E10 - ADMIN Settings: Teachers

Modified on Thu, 14 Aug at 12:41 AM

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Number of Periods teachers can be overloaded.
2. Splits normally expected
3. Teacher spreads- Period pairs to avoid
4. The Count loads by minutes instead of whole numbers
5. Import unavailability’s from other .etz files

This screen relates to teacher loads and teaching spreads.

1. Number of Periods teachers can be overloaded.

This is not the value teachers are expected to work above their normal load. This is the allowed overloading for initial timetable construction. It allows more optimal splits to be determined post-solution, where the splits are better able to solve hard clashes. It is also often used for balancing loads to 'no' or rare cases of overloading only. This parameter is solely applied for auto-staffing so is not managed in any ongoing way, such as preventing overloading with manual changes.

2. Splits normally expected

Refer to an estimated number of split classes for the year. Generally, the number of split classes should be estimated based on past files.

3. Teacher spreads- Period pairs to avoid

When constructing a timetable, the user can nominate that a teacher should be free on a certain period if they are occupied on another. For example if the school has a staggered lunch, with some teachers taking lunch in period 5 and others in period 6, then "5&6" should be entered. If they should have either first period or last period off, in addition to 5&6, then the entry would be, "5&6, 1&8". These period pairs are taken into account in the Optimise algorithms (found in the Master Grid screen), but they are treated as soft constraints, so attention needs to be paid to the relevant scoring weight.

4. The Count loads by minutes instead of whole numbers

This setting shows teacher loading as a total minute value instead of the more usual numeric of total periods assigned. Periods are the usual and recommended way to account for teachers work in timetabling. There can be minor variations in total minutes however, if the school adopts a non-standard grid, where some periods are longer in duration than others - as total 'work' varies relative to which periods your classes are scheduled (best practice is to have consistency in the grid and not vary period durations at all, or perhaps only very little).

5. Import unavailability’s from other .etz files

This clever feature allows the user to manage multiple timetables, each having different bell times or grid structures.

If you use this Import unavailability’s from other .etz files option and sync to Edval web server, you will get a error as seen in below screenshot. The only way to fix this issue is you will need to remove the import etz file in the Import unavailability’s from other .etz files option and then you can sync to Edval web server and after the sync is done then you will need to remember to import your .etz file again.