Learning from "Nudge Units"

How to combat teacher aide misinformation and inconsistent management

Photo by Ahmet Yüksek on Unsplash

What is a “Nudge Unit”?

“Nudge Units” are organisations which use behavioural science or “social engineering” to influence public behaviours. In Australia, this work is done by BETA: Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian Government.

“Nudges” are passive suggestions which exploit principles of behavioural economics, cognitive bias and irrational decision-making to “make good change.”

Though some question the efficacy or ethics of “nudges”; this blog post will explore ways that teacher aides can potentially employ a few of the techniques.

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Misinformation and inconsistent management

Teacher aide online groups are rife with misinformation, confusion and lack of clarity.

There are many reasons for this:

1. Each school views itself as an autonomous entity which interprets state policies and guidelines slightly differently;

2. Schools rarely work collaboratively when it comes to best practice, so consistency and standardisation is non-existent between schools;

3. Schools are stepping stones for those looking to climb ranks, so become experiments for individual ego-projects or “deliverables” for those seeking to “make their mark”;

4. Teachers are not de facto managers; a teaching degree does not prepare you adequately in systems, processes, policies, conflict resolution, and working with people.

   Vegemyeet reinforces this on the AustralianTeachers Reddit page with:

   Having had a career in human services over many years, I can say that the management of schools is decades behind other management models.

   Just because you’ve been a good teacher doesn’t mean you’ll make a good manager, and your staff are not a class of recalcitrant children to be chastised.

5. Teacher aide position descriptions and deployment is incredibly varied and diffuse. The flexibility is advantageous to schools, but for teacher aides, a potential opportunity for exploitation, obfuscation and misinformation;

6. High staff turnover and forced transfers mean that “staff champions” and good managers leave - taking their corporate memory/knowledge with them;

7. Most teacher aides are not afforded substantial administrative/computer time, so it is easy to miss updates;

8. Lack of clear communication channels means that teacher aides are expected to learn information through trickle-down means such as: union delegate, knowledge base articles etc.

9. In many schools, management/administration/executive are reticent to explicitly write down their interpretation of policies and processes, avoiding a paper trail - instead, the style seems to favour vague, oral instructions to give plausible deniability if questioned.

Proposed solutions

1. Teacher Aide Case Precedent Database - a repository for teacher aides to lodge:

   1. Position Descriptions, duty statements, list of tasks, specialisations and levels;

   2. Short case studies of teacher aide deployment plans, rotations and cross-training in schools;

   3. Short case studies of teacher aide skills audit and task strength-matching; alongside professional development;

   4. Indicative teacher aide in-class deployment models i.e. station teaching as mentioned in The House That Maths Built;

   5. Best practice for teacher aide mental equanimity, transparency and accountability;

   6. Best practice for teacher aide timetabling, written policy/processes, reporting etc.;

   7. School interpretations of processes i.e. “consultation” which is stated explicitly in the EBA but continues to be interpreted “creatively”;

      SOLUTION: This proposed solution exploits the bandwagon effect, managers are much more likely to agree to a determination, if they are provided evidence that there is precedence elsewhere.

2. History of Teacher Aide negotiations - the history of Queensland teacher aides is held only in the minds of long-serving staff. This is unhelpful when trying to generate ideas or problem solve.

   1. Yes, we have access to previous enterprise bargaining agreements, but there is no commentary on: what worked, what didn’t work, unintended consequences from clauses, or just the general response from teacher aides.

      1. This makes it incredibly hard to get collective consensus when negotiating for a new EBA because, new staff particularly, are uninformed about what has happened historically and struggle with recency bias.

         SOLUTION: The proposed solution of recording an annotated history of teacher aide negotiations online avoids the misinformation effect, whereby memories become muddied by more recent information - giving a reference point we can all refer to when considering collective action.

3. Clearer Formal Communication Lines - within Queensland, our modes of consultation/communication are:

   1. Department of Education Connect Newsletter - this information is from our employer so in their best interests;

   2. School Local Consultative Committee (LCC) union representative - union reps are able to suggest agenda items; these minutes should be accessible, and available to all teacher aides;

   3. Teacher Aide Consultative Committee (TACC) - the members for this committee are determined by the union; minutes are not readily available, rather, any outcomes are expected to be communicated via trickle-down means;

   4. Regional Consultative Committee (RCC) - minutes are not readily available, teacher aides are not broadly consulted for agenda item discussions;

   5. Teacher Aide Meetings - these are not always offered in every school; and usually heavily influenced by School priority (not teacher aide);

   6. Department of Education Teacher Aide Email Distribution List - all email discussions recorded and viewable by the department which limits the ability for teacher aides to be frank; only approximately 500 members, so limited reach.

   7. United Workers Union Facebook Group - this is an ephemeral and daily stream of content, which limits the ability to foster deep, robust discussion. Additionally, the same questions are asked repeatedly - further highlighting a lack of clarity/understanding about teacher aide policies, processes and their implementation.

      SOLUTION: There is a need for a communication channel which is: authoritative, available to all teacher aides, transparent and in the best interests of students and teacher aides.

      Independent publications like this blog are a good start, but it is highly biased towards my thoughts and opinions; and is largely anonymous, so fails the transparency test. Publications are also additional workload.

      In the first instance, if someone is positioned as a committee member or union representative, then they are obliged to disseminate information to their constituents regularly.

      Perhaps a way to reduce the workload is for union delegates, TACC/RCC committee members to organise via their region (i.e. Metro South) and collaborate to send an email each term - which leads to the next proposed solution…

4. “Nudge” emails - twice a year, the regional communication teams, draft an email which is checked by the Union and forwarded to all union delegates for on-forwarding to Business Services Managers, Principals and relevant Heads.

   The purpose of the emails is to counter misinformation and “nudge” schools towards fairer, more transparent and equitable treatment of teacher aides.

   For example, the email may include information about:

   1. Higher Duties - teacher aides can be paid higher if temporarily appointed to a higher role per the General Employees Award:

      1. “An employee, other than an employee engaged in the forestry stream or hospitality stream, directed to temporarily fill a position for more than 3 consecutive working days at a higher classification level within the same stream shall be paid extra remuneration at the first paypoint of the classification level of the position being temporarily filled”;

   2. Higher Starting Wage - teacher aides can start on a higher wage, at the discretion of the school. You don’t *have* to climb the imaginary levels ladder if you come with substantial experience and qualifications per the General Employees Award:

      1. “Notwithstanding anything contained elsewhere in this Award, an applicant who is appointed to a position may, at the discretion of the relevant employer, be offered and appointed to any paypoint within a level based on recognition of skills, knowledge and abilities”.

   3. Educational Support for Students with Disability Allowance - if a teacher aide provides an “Extensive” student a reasonable adjustment only once in the previous fortnight, they are entitled to the payment.

      SOLUTION: These suggestions are indicative, with online teacher aide groups offered as a potential source for identifying misinformation when drafting the “nudge” emails.

Schools are incredibly insular and without further information, it can be an incredibly lonely, confusing and frustrating place for teacher aides.

• These proposals are an attempt to collectivise our experiences, provide best practice examples and move the industry towards fairer, more accountable and transparent treatment of teacher aides.

As always, subscribers can comment below or you can email me at teacheraideqld@gmail.com.

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