It sounds like it's about time that teachers take a stand. All statutory organisation employees are saying the same thing basically, and it starts with "We're too busy, we don't have time to ...". I heard the Practice Manager at my GP practice say it the other day and to be honest, I'm sick of hearing it.
Teachers are saying it, NHS staff are saying it, Police are saying it, they're all so damned busy faffing around with ticking boxes and filling in paperwork that they don't actually ENGAGE with anyone any more. So why don't these people who are too busy just stop for long enough to think and reassess whether their job title actually matches their actions any more. Why don't they start being inefficient in filling in forms and become more efficient at ENGAGING with HUMAN BEINGS?
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I TOTALLY agree Grace, but, I worked in the Civil Service thorough various departments, including police, and every1 hated the form filling etc, and usually every year u would have to spend a week filling in forms of what u did every 15 minutes, which was absolutely ridiculous as sometimes u did that much in 15 mins that the next 15 mins was spent filling in the form! Plus, 15 mins could've been spent more productively on something else!!
However, every1 was told that the public wanted figures every year and that was why we had soooooo bloody many form fillings to do! Then u speak to the public and they say they don't care, just do the job properly - it's a catch 22 and mainly all politics related!!
For 1, I LOVE customer service and when I worked in the police, people who had maybe got into bother with the police were doing so cos no1 was listening to them/no time etc etc and they just wanted some1 2 talk to that had time without filling in forms! I had a guy ring me cos got into trouble cos had been having a bad time with diabetes....I do believe in do the crime, do the time, but he was stressing and causing more probs with his diabetes then, so I just explained what would happen and reassured him about his diabetes and things he could do 2 have better control etc and he was as happy as Larry! Actually, in the end, cause I was trying to help so many people with just having time 4 them, I ended up that they said I wasn't doing my own job and I had to go on stress sick with my diabetes and, to cut a long story short, I got dismissed! Felt sorry for the public after that tho that they had no1 to talk to!! And no, before any1 says it, I absolutely couldn't fight it at court thro DDA cos every corner or evidence I had was shot down so just gave up in the end to stop stressing my diabetes out any further!
I think the public need to do something about all these uneducated government people re medical issues and way too much form filling that make staff not 2 have time 4 any1....but how do u even start to do something like that??? Petitions?? :-([/quote]
Unfortunately, we're in the age of technology. Technology focuses on the impersonal form filling, data producing drivel that they say 'the public demands'. People skills focuses on people and interacting with them. Give me a doctor or a nurse who actually takes their eyes off the computer and swivels their chair round and looks at me for signs and symptoms any day. The problem with technology is it can churn out drivel faster than the average human being can keep up with it and this is what's happening in all the statutory organisations. Those whose job it is to create yet another form, another database can create that in seconds. It then gets 'rolled out' to millions of employees as just one more little thing for them to complete that won't take long. Before they know it, they don't have time to actually DO THEIR JOB, because they're half buried beneath a heap of electronic paperwork that has to be completed in order to meet those all important 'targets' that they say the public demand. It's almost as if our people skills are being bred out of us ... and I think that's very dangerous. Interestingly, recently I think the Chief Nursing Officer made a statement about the lack of compassion in the nursing profession and has asked that training become once more focussed on compassion and people skills and less on computer literacy and technology. I think that was as a result of an MP's husband dying on a ward, after being neglected and left without food and warmth and attention. She described his carers as 'cold and distant' and because she's an MP, she could make a fuss about it and be heard, unlike the rest of us.