Abstract:

With the best of intentions, many schools have gradually implemented a range of disparate systems to deal with a number of key and pastoral, academic and administrative functions. The list of such functions is long, but certainly includes student and family data, medical information, markbooks, assessment notifications, report writing, pastoral care records, attendance, academic progress, anecdotal records, timetabling, email with students and parents, cover or substitute teacher management, online learning and lesson information, calendar, homework and feedback.

Current trends in the evolution of online school portal systems permit schools to provide individual parents and students with personalised access to data that pertain specifically to the user.

Teachers and clerical staff spend a lot of time collecting and collating data.

The real challenge for schools is to collate those data in a way that not only facilitates the flow of information to parents, but also provides valuable feedback to all those involved with the care and teaching of each individual child. If teachers and carers are to spend time collecting information, then they really do need to see an overall benefit flowing back to them and to the students in their care.

It is not sufficient for a school to collect data just so that it can be shared with parents. The school must also explore ways in which teachers and carers can share information and collaborate in an evidence-based manner with colleagues when they are making decisions and planning learning for individual students.

Asking educators to let go of long-held modes of operation and to embrace new ones is not easy. Technology today, however, allows us to be so much more efficient and collaborative in the way we do things. The work and effort of one person can so easily be shared and be of value to many others in the big-picture school environment, and can not only save time but also result in better learning outcomes for students.

This paper will explore the way that one school has gradually moved to consolidate its disparate management and organisational tools and processes into one integrated package. It will discuss the principles that have emerged and endured during the process and are now applied before moving forward. Change management issues will be shared, not necessarily with a list of solutions but more probably to reassure others that their experiences are normal.

Specific examples of workflows will be provided for both teachers or pastoral carers and for clerical or administrative staff.

This school's solutions are not intended as a panacea for others, but more as a snapshot in time as to how and why we do what we do and into what we hope to do. It will serve to inform the thinking of others who are perhaps not quite so far along in their journey or who, like us, are constantly evaluating their thinking, procedures and protocols.

Keywords:

Management, technology, integrated, pastoral, systems, change.