
1
2
3
Action
I need to talk about the following
Action agreed with course tutor
VOI 2 No 12
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FEmatters
45
APPENDIX 6: STANDARDISED ASSESSMENT FORMAT
FOR GNVQ ASSIGNMENT (COLCHESTER INSTITUTE)
Unit title:
Element no:
Date issued:
A
S
Folio reference
COLCHESTER INSTITUTE
School
BTEC GNVQ in
Date to be completed:
Assessor:
Student's name:
Date handed in:
Planning
P
M
D
Information
P M
D
Evaluation
P M
D
Outcome R
N
Mi
D
46
BEST COPY AVAILABLE
FEmatters
50
V012
No 12
APPENDIX 6 CONTINUED
This assignment will give you the opportunity to gather some of the evidence you need for your GNVQ portfolio.
The
evidence will cover the unit and element numbers shown on the front cover. Please refer to your GNVQ logbook or
unit study guide for full details of the evidence indicators, performance criteria and range statements.
Assignment brief
Method of working
Complete your action plan to show what you have to find out and where you can get the information. Ask the tutor
if
you do not understand any of the tasks. Don't forget to organise the gathering
of information so that you can write
up your notes and hand the assignment in by the deadline.
Assignment tasks
Task 1
Task 2
Presentation
(Information about how the assignment is to be presented.)
Sources of information
Use your class notes and text books to help you plan. There are also plenty of basic reference books in the library, as
well as maps and company information.
Vol 2 No 12
1
FEmatters 47
APPENDIX 6 CONTINUED
.
,
ASSESSMENT
.
Please see your student handbook for details of how your work will be graded.
Element no.
Performance criteria
MET
NOT MET
1
2
3
4
5
The work you have completed has been assessed and given the following indicative grade for quality of outcomes.
If you want this assignment to be graded for planning, information seeking and evaluation, please attach
a
student process record and any other evidence you would like taken into account.
Grading theme
Quality of outcomes
R
P
M
D
Comments
Assessor's signature
IV's initials
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FEmatters
52
Vol 2
No 12
atilters
Everyone in further education seems to agree that
bureaucratic burdens on lecturers are growing, but little
is being done to address this issue. Senior managers tend
to blame external agencies, such as funding agencies;
lecturers tend to blame other external agencies and their
own managers. This report examines the factual basis for
these complaints. It confirms that administrative demands
are heavy and unrelenting throughout the year, yet most
of the work relates directly to students and cannot be cut.
A survey of 84 colleges and in-depth work with io yields
an incisive analysis of the background and problems,
and suggests some solutions.
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I
ISSN 1361 9977
FE matters-Vol 2 No 12
Price f7.5o
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Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI)
National Library of Education (NLE)
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NOTICE
Reproduction Basis
ERIC
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