Class Action

CLASS ACTION
Developing strategies for raising the educational attainments
of white working class pupils in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4

Leaflet

Application form

RECLAIMING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

LEADERSHIP SEMINARS

Head teachers, Deputy/Assistant Head teachers, and all teachers in the Leadership Group are invited to


THE NEW REGULATIONS
BURDEN, THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY?
RECLAIMING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Leaflet

Application form

Summary of forthcoming CPD conferences

Summary of forthcoming CPD conferences

CONFERENCES

OD35: ‘TRANSFORMING COMMUNITIES THROUGH DIALOGUE’ (OD/35)
One-day professional development Conference organised by NUT’s Professional Development programme in partnership with SAPERE (Philosophy for Children).
Speakers:
Neil Mercer, University of Cambridge
Pat Hannam & Students, Ulverston Victoria High School, Cumbria
Workshops on practical and community applications of P4C will include:
•Deepening dialogue
•Working with the whole school
•Interfaith dialogue
•P4C with young mums/women
•‘Thinking Village’
•Urban regeneration
•pupil2pupil peer coaching
•Involving all staff
•Intergenerational dialogue
•P4C with parents



ON: Wednesday, 15 November 2006
(10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
AT: NUT Headquarters, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place , London, WC1H 9BD
(five minutes’ walk from Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross Stations)
Aims:
Demonstrate Philosophy for Children (P4C) skills and strategies
Explore how P4C and Communities of Enquiry can generate meaningful dialogue
Identify how dialogue can bring about change within communities
Cost:
£65 (£30 for ‘unwaged’ and/or second applicant from same school/ workplace) – includes VAT, lunch and refreshments.
Free copy of ‘Beyond Yo – Making a difference through dialogue’ for participants (NUT’s Education Review Autumn 2006).
TO APPLY: Ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearning@yahoo.co.uk

OD36:
‘GETTING DISABILITY RIGHT’
Good practice in implementing the disability equality duty for all schools in England & Wales
“This new legal duty will mean that all maintained primary and secondary schools must look at ways of ensuring that disabled children and staff are treated equally.” (Bert Massie, Chair, Disability Rights Commission)
ON: Friday, 8 December 2006
(10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.)
AT: NUT Headquarters, Hamilton House, Mabledon Place , London, WC1H 9BD
(five minutes’ walk from Euston, St Pancras and Kings Cross Stations)
Speakers:
Kathleen Jameson
Richard Rieser
Philippa Stobbs
plus Chickenshed
Aims:
To explain the implications of the ‘Disability Discrimination Act (2005)’ for schools and disabled pupils.
To introduce the DRC Code of Practice on the new disability equality duty for schools.
To illustrate good practice in making adjustments to all aspects of school life to include disabled pupils and students.
To exemplify effective school policy development and implementation.
To share the methodology used by an inclusive theatre company and its transferability to the classroom.
For:
All teachers, head teachers, SENCOs, lead behaviour professionals, other school leaders and staff with pastoral and learning support/other responsibilities in all schools (all key stages).
Cost:
£30 (NUT); £60 (others) - £15 (‘Learning partner’ from same school/workplace); includes VAT, lunch and refreshments.
Download the Conference flyer, Application Form and draft programme.
TO APPLY: Ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearning@yahoo.co.uk.

OD37:
‘SAFE PLACES FOR LEARNING’
Raising achievement by valuing LGBT diversity and combating homophobia
Speakers:
Mark Jennett
Gertie Whitfield
Marianne Rawson
Elizabeth Atkinson
Renee Hayes
On:
Friday, 19 January 2007
(10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m.)
At:
Hamilton House, Mabledon Place, London WC1H 9BD
Aims:
Support teachers/schools in raising achievement by valuing LGBT diversity.
Develop effective strategies for combating homophobia and creating safe learning environments for all pupils/students.
Explore policy and teaching and learning issues with regard to LGBT diversity and combating homophobia.
For:
All teachers in all key stages – especially head teachers and other teachers with leadership responsibilities.
Cost:
£30 (NUT); £60 (others) - £15 (‘learning partner’ from same school/workplace); includes VAT, lunch and refreshments.
TO APPLY: Ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearning@yahoo.co.uk.
CLASS ACTION – DEVELOPING STRATEGIES FOR RAISING THE EDUCATIONAL ATTAINMENTS OF WHITE WORKING CLASS PUPILS IN KEY STAGES 2, 3 AND 4
ON:
Initial Seminar:
Thursday, 11 January 2007

Follow-up:
Tuesday, 13 March 2007
TUTORS:
Phil Beadle, award winning teacher, columnist and broadcaster
FOR:
All teachers in Key Stages 2, 3 and 4, especially those with language and leadership responsibilities. Attendance in pairs encouraged.
AIMS:
Identifying and valuing ‘white working class’ within multi-cultural approaches to raising attainment.
Exploring the issues and benefits of ‘class’ in the classroom.
Focusing on relevant language issues – including dialect – in schools.
Developing practical strategies for enhancing achievement among white working class pupils/students in KS 2, 3 and 4 classrooms.
The follow-up day will provide an opportunity for collaborative review, and the sharing and development of strategies that participants have chosen to trial in their classrooms/schools between the initial and follow-up seminars.
COST
£50 (NUT members); £100 (others). 40% reduction for second applicant from same school. Includes VAT, both seminar days with lunch and refreshments. NUT members can reclaim travel expences (with receipts).
To Apply: Ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearning@yahoo.co.uk.
003:
PUPIL2PUPIL PEER COACHING – ENHANCING PUPILS’ ACHIEVEMENT AND WELL-BEING THROUGH PEER COACHING (ALL KEY STAGES)
ON:
Initial Seminar:
Primary – Wednesday, 10 January 2007
Secondary – Friday, 12 January 2007

Follow-up:
Primary & Secondary – Friday, 23 March 2007

“Demonstrate that Every Child Matters by teaching children and young people the skills to help more effectively (and be helped by) one another” – Steve Sinnott, NUT General Secretary
TUTORS:
Sarah Mook and Will Thomas
FOR:
All teachers in all key stages who want to give meaning and purpose to speaking and listening; and promote enjoyment, achievement and making a positive contribution. Attendance in pairs encouraged.
AIMS:
Create a ‘climate’ which values the talents and experiences of all children.
Teach speaking and listening skills which enable children to share their knowledge and skills and to support one another’s learning.
Promote innovative approaches to raising achievement.
Make classrooms and playgrounds safe for mutual, non-hierarchical, sharing of strengths and remedying weaknesses.
Support QCA’s Taking English Forward initiative.
The follow-up day will provide an opportunity for collaborative review, and the sharing and development of strategies that participants have chosen to trial in their classrooms/schools between the initial and follow-up seminars.
COST
£50 (NUT members); £100 (others). 40% reduction for second applicant from same school. Includes VAT, both seminar days with lunch and refreshments. NUT members can reclaim travel expenses (with receipts).
To Apply: Ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearning@yahoo.co.uk.

LEADERSHIP SEMINARS
"10 am-4pm, at NUT Headquarters, London - 5 minutes walk from Kings Cross, Euston and St Pancras Station"
For: Head teachers, deputy/assistant head teachers, and all teachers with leadership responsibilities

THE NEW REGULATIONS
BURDEN, THREAT OR OPPORTUNITY?
RECLAIMING PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT


TUTORS:
Penny Clayton and Nicky Anastasiou



WHERE & WHEN:
LS/11:
LONDON – Thursday, 18 January 2007




LS/13:
SOUTHAMPTON – Thursday, 25 January 2007



FOR:
Head teachers and all teachers in Leadership Group from all key/foundation stages plus teacher governors.



AIMS:
These seminars are for school leaders who want to be proactive with regard to the new performance management arrangements which will come into force in September 2007. Each seminar will enable participants to:
ensure that effective current practice is maintained despite changing requirements;
minimise any burdens and threats generated by the new regulations;
further develop an approach to performance management which motivates staff, supports professional well-being and contributes towards improving teaching and learning;
promote trust around performance management and maximise purposeful dialogue, staff development and learning;
manage the issues of pay progression through a solution focussed approach.



COST:
FREE (NUT members); £100 (others). Includes lunch and VAT. Attendance in pairs recommended.



To Apply: Ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearning@yahoo.co.uk.

WSTA Helpline ICT advice

WSTA Helpline ICT advice

The biggest area which teachers find interesting for lifelong learning as well as continuing professional development is ICT

To this end the NUT organises courses at both basic and intermediate level. If you are interested contact wsta_addresses@yahoo.co.uk

You can also get help straight away. Experimentally, we are using Yahoo Messenger, which can communicate with Windows Messenger and MSN Messenger to provide fast advice to NUT members who want it. I am available most evenings. If you leave a message I will respond as soon as possible. All you need to do is to add wstalearning as a “friend” If I don’t know the answer to a question on basic ICT I will usually know someone who does.

If you do not have Yahoo Messenger:
Go to http://messenger.yahoo.com and click on “Get it Now”
Follow the onscreen instructions to download messenger to the desktop
Click on the desktop icon to install yahoo Messenger
When it is installed, I recommend:
Click on the word Messenger
Click on Preferences
Click on General
Click on a tick to remove it, click on an empty box to put a tick in it.
Change the General Preferences until they look like this:



This will mean that Messenger will only be there when you want it to be.

Then click on the OK








Click on the plus to add wstalearning as a friend.

You will have to set up a yahoo identity to use yahoo messenger but this is free. If you do not use yahoo you can still email queries to wsta_addresses@yahoo.co.uk

Laryngitis

One of our members "somewhere in West Sussex" valiantly turned up to work with laryngitis. After teaching a modern foreign languages lesson which was observed for internal assessment, she was told this was "satisfactory."

This would be quite reasonable but OFSTED seem to have an Orwellian attitude to the English language in which "satisfactory" can become "doubleplusungood" in the wink of an eye.

The NUT advice to members: if you have laryngitis or any other illness which will prevent you working do not turn up for work. Your goodwill, it seems, will not be reciprocated.

Performance Management RIG proposals

We have received this commentary from the campaigning group: School Teachers Opposed to Performance Pay STOPP.

For further information, contact Martin Powell-Davies, Chair, STOPP
martinpd_uk@yahoo.co.uk 07946 445488

Commentary on the Rewards and Incentives Group’s:
Guidance on Teachers’ and Head teachers’ Performance Management (released October 10th 2006)

Making us jump through more hoops is apparently to help reduce workload !
1.7 RIG has sought to develop non-bureaucratic, streamlined and multi-purpose arrangements for teachers’ performance management which build on the existing system and reflect partners’ overarching commitment to raising standards and tackling workload.

Yes, line managers will have to do the dirty work for Heads.
4.11 RIG believes that wherever possible the role of reviewer should be delegated to the teacher’s line manager, i.e. the person who directs, manages and has a post of responsibility for the area in which the reviewee mainly works.

Come prepared, after all there’ll be no union rep at a meeting to set targets & pay.
5.4 The planning and review meeting should be a professional dialogue between the reviewer and the reviewee. Reviewees should play an active part in the meeting making sure they put forward their views about their performance and future development. They may find it helpful to … ensure they have copies of any relevant documentation and evidence, and written feedback on classroom observations. In preparing for the next cycle … consider, as a backdrop to the discussions, the standards which apply to their current career stage and those to which they might progress, and, where the reviewee is eligible for pay progression, the relevant criteria for pay progression set out in the STPCD.
Reviewers need to be ready too – forget teamwork, make it rigorous !
5.5 Reviewers will want to be well prepared for the planning and review meeting, and may find it helpful to … check that all documents to which they will refer at the meeting have been shared with the reviewee, to assist their preparation for it. In preparing for the next cycle … ensure they have consulted with relevant third parties with direct professional knowledge of the reviewee, about possible objectives for the next review cycle, performance criteria, evidence, arrangements for collecting it and support to be provided to the teacher.

There is no limit to the number of “challenging” objectives you could be set.
5.8 Reviewers are responsible for ensuring rigour when objectives are set. Objectives should focus on priorities. They should be time bound, challenging but achievable, and reflect the need for a satisfactory work/life balance. A reviewee’s objectives should reflect any relevant team, year or whole school objectives.

There will be three hours of classroom observation for performance management.
5.10 All classroom observation should be undertaken in accordance with the regulations and the school’s protocol for the conduct of classroom observation and the school’s performance management policy ... There should always be a clear rationale and focus for any classroom observation. There should be no observations in addition to those agreed in the planning and review statement except for those described in paragraphs 5.17 and 5.18 below.
5.11 The regulations specify a limit of three hours in any review cycle for classroom observation, but there is no requirement for the whole three hours to be used.
How can observation be “supportive and developmental” when it is linked to pay?
5.14 Classroom observation should be supportive and developmental … The observation record should be sufficient to meet the needs of individuals and the school (i.e. summarising the focus, what was learnt from the observation, the feedback given and any subsequent … follow-up)

It might be more than 3 hours – Heads and Senior Managers can still “drop-in”!
5.16 - 5.18 If concerns arise during the review cycle or the reviewee’s circumstances change … additional classroom observation, where necessary including observation that exceeds three hours within the review cycle, may be agreed ... Classroom observations by Ofsted or by a local authority using its statutory powers of intervention are also not part of performance management ... Heads have a right to drop in to inform their monitoring of the quality of learning. In large schools they may delegate drop in to appropriate members of the leadership group.

Targets and performance will be judged on data. This is “payment-by-results”.
5.19 The other evidence which will be taken into account will normally be in the form of data or written feedback from specific individuals.

The Headteacher can still step in to overrule line managers’ decisions.
5.27 It is anticipated that head teachers will set up procedures for monitoring and moderating the plans for the forthcoming cycle agreed in planning and review statements. As part of this the head teacher may review planning and review statements …and where necessary instruct the reviewer to prepare a new statement prior to it being finalised and retained.

If you don’t agree with your reviewers’ recommendation, tough!
5.41 The reviewer and reviewee should seek to agree an assessment of the overall performance of the reviewee against the performance criteria agreed at the beginning of the cycle. This should include, where the reviewee is eligible, making a recommendation on pay progression, taking into account the pay progression criteria. If the reviewer and reviewee cannot agree, the reviewer’s view will be recorded.

Holding off on the main scale for now but rationing upper pay scale progression?
5.42 There is no change to the arrangements for pay progression. Annual increments continue to apply as set out in the STPCD for classroom teachers on the main scale. Therefore reviewers do not need to make a recommendation in support of an annual increment. The only exception to this is where the reviewer, in accordance with the school’s pay policy, is considering a discretionary additional point (double jumping) where provided for in the STPCD.
5.43 Reviewers will need to make a recommendation where the reviewee is on the pay scale for post threshold teachers, the pay spine for members of the Leadership Group [or that for ASTs].

Postponed for a year – a year to build a campaign to defeat these regulations!
7.1 The revised regulations will come into force on 1 September 2007. Local authorities, governing bodies and head teachers have until autumn 2007 to put arrangements in place for performance management that reflect the requirements of the revised regulations.
7.2 The first plans made under the revised regulations should be agreed by 31 October 2007 for teachers and by 31 December 2007 for head teachers. 7.3 The first full planning and review statements which record the outcomes of an assessment of performance and, where a teacher is eligible, include a pay recommendation, must be completed by 31 October 2008 for teachers.

NUT concerned about coursework changes

NUT concerned about coursework changes
The NUT has accused the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) of being "draconian" in the wake of new plans to change GCSE coursework.

The exams watchdog today announced that coursework in a range of subjects including English literature, history and modern languages should no longer be marked and set by teachers and should be replaced by controlled assessments.

But the teachers' union expressed concern that such controlled assessments remained an unknown and untested alternative to coursework.

The QCA said it conducted a subject-by-subject review to assess where changes were needed, but the head of education at the NUT said decisions had been made without prior consultation with teacher associations, reports the BBC.

"An alternative has been proposed which hasn't been worked up - which is controlled assessment," head of education John Bangs told the BBC.

"We don't know what it looks like. So you've got rid of something before you know what is going to replace it."

The QCA also announced coursework would continue in practical subjects such as music and PE, but with stronger safeguards in place.

The changes are expected to be effective from 2009, except the scrapping of maths coursework, announced last week, which is scheduled to take effect from next September.

Time to Play Conference

Advance notice of the "Time to Play" conference on Tuesday 27 February.
Details of the Time to Play conference are available
here

The same leaflet refers to the LGBT matters conference on 11 November and the Black Teachers Conference on 5 November. West Sussex Teachers' Association aim to have representatives at both of these.

Quiz for new members

Click here for the quiz for new members

There is probably something here which older members didn't know as well.