Micromanagement

Exercising your personal judgment in determining how best to teach your students is a basic professional right that the UFT has always had to fight for. The school system may set standards and guidelines for content and even recommend teaching techniques, but the day-to-day methods you use to individualize your instruction should be largely left to you. Still, some principals have attempted to micromanage the smallest details of your pedagogy. While they may make suggestions for improvement, the contract expressly forbids supervisors to discipline you for the appearance and format of your bulletin boards, the arrangement of your room, or the length of segments of your lesson. If your evaluation is rated “U” for any of those reasons, see your chapter leader about filing a grievance or pursuing professional conciliation.

Also see Professional Conciliation.