Young Teachers

	For details of Young Teachers' Activities contact Kendra Deacon at kendradeacon@yahoo.co.uk The definition of a young teacher as decided at the young teachers' conference last year is 35 and under! It doesn't matter if you have teaching for years or if you are NQT, if you are under 36 then read on! My name is Kendra and I am 30. I am Primary trained am now into my sixth year of teaching. I am joint division secretary for Norfolk division. I got involved with the NUT after the Norfolk NUT young teachers' weekend in 2004. I had moved to the West of Norfolk not knowing a soul over there and was really glad of the opportunity to meet other young teachers and share experiences. I see the young teachers section of Norfolk NUT as a great way of networking - not only talking shop but hopefully meeting up for socials and talking about life in general! Essential Information! Know your rights! Here are some essential pieces of information every NQT and young teacher should know! The following has been taken from the NUT website so head there for more details. Classroom teachers in the primary sector were working on average 50.9 hours per week. The figure for secondary classroom teachers was 49.3 hours. (Too many then!) It is against this background of excessive workload and the NUT’s campaign to reduce teachers’ workload that changes to teachers’ statutory conditions of service in England and Wales have been introduced. These include: • from September 2003 no requirement to routinely undertake tasks of a clerical or administrative nature; • from September 2004, a limit of 38 hours on the amount of cover that can be required of an individual teacher in each academic year; and • from September 2005 an entitlement to at least 10 per cent of timetabled teaching time for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA). NQT year. Newly qualified teachers, under the Regulations, should have a timetable of no more than 90 per cent of normal average teaching time to allow their induction to take place. The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document places a duty on head teachers to ensure that newly qualified teachers have a reduced teaching load. The TDA advises: Your school should protect the release time and allocate it at appropriate intervals. For most NQTs this will be on a weekly or fortnightly basis. If you are not given such a reduced teaching load, you should seek advice from the NUT. The NUT believes that your release from teaching for induction purposes normally should be: – in usable blocks, not less than half a day; – timetabled well in advance to allow planned use of the time; – not dependent on increased teaching loads for other teachers; – covered regularly by the same experienced teachers so that pupils’ learning and good standards of behaviour can continue; and – not cancelled other than in extreme circumstances. It would be good practice for you to be allocated timetabled opportunities to liaise with the teacher covering your classes. All teachers employed under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document, whether employed on permanent, fixed-term, temporary or part-time contracts, have an entitlement to guaranteed planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time within the timetabled school day. NQTs must receive a minimum of 10 per cent PPA time in addition to the 10 per cent induction release time they should be receiving. TEACHERS’ CONDITIONS OF SERVICE Conditions of service for teachers in local authority maintained schools are derived from the four basic sources described below: _ The School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document or “Blue Book”, sets out provisions on teachers’ professional duties, working time and cover, and is determined by the Government taking into account recommendations made by the School Teachers’ Review Body; _ The “Burgundy Book” document which covers many other areas such as sick pay, maternity pay and notice. It is a national agreement between local authorities and the teachers’ organisations; _ Local agreements may set out further provisions on issues such as cover or maternity pay improving upon the above or may cover other issues not covered above such as leave of absence, and will be agreed locally between the individual local authority and the general teachers’ organisations; and _ other statutory entitlements. Copies of the Blue Book, Burgundy Book and any local agreements should be available in schools. Changes to teachers’ professional duties, working time obligations and other areas have come into force as a result of a “National Agreement” on workforce reform reached between the Government, LEAs and certain unions. The NUT did not sign this “Agreement” on the basis that it threatens the future of teaching as an all-graduate profession and is not in the best interests of education generally. Full details of the NUT’s campaign to remove these threats to the teaching profession can be found on the NUT website www.teachers.org.uk. Conditions of service for teachers in sixth form colleges, Academies, City Technology Colleges and independent schools may be different and are considered under separate headings in this document. Professional Duties Teachers can be required to undertake a wide range of duties, including teaching and pastoral responsibilities in relation to pupils; reporting on pupils’ progress; maintaining good order and discipline; preparing pupils for examinations; attending staff meetings and parents’ evenings; and in-service training. These duties are to be performed under the “reasonable direction” of the headteacher. There is no set definition of what is and is not reasonable. The NUT provides advice to members experiencing problems about professional duties. Since September 2003, teachers cannot routinely be required to undertake clerical and administrative tasks which do not require the exercise of teachers’ professional skills and judgement. Such tasks should now be undertaken by support staff. Detailed NUT guidance on this area, including an illustrative list of 21 such tasks, is available on the NUT website. Working Time: Full-Time Teachers Full-time teachers are required to work for up to 195 days per year, of which up to 190 days can be teaching days; and for up to 1265 hours per year “at such times and such places as may be specified by the headteacher”. Teachers are further required to work, “such reasonable additional hours as may be needed” to discharge their professional duties, in particular marking, preparation and report writing. This obligation was previously open-ended. Since September 2003 however, it has been qualified by the use of the word “reasonable” with the aim of reducing unreasonable demands and providing teachers with appropriate work-life balance. Headteachers are required, in managing teaching staff and allocating duties, to do so in a manner consistent with teachers’ employment conditions and to maintain a reasonable balance between work carried out at school and work carried out elsewhere. Wellbeing and work life balance are so important. The best you can do for the children you teach is to be of sound mind and body so it is important to take note the conditions laid down to help you have a healthy career in teaching. I would be really interested to hear from young teachers about behaviour in schools and the support that you get with challenging children. I know only too well how draining behaviour issues can be. Even if you don’t have a child with a statement attached, low level disruption can be equally challenging, if not more of a problem. Please email me with any comments. I got called some choice names by one child in my first half term by a child with ADHD. At the time senior management were very supportive but that was not always the case with children who didn’t have a piece of paperwork attached. Do you feel that you are alone when dealing with issues? Have you got a whole school policy about behaviour? Does it work? A problem shared is a problem halved… please get in touch. Email me at thesocialnuts@yahoo.co.uk Also check out the national website at www.teachers.org.uk