Methods for Better Utilization of Teachers' Professional Skills Author(s): John J.

Bowen Source: The Elementary School Journal, Vol. 56, No. 9 (May, 1956), pp. 403-408 Published by: The University of Chicago Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1000173 . Accessed: 03/03/2014 01:20
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METHODS FOR BETTER UTILIZATION OF TEACHERS' PROFESSIONAL SKILLS

JOHN J. BOWEN
CraneBranch,Chicago CityJunior College

term "utilization" has two dimensions. One refers to the broad social programof making sure that every qualified person is working in the field in which he is prepared; the other refers to the smaller aspect of making sure that a professionally trained person is spending his daily time in such a way that he is using his expensively acquired skills. In the field of education the efforts to recruit teachers and to entice prepared persons back into the teaching field have to do with the first aspect. The presentand anticipatedseriousshortage of teachers has brought forth many suggestions and practices concerned with the second aspect. The general assumption seems to be that teachers are operating about as efficiently as can be expected and that the only route to better classroom learning is to be found in long-term professional improvement. This goal is as important as ever, but it could also be argued that present teachers are using only a fraction of the professionalknowledge and skill that they already possess-that some way should be found so that large classes, poor organization, conflicting goals, and excessive detail would not keep teachers from approaching their true potential.
r11HE

LOAD THETEACHING

Any discussion of utilization of skills of existing personnel will have to start with the idea of teaching load. A report of the National Education Association shows a work week of 48 hours for the average teacher in 1950 (6). This time is distributed to areas of activity, which are not too well defined; but, using the work-classification

headings at face value, the following categories seem to approachthe subprofessional level: preparingmaterials,correctingpapers, and clerical and monitorial duties. The teacher was spending about twelve hours a week in these activities, in addition to the time spent in personal preparation. The recent small-scaleexperimentin Bay City, Michigan (2), shows a workweek of 42 hours in the elementary school, with from 12 to 19 per cent of the time given to clerical activity. A job analysis of the classroom day shows that from 21 to 69 per cent of the teacher time is spent in tasks that probably do not requireprofessionalcompetence. This study does not include out-of-school work, at least a portion of which would fall within this classification. From the standpoint of professional efficiency and personal satisfaction, teacher load cannot be measured on a simple time sheet. Poorly designed classrooms, frequent interruptions, and large classes are more detrimental to efficiency than are a few additional hours of work. Depending upon the personality of the teacher, additional hoursin creative planning are probably less tiring than are those spent in mechanical chores. One other consideration in load is the increasing number of activities carried on in the school. There is a growing feeling among teachers that schools have taken on many new services without corresponding increases in staff and with no curtailment of older activities (6). Even though these additional activities contribute to load, in themselves they do not justify more auxiliary services. The administrator can control load of this sort by critically examining the

403

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programin terms of the goals of the school ways. Almost any person in education will and eliminating activities that do not fur- agree that mimeographing or duplicating ther accomplishment of those goals. teaching materials, classroomhousekeeping, and monitorial and clerical tasks are close USE OF TEACHER ASSISTANTS to the lower end of the professional-skill The necessity for using the present teach- spectrum and can obviously be turned over to an assistant. ing staff more effectively is obvious. TeachThe term "obviously" is perhaps too ers have attained higher levels of training A delegation of teachers complained loaded. and salary over the years, and it is socially a to school official in a large city that enand economically indefensible to use these time was spent in copying too much specializedpersonsfor subprofessionaltasks. tirely from one list to another. student records Every other major professional group has The official that this activity was replied adopted procedures for using semi-pro- valuable because in this way the teacher fessional assistants. Teaching seems to be with the on each child. became familiar data the last outpost of unassisted professional There is sound educational for justification effort (4). as this there is attitude, justification just To say "unassisted" is, of course, only for supervision of lunchrooms descriptive of the immediate and daily andprofessional corridors. school Probably children level. Taking the country schoolhouse of be under should the observation of always fifty years ago as a base point, any number level of training with the persons highest of services have been added. A modern school of reasonable size will have various and skill, but the currentcontention is that we cannot afford this luxury. supplementary services, starting with those The most rigid approach to the separaof the janitor and going through those of of tasks would be to rank all teacher tion attendance officer, nurse, child-study speactivities from the most important to the and visual-aid cialist, librarian, department. One current difficulty, though, is that the least important educationally. This rankorder approach has a simple and orderly very multiplicity of these services creates a about it, but, on second examination,we ring clerical burden that did not exist when the that it can be used only in the crudest see schoolmasterof 1900 was operating his own way. Any complete ranking would hinge on heating plant. the of a particular school and much goals There seem to be several reasons why research. We still know far yet-to-be-done schools have been slow to make use of classroom assistants. One reason is that schools too little about the relation between what have been small and, traditionally, the a teacher does in the classroomand the rate worker in any small operation is a jack-of- and kind of growth in the child (3, 4). The approach used in the Bay City exall-trades. Another reason is that teaching salaries have been not much larger than periment (2) appears to be practical. Teachthose of casual labor and hence there was ers and aides were matched by personalprefno particular economy in hiring any erence, and the division of labor in the workers other than more teachers. Thus in classroom was left to the teacher. In this a large school the full-time services of way there was no need to suggest any several teachers may be scheduled for hierarchy of professional tasks. The uses lunchroomor corridorsupervision. that individual teachers made of their aides varied with the classroom procedure, selfDISTRIBUTION OF LOAD BETWEEN confidence, and value system of the teachTEACHER AND ASSISTANT ers. Pending the development of some rigorDeciding which of the classroom activi- ous kind of evaluation of teacher activity, ties can best be carried on by a teacher or this procedure is the least formal arrangeby an assistant can be approachedin several ment and probably permits the greatest

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utilization of the relative abilities of teacher and assistant. It has the added advantage that it does not stabilize and institutionalize the status quo. Time studies of eight teachers and aides in Bay City showed that teachers spent 144 per cent more time in planning than they had been able to give to this activity before aides were assigned to them, 20 per cent more time in making assignments, 80 per cent more time in pupil counseling, and 27 per cent more time in desk-to-desk help. The teachers cut the correcting of papers by 66 per cent, report-makingby 25 per cent, observing pupil transitions by 61 per cent, and monitoring of written lessons by 83 per cent. These figuresare based on a very small number of cases in a specific situation, and they are undoubtedly rough approximations. Even allowing for these objections, most teachers would be enthusiastic at the thought of such a shift in working emphasis.
POSSIBLE KINDSOF TEACHER
ASSISTANTS

The discussion so far has considered only teacher aides or assistants of some kind as sources of classroom help. The possible arrangementswill hinge on the resourcesof a given school and on what is expected of the teacher in the school. A rather common type of help has been provided by older children or high-school students, who occasionally serve as paid assistants or who belong to some sort of service club. This student-assistant plan has been used with considerable success in conjunction with a high-schoolpre-teaching club, which helps recruit students for entry into teaching. Even though these young people may occasionally take charge of a class of younger children, they cannot remove much of the load from the teacher. These young assistants are learning too, and they add as much to the burden of supervision as they remove in routine tasks. In case they are paid, a higher level of performance may be asked of them, but only the simplest tasks can ordinarily be given over to them.

Another kind of teacher assistance has been provided by adult volunteers. This plan certainly has the virtue of low cost and of obtaining people with interest in the school problem. But again, rigid standards of performance cannot be required from unpaid volunteers. It would appear unwise to project any arrangement for voluntary help into a long-term program. An irregular but comparatively competent kind of teacher assistance can come from a full-time, paid substitute pool. Since these persons are being paid anyway, it is wasteful to use them only in cases of teacher absence. The existence of such a substitute pool is, of course, a luxury possible for only the larger school systems. The very irregularity of assistance from this source and the fact that it does not help in the day-to-day teaching job make it less than a perfect arrangement.However, even a half-day a month is more assistance than most teachers now enjoy. In large schoolswhere the clerical burden is heavy, there might be justification for hiring additional school clerks, each assigned to a group of teachers. In schools where there is one clerk, he is often nominally available for typewriting and duplicating, but this arrangement is not entirely satisfactory. The major allegiance of the clerk is to his immediate superior, and for a teacher to channel work through protocol is just too much trouble.
THE TEACHERAIDE IS A SPECIAL
KIND OF ASSISTANT

The most comprehensive approach to this whole matter of classroom assistance is the teacher-aide program. The aide is not just an assistant but has in-service training and definite areas of competency. A limited amount of discussion of this kind of classroom help has appeared in the educational literature, but only one fairly complete progress report of the use of aides (2). The following is derived from that report. After a time study of teacher activities in the Bay City schools, aides were selected for their interest in education and paid at

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the rate of about $1,700 a year. In some states special certification would be required for an aide to be paid and to be assigned any classroomresponsibilities.The immediate question that arises is whether paid teacher aides are a justified luxury. On the basis of published results, this question can only be partially answered at present. This particular aide program is frankly experimental and includes a small number of classrooms. The extra funds required are provided by the Fund for the Advancement of Education-a source of support not available to most schools. The aides were hired from the immediate community through the parent-teachers' association and other interested sources. They were matched to the individual teachers by personal preference. Each aide worked directly under a teacher and did those things he felt qualified to do after discussion with the teacher. In this way many of the special talents of the aides were discovered and used. The study presumed at the outset that its purpose was improvement in quality of education, improvement of the professional status of the teacher, and avoidance of any appearance of substituting an untrained person for the teacher. The study did not attempt to prove that larger classroom enrolments were desirable but rather to show that there might be ways of modifying less-than-perfect conditions. This study has implicationsfor the problems currently besetting the schools, but the hope is that it will show the way to better learning under more normal conditions. On the basis of the progress report, the classroomswith aides had a slightly higher achievement level in subject matter than did the matched control classrooms. In the less measurable areas-enrichment, participation, and growth-observation indicated that the pupils in the classroomswith aides were happier and more interested than those in the control classrooms. Since the teachers in the study were selected for enthusiasm and interest, one cannot extrapolate too far from the summary of their opinions. Some of these, though, may

have wider meaning. The participating teachers found pleasure in sharing their daily plans with an aide, and they were relieved from the feeling that they were neglecting an entire class to help an individual child. The teacher aide, then, occupies a semiprofessionalniche in the school organization and not only takes over clerical duties and the helping of individual pupils but also takes charge of supervised study and such other parts of the teacher's job as the aide may be competent to handle.
ADDITIONAL JOB TITLES

The terms "master teacher" and "supervising teacher" appear in educational literature, although there is some ambiguity in regard to the former. To some persons the terms seem identical in meaning; to others the formerrefers to a higher certificationor salary classification (1). There is little in the teacher-aide arrangement that will permit a trained person to operate only at the highest levels. The argument that the classification of master teacher or supervisory teacher would permit adequate financial rewards for the exceptional teacher may have merit, but it would appear that there is as strong a temptation to lower the classificationof the assistants as to upgrade the supervisor. This then becomes a retrogressive system and a move away from the goal of the National Education Association of providingmore ratherthan less individual professional attention for each child (5).
USE OF THE BENEFITS ASSISTANCE OF TEACHER

If some sort of aide program is used, there will be some slack in the daily schedule of the classroom teacher, which should provide time for planning and for work with individual pupils. There are two ways in which this benefit may be expended: (1) to improve existing instruction in classes of current size and (2) to increase class size and meet the desperate need for teachers. Since the immediate and pressing problem is the need for more teachers, the quantita-

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tive advantage is probably the one that will be stressed in an aide program. But existing instruction is not so good that the schools can ignore a development which should result in considerable qualitative improvement. The alternative between a quantitative and a qualitative benefit could be thought of as a short-rangegoal, eventually blending into a long-range goal. If classes of 40-50 pupils are used with an aide (many are this large without an assistant), the plan would provide short-term help. If the idea of using aides takes root, class sizes may be kept within reason and the over-all instructional efficiency can be improved. Another type of benefit which will have short- and long-term implications is the improvement of the teacher's working conditions. If the daily pressure on the teacher is lessened, there will be an improvement in morale and a decrease in teacher turnover. Excessive turnover is more expensive to the American people than is the cost of much higher salaries. If there is an improvement in working conditions, recruitment of new teachers will be easier. It has been found that the aide plan has been a promising source of supply of future teachers. These assistants decide that they like teaching and then secure training for full professional status. The probability is high that these aides will achieve eventual success in teaching.
PROBLEMS ARISING OUT OF AN AIDE PROGRAM

one in the classroom with him. It may be assumed that this genus will become rare as the obvious benefits of the aide plan are demonstrated. Some concern might be felt about the possibility that the chores formerly done by the pupils will be taken over by the aide. This possibility does not loom as a serious problem, for the aide will probably be busy enough so that he will see the personal and educational advantages of giving the children certain responsibilities. The risk that a lazy teacher will, in effect, turn his class over to the aide is no greater than that of having a lazy person in the classroom to begin with. There is even the possibility that the presence of a potentially critical adult will spur this teacher to greater effort.
MORE TIMEWITHOUT HIRING
AN ASSISTANT

Change is not without risks, and here the danger clearly is that a hard-pressed administrator will be tempted to give an aide full classroom responsibility. This could be met by requiring special certification, which would allow the aide to work only under the direction of a certificated teacher. Such a provision would be better than to try to list the jobs that an aide could legally do. Another possible area of friction could come from the attitude of the insecure or the individualistic teacher who wants no

One of the least explored areas of teacher assistance has been that of mechanical and procedural efficiency. Mechanical devices, such as audio-visual aids, have had some attention, but little net saving of time results because of the time required to operate them. An intercommunication system should save steps for teachers, but, unless carefully restricted, it becomes a source of interruption and annoyance. An easily operated duplicator and a liberal supply of materials will extend the services of the teacher. There is certainly no economy in purchasingthese devices and then imposing a tight budget on their use. Another fertile area lies in the procedural and organizational aspect of the daily classroom operation. A number of activities could be greatly simplified or removed altogether. It would seem that a school could determine the absolute minimum of recordkeeping required by law and by educational necessity and then decide how few entries of each item are needed. The next step would be to resist all further efforts to increase the record burden. Office practices have been improved a

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great deal in the past few years, and much of the advance could be applied to school clerical work. Microfilming eliminates the transferring of semester records to permanent ledgers. Available are simple, "knitting-needle," punch-card systems for the sorting and filing of data cards; cumulativerecord cards of a flexible nature; and multicopy records that supply carbons as the original is made. All this equipment costs money, but a teacher working 48 hours a week at $4,000 a year costs about $2.30 an hour. It is bad economics to harness such a person to a pencil. In the procedural field, classroom interruptions take up much time, often foi trivial reasons. Much that takes place in faculty meetings could be reduced to a duplicated bulletin. Interruptions should be reserved for real emergencies, and faculty meetings could take on a new dignity. In many high schools a teacher must use several rooms in a day. This rootless existence can be made much more palatable, and there will be an increase in teacher efficiency, if faculty offices are provided. These need not be large or elaborate, and they can even be shared, but they should be defininitely assigned to particular teachers. This kind of office sounds like a simple requirement, but to a teacher who carries his office in a brief case and does his desk work where there is a vacant chair, it sounds almost as good as a salary increase.
CONCLUDING COMMENT

tion must decide, as industry has done, that anything which increases the output of an expensive employee is a bargain. The income sources of schools are stretched now, and to suggest any additional services or materials, no matter how attractive they appear, will meet with opposition. The selling campaign, if ever started, must emphasize that here are ways to get more out of our existing investment (preferably in a qualitative sense) with a relative small increase in cost.
REFERENCES

1. BLAKE, J. A. "Master Teacher: New Type of Specialist," American Association of University ProfessorsBulletin, XL (June, 1954), 239-52.
2. CENTRAL MICHIGAN COLLEGE AND THE BAY CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS. A Cooperative

Study for the Better Utilization of Teacher Second Progress Report, 1955. Competencies.
3. NATIONAL COMMISSION ON TEACHER EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS.

The Certification of Teachers: Advancing Public and Professional Welfare. Report of the Miami Beach Conference, June, 1953. Washington: National Education Association, 1953.
4. NATIONAL MANPOWER COUNCIL. Proceed-

on the Utilizationof Scienings of a Conference tific and Professional Manpower. New York: Columbia University Press, 1954. 5. STINNETT, T. M. "The Professional Approach," NEA Journal, XLIII (November,

1954),505.

Teacher aides, increased office space, and the other proposalsmade here are expensive. But, as teachers' salaries increase, educa-

6. Teaching Load in 1950. Research Bulletin of the National Education Association, Vol. XXIX, No. 1. Washington: Research Division of the National Education Association,

1951.

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