NASUWT Islington Association

THE CAREER TEACHER’S ORGANISATION Spring 2006 Newsletter

To All Islington Teachers,

Happy New Year.

Last term, despite a very slow start, the vast majority of Islington schools successfully completed the review of the staffing structure. It is true that a (very) small minority failed to provide any documentation and have not consulted at all - and these schools will have difficulty resisting any appeal against any decision they have taken - but most schools willingly shared information and took comments on board. In fact, in most schools staff will receive more money as a result. The impact has been greatest in primary schools, where teachers who were not paid to be subject co-ordinators no longer have that responsibility. If anyone is asked to take on (or continue with) responsibilities without being paid, it is vital that you contact your school rep or local secretary - or just say "no". If anyone has a burning urge to be responsible for something within the school despite the advice and support NASUWT has given, whether it be to organise the school play, run a project or anything else without being paid, please make it clear that you are doing it out of the goodness of your heart and that it is not part of your job.

Apart from one or two specific situations which we are aware of, and where the individuals salaries are safeguarded, none of our members in Islington stand to lose any money as a result of this process - generally the opposite. If you feel that you might be losing money, therefore, it is not something which was apparent from the consultation and you must contact your local secretary asap.

If your responsibility has been replaced by a TLR for the same task, you should have that post.

If your responsibility has become part of a new TLR, that post is ringfenced to the people who carried out that role before. No-one else can be given it unless you do not want it.

If you are asked to carry out more for the same money, the school must have a very good reason and I’ve not heard one yet.

Some schools may have created difficulties by insisting posts are "new" and that staff must apply for them. In many cases this may be unlawful, but please ring me if you need advice on this. You do not have to apply for new posts if you do not wish to.

If a decision has been made on your pay about which you are not happy you must appeal and seek advice from your local secretary.

In one respect, at least, the reviews did often fail. The "vision" was that the new structures would be a structure "shared" by all staff and unions and this was often not the case.

Overall, the impact of pay decisions has been positive for members, staffing structures are more transparent and some questionable practices have been exposed and, hopefully, dealt with. The changes cannot be overturned in the next three years without further formal consultation.

The PPA time audit threw up some interesting results. Some of them unrelated to PPA itself. Predictably the changes were least in secondary schools, but noticeably some schools have not identified which NCT is PPA time, which is a legal requirement. Remember, if it’s marked as PPA, no one can take that time from you, except maybe if it’s a fire drill.

Some secondary schools which had appreciable NCT already did not give more for those with management responsibilities. It was then not clear those people were not receiving their entitlement or whether other staff were being treated generously.

In primary schools, however, every teacher seemed to be receiving the time, except if it was doled out in 30 minute slots the teachers did not get the benefit of it.

The greatest surprise thrown up was that in a minority of schools NQTs are not receiving their extra 10% off timetable for induction. This is a statutory right and all teachers are required to co-operate in their own professional development - so you shouldn’t feel pressured into opting out.

I had to exclude some items which would have skewed the results, ie the NCT for members on the leadership spine. This is interesting, however, as there was a clear contrast between the NCT for those on the leadership spine and those with management responsibilities which clearly hits primary members hardest. The workload agreement may have had the greatest impact for primary members, but they are an awfully long way behind still, compared with secondary members.

That’s the day after Burn’s Night.

Our next meeting will be held at Holloway School in the English department.

By now you should have received in school the large list of Conference motions. It is easy to forget that union policies actually change national policy and that individual members have a say in what is put forward. The focus for the next meeting will therefore be "How to Change the World". Possibly ambitious maybe, but we will decide what we want our Conference to discuss and give our representatives an idea of the strength of our feelings. This year Islington has put forward two motions (below), but that leaves us ten more to support.

and

If you cannot come, please use the form on the next page to tell us which motions teachers in your school feel are relevant.

We will also be able to nominate our national executive members.

Last term new guidelines for handling allegations against teachers, particularly involving possible abuse, were published by Ruth Kelly on behalf of the DfES. You will recall that our last General Meeting was dedicated to explaining what might happen if a complaint is made about you. Several members were concerned about elements of the process which they felt were fundamentally unfair. The new guidance does not substantially affect the course of events that follow from an investigation, but do set out clearer timescales in which the process must operate. The presentation to the General Meeting was well received and could be repeated to members in school meetings too, should they wish it.

You will have seen in the press last term and occasionally since then reports on public sector pensions. A deal was reached by which teachers already in the pension scheme will keep their existing pension arrangements and be able to receive their pension entitlements from age 60. New entrants to the scheme would generally not be able to collect their pensions until 65. This does mean that there will be two levels of pension applicable to teachers, but at least means that each person will be entitled to the benefits which they "signed up for" as it were. Our view is that the pension plan is one part of the payment which we receive for our work and it is too late to try and change that pension after we have started, especially some years afterwards. Newer teachers will have some benefits that are not available to those of us already teaching, but there are no plans to allow teachers to opt for the new arrangements. Unfortunately, the deal does not apply to all public sector staff. The government still hopes to retrospectively change the pension plans of many public sector staff, including school support staff. If they continue with this, it is hard to see how there could fail to be widespread industrial action, including school closures. If that is the case, I hope we will be able to do what we can to support our colleagues.

Greg Robbins

Name .................................................... School.........................................................

I cannot attend the meeting at Holloway School on 26/1/06

I would like to suggest / members at my school would like to suggest (delete as appropriate)

that the Islington Association proposes the following motions be debated at Conference 2006:

Please give any particular reasons for selecting these:

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(If you did not receive a copy of the list of motions, contact me as I have spare copies.

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