Working Circumstances of Teachers and Administrators

Rutherford and Ahlgren (1990) note that teachers and administrators often do not have the time or resources to focus on educational reform:

"In all too many schools, physical, administrative, and psychological circumstances militate against undertaking major curricular reform efforts. Typically, teachers lack time to think, study, organize materials, confer with colleagues, counsel individual students, and attend professional meetings. What is more, they do not have private offices, computers for word processing and record keeping, laboratory assistants, access to expert consultants, or the other kinds of support that professionals in other fields expect. And principals are scarcely better off. The press of such demanding matters as public relations, personnel management, budgets, student attendance, and safety leave principals with little time, energy or inclination to engage in program matters at all--let alone in major reform activities.

At the same time as barriers to reform are being removed, positive conditions for change must be established. They need to emphasize creating an environment for teachers and administrators that encourages experimentation, focus on long-term gains rather than on such immediate goals as raising test scores, and recognize and reward innovation." (p. 201)

References