What does it mean to be a paperless school?
Being a paperless school means reducing the amount of paper being used across an entire educational institution, both in the classroom and operationally. The process of going paperless involves swapping physical copies of documents for digital versions of forms, permissions slips and newsletters.
It's important to get the most from every penny of spend in your school and replacing paper with digital systems could save thousands each year and allow you to invest more in better experiences for parents, students and teachers.
Should your school go paperless?
Eradicating paper completely within a school is practically impossible, pens and paper are still classroom essentials and society hasn’t transitioned away from handwritten notes yet. However, the financial and environmental gains from considering a move towards paperless can be huge, so institutions should certainly consider digitising whatever they can.
Advantages of going paperless
- Reduce waste and inefficiency
Paper isn't just bad from an environmental point of view. It's also extremely inefficient for your school administrative team. When a school works with paper it means hours lost every week to processing, storing, managing, searching and retrieving.
By going paperless, the time it takes to do these tasks can be reduced to mere minutes. Bulky batches of paperwork can be scanned in moments and software can convert them into searchable, shareable digital versions. Laborious tasks, like locating and passing on a document in a student's record, go from frustrating hunts to a quick search on the computer.
And of course, there are massive cost savings to be had from less printing, photocopying and required storage space. - Creation of a secure digital database
If all your data is in one, centralised place, it becomes easier for everyone in a school to access and update that information. You don't have to worry about out-of-date contact details or duplicated documentation. And with a digital system you'll be able to see who scanned and edited which documents when, giving you a clear audit trail.
Not only is this kind of setup more secure, but it's also more flexible. It means information can be accessed remotely — great if teachers are marking online homework in the evening or you're a multi-academy trust with shared data. - Communicate better with parents
How many times have you sent school updates home with pupils only for them to end up as a crumpled mess at the bottom of their school bags? How often have parents' evening appointments been missed due to lost paperwork? The most effective way to stay in touch with parents is to cut out the middleman, which means no more paper communications.
Instead, parent engagement software allows you to speak directly and instantly to parents in a way that's most convenient for them. You can send notifications and back them up with scheduled reminders. Make life even easier for parents paying for school trips, uniforms or lunches by directing them to an online payment system too. - Engage students more
For children who have grown up with the internet and touchscreens, digital learning is simple and intuitive. Using less paper in the classroom doesn't just save your school money — it's also the next step forward in a more engaging, inclusive, varied form of teaching.
There are many online teaching resources and parent engagement software platforms. These tools can be used alongside, or in place of, more traditional textbooks to bring to the classroom to life for modern learners. Homework can be submitted online and teachers can give feedback quickly and frequently, rather than pupils and parents having to wait for large pieces of work to be marked.
Finally, when some or all of your learning is done digitally the cost of buying and replacing books each year (which inevitably get lost, damaged and drawn on) can be cut back.
Disadvantages of going paperless
While going paperless has numerous benefits for school staff, students, and parents, there can be drawbacks, such as:
- Digital literacy barriers
Teachers are notoriously time poor and learning about new technology often comes at the bottom of a long to do list. Struggling against increasing class sizes and shrinking budgets, the effort involved in going paperless may be difficult to justify against other pressing demands. - Inclusivity problems
Not every child has access to a device or the internet at home, meaning schools have to spend more money implementing digital systems to support everyone. Children with special needs and learning disabilities may find new technology challenging and require additional support.
- Losing the "personal touch"
Social interactions make people "more amenable to learning" and with every manual process pored over and evaluated for efficiency, it's important not to lose sight of what makes us human. Parents, teachers and students alike still need time for face-to-face interactions, even if it's via a video conferencing platform.
How to go paperless at your school
You're aware of how much time and money you can save, the reduction you can have on your carbon footprint and the way online systems can improve teaching and learning — all from cutting back on paper.
But how should you actually make the transition from physical to digital? There are lots of options available and at first glance it might seem a bit overwhelming. By keeping things simple and focusing on your key goals you can narrow down the alternatives until you find one that works for your school. Always keep in mind the lasting legacy you're building for the future.
Here are our five top recommendations for switching to a paperless way of working in your school:
- Work out your school’s needs
In an ideal world no business would need to use paper, but that's not always realistic. Think about how your school currently works and the changes you can make most easily. Consult school staff and your leadership team. Make sure whatever you decide is simple enough to be embraced by the majority of users. The more you ask of them, the less likely they are to adopt new systems, so keep your plan easy and intuitive.
Every school is unique. If a school-wide paperless transition is off the table, consider which processes you can move online to improve efficiency and decrease waste. For example, you might decide to transfer school records to a digital system but keep using textbooks in the classroom. Even small changes are a step in the right direction. - Automate paper-heavy processes
Using software to take the hassle out of handling numerous paper files is one of the most cost-effective things you can do as a school. Cloud based school HR software can be used to manage contracts, payslips, absences and more.
A system like this will save administration teams countless hours and make a huge dent in the number of physical records that must be stored, processed and managed in any school.
Best of all, many processes can be automated almost entirely. For example, school purchases become simple — teachers make their request online and it’s sent straight to the school business manager or finance manager for approval. Once that’s done, the supplier is automatically emailed a generated purchase order number. Invoices are stored electronically against the correct transaction. School accounting software provides a seamless approach to what are often stressful and time-consuming tasks. - Think about parent communication software
A dedicated parent communication software might not be something you've considered before, but it can go a long way to improving communication between schools and families. By removing the need for printed newsletters, reports and permission slips you reduce time-consuming admin and improve the likelihood of your messages actually reaching parents — rather than ending up at the bottom of a school bag somewhere.
An app can communicate with parents directly in a way they're already familiar with. You can send simple reminders and updates more cheaply than via SMS, and don't need to rely on parents remembering to check your website. Plus, analytics give you data into which messages are most engaged with and help you tailor your approach in the future. - Jump in if you're academizing
If you're converting to an academy, this is the perfect opportunity to relaunch as a paperless (or paper-lite) organisation. You'll have greater autonomy over how your school is run and may even receive a modest funding increase to help with the conversion. This money could kickstart processes to make your school greener, tidier and more efficient, putting in place a strong foundation to be built on.
As a school with more freedom, you'll also be expected to run secure and compliant processes. A digital system will provide you with an audit trail and make watertight reporting and management that much easier. - Embrace online learning
Going paperless isn't just about saving time and money. Yes, it lets teachers streamline admin like taking the register, managing student records and creating lesson plans. But it's also an exciting new way to engage students and offer more inclusive learning methods.
The future of learning is digital, and nowadays there are a myriad of options when it comes to teaching with software, apps and games such as in the award winning GCSEPod platform. These aren't a replacement for face-to-face learning, but tools to complement current teaching styles and improve the classroom experience for pupils. Committing to using less paper in your school is the perfect reason to explore and invest in cutting-edge learning technology.