Managing Space: A Second Installment from About Time for Teaching
The Problems
- Lack of space or poor layout
- Lack of equipment
- Poor paper-management techniquesor systems
- Some Solutions
- Look outside the obvious. What other space can you create?
- Teachers are masters of adaptations. What equipment can be adapted or bought for pennies?
- Stop unwanted material at the source.
- Tidy as you go.
- Don’t get buried under the reading pile.
- Are you scared you might need it again?
- Some simple filing tips.
- Physically separate your work so you can see what you have to deal with.
- A recycling checklist.
- Do you have to keep hoarding this rubbish?OverviewShortage of space is a huge challenge in many schools. Check out some of these scenarios and maybe you’ll count your blessings!
- Many secretaries have tiny cubby- hole offices and yet still, their teaching colleagues act as if the school office is a handy all-staff working space.
- Many teachers have no workspace apart from their classroom – no office or dedicated work station where they can leave work laid out.
- At secondary level and above, many teachers and lectures can’t set out their teaching equipment for more than a lesson or two. Like the students, they play ‘seek my next space’ around the campus, sometimes many times a day. Therefore, they’re always carrying the tools of their trade. For non-teaching tasks, they usually have somewhere they can call their own space, but for many, it’s a cubby-hole on the wall for their things and a shared bench space in a crowded workspace off a noisy staffroom. (That would be a recipe for insanity for me!)
- A rural senior leader shares a space with the secretary, sick children and the rest of the staff; not only does this one room masquerade as his office and the school office, but it’s also the sick bay and the staffroom.
- Here’s a situation that did improve… eventually. A small, country school gained a new and dynamic senior leader. Before they could turn around, the roll went crazy. Children were enrolled from the nearesttown about 20 kilometres away. At first, they used the empty teacher’s house next door as her classroom. Then, that became too crowded. They squeezed 38 children with one teacher into the school library, and then couldn’t fit anymore in. Finally, they had to hire a marquee and counted their blessings that it was summer! This hit the front pages of the press, which managed to embarrass the Ministry of Education into action! Rather belatedly, a couple of relocatable buildings finally arrived. Two years later, the Ministry building programme eventually caught up to the enrollment.Not only is office space an issue, but some educational workers face bigger problems – they can’t persuade their schools
to provide the equipment the need. Comment by a lecturer in educational management: “My teachers would establish a good filing system if only they could convince the school to buy them a filing cabinet!”
Of course, some schools are so strapped for cash that they really struggle to get the right equipment. But putting it off in the name of economy or because the money’s needed elsewhere is false economy. If your staff aren’t efficient, they’re not able to use their precious teaching time as effectively. Therefore, at some level, the students suffer. Either teachers won’t have the time to prepare as well or they’ll use their personal time to do so. This impacts their personal time, often putting the teacher under extra pressure. You can easily see why, as the pressure builds, good teachers might not stay. After all, if you get better working conditions offered somewhere else, wouldn’t you be tempted to move on?
Look Outside the Obvious – What Other Space Can You Create?
I was running a couple of courses for
a regional Education Resource Centre.
At morning tea, Miep Carstensen, the director, turned to me and asked, “While I’ve got you here, could you look at our work areas? I don’t think they’re efficient.” I encourage you to do the same with someone from outside your environment. Outsiders, especially those with an efficiency or systems mindset, notice in a flash the layout and poorly positioned equipment that’s become invisible to you.
Several ideas immediately presented themselves. For Jenny, the front desk receptionist and assistant, the first
thing that needed moving were files she regularly accessed from Miep’s room. They were housed in an open bookcase behind Miep. Instead of Jenny needing six paces to reach them, the shelves were shifted to the other side of the room, closest to Jenny’s desk. This gave her only two steps to reach the files, instead of at least six. It also meant less interruption for them both.
For Miep, we came up with several other ideas. A phone was relocated which meant she didn’t have to stand up to answer it. She also moved her computer screen so she wasn’t facing the customers that Jenny served. It meant that she now had her back to slightly to them. Benefit?
Again, they minimised the unnecessary interruptions. Miep was still handy when extra help was needed at the counter, but by avoiding eye contact, she wasn’t drawn into as many casual conversations. She found this saved her an enormous amount of time.
Next, we looked at their small order- processing room. By putting up extra shelves, they could free up work space. People often don’t see walls as storage opportunities.
What Extra Space can you Find?
- Are there doors or doorways you don’t need? What space is created if you take a door off, or block an unnecessary doorway?
- Knock walls out.
- What unutilised space is under yourdesks and tables?
- Suspend the work bench from thewall and free up the floor space.
- To save people coming into your zone, could you install a window?
- Use a wardrobe if you can’t get built- in cupboards.
- Is there ceiling room to create
a mezzanine or loft for seldom- used items? They don’t have to be expensive. Kit-set pull-down ladders give access.