Importance of Record Keeping

The Importance of Record Keeping
Record keeping can be seen as one of the most toughest and time consuming tasks a new teacher is required to perform. It is, however, one of the most important of their tasks too. Records are kept in all areas of business and life in general. For example, if you went to a football match and nobody kept the score, you would probably be left wondering the whole point of the exercise. This is similar in the teaching sector and records must be kept of individual students' progress and also that of the school as a whole. That being just one of the types of records a teacher may keep. I will now go on to discuss further a selection of the other types of teaching records and their importance.

Health & Safety Records
It is imperative that a teacher keeps up to date, accurate health and safety records. Some of these may include students personal details and possible medical requirements. For example, should a child fall ill or have any type of incident, then a record of their personal details and next of kin would be needed in order to contact the correct help and assistance. In conjunction with this, should a child or any indeed individual, have any type of accident or injury then a record of this would need to be made so that if the incident is taken any further, the teacher can prove that the correct steps were taken in dealing with the incident. This would also occur in the fitness industry in a gym environment as injuries may occur quite frequently and so records of this would need to be taken, again to prove correct steps were taken in dealing with the injury.

Teaching Records
Teaching records are kept for a number of reasons. Firstly, a teacher would need to keep a record for themselves so that they know what topics and subject areas have already been taught to the students and also what still needs to be delivered. This would come in the form of a lesson plans and a scheme of work. These are used widely within the...