Published by the Suffolk Division of the National Union of
Teachers
The NUT's action against excessive workload continues and is being intensified. The action members are invited to take includes:
Stage 1:
Stage 2 adds advice to members not to:
In addition, the Draft Circular from the Secretary
of State stated: "Crisp and concise reports to parents need to be
produced once a year on the progress their children have made. These should
provide essential information in a form which parents can readily
understand" ... and ..."deliver sound and accurate reports as
economically as possible."
There is clearly no contractual obligation for reports to be sent out more than once a year. So, it would not be a "reasonable instruction" for heads to require more than this limit, which has been accepted by all parties in national negotiations. Members are therefore advised not to complete second reports, and to keep first reports to a definition of "crisp and concise."
This circular can be shown to Heads to help Reps implement the action.
Please refer problems to your Local Secretary or, in an emergency, contact the
Action Hotline: 01638 666347
Since 1997 and new regulations making Local Education Authority pay part of the actual pension for teachers retiring before age 60, early retirement in Suffolk has become very difficult to obtain.
Priority for early retirement is given to situations where schools have to lose staff and where granting early retirement will avoid selection for compulsory redundancy. Your school will have issued a Section 188 (potential redundancy) notice and you are volunteering for early retirement either with redundancy, or without a redundancy payment (because, for example, you wish to return part-time to the same or another school after retirement).
Suffolk's policy now states that early retirement outside redundancy situations (except for ill-health reasons) is only available if there is "sufficient funding within prudent limits", after meeting the cost of redundancies in August of any year. Consideration may then be given to requests from School Governing Bodies for financial support "in exceptional cases where there is no redundancy."
December deadline
Applications for early retirement with effect from August 31st have to be submitted to the County Director of Education by 1st December.
The factors to be considered in determining whether you are likely to
obtain early retirement are:
No enhancement of pension will be recommended by the LEA. It is
technically possible for the School's Governing Body to agree to meet the cost
of enhancements to pensions, but none has done so or indicated a willingness to
meet such costs.
Stepping Down
New regulations came into operation this year so that those stepping down
from a post of responsibility (with an above-scale allowance) can elect to
protect their pension entitlements at their old rate, and indexed for
inflation.
Any member thinking of applying for early retirement in Suffolk, or stepping down, should discuss the situation with the Division Secretary (see contact point at end of this Briefing) in good time.
A Summer Literacy School is being set up based on Holywells High School, Ipswich. Members are reminded that participation is entirely voluntary. Payment for this activity is extra, involving a supplementary contract. Anyone contemplating taking part should check the terms and conditions with the Union.
The NUT in Suffolk is to survey all members to find out how many
consider themselves to be disabled, in any way. The survey will help us improve
services to all members, including the accessibility of all meetings, functions
and communications.
- Briefings are already available in large print or as a
cassette.
The Union is pursuing disability issues with the LEA and welcomes the publication by the County Council of a draft guide for managers on "Employment and Disability" The Union is responding to consultation on this and is suggesting amendments necessary to reflect the special conditions which apply to teaching and disabled teachers. In particular, we are pursing a policy for members who develop a disability while employed as a teacher.
The LEA has also been successful in bidding for finance to improve access for disabled children to "ordinary" schools. A full list is available from the Division Secretary.
Suffolk still has procedures to "confirm", or not, appointments of NQTs at the end of their first year. Any NQT member who is told that their post is "not confirmed" should contact the Division Secretary, as the procedure is not legitimate.
The NUT is totally opposed to Education Action Zones. This is not because we do not want to see extra resources aimed at schools with the biggest social and educational problems (LMS actually prevents LEA's directing funds at the greatest need!!).
The main problems are that EAZs:
- are run by private (even profit- making) organisations, not LEAs; - remove teacher's national pay and conditions from staff who work in them;
- can be imposed against the will of staff (and even heads);
- can vary working hours and extend the school year and school week to include evenings and weekends;
- introduce the Specialist Skills Teacher "super-teacher", paid more to show the others how it should be done.
So far, Suffolk has avoided any bids for EAZs in the County, but bids have been submitted in Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex, so we might not be far behind. It would be ironic if Suffolk, having resisted Grant Maintained Schools and kept everything within the LEA, were to find a Labour Government achieving the kind of disintegration that Mrs Thatcher, Mr Baker and Mr Major failed to achieve.
Published by the Suffolk Division of the National Union of
Teachers