NEWSLETTER - JULY 2006
in Florida , Florence or Filey, have a great summer holiday
RHODESWAY –
THE LATEST
More than 20 Rhodesway teachers have demonstrated their opposition to the school being turned into an academy . Last month the teachers, standing outside the school gates and wearing “Education Not For Sale” T-shirts, explained to the press their concerns about fair admissions, the curriculum, pay and conditions of service – and their fundamental disagreement with the whole idea of a local authority school being handed over to the control of outside sponsors .
“Education Not For Sale ”
The British Edu Trust are the group set to take over the school if the current feasibility study, conducted by the DfES, is successful . They hope, eventually, to run 20 schools across the country and are one of several groups hoping to build such empires, egged on by the Government’s give-away price of £2million per school .
At a recent meeting of Bradford Council’s Young People and Education Improvement Committee, the Trust said that although teachers would initially transfer on their existing conditions of service (The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document), they would not rule out a separate contract being drawn up in future .
This could mean that new teachers coming to the school, and new jobs created in the school, could be on a different contract . Goodbye to the protection of the 1265 hours?
At the same meeting, several local businesses pledged support to the school should it become an academy . They should be asked why their support depends on academy status? What’s wrong with supporting Rhodesway now?
FROM THE PEOPLE WHO BROUGHT YOU TLRs AND PAY CUTS:
Not content with the damage done by the introduction of TLRs, our friends in the RIG group have come up with a new set of proposals to brighten up our otherwise dull lives . They have agreed new arrangements for performance management which are due to come into effect in September (yes, that’s two working weeks away) . However, under threat of a legal challenge from the NUT they have extended the consultation period by 6 weeks – so we can be consulted over the summer holidays!
More work
All line managers will be required to conduct performance reviews for teachers . There is no limit on the number of reviewees for which you can be required to be responsible . There is no reference in the regulations to release time so many teachers will be expected to do this in their own time . Since there are to be more observations and each should lead to detailed feedback this is potentially a huge increase in workload for middle managers . The same people who have just gone through the TLR fiasco .
Staff-room division
The major change is that line managers who carry out reviews will be required to make recommendations on their colleagues’ pay . This will undermine the teamwork and collaboration which schools rely on .
What can we do?
The NUT will be making every effort to defend members against this increased workload and pressure . The National Executive are considering a ballot to allow members to work to union guidelines – including:
- Reviewers who are not Head teachers to have no responsibility to make pay recommendations
- No more than one lesson observation per teacher per year
- No reviewer to have responsibility for more than three teachers.
Bradford NUT,
22 Edmund St, BD5 0BH.
Tel:01274 414664 - Fax:01274 414665
e-mail: "name"@bradfordnut.org
If you would like future copies of Newsletters emailing to you, please contact the office with your email address.