Martin, Hank and Veronica

The general meeting of the West Sussex Teachers Association nominated Martin Powell-Davies and Hank Roberts for the Vice Presidential roles in the NUT.

Veronica Peppiatt was nominated as NUT Executive member for West Sussex and Surrey.

Lunchtime - you are entitled to one!

1.A teacher cannot be required to undertake midday supervision and “shall be allowed a break of reasonable length either between school sessions or between the hours of 12 noon and 2.00 p.m.”. Paragraph 75.6 of Section 2 of the 2005 STPCD refers. Any teacher who volunteers to undertake mid-day supervision is entitled to a free school lunch.

2.Head teachers, deputy head teachers, assistant head teachers, advanced skills and fast track teachers are also entitled to a break of reasonable length, but the STPCD is silent on the issue of whether such staff can be required to undertake midday supervision. NUT policy is that midday supervision should be undertaken by lunchtime supervisors.

3.The NUT’s view of the “break of reasonable length” is that teachers should have an entitlement of at least one hour when they cannot be required to undertake duties, attend meetings or remain on school premises. The lunch break cannot be included in the 1265 hours of directed time.

4.NUT members are strongly advised not to attend meetings convened by management during their lunch break.

Crazy about Work?

Learning Report

The latest edition of Learning Report was launched at the TUC. It is an annual publication about Learning Reps and has a feature on West Sussex Teachers' Association and our use of the internet and Moodle.

Click here for the whole report

Click here to jump straight to page three!

No rep in your school?

Often head teachers are unable to consult the union when there is no NUT rep in the school but nobody wants to take on the role because they don't like to put themselves forward or they lack experience.

All of us started out as inexperienced reps!

Also the NUT has excellent training courses at Stoke Rochford which you are entitled to attend - all expenses are paid. For details ring 01342 410805 or email wstalearn(at) yahoo.co.uk

A solution to this problem which has been tried successfully in some larger schools is for the role of the rep to be shared by more than one person.

Bureaucratic Tasks

The furthest flung query to the WSTA helpline was from a teacher in Wales who had found our number on the internet. She wanted to know whether it was part of her job to chase up absences. It was rather flattering but perhaps more NUT branches should consider having a helpline of their own.

The NUT advice on this follows.


Paragraph 73.12.3 of Section 2 of the 2005 STPCD specifies that teachers are not required routinely ‘to undertake tasks of a clerical or administrative nature which do not call for the exercise of a teacher’s professional skills and judgment’. A list of such tasks is contained at Annex 5 to Section 2 of the 2005 STPCD and is set out below. This list should is indicative only. Teachers cannot be routinely required to undertake any clerical tasks not just those on the list of examples set out below.

Collecting money from pupils and parents.

**Investigating a pupil’s absence.**

Bulk photocopying.

Typing or making word-processed versions of manuscript material and producing revisions of such versions.

Word-processing, copying and distributing bulk communications to parents and pupils.

Producing class lists on the basis of information provided by teachers.

Keeping and filing records, including records based on data supplied by teachers.

Preparing, setting up and taking down classroom displays in accordance with decisions taken by teachers.

Producing analyses of attendance figures.

Producing analyses of examination results.

Collating pupil reports.

Administration of work experience but not selecting placements and supporting pupils by advice or visits.

Administration of public and internal examinations.

Administration of cover for absent teachers.

Setting up and maintaining ICT equipment and software.

Ordering supplies and equipment.

Cataloguing, preparing, issuing and maintaining materials and equipment and stocktaking the same.

Taking verbatim notes or producing formal minutes of meetings.

Co-ordinating and submitting bids, for funding, school status and the like, using contributions by teachers and others.

Transferring manual data about pupils not covered by the above into computerised school management systems.

Managing the data in school management systems.

46.NUT advice is that teachers should exercise their professional judgment in deciding whether a particular task requires their input. For example, it is up to individual teachers to decide whether putting up and maintaining displays is a task which involves their professional skills and judgment, or whether it is an administrative task that should be transferred to support staff. The time saved by the transfer of administrative and clerical tasks should not be replaced by additional teaching time.

In respect of the September 2003 changes to the STPCD, the NUT advises members to limit workload by applying the Government’s ‘key questions approach’:

(a)Does the task need to be done at all?

(b)Is the task of an administrative or clerical nature?

(c)Does it call for the exercise of a teacher’s professional skills and judgement?

If the answers to (a) and (b) are ‘yes’, and the answer to (c) is ‘no’, then the task should be transferred from teachers.

Making Effective Interventions in Pupil Behaviour

Making Effective Interventions in Pupil Behaviour
(For mid-career teachers all KSs)


tt/57R London
Initial Seminar:
16 & 17 Jan 08

Follow-up:
2 April 08

Cost:
Free (NUT); £100 (others). Includes VAT, lunch and refreshments plus optional accommodation during initial seminar.

The NUT has focussed CPD on pupil behaviour for all groups of teachers.

A copy of the CPD program for 2007-2008 is available here

It is a Word document which can be opened by either Word or Open Office.

To go on a course email wstalearn(at)yahoo.co.uk
or ring 01342 410805

Making the most of your mentor

Online learning from the National Union of Teachers
‘Make the Most of Your Coach or Mentor’

Click here

Your NUT Membership No. = PASSWORD

CPD on Teachers' TV

Teachers TV is available online

Click Here

This item on Teachers TV may be of interest to our members.

A look at the school and learning experience of Robert, a Year 8 pupil at Hove Park School in Sussex.

Robert can have difficulties with his written work in English, yet once his imagination is excited, he can't put his pen down. He loves break time and PE, running around with his friends and having fun, but reveals a growing anxiety about his progress at the school, and what Year 9 will bring.

What is it like being on the receiving end of the education system? What is it like being in Year 8, when progress can dip?

This revealing series follows four Year 8 children, offering snapshots of their perceptions and experience of school. The programmes interweave intimate classroom footage with frank video diary confessions recorded by the children in their bedrooms.

Salsa Evening 5th October

There will be a Salsa Evening on 5th October at the Hickstead Hotel from 8pm to 11pm. It will begin with an hour's free salsa tuition.

Map of Hickstead Hotel

Free refreshments and soft drinks and there is a licensed bar available.

It will be £5 but free to NQTs and NUT reps.

If you are interested email Dave on davethomas23(at)hotmail.com


Click here for a leaflet to download.

Teachertube

Teachertube is a free (advertising supported) facility which enables teachers to post a variety of educational videos. It takes ages to upload videos but people seem to have taken to trouble to upload an astonishing range of instructional and entertaining videos which you can use in the classroom.

It certainly saves having to do it yourself.

You can access it here