ChatterBank1 min ago
School Timetables
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Who gets the job of working out school timetables or is it done by a computer programme?
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I've spent many hours slaving over draft timetables.
Much of the work is done by computer but there's still a great deal of human effort needed. Teachers have to try to program various constraints into the system, e.g. it's not much use if the computer puts a chemistry lesson into a room without fume cupboards or bunsen burners. Similarly, a maths class of 30 pupils won't fit into a small study area designed to hold a group of 10 sixth-formers.
The first time I ever got involved with timetabling was when a colleague asked me to check his work (done with computer assistance). One problem had arisen because the computer insisted that every group of pupils had to be in a 'room'. In order to accommodate this, pupils on the sports field had to be shown in a (fictitious) Room 41. Unfortunately, the computer then assumed that, if there were no games lessons taking place, Room 41 was free for other uses. This had resulted in several English lessons being timetabled to take place on the sports field!
The above examples only relate to the allocation of rooms. Allocating staff can cause even more problems. It's easy to tell the computer that Mr Smith and Mrs Jones teach maths but it also needs to know that only Mrs Jones can teach A-level groups while Mr Smith has to be allocated to 'remedial' classes. Those remedial classes, however, are always taken by two teachers, so the computer needs to be persuaded to allocate 2 teachers to one class (but not to do this anywhere else). The second teacher for the remedial classes is actually Mr Bloggs who also works with the Social Studies department, so the computer needs to make sure that Year 7 remedial maths classes don't occur at the same time as Year 11 History lessons.
. . . .etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Even with computer assistance, most secondary school timetables usually need at least 80 man-hours of human input.
Chris
Much of the work is done by computer but there's still a great deal of human effort needed. Teachers have to try to program various constraints into the system, e.g. it's not much use if the computer puts a chemistry lesson into a room without fume cupboards or bunsen burners. Similarly, a maths class of 30 pupils won't fit into a small study area designed to hold a group of 10 sixth-formers.
The first time I ever got involved with timetabling was when a colleague asked me to check his work (done with computer assistance). One problem had arisen because the computer insisted that every group of pupils had to be in a 'room'. In order to accommodate this, pupils on the sports field had to be shown in a (fictitious) Room 41. Unfortunately, the computer then assumed that, if there were no games lessons taking place, Room 41 was free for other uses. This had resulted in several English lessons being timetabled to take place on the sports field!
The above examples only relate to the allocation of rooms. Allocating staff can cause even more problems. It's easy to tell the computer that Mr Smith and Mrs Jones teach maths but it also needs to know that only Mrs Jones can teach A-level groups while Mr Smith has to be allocated to 'remedial' classes. Those remedial classes, however, are always taken by two teachers, so the computer needs to be persuaded to allocate 2 teachers to one class (but not to do this anywhere else). The second teacher for the remedial classes is actually Mr Bloggs who also works with the Social Studies department, so the computer needs to make sure that Year 7 remedial maths classes don't occur at the same time as Year 11 History lessons.
. . . .etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc.
Even with computer assistance, most secondary school timetables usually need at least 80 man-hours of human input.
Chris
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