Working with School Caretakers and Site Managers. January 2013

Transcription

1 Working with School Caretakers and Site Managers January 2013

2 Introduction This resource has been designed to help schools to engage with caretakers, site managers and premises managers 1 to encourage energy saving and carbon reduction. Within this resource you will find: - Insights into the attitudes of caretakers, their behaviour and the challenges they face related to saving energy in school - Ideas for workshop and discussion sessions to engage caretakers - Ideas for supporting activities that you could undertake which will help build the profile of caretakers and generate more support from senior management teams - Signposting to resources available from Carbon Trust which you can use with caretakers School caretakers and site managers: why they matter The school caretaker or site manager is frequently: - The first person into school in the morning opening up, switching on lights and heating systems if they are not automated, managing security systems - The last person to leave the school at night with decisions to make about switching things off - The person with the best understanding of the school buildings and grounds, including the different heating, hot water, cooling and lighting systems that are in place - A de facto Heating Control Manager the person to whom teachers and others turn if they feel the school is too cold or too warm - The most technically minded person in school when it comes to building management systems, general maintenance and repairs The school caretaker s role is unusual in that it carries on throughout the year. Many school buildings are used by the local community at weekends and during holiday periods and the caretaker or site manager often take responsibility for ensuring the readiness, safety and security of the school during these period. 1 For ease, we refer to these groups as caretakers throughout this guide. 2

3 Caretakers are well placed to help their school to save energy and reduce carbon emissions. However, many schools do not recognise the role that their caretakers could play. The Local Authority would like to unlock this potential and encourage greater engagement of caretakers in energy saving initiative. This resource will go on to suggest some ways in which school senior management teams can facilitate this process strategically, and at an operational level with caretakers themselves.

4 The caretaker/site manager s view Listed below are some of the challenges faced by caretakers in encouraging or participating in energy saving initiatives within their schools. What you ll see is that many of these challenges are similar to those expressed by head teachers, pupils and others within the school community. You will also see that a lot of these issues relate to how the school is organised rather than to technical challenges. Alongside the challenges are a number of ideas for initiatives that could be led or contributed to by caretakers. Many of these ideas were generated by caretakers themselves. Why not use a workshop session to unlock some of this creativity? Challenge What caretakers say Ideas for initiatives Energy is invisible; people don t know what it costs No-one else seems bothered, so why should they? As one caretaker said, we don t see a stack of kilowatt hours in the waste bin at the end of the week. Finding ways of making a school s energy use more visible could have a big impact. Caretakers report that they see and know that energy is being wasted and that it would be easy Run a competition for teachers and pupils: guess the school s energy bills. This will bring into focus the amount of the school s budget being spent on energy and the potential for saving. Find out from the Council how much energy other local schools use, and share with the school whether you a high, average or low user of energy. Invest in or borrow energy monitors these can be used in class, in the school office and elsewhere to demonstrate how much energy is used by different activities. Make sure that the caretaker is aware of and involved in the school eco-team there may be a lot of activity that they just don t know about.

5 We have a lot to do and not much time, and we don t get rewarded for making savings We can t control our energy use to achieve savings. But no-one in school seems bothered about making savings. Caretakers often feel like they are being given more and more to do in less and less time. They already look after security, cleaning and building maintenance; energy is another burden. Heating and, in some cases, lighting systems might be controlled automatically, through a building management system or by a third party (the local authority or an outsourced facilities management company). This can be frustrating for caretakers who want to be able to make the school as comfortable as possible. Share case studies of what happens at other schools, including who coordinates activities, then help caretakers to find the relevant person in their own school or to set up their own project. Help caretakers to get involved with energy saving initiatives across the school, so that pupils, staff and others are all playing their part and the caretaker doesn t feel like everything is their responsibility. If time is an issue, make sure the lines of communication and responsibility between the caretaker, any facilities management provider and the local authority are clear. This will help the caretaker decide whether to act on an issue or to escalate it. Arrange a meeting between school caretakers and the contractors or LA team that controls the heating system. Keep it informal and make it as much of a discussion and Q&A session as you can. Caretakers will then be able to understand more about how the system works, why it is set up that way and what control can be achieved. Help caretakers to understand what things they can control within a school, for example, local temperatures in specific rooms, thermostats / TRVs, start / stop times. Provide support to caretakers and site managers on

6 Teachers are only interested in teaching Some like it hot; some don t! Without support from Heads and Governors, it s hard to persuade teachers The caretakers view was that teachers were one of the biggest blocks to energy saving action in school, seeing it as someone else s responsibility to switch things off while they were focused on educating pupils. Teachers were also seen as being the most vocal about being cold in the classroom. One caretaker told us: I raised something with the Head in my role as caretaker and was ignored. I m also a Governor, so I smart thinking about how the school is used, especially outside the normal school day (eg, zoning of activities so that only part of the school needs to be heated / lit. Ask caretakers to put themselves in a teacher s shoes and think about what matters to them, what makes them do what they do. This will help caretakers to think about how they communicate with teaching staff in a way that will have a bigger impact. Primary school teachers, in particular, will often spend more time in one classroom than they do in their living room at home. How can you make the classroom feel like home? Help caretakers to explain that people feel temperature in different ways and when they are doing different things. For example, teachers may spend a lot of time sitting still during lessons, which increases awareness of colder temperatures. Thermometers in classrooms could help, along with information about the temperatures where most people typically feel comfortable. This will vary from school to school. Case studies about good caretaker-led initiatives can be very powerful. Helping Heads / SMT to understand the importance

7 I can t do everything! I m not an engineer so I don t touch the boiler raised the same issue at a Governors meeting. We re now doing something about it. Many caretakers reported that they do not have regular meetings with the Head or the Senior Management Team. If a caretaker had to switch off all of the lights and computers every evening, as well as making sure the building is clean and secure, they would never get home! If everyone plays their part, then energy saving is quick and easy. Caretakers are reluctant to get involved with heating plant without technical training. of their caretaker is vital, perhaps at Head Teachers Forum meetings. It s also important that the caretaker has the confidence and knowledge to be effective in these meetings training and workshops can help! Help caretakers to work with the school eco-team or key teacher to develop effective ways of communicating what needs to be done at the end of the school day. This could include telling staff and pupils how many light switches or computers there are in school, putting switch-off monitors in place or organising rewards (and penalties) based on teachers or classes behaviour. Make sure that caretakers and schools know that there are plenty of energy saving opportunities that do not involve adjusting the boiler, and that there is support from the local authority or heating contractor to make any system changes that are identified. People without technical training and certification should only be carrying out a limited range of responsibilities with heating systems; again, make it clear who is responsible for what.

8 Maintaining momentum Many caretakers reported that short switch-off campaigns had been very effective but that, over time, old behaviours would come back. This is a very common problem! Help caretakers (and schools) to make year-round energy saving plans which reinforce the need to take action all the time, rather than just in a specific week or fortnight. Many of the Carbon Trust school resources (eg, labelling lightswitches) have been designed to encourage year-round action.

9 Creating an environment for success It is important to engage caretakers, but it s equally important to make sure that others in the school recognise what caretakers can offer. How can you help to communicate the importance of caretakers to Governors, teachers and others? Ensuring that other groups recognise and respect caretakers can increase the chances of success in saving energy. Here are some ideas for supporting activities which schools could undertake: - Making presentations to forums (sustainable schools, Headteachers Forum, Bursars Forum) to raise awareness of the key role that caretakers play in school building management and the role that they could play as Heating Control Managers - Encouraging good practice based on case studies from pilot schools where caretakers and site managers have been central to success - Encouraging schools to engage their caretaker with their eco-team programme as part of an integrated whole school approach - Creating forums for regular interaction between caretakers themselves and with key teams within the local authority and any outsourced service providers - Asking that caretakers are brought into one-to-one meetings with schools, particularly if discussions relate to heating, invest to save opportunities or whole school approaches - Arranging regular meetings between the caretaker and the Headteacher on all operational issues, including energy - Looking at recruitment policies and training opportunities to up skill caretakers with a broader understanding of energy issues. It may be possible to influence how caretakers are rewarded to further incentivise energy savings and cost reductions. 9

10 Workshops for caretakers and site managers WHY RUN A WORKSHOP? Many caretakers work alone and have very few opportunities to talk to others about the detail of their job. Workshops bring people together, providing a forum for sharing experiences, generating new ideas and gaining confidence that each individual is not the only person grappling with an issue or challenge. WHAT ABOUT THE PRACTICALITIES? You could hold a workshop at a school, although this may put pressure on the host caretaker if there is a problem on site during the session. Alternatively, why not try a local college or Council building, particularly if there is one which is sustainable or features renewable energy technologies. Remember: caretakers like interesting buildings! Try to schedule workshop sessions to fit the caretakers day. They will need to open up the school in the morning and close it at the end of the day, so sessions mid-morning or lunchtime are likely to be most popular. PRESENTATION MATERIALS You can use the accompanying slide pack (or select from it), as well as the resources that have been developed by Carbon Trust or by your local authority. Many caretakers will not have daily access to a computer or the internet; some will not even have a fixed desk base in school. Make sure that materials are compact (no bulky handbooks). You may also want to provide pens and paper for note-taking. Ideas for workshop exercises Many of the challenges faced by caretakers are about how the school is organised, rather than about technical issues. Here are some ideas for workshop exercises which can help caretakers to address organisational challenges: # 10

11 A. IDENTIFIYING AND PRIORITISING SCHOOL ENERGY USERS Workshop title: What you ll need: Workshop process: Identifying and prioritising school energy users Flipchart paper and pen for writing notes; Post Its and pens for the matrix exercise Start by asking the group to identify different groups of people who use energy within the school (eg, pupils, catering staff, lettings) Now create a 2 x 2 grid or matrix with Importance on the vertical axis and Supportive on the horizontal axis. Ask the caretakers to place a Post It for each group of people on the grid to show how important they are in terms of energy use (ie, who uses the most energy?) and how supportive of energy saving initiatives. Groups that are important and supportive will be the easiest to reach and persuade to take action. Alternatively, ask your caretakers to identify which groups of people are energy saints (ie, conscientious about saving energy) and which are energy sinners (ie, energy wasteful). There will often be a surprising degree of consensus here! B. UNDERSTANDING DIFFERENT ENERGY USERS Workshop title: What you ll need: Workshop process: Understanding different energy users Paper and pens for taking notes Ask the caretakers to put themselves in the shoes of one of their groups of energy users (teachers, pupils, Head etc) and to try and answer the question: what matters to them? For teachers, part of the answer will be educating pupils, but another part might be having a comfortable work environment. As an example, you could talk about people who let the school hall for sports clubs at the weekend. What matters to them? Sport which is closely connected to 11

12 competition, league tables, trophies. An energy saving initiative which had competitive elements and maybe a prize at the end would be appealing to people who run sports clubs. Having identified what matters to people, now ask the caretakers to think about how they could describe saving energy or create an energy saving project in a way that would appeal to those people (eg, competitive activities for sporty people). C. TALKING ABOUT TEMPERATURE Workshop title: What you ll need: Workshop process: Talking about temperature Thermometer (optional) Start a discussion about how we feel temperature, which is different from knowing how many degrees C it is. Ask the group: who feels cold in the room? Who feels warm? (If you have a thermometer, you could ask them to guess what the temperature is.) Explain that certain groups of people feel the cold more than others, including older people, women and people with certain health conditions. This is perfectly natural! Get ideas from the caretakers about how they might talk about temperature at, say, a staff meeting or to a group of pupils D. GETTING ENERGY ON THE SENIOR MANAGEMENT AGENDA Workshop title: What you ll need: Workshop process: Getting energy on the senior management agenda Flip chart paper and pens for taking notes; paper and pens for participants to take notes Ask the caretakers to talk about their senior management team and how well engaged they are with the energy saving agenda. 12

13 You will probably find that some caretakers have more access to their senior management team than others. Ask them to explain the difference that they feel it makes. Sometimes caretakers do not recognise the importance of what they do. Ask them to list all the things that they control within their schools (the list will probably include heating, lighting, security, fire, grounds and much more). The school could not run without them! Ask them to come up with ideas for how they could communicate what they do to the senior management team. E. MAKING ENERGY SAVINGS IN SCHOOL Workshop title: What you ll need: Workshop process: Making energy savings in school Copies of the Practical, Fast-Track Whole School Savings resource; paper and pens for notes Share the Practical, Fast-Track, Whole School Savings resource with a group of caretakers. Ask them to identify two or three ideas that could be implemented in their school. Now ask them who would need to be involved in these actions and what would need to change in their school to make the action possible. For example, they might need permission from the Head or greater engagement with pupils to label lightswitches. You could extend this exercise to creating an Action Plan for what the caretaker will do on their return to school to implement these ideas. 13

14 Carbon Trust resources There are a number of Carbon Trust resources which are particularly useful to caretakers and site managers: - Practical, Fast-Track, Whole School Savings (individual opportunites) - Taking Control of Your Heating - Invest to Save Questionnaire You can also use the slide pack that accompanies this document to raise awareness of these resources and to present common energy saving opportunities to groups of caretakers and site managers. Further information You can find out more about caretakers at The Caretakers Website: This is a great hub for news, insights and discussion for caretakers and site managers. Many school caretakers are members of a trade union, with UNISON being particularly common. UNISON provides information for its school staff membership on its website: The Carbon Trust s Schools Sector Overview provides a valuable introduction to energy management in schools. It can be downloaded from: 14