Effective School Management

EXERCISE 9: Use of Time Analysis
This exercise is fully intended to help you think about how you spend your
time currently, and how you would like to spend your working day, with a
view to developing some concrete action plans directed towards improving
your overall effectiveness.
(1) Using the activity categories shown on the analysis sheet and any others
you feel are applicable, estimate the amount of your time you have spent on
each activity during the past three months, expressed as a percentage of
your total working time. Use the first column (‘Actual’) for recording
your estimates.
(2) Use the second column (‘Ideal’) to fill in the time allocations as
percentages which you feel you would like to be able to record for a
future period.
(3) Which five (approximately) activities show the greatest discrepancy
between ‘actual’ and ‘ideal’ in terms of time commitment? Enter these
below.
(4) Which major obstacle (if any) do you see preventing you from achieving
the sort of time allocation which you think would be ideal for you in your
job?
(5) What concrete steps can you take in order to come closer to your ideal in
terms of spending time on the job? Be specific.
(6) What can others (who?) do to help you or indeed make it possible for you
to achieve this ideal? Be specific.

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EFFECTIVE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT
Analysis sheet
Actual
Ideal
(a) Teaching
(overall)
• lesson preparation
• practical teaching
• marking
(b) Administration
(overall)
• staff management
• tidying up, sorting out, ‘getting organized’
• reports
• general administration
(c) Miscellaneous
(overall)
• meetings (if not covered above)
• reading, studying, thinking
• parent/teacher co-operation
• ‘out-of-school’ activities (including clubs,
societies, one-day and extended visits – UK
and abroad)
(d) Specialized activities (please list)

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MANAGING YOURSELF
139