Nutshells #83 Feb 09

8 7/ 0 20 UT N D AR uth AWymo P l HI — P S R rd BE ona EM e M nL L h NA : Jo IO er G n RE Win THE 83RD EDITION

FOR ALL PLYMOUTH TEACHERS FEBRUARY 2009

Don’t Work for Free! December 31st 2008 saw the end of salary protection for teachers who had Management Allowances and did not get Teaching and Learning Responsibility points. Many of these teachers will have continued carrying out the duties for which they were paid by their MA. These duties should now have been taken away from them. No one should continue with duties for which payment has ceased. Don’t work for free! On a related issue, several members have recently rung the office to ask if, as a result of being on the Upper Pay Spine, they can be asked to carry out extras duties. The answer to this is a very clear “No”. Payment on the UPS has nothing to do with extra duties, as the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STP&CD) makes clear. If you are experiencing any difficulties about being asked to do work for which you feel you are not paid, please contact the us for advice—see page 4 which means that you are not being released from a class but The amount of cover a teacher that you do not have a class at can be asked to do is limited by the STP&CD. This year you should this time. Therefore, class-based be doing significantly less than the teachers should not have to do 38 hours stipulated maximum as any preparation or follow-up work to enable colleagues to teach at your school gets ready to this time, and cannot be expected implement the new rule, coming into force in September 2009, that to cover if they are absent. says teachers should “only rarely If this is an issue in your school— see page 4 for contacts. cover”.

COVER

Cover and PPA time You must receive your minimum 10% PPA time and this must be within the normal teaching day. PPA time must be timetabled,

Performance Management In some schools teachers are given grades for classroom observation as part of PM. The NUT believes there is no good

reason for this to happen. It is certainly not required by OfSTED. The following extract is taken from the Union’s website: “The NUT is opposed to the use of lesson grading in classroom observation … The NUT believes that the use of grades for classroom observation Christine neither provides constructive feed- Blower in back nor supports Plymouth: teachers. There is see page 3

more on page 3...

THE NUT: “We work up to a standard not down to a price” Independent of Government and not affiliated to any political party

Tamarside and John Kitto community colleges have announced their willingness to seek academy status, supported by Plymouth University and the Church of England, without consulting staff, parents or the wider community. Secret meetings with business co-sponsors have been confirmed by the HERALD. Plymouth City Council believe they have to support these measures without the full realisation of the damage it would do to the wider community and the staff that work in them. The so-called consultation process is reported as a requirement before the controversial proposals go ahead. People understand that the only way to get such schools approved is to deny the full facts to the stakeholders. One is that the national governors association, all the classroom teacher unions and support staff unions strongly oppose the change from community schools to unaccountable, privately run academies. The departure of Tony Blair and Lord Adonis has not prevented these politically-inspired schools from being imposed on their unsuspecting communities. They were originally proposed for failing schools in inner city areas. Plymouth has no failing schools so academies [or trusts] will not improve the life chances of the communities they used to serve in the way envisaged. How do we know? By researching the current crop of academies to see how standards have “improved”. It is widely understood that most improvements are achieved by changing the intake of the students and widening the catchment areas. Parliamentary committees have investigated the value for money of these independent schools. They further show the often draconian changes to staff conditions of employment—sometimes hidden during the early stages, that only emerge after the academies have been set up. Much has been written about the cost of academes and how they fail to achieve their goals. A far better alternative is to allow the local authority to retain control and support their communities by additional funding, smaller class size, more specialist staff—all these measures are much more affordable and the schools would stay within the family of Plymouth schools. A new school can be built without the need to become an academy—there are good examples in Plymouth and other nearby local authorities. Will the consultation allow a proper balanced debate? History tells us that this is rarely permitted—a further example of the prejudiced position academy seekers adopt—if they had nothing to fear they would have the confidence to allow balanced information to be distributed and expressed. Partial evidence is un-democratic. Creeping privatisation and marketisation of education does not produce the outcome of a good local school for every child in every community parents and teachers demand. More information from www.antiacademies.org.uk

There is nothing a trust school can do that a community school couldn’t do now. Why deliberately add another layer of bureaucracy and remove community accountability? New governors can join your Gov’ Body now thus retaining your community status

Student teacher recruitment at MARJON

Academies have reduced maternity benefits, increased the length of the school day and cut school holidays—just thought you’d like to know...

nothing in the new performance management procedures which says that lesson grading should be used. OfSTED makes it clear that its grades should apply to the overall work of each school. The National Union of Teachers has received assurances from OfSTED that head teachers are not required and will not be expected to use the OfSTED grades for the purposes of classroom observation. Where lesson grading is introduced in schools, NUT members should contact their union office…” The NUT has published a PM Policy which can be found on the website: www.teachers.org.uk The policy states that: • Teachers should have no more than three objectives. • There should be no more than three class-

room observations for the purposes of PM and the evaluation of teaching and learning (one observation for PM alone) in any cycle. There should be no other “drop-ins”. • Observations and reviews should only be conducted by staff with qualified teacher status. • Oral feedback should be given as soon as possible, and written feedback within five working days. No other notes about the observations should be kept. Please get in touch if you feel the system at your school is unreasonable.

Temperature too high? High temperatures might not seem too much of a problem at the

NUT Acting General Secretary Visits Plymouth In October Christine Blower, visited Plymouth and was certainly kept busy. Christine spoke with NUT members at Plymstock School about the union’s pay campaign, visited the children of High Street Primary and addressed public meetings at the Novotel and China House on the issue of academy and trust schools. Christine said: “I think this is the first time I have ever visited Plymouth and it is lovely to be invited and made so welcome!” Public Meetings: Academy and Trust Schools Two more public meetings were held in October, jointly organised by the NUT, NASUWT, ATL, UNISON and GMB. These unions are united in their concerns about the effect of trust or academy status on the pay and working conditions of their members and the impact on students and the local community. Trust and academy schools are highly controversial and have been criticised by the National Audit Office, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, and the MP’s Committee of Enquiry amongst many others. One of the conclusions from the MP’s Committee of Enquiry was that: “The enquiry heard repeated complaints from contributors of rushed, flawed and manipulated consultation processes with a complete disregard for their views.” and, “The governors should also investigate how to incorporate a democratic ballot for parents and teachers within the consultation process.” Meetings at the Novotel and China House were addressed by

moment, but come the spring they will be in a number of schools. Unlike minimum working temperatures, there is no hard and fast legislation regarding maximum temperatures, but this doesn’t mean there is nothing we can do. The World Health Organisation stipulates that 24°C is the maximum temperature at which most people can work before they begin to experience ill effects. As far as the NUT is concerned, anything above 26°C is too hot. This is our line in the (hot) sand. The Union will also support members in situations where the temperature may be below 26°C but due to other factors such as poor ventilation making working conditions intolerable. Moved schools? School name changed? New address? Update your membership records at HQ Call 0845 300 1666

Christine Blower, Acting General Secretary of the NUT, Jo Ramsey of the NASUWT Executive, Phil Smith - local Secretary of the ATL, Neil Harrington from UNISON and Katherine Darcy of GMB. Teachers, support staff, parents, local authority staff and school nurses attended the meetings and many concerns were voiced at the lack of consultation occurring at some schools seeking a change of status. High Street Primary Between the pay campaign and meetings about academy and trust schools, Christine still found time to visit a very successful city primary school; High Street. Whilst at High Street, Christine met John Pengelly who had taught her daughter when he worked in London.

John Lynch meets NUT A/General Secretary Christine Blower and below with John Pengelly. Above, Christine with Jo Ramsey, NASUWT Executive member

♦Every US President went to school—except one ♦Every US President has spoken English as his first language—except one ♦Every US President has been married—except one ♦Every US President has been raised as a Protestant—except one ♦Every US President has been voted in as President or Vice President—except one ♦Every US President has either finished his term or died in office—except one ♦Every US President has been elected for one or two terms—except one ♦Every US President has been a white male— except one ♦Answers next time...

“Past Present & Future” Wednesday 11th Feb The Reception Room Council House Plymouth 6-30pm—8-30pm Entrance Free—Refreshments provided

It’s Official ! The NUT is the largest teaching union: NUT 292 238 NASUWT 265 202 CAPTION COMPETITION What’s the soldier saying to the girls on their way to school? Your suggestions in the next edition. No prizes however...

2009

Your TT should show all PPA periodsit’s the law!

Plymouth Division: [email protected] 01503 240527 Regional Office: [email protected],uk 01392 258028