24 September 2008

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, today announced a package of reforms to strengthen standards in schools and help the school workforce to carry out their duties more effectively.

New legislation will be introduced to make sure all schools comply with existing provisions, for example giving teachers guaranteed time away from the classroom in which to plan and prepare lessons and assess pupils, including extra time for newly qualified teachers.

The package also includes measures for other school staff with the School Support Staff Negotiating Body (SSSNB), which was first formally announced in September 2007, coming into being at the end of this month.

A new independent chair, Philip Ashmore, has been appointed to head up the Body which will be responsible for setting up and implementing a framework for negotiations on the pay and conditions of service for school support staff in maintained schools.

Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, said:

"The reforms to the school workforce are all about freeing up teachers to do what they do best - teach. To improve standards in our schools still further, teachers need time and support to offer a more personalised approach to the needs of individual pupils and to concentrate on those professional activities that directly support pupil attainment.

"But some teachers are still not getting the preparation time they are entitled to and I want to make sure that both local authorities and central government have the power to intervene when necessary so that we can make sure teachers are getting their rights.

"Our support staff are also vital to our schools and I want to make sure they are properly recognised and rewarded for the vital role they carry out in school. I want them to be able to make the maximum contribution in the classroom and behind the scenes - and their pay and conditions must reflect the contribution they make. So we will now legislate for a statutory body to agree a new and flexible framework for their terms and conditions.

"And I'm delighted to announce the appointment of Philip Ashmore who will make an excellent chair for this body."

The Government signed the National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload in January 2003. As a result of this, a number of changes were made to teachers' contracts. These were phased in over a period of three years.

- Since September 2003: teachers should not routinely be required to carry out clerical or administrative tasks; teachers with leadership and management responsibilities have been entitled to time in which to carry out those duties; and head teachers have needed to take into account the work-life balance of their teaching staff.

- Since September 2004: teachers should not have been required to carry out more than 38 hours a year of cover for absent colleagues.

- Since September 2005: teachers have been entitled to at least 10 per cent of their timetabled teaching time for planning, preparation and assessment; teachers should not have been required to invigilate external exams; and head teachers have been entitled to Dedicated Headship Time.

Some teachers are currently not receiving their entitlements, for example many teachers report being required to carry out duties such as covering for absent colleagues during their planning, preparation and assessment time.

So the Government is proposing to strengthen the law to ensure that schools implement these statutory provisions. There will be:

- a new duty on governing bodies to manage their staff in accordance with their terms and conditions and with the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document;

- a power to allow local authorities to issue notices to schools that are not complying with the statutory provisions set out in the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions document; and

- a power to enable the Secretary of State to direct a Local Authority to consider issuing such a notice where the school is non-compliant.

Where local authorities issue such notices, they will be able to follow them up, if necessary, by withdrawing the school's delegated budget or by appointing additional governors or an Interim Executive Board. The Secretary of State already has a reserve power to enable him to declare that a governing body is in default of a statutory duty and to direct the school to comply with the duty. The new provisions will help ensure, in a simple and non-bureaucratic way, that all teachers are able to benefit from their statutory rights and focus on high quality teaching.

This new Schools Support Staff Negotiating Body will give a bigger voice to the more than 300,000 school support staff and is being set up to establish a separate negotiating forum for support staff pay and conditions, where the specific role they play is recognised and reflected fairly and openly across all schools.

Support staff have a crucial part to play in helping maintain the momentum of school improvement, with changes to teachers' contracts helping them to focus more on teaching and less on administrative and other tasks. These changes have largely been achieved by deploying more support staff in schools, developing new roles and broadening their range of responsibilities. Over the past ten years their numbers have grown from 136,500 to 326,400 (full time equivalent) as the number of teachers has grown from 399,200 to 434,900.

The national framework will facilitate a much greater degree of clarity and consistency in the terms and conditions of support staff nationwide than is possible under the current arrangements, whilst still allowing employers sufficient flexibility to meet their local needs.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of NASUWT, said:

"The announcement to introduce legislation to ensure that contractual provisions are implemented delivers on the promise the Secretary of State made to the NASUWT Conference earlier this year and will be warmly welcomed by teachers and head teachers.

"I congratulate the Secretary of State for his strong leadership in this matter and his determination to honour the agreements the Government has reached on workforce reform."

Mary Bousted, General Secretary of ATL, said:

"Workforce reform is key to raising standards in schools. It enables teachers to concentrate upon their professional practice and to concentrate on teaching and learning. These new legislation is, unfortunately, necessary to ensure that teachers receive their contractual rights and ATL welcomes this Government's drive to reinforce all the provisions of the National Agreement."

Dave Prentis, UNISON General Secretary, said:

"This is a very important development. Professional and support staff in schools deserve fair pay and the hard work starts now to make sure the new negotiating body can deliver this."

Brian Strutton, GMB National Secretary, said:

"100,000 GMB members in schools will be delighted with this fantastic news. Having a statutory body to introduce a consistent, fair, pay and conditions framework for school support staff in all schools will be good for staff and directly contribute to better education. As a member of the new body I look forward to working with the new chair to deliver Ed Balls' and Jim Knights' bold and imaginative vision."

Peter Allenson, Unite National Secretary for the Public Sector, said:

"We are pleased with the progress in setting up this new negotiating body for school support staff which will make a real difference to staff up and down the country. There is a still a lot of detailed work to be done on setting it up but the appointment of an independent chair will move the process along much more smoothly."

Editor's Notes

1. Philip Ashmore is a current Member of the National Health Service (NHS) Pay Review Body and Non-Executive Director of Nexus (the Passenger Transport Executive for Tyne and Wear). As one of 8 members of the NHS Pay Review Body he is charged with making pay recommendations to Government for a group of 1.2 million employees and a pay bill of £27bn. At Nexus he was a Director on the board responsible for planning, running, provisioning and coordinating the public transport and Metro services in Tyne and Wear. Whilst at Nissan Motor Manufacturing as HR Director (for 11 years) he maintained successful industrial relations at this large operation. He also helped establish the North East Productivity Alliance (NEPA) to raise skill levels throughout the North East. Awarded the OBE in 2003 for services to the New Deal in the North East, he has over 35 years experience of employee relations, collective bargaining, mediation, conciliation and arbitration at a high level.

2. This is a paid post for a period of 3 years, with the option for it to be extended without a further selection process, for a period of 3 years. The appointment was made in accordance with the OCPA Code of Practice. All appointments are made on merit and political activity plays no part in the selection process. Philip Ashmore declared no political activity.

Contact Details

Public Enquiries 0870 000 2288, info@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk

Press Notice 2008/0210