SHA Council & Policies

There were fourteen newly elected members of Council at the first meeting of the year on 17 September in Sheffield. The first full session took us through a wide range of reports from officers of the association. It was noted that the Teachers’ Pay and Conditions document was not being sent out to schools as a matter of course and that members would have to either download it from the web or to order one from the DfES. Concern was voiced as to why important documents were not being sent out to schools, but it was pointed out that an ‘Amazon style’ ordering system for DfES documents is only a matter of weeks away from being launched.

Council was informed that there are currently vacancies for Branch Secretaries and there was concern regarding the implications that being without a Branch Secretary can have at local level.

After the first session, four members of NAHT joined Council as part of our programme of closer cooperation. Four members of SHA Council will be attending the next NAHT Council shortly and a joint meeting of thirty Council members from each association will meet in early November.

The main committee meetings took place on the Friday afternoon and the major issues discussed are given below:

Education Committee:

Post Qualification Application (PQA) for university entrance:
It is clear that after the publication of the Schwartz Report this change is going to occur. The Secretary of State has set up a group to look at the implementation of PQA and SHA, HMC and GSA outlining a plan for PQA will shortly produce a report.

Examination Issues:
There will be no publication of KS3 results until the current review has been completed. There is significant disappointment and concern over the first set of results of vocational GCSEs. Concerns were stated over a number of inconsistencies in examination board disciplinary procedures.

E-assessment:
The QCA blueprint has been published and field trials in two subjects are due to be held shortly.

Public and Parliamentary:
The committee produced the following resolution that was approved by full Council after discussion. “SHA Council welcomes the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme as providing opportunities for system-wide improvement of premises and facilities. Council, however, deplores the use of BSF to impose on LEAs particular forms of organisation, including Academies.”

BSF:
The committee examined the exemplar designs for schools developed as part of the BSF project.

Every Child Matters (ECM) and the Children Bill:
The committee will be aiming to ensure that the association will be able to influence the DfES guidance following the approval of the Children’s’ Bill. This will include areas such as multi agency working, local authority/schools code of practice, the responsibility of school leaders in extended schools, the implications of ECM on workforce remodelling and the funding of the implementation of ECM.

Future Work:
As well as BCF and ECM, the committee determined to examine issues raised by pupil behaviour, specialist schools, academies and school improvement strategies.

Professional Committee:
NCSL/TTA: The committee noted the ‘end to end’ review of NCSL report (available on their website) and the fact that the TTA appears to be being given more responsibilities.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD): The need for the association to have an input into the professional development of all staff, not just teachers, was emphasised and will be followed up by the committee in future meetings.

Work Life Balance:
The committee will produce guidance for members.

Relationship between schools and supply agencies: the committee will examine this during the year.

Funding, Pay and Conditions:
Audit Commission: There was considerable concern about the Audit Commission report produced at the start of the summer that stated that there was no funding crisis in schools in 2003-04. The committee asked the General Secretary to write to the Audit Commission.

Funding issues:
The committee will be producing a guidance paper on school balances and reserves for approval by Council in November. As well as giving time to considering the specific funding issues related to Wales, the committee determined to produce costing for the funding of Every Child Matters, 14-19, extended schools, examinations, the excellent teacher scheme and support staff salaries (and other workforce remodelling issues). It was noted that the department is considering giving statutory powers to School Forums and that there will be a series of School Forum Conferences run by the DfES in the next two months. It is clear that the School Funding Implementation Group (SFIG) has already worked through the 2005-06 issues and the future debate will be about funding for 2006-07 and future years.

Remodelling:
It was noted that a remodelling pack on PPA time is imminent and the committee recommended that guidance is also produced on ‘gained time’. A guidance pack on invigilation is planned.

Differentials:
The concerns those members have voiced regarding differentials between leadership spine posts and other staff will be addressed in our evidence to the STRB. Members were also informed of the production of a progress report on the modernisation of the Teachers’ Pensions Scheme.