NUT Guidance
Introduction from the General Secretary This document provides advice to all head teachers, support to head teacher and leadership group NUT members and guidance to NUT school representatives on the funding provision and other arrangements they should seek for the introduction of planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA). While it cannot cover all the circumstances of individual schools, the document provides a framework for schools in planning the introduction of PPA. Alongside other teachers organisations, we have sought consistently to secure, within the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), guaranteed marking and preparation time for all primary and special school teachers and the protection of such time for secondary schools. The introduction of PPA as a statutory entitlement for all teachers is a step forward but it should be properly funded. We are sending this guidance to head teachers in all schools in England and Wales. It is being sent under separate cover to NUT school representatives. Our purpose is to seek in all schools, the proper implementation of PPA with full funding. Steve Sinnott PPA and Funding The Government in England and the Wales Assembly Government (WAG) have under funded the introduction of PPA. Despite financial allocations for PPA within the Governments budgets for schools, primary schools, for example, have received as little as 4,000 or even less for its introduction. To be effective, PPA should reduce the workload of teachers, including head teachers and the leadership group generally. The NUT believes, therefore, that the Government should release more funding to introduce PPA, particularly in primary schools. Failure to do so creates the danger of arrangements for PPA that could damage children s educational progress and the quality of their learning experiences. The introduction of PPA must not lead to such outcomes. The NUT is committed fully to supporting all its members, including head teacher members, in demanding that their entitlement to PPA is properly funded. School Budgets and Planning Preparation and Assessment School governing bodies are currently setting school budgets for 2005-06. Schools Forums will have considered budget allocations and advised their local authorities on the shares for primary, secondary and special schools. The Government in England has said that it has allocated between 0.8 per cent and 1 per cent additionally for primary and nursery schools for the costs of introducing planning, preparation 1
and assessment time. While this percentage increase may not have been sufficient for many primary schools, the increase should have been reflected by local authorities in individual school budget allocations in accordance with Government policy in England. The introduction of PPA will be under funded in primary schools where local authorities have not allocated the full percentage or where the additional percentage share is not sufficient to pay for staff to provide PPA. In Wales, the WAG has identified separate allocations of funding for PPA. The NUT believes, therefore, that head teachers should seek to convene emergency meetings of their local authority School Forums if they believe that the allocations they have received for the introduction of PPA are insufficient. The purpose of such meetings would be to quantify the additional funding needed for PPA and, in highlighting the funding gap, seek further budget allocations. Pressure on local authorities will greatly help bring pressure on the Government to consider further funding measures to support the introduction of PPA. There may be head teacher NUT members who feel constrained to set deficit budgets as a result of under funding for PPA. NUT members should seek advice from their regional office, or in Wales, NUT Cymru, if they face difficulties on this issue. Many school governing bodies and head teachers will have written already to the Secretary of State highlighting the funding shortfall. The NUT believes that all governing bodies facing shortfalls should write to their MPs and to the Government seeking sufficient funding for PPA. The NUT requests that information and copies of any letters to local authorities and the DfES on funding shortfalls for PPA are sent to NUT Headquarters addressed to the General Secretary and marked, PPA Funding Shortfall. The Introduction of PPA The NUT will continue to campaign to secure additional funding for PPA from the governments in England and Wales. The NUT, with other teachers organisations, will press local authorities to introduce additional resources for the introduction of PPA. Head teachers and school staff will be planning, however, for the introduction of PPA in September 2005. The guidance set out below is intended to provide a framework of practical support for head teacher and leadership group NUT members. It is additional to the guidance to all NUT members on the introduction of the Annual Cover Limit and Guaranteed Planning, Preparation and Assessment Time sent to members in autumn 2004. The introduction of PPA will have implications for the percentage spent on staffing and non-staffing elements of school budgets. Many schools have experienced pressure from their local authorities or education consultants to reduce the percentage spent on the staffing element. The NUT believes that, where primary schools experience funding shortfalls for PPA, governing bodies will necessarily have to consider an increase in the percentage spent on 2
staffing even if this means, regrettably, less spent on school repairs, books and equipment. As PPA is a statutory entitlement from September 2005, resources may well have to be reallocated within school budgets towards increasing the amount spent on staffing in order to provide this entitlement. The NUT believes that PPA should not involve a reduction in the number of teaching posts generally or in any individual school. Its introduction should lead to new employment opportunities for qualified teachers. Many head teachers and governing bodies have introduced PPA by employing additional teachers including supply teachers. Head teachers in some areas are working towards sharing staff for the provision of PPA. Such arrangements can build on existing collaborative strategies where cover and supply teachers are employed by clusters of schools to provide cover. Many head teachers will have consulted already with unions and staff prior to the development and implementation of a guaranteed minimum ten per cent PPA time for teachers. Consultation with staff and ownership by them of the implementation of PPA is essential. The NUT believes, therefore, that the introduction of PPA should not be a source of division between staff. In this context, the NUT would wish to draw attention to the agreement reached between NUT and UNISON. The NUT believes that the agreement will enhance the ability of both unions to protect and promote their members interests. UNISON commits itself to working with the NUT to ensure that the introduction of new grades of teaching assistant is used to improve learning opportunities and not to undermine the role, pay, conditions and employment of teachers. The NUT commits itself to do all that it can to assist UNISON s efforts to establish proper rates of pay, conditions of service, training and improved career development opportunities for all support staff. The NUT believes that this agreement will enhance the work of schools and protect and promote the roles of teachers and support staff, the whole education team. The agreement can be accessed on the NUT s website www.teachers.org.uk. The first steps in seeking to resolve any issues of staffing arising from the introduction of PPA should be taken locally. Head teacher NUT members seeking advice on such issues should contact their regional offices or, in Wales, NUT Cymru. The National Remodelling Team has published a range of advice for LEAs and schools. The Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group s (WAMG) Planning, Preparation and Assessment Pack, is a further example of such advice. The PPA toolkit, within the WAMG pack, proposes a three step process for PPA implementation: the development of PPA strategies; the integration of PPA strategies into the school timetable; and the development of staffing, budget policies, etc, so that PPA strategies become part of the school development plan. 3
The NUT advice is that schools will need to determine the resources available for provision of PPA time and the strategies to implement it. The WAMG booklet contains a toolkit overview, intended to help schools calculate their PPA needs by means of three pro-formas intended to be completed for each teacher at the school. Completion of the pro-formas, however, can have significant workload implications for those asked to complete them. Although there is no requirement for their completion, teachers will need to consider carefully the benefits that might arise from such forms being completed. Schools are free to determine their own methods of implementing guaranteed PPA time, subject to the terms of the STPCD. Head teachers are advised that only those parts of WAMG PPA Toolkit materials which, in their professional judgement, are useful to the school should be used. Set out below is guidance on a number of overarching issues on PPA facing head teachers in secondary, primary and special schools. In all cases, the implementation of new arrangements for PPA time should be to no detriment to the teachers concerned. PPA in Primary and Special Schools PPA time is not provided in the majority of primary schools during the timetabled day currently. This situation may apply to special schools. Teachers with leadership and management responsibilities are legally entitled to a reasonable amount of time during school sessions for the purpose of discharging those responsibilities (STPCD 2004, paragraph 63). This is a separate entitlement to guaranteed PPA. Those with such responsibilities are entitled to both management and leadership time and PPA time. Management and leadership time must not be counted as part of the ten per cent guarantee. It is essential also that the introduction of PPA does not trigger additional workload for teachers receiving their entitlement. Teachers receiving PPA should not be burdened with planning and marking work undertaken by pupils during that time. PPA in Secondary Schools Depending on levels of responsibility, non-contact time is already provided to teachers in secondary schools. This is not guaranteed, however, and may be lost to the provision of cover. A number of teachers in secondary schools currently may not be receiving sufficient time for marking and preparation to satisfy the ten per cent minimum. As in primary and special schools, teachers in secondary schools with management or leadership responsibilities are entitled to reasonable amounts of leadership and management time and should not have their management and leadership time reduced to secure the ten per cent minimum guaranteed PPA. 4
The Relocation of Necessary Tasks Outside Timetabled Teaching Time The purpose of all of the STPCD contractual changes is to reduce the workload of teachers. The NUT is opposed to the practice of moving necessary tasks outside timetabled teaching time in order to secure PPA time allocations. This strategy is likely not to reduce that workload. It urges head teachers not to use such strategies. The Reallocation, Reduction or Discontinuation of Activities such as Administration, Parent Liaison and Working with External Organisations The key tests which are contained within the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) page148, paragraph 8, 2004 guidance, advises teachers to ask themselves whether carrying out administrative and clerical tasks will involve teachers professional skills and judgement. The key tests referred to in the guidance apply to all administrative and clerical tasks and not just those listed in the STPCD guidance. The NUT advises that the key tests should be applied to the activities listed under this option. Liaison with external organisations, for example, may require teachers professional skills and judgement. Parent liaison and working with external organisations may be part of teachers job descriptions. Proposals to alter job descriptions must be reasonable, involve consultation with the teachers concerned and be on the basis of seeking agreement. Where head teacher NUT members are unsure about the implications of the WAMG guidance under this option, they should seek advice from their relevant NUT regional office or, in Wales, NUT Cymru. Enrichment Afternoons The introduction of enrichment afternoons is being considered in a number of primary schools. They can be provided by the employment of qualified teachers, instructors, sports coaches, and theatre and music in education services. One afternoon a week may be used, for example, to offer children a variety of enrichment activities, such as music, sport or art, whilst teachers receive their PPA time. The NUT believes that local authorities should now be considering co-ordinating and encouraging the re-establishment of such high quality services. Enrichment afternoons can be used to support the establishment of PPA time for teachers provided that they are introduced within the existing timetabled teaching week. It is important that the quality of educational experiences for young people is not diminished by the introduction of enrichment afternoons. The NUT believes that they should not be simply added to the existing curriculum provision and created by extending school sessions within other days of the week. Neither can NUT members, including head teacher NUT members, be required to relinquish their ten per cent PPA guarantee in order to supervise enrichment afternoons. 5
Many teachers in primary schools value being responsible for and involved in creative work, including art and music. Where head teacher NUT members are unsure about the introduction of enrichment afternoons, they should seek advice from their NUT regional office or, in Wales, NUT Cymru. This advice applies to all such enrichment arrangements. Planning, Preparation and Assessment A Summary of Requirements on Schools All teachers, including head teachers with timetabled teaching commitments, whether employed on permanent, fixed-term, temporary or part-time contracts, have an entitlement to guaranteed PPA time within the timetabled school day from September 2005 (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 85). This entitlement can be weekly or fortnightly, depending on whether the school has a weekly or fortnightly timetable, but it must constitute at least ten per cent of teachers timetabled teaching time (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 88). Although PPA time falls within directed time, the use of PPA time is for teachers, not head teachers, to determine (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 89). Guaranteed PPA time must be timetabled and provided in blocks of half hour or more (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 88). A teacher s PPA time cannot be reduced or re-arranged for cover or any other activities (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 95). A no-detriment clause protects teachers who already receive non-contact time for PPA in excess of ten per cent. Any teacher who already receives more than this amount of time specifically for planning, preparation and assessment should not have his/her existing allocation reduced to ten per cent (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 60); Newly qualified teachers must receive a further minimum ten per cent PPA time, in addition to the ten per cent NQT induction time they should already be receiving (STPCD 2004, Section 4, paragraph 98). Support for Members who are Head Teachers or who are in the Leadership Group Of all the changes to the STPCD that are intended to reduce workload, the introduction of PPA time could have the greatest effect on the organisation of schools. Insufficient funding and how to deploy staff, particularly in primary schools, are critical issues head teachers are having to address. The NUT is committed to providing the best possible support to its head teacher and leadership group members. This guidance is intended to support head teachers in taking decisions on PPA, and to guide NUT school representatives in seeking time for PPA. Further advice is available on specific questions which may not be covered by this guidance from the NUT regional office or, in Wales, NUT Cymru. 6
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