Supply/Agency Teachers and a Two-Tier Workforce

One of the resolutions for annual conference deals with supply/agency teachers.

It reads as follows:

Conference deplores the development of a two-tier workforce within teaching, with agency and
some other supply teachers, home tutors and other peripatetic staff denied their full employment
rights, and in the case of agency teachers, their rights to national pay and pension entitlements.
Conference regrets that many teachers are engaged by Local Authorities on ‘casual’ or short
term arrangements in circumstances in which they should be treated as permanent staff.
Conference also notes with regret the growth of teacher agencies within the sector, with some
supply teachers being forced to seek work through agencies.
Conference notes the success of work undertaken by many divisions to require Local
Authorities to meet their responsibilities in relation to more vulnerable teachers, and applauds
those representatives who have been able to negotiate with their Local Authority for improved
security for such sectors of the teaching workforce.
Conference notes the failure at EU and national level to agree legislative measures to improve
the position of agency and temporary workers, and deplores the Government’s failure to give
full support to such proposals.
Conference notes the establishment by the TUC of the Commission on Vulnerable Employment
as well as other initiatives designed to collect evidence across all sectors of the workforce on
the problems caused by the denial of proper employment rights.
Conference calls upon the Executive to campaign vigorously to end the development of two-tier
teaching workforce by:
1. Continuing to promote and support strategies to enforce teachers’ rights to national pay
and pension rights and full employment protection;
2. Enhancing the promotion, support and publicity given to negotiating strategies at local
level seeking to provide security and decent pay for supply and peripatetic staff;
3. Seeking agreement at national level on recommended contractual arrangements and on
the ways in which relevant services are organised so as to ensure full employment rights
for all affected teachers;
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4. Maintaining the Union’s support for the campaign for a Trade Union Freedom Bill and
other legislative measures seeking to end a two tier workforce;
5. Seeking to ensure that in the further changes related to cover such work is undertaken
by qualified teachers;
6. Maintaining the Union’s work to protect Overseas Trained Teachers and other vulnerable
groups;
7. Seeking support from the TUC for a lobby of Parliament for a campaign to end the twotier
workforce; and
8. Working with European trade union bodies, ETUC and ETUCE, to take forward the
Union’s campaign objectives.
Executive




A full list of resolutions for annual conference can be found here

Supply Teachers and agency staff

A Private Members’ Bill and an Early Day Motion have been tabled in Parliament calling on the Government to take action to establish fairness for temporary and agency workers compared with their permanent colleagues. E-mail your MP here and ask them to support the Bill and sign the Motion.

Report on the ‘Unlocking Creativity’ Course

What a treat this course was. The venue was amazing. West Dean College must have been a wonderful private home at one time. It easily rivals any National Trust Property in the area with its sculptured ceilings, chandeliers, imposing staircases, works of art and beautiful gardens. It is a haven of tranquillity set among green fields and grazing sheep. The catering was also a feast of creativity.

Now why were we there? Oh yes the course on unlocking creativity! The day began with a talk by Richard Gerver from Grange Primary School in Derbyshire. This was both amusing and inspiring. The aim of his talk was to show how creativity in teaching and learning could raise aspirations and be a means to higher standards of achievement He had taken on the headship of a failing school and turned the school round, eliminating discipline problems, absences and raising standards. The fact that the school was failing and traditional approaches had failed gave him the freedom to follow his own instincts and to develop a creative programme of learning appropriate to the needs of the community the school was serving. He described how he had turned the school into a mini town called Grangeton with shop, café, television studio, and museum etc and made it a place that children wanted to attend. The whole school explored one topic at levels appropriate to age and ability and with a cross-curricular approach giving a unity of purpose. On Friday morning lessons were provided by people from the community, who I think offered their services on a voluntary basis e.g. hairdressers, beauticians, media experts, sports coaches, mechanics etc. Despite deviating from rigid national curriculum plans performance in national curriculum tests improved. He invited teachers to visit his school to see it in action but emphasised that the solutions were particular to his schools needs.

For those of us who began their teaching career in the 70’s, when creativity had a high priority, listening to the speaker was like being allowed to breathe again.

The rest of the day was spent listening and participating as other teachers presented work that they had done to bring creativity back into the classroom. We chose to explore a project which had been based around the Beatles, and a maths project which had involved weekly real life problems, which the children believed were sent by the harbour master at Littlehampton. We also looked at two projects which gave children the opportunity to develop financial and economic awareness. One project gave hands on experience via a game which simulated the problems of managing a farm in the developing world and the other was a business simulation which involved making and selling hats.

There were also inspiring displays of children’s work and a display of relevant books to look at. The day ended with a display of music and dance by pupils.

Although as supply teachers we are not often in the position of initiating work, as a result of this course we were made aware of a shift in educational direction and were able to feel the excitement generated. Hopefully we will be able to carry some of this enthusiasm into our teaching and will be able to understand the present philosophy behind the lesson plans we are asked to teach.

We were very grateful to the NUT for enabling us to attend this course by paying the course fee and travelling expenses. We had a really stimulating day and both felt our batteries had been recharged.

Amrit Bhogal and Kathy Bennetts- Brown

Assertiveness Training

Angela Ahern, Derek McMillan and Dave Thomas ran the first taster session on assertiveness training on 28 April. I think it is a measure of the success of the course that everyone who attended the course expressed an interest in John Illingworth's report Crazy about Work and in any further assertiveness training courses provided by the NUT

A number of those who attended were supply teachers and mentioned the difficulty of getting Continuing Professional Development. NUT CPD is free but much of the CPD provided requires funding from schools and supply teachers who are not attached to a particular school are unlikely to receive any.

When we approached West Sussex about this, we were informed "there is no funding stream which can support this" which is unsatisfactory.