Everyday Labor Management Technologies at a Small Private School
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Much has been written about the introduction of technology into schools. Particular focus has been given to the growing size of the industry, the impact on students, and changes due to AI. Less attention has been given to the impact of these and other technologies on teachers, their workdays, and the balance of power within schools. I work at a non-unionized private K-12 school in Manhattan which, through a few initiatives, has attempted to deploy, manage and withdraw technology in several new ways to control the labor of teachers.
This year, a new system has been introduced where staff sign in and out using iPads at the front of the school. Leadership has assured us that this is just to know who is in the building for emergency situations. Coupled with a new policy where a written warning is issued when a staff member is late (even by one minute) five times, there is little confidence in this assurance. As with prior years, the assumption is that checking who is late is done by one of a few vigilant administrators who may be observing staff arrival. Technology as deployed here works to increase the control, even if just as perceived, of school leadership over staff. The routine of scanning IDs at the elevators at the start of the day, and lining up to scan out at our precise 4:00PM end time certainly feels like punching in and out (even if we’re told it’s not). Overall, there is not much trust that the administration has teachers’ best interests in mind with these kinds of endeavors.
A new initiative centered on responsible tech use aims to reduce staff and student phone and computer usage. Leadership has determined that during many student behavior incidents, from playing back classroom video footage, one or more staff members were found to be using a device of some kind. This led to the decision to reduce staff technology usage across the board. Teachers have been directed to minimize use of laptops and phones in classrooms and hallways, using them in the break room if needed. Teachers use these devices for planning, emailing parents, messaging staff members during classroom situations, and other purposes. When asked about using their laptops to plan during their prep periods in their classrooms (where there may still be students), leadership equivocated - we should really try to limit computer work to the break room, but could also do this work in classrooms.
Staff use of technology during the school day has at times interfered with teaching in the past, including distraction by personal social media use. The policy, however, does not treat teachers as professionals capable of making responsible decisions about their technology use, or moderating it if that seems like the right choice.
Another concern with this policy is the time required for this new way of working. Laptop use is now prohibited during meetings and professional development sessions. Teachers who use laptops to take notes or consult student profiles during meetings have been told to change their notetaking systems to paper, and make updates to digital notes and records at a later time. No word about when this mythical “later time” should occur. Along with other new staff development initiatives at the school, teachers’ already scarce prep time is increasingly limited. Classroom teachers are expected to email parents with classroom concerns and responses to questions within a certain timeframe, submit incident reports, fill out student roadmaps and report cards, and more on their laptops. Teachers have around 1-2 40 minute prep periods1 a day to complete this and other work. Expectations for email response time from teachers have been increased, but I have seen more teachers this year arriving early and staying late to complete digital work, adding on to an already exhausting day.
Additionally, new Ring cameras have been installed in classrooms, with microphone and speaker capabilities, in addition to existing classroom cameras. We are told these devices will only be used for announcements, and not teacher monitoring. As with the check-in iPads, the uncertainty around these technologies, coupled with lack of control over workplace conditions in general, has a disciplinary and fear-inducing effect.
These kinds of relatively more mundane happenings around technology in schools have been somewhat neglected in favor of flashier headlines about different applications of AI for learning, student devices and so on. They have a profound impact on teachers’ workdays, and by extension on students’ experiences at school. Existing technologies and new policies around them are used to control teachers’ labor, focus their attention in desired ways, and extract maximum value from teachers’ workdays. Although the policies discussed here aren’t directly connected to the policies of any larger school systems, I’m sure other workers in the education sector are feeling the squeeze of similar techniques.
a prep period is a period where a teacher has no teaching or other duties, and can plan classes or complete other admin work ↩
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