ELM April 2017

EDUCATION LEADER AND MANAGER

Representing leaders and managers in education P O L I CY

IS YOUR SCHOOL READY FOR THE NEW LEVY? page 8

PROFILE

M A ST E R C L A S S

MEET PETER LEE, FIRST HEAD OF A NEW SCHOOL page 13

A NEW APPROACH TO OBSERVING LESSONS page 18

APRIL 2017 @ATL_AMiE

2016

92%

of leaders say workload remains a problem

2017

81%

of leaders say workload has increased in the last year

THE 60-HOUR WEEK: WHY WE NEED TO TACKLE WORKLOAD

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ELM / APRIL 2017

INSIDE 4

Education news: workload, funding cuts, and the result of the new union ballot

6

The view from Wales and Northern Ireland

8

The apprenticeship levy – are you ready for it?

10

The Government’s failure to fulfill its workload promise

13

Meet Peter Lee – first head of a new school

18

A more varied approach to lesson observations

20

Q&A: What to do if you’re unfairly denied a pay rise

22

Tell parents about the impact of cuts

ELM is the magazine from ATL, 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD Tel 020 7930 6441 Email info@amie.org.uk Website www.amie.atl.org.uk Editor Sally Gillen

Sub-editor Justine Conway Art editor George Walker Designer Alix Thomazi Advertising sales Michael Coulsey or Anthony Bennett 020 3771 7200 Account manager Kieran Paul Managing director Polly Arnold

ELM is produced and designed for ATL by Think, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH Tel 020 3771 7200 Email info@thinkpublishing.co.uk

ATL accepts no liability for any insert, display or classified advertisement included in this publication. While every reasonable care is taken to ensure that all advertisers are reliable and reputable, ATL can give no assurance that it

will fulfil its obligation under all circumstances. The views expressed in articles in ELM are the contributors’ own and do not necessarily reflect ATL policy.

Official policy statements issued on behalf of ATL are indicated as such. All rights reserved. Material contained in this publication may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior permission of ATL.

MARK WRIGHT AMiE DIRECTOR

@MarkW_AMiE

Welcome

What a difference a year makes. Or perhaps not.

In March 2016, the Department for Education published three reports recommending ways to cut unnecessary workload generated by planning, marking and data collection. A year on, in AMiE’s survey on workload, completed by hundreds of members in February, just one per cent said workload has reduced in the last year, and 62% told us the rise in workload is the result of constant policy change.

The Government, which turned its attention to workload in October 2014 with the launch of its Workload Challenge, says it wants to cut workload, while at the same time continuing to create it.

Good leaders are doing all they can to shield their staff from the workload generated centrally, and, in many cases they are rethinking their policies on things that steal time: meetings, marking, planning. Well-being has also been placed centre stage. Our survey shows 12% of leaders have introduced wellbeing committees.

All of this at a time when recruiting enough staff – a problem partly created because so many teachers have been driven out of the profession by workload – is a struggle, and funding cuts force you into impossible decisions.

ATL-AMiE has been lobbying MPs (see news, page 5), to find out from heads what more cuts will mean for their school. Many of you have been in touch with your MP and I would urge more of you to do the same.

Funding has reached critical levels, especially in FE. An Institute of Fiscal Studies report shows it is the lowest it has been for 30 years.

Funding will be top of the agenda at Annual Conference. If you are attending, get involved in the debates and the AMiE sector zone on Monday afternoon. If you can’t make it this year, follow what’s happening @ATL_AMiE #ATLConf17. Motion results will be published at www.atl.org.uk/conference.

GET IN TOUCH

www.facebook.com/atlunion @atl_amie

APRIL 2017 | ELM 3

NEED TO KNOW

NEWS IN BRIEF KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST EDUCATION SECTOR NEWS

AMIE'S SURVEY SHOWS FAILURE TO TACKLE WORKLOAD ALMOST A YEAR after the Government published three reports recommending ways to cut workload, a survey

by AMiE has found 81% of leaders believe workload has got worse. Our survey, which was carried out in February, also found that 62% of leaders attribute the workload burden to constant policy change. The findings came at the same time as the Department for Education (DfE) published the long-delayed results of its Teacher Workload Survey 2016.

The online poll, which was completed by more than 3,000 teachers in 2016 before the publication of three workload reports on cutting marking, planning and data, found senior leaders are working an average 60-hour week. It was undertaken as part of the Government’s Workload Challenge, which included a commitment to survey teachers on workload biannually. Of the senior leaders who completed it, 92% said workload was a problem – 50% rated it as fairly serious, while 42% said it was very serious.

The DfE survey also shows middle leaders and classroom teachers were spending 33 hours a week on non-teaching tasks.

Half of that time was spent on planning and marking, two of the three areas of work the DfE published reports on in March 2016. ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “The Government needs to better support leaders and make national level interventions relating to the things in its power. It must tackle the key driver of workload and reform its school accountability structures and systems. It needs to conduct workload impact assessments for all policies, and control the cumulative effects of policy change and implementation.”

AMiE director Mark Wright said: “It takes strong leadership to temper workload in the current climate knowing that ‘being sensible’ may put you and your school on the wrong side of SATs results or Progress 8 expectations. It really should not be like this and it’s time that system failure is recognised and addressed if we are to stem the tide of people leaving the profession.”

See the feature on page 10, and for more on ATL-AMiE’s campaign on workload, including resources, go to www.atl.org. uk/abouttime, or follow it on Twitter using #Make1Change.

PHOTOGRAPHY: DANNY FITZPATRICK

IT IS YES TO A NEW UNION Nearly three quarters (73%) of members who returned their ballot papers have voted YES to create a new union with the NUT. Members’ backing for the National Education Union (NEU) comes after nearly three years of careful negotiations with the NUT to create a new union with the combined resources and expertise to support members in the maintained, academy, independent and further education sectors, working in every role – including leaders and managers.

Mary Bousted said: “This is a historic moment. I’m proud members have chosen the National Education Union as they know it will be a game-changer in the level of support and influence we can offer education professionals.

“The NEU will offer a whole-workplace approach for colleagues to improve their

4 ELM | APRIL 2017

working lives, listening to members’ ideas so we can develop policy and using members’ voices to shape, not react to, Government initiatives.

“On our own, ATL-AMiE provides members with excellent advice, support and development, and we

have made progress in influencing education policy. Now, however, we have the chance to end the division of six unions and make a greater difference to education professionals and the children, young people and adults they support.”

ATL-AMiE and NUT will continue as separate unions until 1 September 2017 when they will amalgamate into the NEU. Members currently in ATL-AMiE or the NUT will continue to be supported by their union’s current staff and lay officials from now until the end of a transition period on 1 January 2019 when the two unions will fully integrate.

The new union has rules around industrial action which mean ballots will only be conducted and action taken with the significant backing of members. The rules also ensure specific support will continue for leaders and managers through AMiE. For more information, please visit www.atl.org.uk/newunion

NEED TO KNOW

AMIE MEMBER SCOOPS NATIONAL AWARD

AMIE VICE PRESIDENT NAMED Lesley Tipping has been elected unopposed as the AMiE vice president. Tipping, who is president of ATL Cymru and assistant principal for curriculum at a college in Wales, will become president of AMiE in September 2018. AMiE council member Ralph Surman was elected unopposed as ATL policy officer.

Ulster University lecturer Celia O’Hagan has won a national award for leading a programme to train 15 deaf sign language teachers. The course is believed to be the first of its kind in Europe. Celia was the only Northern Irish winner of a Signature Award, which are given to people who break down barriers for deaf and deafblind people. “I’m delighted and very proud of the project outcomes for Northern Ireland,” she said.

“As an enterprising educator, I hope this award will profile the work of these teachers.”

ATL Northern Ireland director Mark Langhammer said: “This puts Northern Ireland ahead of other teaching communities and is something Celia, the team and Ulster University should be proud of.” To read more go to page 7

ATL-AMIE LOBBIES MPs TO STOP MORE SCHOOL CUTS ATL-AMIE HAS URGED MPs to contact headteachers in their constituencies to find out how more funding cuts will affect their schools.

At an event held at the House of Commons last month, ATL-AMiE, the NUT and NAHT told MPs how much money schools in their area may lose by 2020.

Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron and former children’s minister Maria Eagle were among the 25 MPs who attended.

Labour MP for Batley and Spen Tracy Brabin told ELM she was “shocked” to discover her schools could lose £9.5 million. “Headteachers were telling me that even before this new funding formula they were struggling. Now they are saying they will have to lose staff.

“It feels like we are turning back the clock to the 80s, when some schools were using buckets to collect water from leaky roofs because there was no money for repairs.”

Shadow minister for foreign affairs and MP for Heywood and Middleton Liz McInnes told ELM she had been contacted by a number of heads who are very concerned about their funding. “My constituency is within the area covered by Rochdale Council, where 420 teachers’ jobs are at risk because of cuts,” she said.

ATL policy adviser Anne Heavey, who spoke to MPs at the drop-in session, said: “We urged MPs

to speak to heads to find out what they will lose per student and what that will mean in terms of staff redundancies, bigger class sizes, school repairs and so on."

AMiE director Mark Wright said: “It is encouraging to see such a positive response from MPs who are supporting our call for an end to more cuts. We know more money is desperately needed and that many schools have cut all they can.

“It’s important that school leaders continue to be vocal in spelling out the dire consequences for our children’s education should the Government press on regardless.”

ATL-AMiE has also warned that heads and teachers in state schools will be “dismayed” by the £320 million announced for free schools and grammar schools in the Budget last month.

“These spending pledges are totally insufficient to tackle the schools funding crisis the Government is inflicting on schools by forcing them to make over £3 billion savings by 2020,” said ATL general secretary Mary Bousted. She added that the national funding formula is a good start because it will benefit children from deprived backgrounds. “We urge the Government to increase the overall amount of funding for schools.”

To find out how schools will be affected in your area go to www. schoolcuts.org.uk.

CALL FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF OFSTED ATL general secretary Mary Bousted has commended Ofsted for carrying out research into its reliability, but says an independent investigation into its judgements is still needed.

The inspectorate has published a report showing 10% of its inspection reports are unreliable, based on research carried out in September involving 26 primary schools that were rated good.

Dr Bousted said while the research was a welcome “first step,” the “long-delayed results of this study provide no answer to the key question.

“The time is overdue for an independent investigation of Ofsted,” added Dr Bousted. “The question must be answered: does Ofsted inspect schools in different areas, with different intakes, fairly? Do inspectors inspect the right things and do they make accurate judgements?”

2 T racy Brabin, MP for Batley and Spen

APRIL 2017 | ELM 5

COMMENT: WALES

CPD for all critical to new curriculum roll-out ATL CYMRU IS ALSO KEEN TO SEE PROPOSED STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL LEADERS AND TEACHERS LINKED CLOSELY TO THE NEW CURRICULUM

S

chool and college leaders across Wales will know, from daily experience, about the relentless pace of reform under way in every section of our education system.

The most ambitious area of reform is the development of the new curriculum.

The Welsh Assembly’s Children, Young People and Education (CYPE) Committee has recently published its conclusions on how the development of the new curriculum is proceeding.

The committee recognises that the vision of Successful Futures is widely supported but that it is also only largely conceptual: “It is apparent that there are difficulties and challenges in translating that vision into tangible implementation. The committee believes the hard work of implementation very much lies ahead.”

ATL Cymru agrees with this assessment. It reflects what our members have been saying.

Too often, unproductive workload is caused by the roll-out of poorly planned initiatives. If the hard work of developing the new curriculum, particularly in pioneer schools, is to translate into successful implementation, the impact on the workload of all education professionals needs to be addressed as an urgent priority by the Welsh Government. Time and new resource also needs to be made available for high-quality training and professional development to support the roll-out of the new curriculum.

Professional learning opportunities or CPD is often highlighted by members as a key issue. In our Put Education First manifesto last year we asked the next Welsh Government to “develop an excellently skilled workforce”. When we asked members to complete a survey, 70% of respondents said their CPD opportunities were not good enough. One in five (22%) said their school or college did not offer them opportunities to undertake CPD. We therefore welcome the inquiry the CYPE committee is carrying out into teachers’ professional learning and education. I gave evidence to the committee and pressed the point that the whole education workforce needs to have professional learning opportunities, not just teachers. I raised concerns about schools not being able to fund supply teachers to allow staff time off timetable to access CPD or school leaders not being able to find supply teachers to fill gaps, particularly 6 ELM | APRIL 2017

in small, rural or Welsh medium schools. Along with the other unions, ATL is also pushing for additional INSET days to support the implementation of the new curriculum.

The Welsh Government has also opened a public consultation on new teaching and leadership professional standards for school teachers and school leaders. These will need to link closely to the ongoing development of the new curriculum and changes to initial teacher education.

It is very important that any system of professional standards is inclusive within workplaces and across the education workforce in Wales. We have had assurances that formal consultation will begin this year on new professional standards for school support staff and for the further education workforce. There is an incontrovertible argument about the need to recognise and articulate their professionalism.

ATL Cymru wants to ensure that the standards recognise and enhance the professionalism of education professionals in Wales, and are not used as another arbitrary form of measurement in schools and colleges, or another set of boxes to tick. We are talking to the Government about how its principal focus should be professional growth, aspiration and development. We will be looking for firm commitments on funding for CPD and the timescale for implementation, to ensure it is developed with the profession and not imposed in an unrealistic timeframe.

With the scale and pace of reform, and so much expected of the whole education workforce, it is critical that professional learning opportunities are improved and fully funded so they can be made available to everyone. There needs to be clear parity of CPD opportunities for supply teachers, support staff and those in the FE sector – as well as full training and CPD opportunities for teachers and school leaders. Welsh Government needs to lead from the front in terms of recognising and supporting their different roles.

COLUMNIST RACHEL CURLEY ACTING DIRECTOR OF ATL CYMRU

COMMENT: NORTHERN IRELAND

Leading the way with award-winning training AMIE MEMBER PUTS NORTHERN IRELAND ON THE MAP WITH THE FIRST COURSE FOR DEAF SIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS IN EUROPE

COLUMNIST MARK LANGHAMMER DIRECTOR OF ATL NORTHERN IRELAND

A

MiE member Celia O’Hagan has won a national education award for leading a programme to train the first deaf sign language teachers in Northern Ireland.

Celia won the Leadership in Education category of the Annual Signature Awards, which celebrate those who break down barriers for deaf and deafblind people. She was the only Northern Irish winner.

Staff and students nominated her for her work with hard-to-reach and disabled communities, and supporting new teachers in Northern Ireland.

The course is innovative, believed to be the first of its kind in Europe, and was developed by Celia and her team at Ulster University. A national accolade for pioneering training is a great achievement for the university and Celia, who has worked in teacher education for 22 years. It puts Northern Ireland ahead of many other countries.

The then Department for Employment and Learning provided funding for 15 sign language

teachers, who use sign language as their main language, to do the Postgraduate Certificate in Education, as part of a three-year Sign Language Teacher Education Project. Its aims included engaging sign language users as new teachers in a developmental curriculum equal to vocational teacher training requirements in Northern Ireland, and promoting employability in further education (FE) and schools. Another aim was to develop placement opportunities in schools for deaf teachers, promoting sign language as part of the core curriculum through projects and innovative technologies.

The Government has placed a high priority on improving outcomes for the 5,000 people who use sign language in Northern Ireland, and last summer it published for consultation a document setting out a framework for sign language, which would lay the foundations of legislation to protect the rights of deaf people.

The framework was designed to achieve a range of objectives between 2016-2021, including in education, with one of the specific objectives being to provide a sustainable supply of regulated sign language teachers, interpreters and translators.

Sign language is now being considered as a first language equal to other languages within the core curriculum in Northern Ireland. GCSEs in sign language are being piloted in other parts of the UK. E-learning projects for sign language, e-books for key stage 2 deaf families and pupils, sign language apps and promotional projects with deaf and blind schools all received considerable attention when launched on the supported website www.signlanguageteachersni.com.

Teachers are working in the sign language and deaf community to advance the value of deaf awareness training in workplaces, in the health service, in schools and in FE colleges.

Celia hopes to build on her work with the launch of new projects funded by the Northern Ireland Government.

“SIGN LANGUAGE IS NOW BEING CONSIDERED AS A FIRST LANGUAGE EQUAL TO OTHER LANGUAGES WITHIN THE CORE CURRICULUM IN NORTHERN IRELAND.” APRIL 2017 | ELM 7

P O L I C Y M AT T E R S

ARE YOU LEVY READY? With budgets under pressure, the new apprenticeship levy represents a financial threat to schools and colleges – particularly those not ready for it WORDS PAUL STANISTREET

F

rom this month, employers with an annual wage bill of £3 million or more will have to pay a 0.5% levy, to be used to fund apprenticeship programmes. The Government wants to stimulate investment in apprenticeships and encourage greater employer engagement in order to create three million more apprenticeships by 2020.

As part of the Government’s strategy, all public sector bodies with at least 250 employees have been set legally binding targets to employ new apprentices amounting to 2.3% of headcount each year. Guidance published by the Department for Education (DfE) last month, Schools’ Guide to Apprenticeship Reforms, says schools will be expected to report on their progress towards the apprenticeship target from September 2018. In February, the Institute for Fiscal Studies published its Green Budget which recommended that the potentially costly policy should be removed.

It is clear that only employers who engage actively with the new levy system will get the benefits and offset the costs. In England, employers who pay the levy can access funding for apprenticeship training and assessment, against an approved framework or standard, via an online apprenticeship service. Some employers have put in place detailed plans, particularly those used to dealing with apprentices or with involvement in framework development, but there will be 8 ELM | APRIL 2017

many with an uncertain grip on the levy. Many schools are in the latter camp.

The reforms are certain to have a profound impact on schools and further education colleges, in a number of ways and at different levels. Colleges, as providers of both delivery and assessment of apprenticeships, are likely to be better prepared than schools. Larger colleges have to pay into the levy, which could present significant financial and workload risks at a time of fiscal constraint and uncertainty created by a welter of ongoing reforms. Nevertheless, colleges already use apprenticeships in staff development, which puts them on a stronger footing when it comes to accessing apprenticeship funding and recouping their money. Many will now be more focused on how they work with employers in ensuring they can access the funding they need to offer a wide range of high-quality apprenticeships in different subject areas, including those where delivery costs are high.

A new environment For schools the picture is somewhat different. The majority of schools affected are likely to be significantly less informed than their FE counterparts. Affected

schools include community schools maintained by the local authority. The local authority is the employer and is responsible for paying the levy. It also receives the Government’s £15,000 allowance. However, the local authority may pass the cost of the levy onto schools in the same way as employer national insurance and superannuation. This would increase the pressure on schools, and smaller schools, in particular. While other employers only have to pay the levy if they have a pay bill of £3 million or more, all maintained schools may have to pay, regardless of their own pay bill, as the employer is the local authority.

Larger standalone academies (around half of the total) are also affected, with the governing body of the academy the employer. Multiacademy trusts, as the employers of staff in their academies, are responsible for paying the levy, and most have to.

However, academy and faith schools, which employ their own staff, are exempt from the levy, provided their payroll is under £3 million. All affected schools, like all levy-paying employers, are able to access funds via a digital account (in the case of maintained schools, it is via the local authority’s digital account) to pay for the training and assessment of apprentices. The idea is that employers will recoup what they

“IT IS GOING TO BE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT FOR SCHOOLS TO RECOUP THE LEVY BY RECRUITING APPRENTICES.”

P O L I C Y M AT T E R S

ILLUSTRATION: ALIX THOMAZI

put in via these accounts, though the funds must be used within 24 months of the levy being paid. So employers must now be prepared to take on apprentices quickly in order not to lose the funds.

Recruiting apprentices As ATL policy adviser Janet Clark points out, for schools, this is not as straightforward as it sounds. “It is going to be extremely difficult for schools to recoup the levy by recruiting apprentices. Currently, there are only a limited number of apprenticeship frameworks or standards that are suitable for roles in schools. There are also issues around capacity.

Apprentices need mentoring and supervision, and we know from ATL’s workload survey that those working in schools are already overburdened.”

Schools may be interested in taking on support staff apprentices, she says, noting that there were apprenticeship frameworks and standards (either completed or in development) in areas such as business and administration, catering, facilities management, digital, finance and lab technicians.

A framework for a teacher apprenticeship is also in development.

Guidance on apprenticeships, published last month, says teaching apprenticeships should be available from 2018. ATL senior policy adviser Alison Ryan thinks it likely that schools will be keen to take these up, but warns that there will be hidden costs. “In the context of inadequate school funding, it will hardly be surprising if some schools take up teacher apprenticeships

as a way to recoup some or all of their levy payment. However, there are other types of cost involved, which school leaders will need to consider, in terms of staff workload and the impact on the status of teaching. Workload and professional confidence are key to whether teachers join or remain in the profession. As with any trainee teacher, the workload for an apprentice teacher will be high. And what about the workload of their colleagues? Trainees need a lot of support from their leaders, their mentors, their colleagues. At a time of critical teacher shortage, with a workforce where 48% have less than 10 years’ experience, where many are already struggling with extra duties, where will that capacity be found?

“Teacher apprenticeships are a new way of packaging school-based training, with a lot of unknowns around salary levels, quality assurance and the value and portability of the teaching qualification earned through this route. The latter would not only

affect those on this route but could also have an impact on the status of the teaching profession in this country.

Anyone hoping to offer this route needs to ensure that their apprentices gain a qualification that will prepare and motivate them for a teaching career.”

Uncertainty about the status, quality and impact of teacher apprenticeships is not the only likely source of confusion, according to Clark. “The DfE has now prioritised communicating with schools about how the apprenticeship levy will work for them, although we are concerned that, with schools now paying, this is too little too late. With the amount of change happening around apprenticeships, and relevant information available across a number of different sources, considerable confusion remains.”

It is not only the schools sector that is struggling to get to grips with a complex and fast-moving agenda.

The Confederation of British Industry has warned that without a “transition period” the levy could pose “big risks” to many large employers. Ahead of the introduction of the levy, the Local Government Association was calling for schools to be exempt, pointing out the “unfair hand” council-maintained schools have been dealt compared with academies and faith schools.

The current unavailability of teacher apprenticeships is another reason for a cautious consideration of the implications for schools. The impact of the scheme as it gets under way needs to be monitored carefully.

For Schools’ Guide to Apprenticeship Reforms go to www.gov.uk/ government/publications/ apprenticeships-reforms-guidefor-schools. ATL’s factsheet on apprenticeships can be found here: www.atl.org.uk/qualityapprenticeships

THE LEVY AT A GLANCE The apprenticeship levy is payable at 0.5% of payroll, for employers with a pay bill of £3 million or more per year. These employers will also receive a £15,000 allowance to offset the cost. So an employer with a pay bill of £3,500,000 will pay an apprenticeship levy at 0.5% of £17,500. However, the £15,000 allowance will reduce this to £2,500.

Local authorities will be responsible for the levy, but may pass the cost on to schools.

Multi-academy trusts, large colleges and standalone academies will also be expected to pay the levy. Large colleges and standalone academies, and multi-academy trusts, as employers, can directly access funding for apprenticeship training through their digital apprenticeship training accounts. Where the employer is the local authority, schools access funding for apprenticeship training via the authority’s digital apprenticeship service account.

APRIL 2017 | ELM 9

F E AT U R E

2016 92% of leaders say workload is a problem

(Source: The Teacher Workload Survey 2016)

Overworked...

Two and a half years since the Government promised to tackle unnecessary work

GETTY IMAGES, SHUTTERSTOCK

B

ack in October 2014, the then education secretary Nicky Morgan launched a Workload Challenge, with an invitation for teachers to tell the Government why they are overworked.

And they did, in their thousands.

In response, the Government made a series of commitments to tackle unnecessary workload.

They included setting up three working groups to draw up recommendations on cutting time spent on marking, planning and data collection – three areas highlighted as major drivers of workload by teachers. Another of its commitments was to survey teachers biannually on workload.

Two and a half years on, where are we? If the findings of two recent surveys are anything to go by – largely where we were.

In February, the Department for Education (DfE) published The Teacher Workload Survey 2016, the first of the biannual surveys. Its findings laid bare its failure to fulfil its promise on workload.

Leaders are working an average 60-hour week. And 92% say workload remains a problem, for 42% a “serious” one.

The findings from the DfE’s survey echo what AMiE members told us about workload when we surveyed them, with 81% saying workload has

increased, rather than decreased, in the last year. For 62% of respondents, workload is attributed to changing practice to accommodate new Government policy.

“I am at best a month behind where I should be and I am constantly frightened that this lapse will grow,” said one leader who answered our survey. Another’s response reflected weary resignation. “Things won’t change so I don’t worry anymore.

I just go and do my job and get out again. I refuse to work in the evening so things like marking and planning are left!”

And what of the reports on planning, marking and data, which were published in March 2016? Only six per cent of leaders we surveyed have used the marking report to change practice; three per cent to change what they do with data; and two per cent to change how they plan and prepare for lessons.

Awareness of the reports is also low. The marking report has not been seen/read by 62% of those surveyed, while 71% and 72% respectively have not read/seen those on data and planning.

“These are deeply disappointing figures, but in some respects unsurprising,” says AMiE director Mark Wright. “The Government has been keen to take a step back, insisting that schools can work together by themselves to improve performance as part

26%

of leaders said they have reviewed school polices in areas such as marking

10 ELM | APRIL 2017

2017 81% of leaders say workload has increased in the last year

(Source: AMiE’s workload survey)

and overlooked

kload, research shows leaders feel very little has changed. Words Sally Gillen of a ‘self-improving system’. However, this distancing denies the obvious fact that Government remains the most powerful player in the system – it cannot pretend that it isn’t the elephant in the room. Taking a step back while at the same time presiding over a policy storm for schools to respond to is a continued recipe for increased workload.

“While there are signs that Justine Greening, recognising its negative impact, is seeking to temper the flow of policy change, its accumulative nature leaves school leaders increasingly chasing their tails,” he adds. “Pension and NI increases, apprentice levy contributions, curriculum change, and SEN cuts are just some of the many policy decisions that, taken together, are weighing heavily on school leaders tasked with squaring a circle and keeping pupils’ education on track.

Is it any wonder so few leaders are aware of the DfE workload reports from last year? It places school leaders in the invidious position of either passing on the pain down the line – running the risk of increasing staff stress, sickness and decisions to leave, or making brave choices to prioritise policy demands – or running the risk of being exposed for not fulfilling the overbearing responsibilities expected of the school leader.” Inevitably leaders will ask themselves: “Is this really necessary

to improve outcomes given the other responsibilitites teachers have on their plate?” Nevertheless, despite the unrelenting workload generated centrally, there is no shortage of evidence that good leaders are devising ways of cutting workload for their staff, and at the same time turning their attention to ways of boosting staff well-being. ATL-AMiE has been into many schools to help leaders assess workload and implement policies that will reduce the burden on staff as part of the work-life campaign, ‘It’s about time…’ , which was launched in November 2015 and has staff well-being at its heart.

Our survey of leaders found that 12% have set up a well-being committee in their school, 11% are implementing well-being strategies and six per cent have included well-being as part of performance management.

Elsewhere, leaders are focusing on other ways to reduce workload. More than a quarter – 26% – said they have reviewed school polices in areas such as marking, while 22% have reduced the number of meetings – a major time-stealer.

Tim Samuel, head of a primary in Surrey, says: “In some ways workload has not significantly changed, due to new assessment procedures, which we have been trying to get our heads around over the past two academic years. We are still finding our way in

22%

of leaders have reduced the number of meetings – a major time stealer

APRIL 2017 | ELM 11

F E AT U R E

2017 62%

of leaders say new Government policy has created workload

a world without levels, which can prove a challenge when you try to do any kind of moderation work with other schools.”

He adds that the tension between what the DfE and Ofsted expect also generates a lot of work. “Ofsted says it isn’t expecting us to mark in a particular way, that we don’t have to do excessive levels of marking, and yet there are schools I’m aware of where Ofsted inspectors wanted to look at the quantity of marking and how the progress was shown. The marking has to be there to understand what the progress is now we don’t have levels, but getting the balance right with teacher workload is an issue.

“Ofsted very much looks at evidence of progress in the books, and with the new age-related expectations for each year group there almost has to be that level of marking to go through and identify where that child is. Without that level of work you can’t get the information to be able to inform a decision on where that child is.”

But while the wider system continues to heap work on, Samuel says he has made changes to try to lessen the workload burden on staff by looking at where time can be saved or used more effectively. “We used to have a 20-minute, all-staff daily meeting, which was not an effective use of teacher time, so we looked at different ways of communicating and retained those meetings on just Monday and Friday,” he explains, adding: “We have been keen to ensure that PPA is as generous as it can be.

We have tried really hard to protect PPA time as a solid block so teachers have a whole morning, rather than lots of small amounts. This has allowed teachers to visit other outstanding practitioners in nearby schools.”

Well-being is increasingly a priority for Samuel because he recognises the challenges and pressures teachers face.

“A number of teachers I know of have left teaching due to excessive workload and the impact and pressure it has had on them and their families. This has certainly contributed to the very difficult recruitment and retention landscape we are in, which is one of the biggest challenges facing schools.

“It really made us think, what are we doing to these teachers?

What do we need to think about to address this situation? We then had a whole-school approach looking at well-being called Every Teacher Matters, which is about inspiring well-being through mindfulness approaches. We have done some training on mindfulness, which has proved very popular and is used with staff and children. I encourage all staff to go home by 12 ELM | APRIL 2017

4pm at least once a week, and I encourage teachers to go and do something they enjoy. I try to do the same because I believe effective leadership is setting an example.”

Staff do appreciate that we look at what we can do to alleviate workload where possible, says Samuel. “A big thing is planning.

I’ve always maintained that I don’t want to see pages and pages.

I have said that unless I am concerned about the performance of children in your class, then I don’t need to see your detailed daily planning. You don’t need to produce planning in any particular way for me, as long as you have a clear sense of progress in your teaching, which is evident in the work children produce.”

In the four years since he became head, there has been constant change, he adds. A new curriculum, assessment without levels, then new testing for Years 2 and 6. “That’s really put a spanner in the works. In terms of the expectations around writing, everything came out so late last year and it caused a great deal of stress. We have been very lucky in that we achieved very highly.

Last year we didn’t do well in certain areas, particularly reading in our Year 6. That’s put a lot of pressure on our Year 6 staff to focus on what went wrong and look at how we can stop that happening again. But we feel we were stabbing in the dark last year and that the tests were quite different from what we were expecting. We probably didn’t focus on the right things because we didn’t know what they were.”

His plea to Government – and no doubt that of many other leaders – is to ease up on the policy change. “We also need some parity between Ofsted and the DfE,” he adds. “My biggest challenge is that I see some young members of staff coming into the school who are in their early to mid-twenties; they are giving it everything they can and beyond, and they could make themselves ill.” ■

Go to www.atl.org.uk/abouttime for ‘It’s about time…’ resources available to use in your school. Soon some leader-specific resources will also be available.

FPERAT O FUI RL E

T

hirty-four seconds. The time it takes Peter Lee’s pupils to move from their tutor group to period one is evidently a source of pride. “It is about minimising time wasted,” says Lee, head of school at Q3 Academy Langley, which is just eight months old and the first new secondary in Sandwell, in Birmingham, for a decade. “If you are wasting six or seven minutes between lessons and you multiply that over a day, a week, an academic year, then over five years, that’s a lot of learning time.”

So, transitions are swift and carried out in near silence.

“We had one parent say: ‘I don’t like this system, they have to walk between lessons without talking’,” says Lee. “They don’t actually. They can say hello.”

Anything more equals a five-minute detention. Lee runs a tight ship, as AMiE president Julia Neal and I discovered when we visited to find out how you start a school from scratch.

Arriving, the signs that the school is a work in progress are there: scaffolding at one end of the building, sheets of plastic flapping in the wind, and a digger sitting in churned mud. The deep red, newly painted, single storey (at this stage) building stands against a grey sky.

Inside it smells of new carpet. A site officer is fixing a box to the wall that holds postcards designed to encourage students experiencing mental health problems to speak up. It asks: “RU OK?” It’s quiet. As we pass classrooms on our way to the boardroom, I glance through windows and see students seated at tables of four, heads down, busily writing.

Lee has a PowerPoint presentation ready in the boardroom. “Why Q3?” asks

Julia. “It’s Latin,” he explains. “The Q stands for quaerere, which means ‘to seek’. The 3 represents the three ideals – that which is good, right and true. Our sponsor’s late wife chose it. It’s our ethos, and we talk about this with the children all the time.” It links to the school’s vision, which is ‘to educate the whole child underpinned by Christian values’.

Lee smiles. “I’ve got the best job in the world. In education, what could be better than setting up your own school?”

A police officer turned teacher, Lee  has worked in education for 12 years.

“I’ve got the best job in the world” PETER LEE HAS A VISION FOR HIS RECENTLY OPENED SECONDARY SCHOOL AND, AS SALLY GILLEN DISCOVERED, THINGS ARE FAR FROM TRADITIONAL. . .

APRIL 2017 | ELM 13

PROFILE

“CHILDREN GET A DETENTION IF THEY DON’T HAVE A RULER. THAT’S FIVE MINUTES. IF THEY DON’T HAVE A PEN, THAT’S FIVE. WE CALL THOSE ‘STANDARDS’.”

After joining the fast-track scheme he was promoted quickly. Within a year he was head of department, in two, head of faculty, and four years in, an assistant head. “Then I slowed down and realised I didn’t know everything,” he laughs.

Being the first head of a new school has many advantages. One, says Lee, is that he has been able to focus on Year 7 and transition. “If I had become a head going into a school I would have had to focus on Year 11 and exam results, but here I have been able to think about what’s best for the children, what’s best for transition.”

“The model I’ve gone for is like primary instead of traditional secondary. We have extended lessons that are roughly 100 minutes. Our curriculum is based on the English baccalaureate, and whatever your views on that, my Progress 8 figure in five years will be decided on children hitting those eight buckets.”

At Q3 Academy Langley, staff are in at 7.45am for a briefing before they welcome the pupils at 8am. The early start is a condition of the planning permission, as residents were concerned about traffic.

Each morning, an equipment check is carried out. Fourteen students were given

a five-minute detention on the first day of term for not having a pencil sharpener.

“Children get a detention if they don’t have a ruler,” says Lee. “That’s five minutes. If they don’t have a pen, that’s five, if they don’t have another pen then that’s another five. We call those ‘standards’. It has worked. Maybe two children a day don’t have a pen.”

Is that not a little harsh? “There are things that some people do find harsh, but at my last school 45 students doing their English GCSE did not have a pen.

That is a disgrace.”

The context in which the school has opened may provide some clues as to what may seem an unusually sharp focus on standards and discipline. In 2016, Ofsted heavily criticised secondary school performance across the Black Country, with one of its concerns being that secondaries weren’t building on pupils’ progress at primary.

“We don’t want to go back there,” says Lee. “We want to give children the best start, and having the right equipment, being ready to learn, and transitioning safely and securely is important.”

The school itself is unusual, funded partly by a local authority,

1 Pupils at Q3 Academy Langley are expected to behave according to the STEPS system

In order to help you on your pursuit of Excellence at Q3 Academy, and to live out our ethos – to seek what is good, right and true – we adopt this system when we speak to anybody in the Academy.

These are our STEPS to Pursuing Excellence!

S

Sir or Miss. Address all adults in the manner or end each reply this way. The Langley Full Stop.

T

Thank anyone who does anything for you by clearly saying ‘Thank You’.

E

Eye contact - with any person you interact with.

P

Please. Use this word when you request anything, either at the start or end of the sentence.

S

Smile. Make sure you do this at all times. A positive facial expression leads to positive outcomes!

These STEPS cost us nothing, but allow us to pursue excellence at all times!

14 ELM | APRIL 2017

Sandwell Council, and sponsored by businessman Eric Payne and his late wife Grace through the Grace Charitable Trust, which also sponsors Q3 Academy Great Barr, the other school in the multiacademy trust. The deeds were given to the academy.

It has been built to head off a predicted 2,000-place shortage in the Oldbury area of Sandwell by 2022. Unlike most schools in Sandwell, which have aptitude tests for entry, neither of the Q3 academies do. It has local authority admissions.

“It’s looked-after children, children with special educational needs, siblings and then as the crow flies,” explains Lee. Around 40% of the school’s first cohort of 152 students are pupil premium. They are taught in mixed-ability classrooms.

“I am a convert. This has had benefits in that none of the staff have talked about a sink group, a group they love teaching, a group they dislike teaching,” he says.

“Eleven students who don’t meet the age-related expectations from primary school are in the accelerated core enterprise (ACE) group. They have one teacher, instead of five, to aid transition.”

Is that not stigmatising? “We chose the name ACE deliberately – and I know that sounds glib and clichéd – but we haven’t found that children feel stigmatised,” he adds. “Come and take a look.” He leads us out of the boardroom through the corridor to just outside the classroom.

We hear soft, electronic keyboard music, which Lee tells us signals the last five minutes of the lesson. It is played again a minute before the end to encourage children to reflect upon their learning and where they need to be next.

It’s lunchtime. Julia and I sit with students for what Lee calls ‘family lunch’.

Once the children are seated with their food, on tables of eight, Lee walks to the front of the room and raises his arm to signal quiet, an action copied by the children. He introduces the lunchtime discussion topic, which today is mental health. Minutes before the end of the break, he reappears at the front of the room and repeats the signal, before asking children what they have been discussing on the chosen topic. Then it’s time for ‘appreciations’. Arms shoot up.

“I’d like to thank Miss for a really good French lesson,” says one child. Everyone gives two short claps. “I’d like to thank John for coming back to school today after he was ill,” says another. Two short claps. Then it is playtime.

PROFILE

0 The staff team at Q3 Academy Langley, where teachers are called learning consultants to fit its corporate approach

I ask Lee why children are given a topic rather than discussing what they want. “They can,” he says. “We just have a topic to discuss too. It makes lunch more civilised.”

Creating a nurturing environment for the children is at the heart of Lee’s vision. Extended lessons, soft music at the end of lessons, and play time instead of break time are examples of that.

“We have kept them very young,” explains Lee. “They have play time.

They run; they play tag. We had four children ask if Santa exists in December.”

And his approach has a clear rationale, given the notoriously tricky transition from key stage 2 to key stage 3.

Nevertheless, this makes for some interesting contrasts. The children wear pinstripes and a cravat. Their “business dress”, rather than uniform, is designed to make them “business-esque”, explains Lee. “We don’t have ‘houses’, we have ‘companies’. That’s our sponsor’s ethos – business. It’s about having aspirations, about making this school less traditional.”

That may explain why the school’s website describes staff as learning consultants rather than teachers.

“I want a teacher who will come in at 7.30, leave at 4.30 and then not work in the evening or on the weekend,” says Lee.

“The 12 weeks’ holiday a year are where staff recharge their batteries.”

Later, however, he says: “My big vision is that I will pay teachers to come in during the holidays and plan a subject and it will be given to colleagues to teach. In teaching there’s far too much reinventing the wheel.”

Planning is an area that Lee has focused a lot of time on. “The way I have planned PPA is like a primary, rather than a traditional secondary. In secondaries PPA is a joke. It’s near your duty time so you clear the corridors, go back to the office and make a cup of tea and then you have 20 minutes left. Here staff have PPA time from 12.20-15.40 on a Wednesday afternoon and a minimum of one 100-minute period during the week too; some staff have two of those.”

His teachers submit their PowerPoint lesson plans to him at the beginning of the week, which follow a standard format.

Marking – another big driver of teacher workload – still needs fine-tuning, he admits. There is one piece of assessed GCSE-style work on a Friday for what the school calls horizon subjects, such as drama and art. Core subjects are marked weekly, following guidance from Ofsted, the DfE and unions that not every piece of work needs to be marked. Verbal feedback isn’t recorded. “We’ve invested in visualisers in every classroom to give immediate feedback. The rest of the week I want work on sugar paper and mini whiteboards. I don’t want a lot of work done in a book.”

“WE DON’T HAVE ‘HOUSES’, WE HAVE ‘COMPANIES’.

THAT’S OUR SPONSOR’S ETHOS – BUSINESS.”

As our visit draws to an end, Lee sets out some of his ideas for the future. As his school grows – 240 students start in September – head of department jobs will be created, offering staff opportunities for promotion.

His vision is that he will have teams of teachers who work only in Year 7 and 8 and then Year 9 and 10. “I loved KS3 but my bread and butter was Year 10/11. Given the opportunity to teach the same lessons across the trust, on the same subject, the same topic, I’d like that. I said to one teacher, ‘you could stay in Year 7 with all your lessons planned, there would be no external pressure on exam results’.”

Julia nods. “One of the pressures with a timetable is that it gives you a bit of everything”, she says. She suggests that the important role Lee has had in setting up the school and overseeing staff won’t be possible as the school grows. By 2022, he will have 1,590 students.

“Upscaling will be a challenge,” Lee agrees. “But I have some ideas…”

What do you think of the approach taken at Q3 Academy Langley? Let us know @AMiE_ATL.

PETER LEE F Completed the fast-track programme and trained at the University of Warwick, obtaining a PGCE in 2004-5.

F NQT year at Queensbridge School in Birmingham 2005-6.

F Promoted to head of history, then head of humanities, before being made an assistant head in 2009. This included dual-site work at Queensbridge and Moseley schools.

F Moved to Sandwell to become an assistant vice principal at Q3 Academy in 2012.

F Promoted to vice principal and head of school designate for Q3 Academy Langley, which was opened in September 2016.

APRIL 2017 | ELM 15

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ABOUT AMiE

RESOURCES TO TACKLE WORKLOAD What can you do to reduce workload for your staff? With 93% of teachers who responded to a recent Department for Education (DfE) survey describing workload as a problem – the figure was 92% among leaders – reducing it remains a battle. Yet there is plenty of evidence that good leaders are doing what they can to help their staff and, in turn, reduce recruitment and retention problems.

New polices in areas such as marking and planning have been introduced by many school leaders, while others are thinking about ways to boost the well-being of teachers. Taking care of staff is a priority for good leaders, who recognise that, while individually they may have little control over the deluge of work-generating policies coming from the DfE, changes they can make in their organisations will help their staff. Resources produced as part of our work-life campaign ‘It’s about time…’ are designed to help you review some of your practices. Our guidance for leaders distils the main messages from the three workload reports published by the DfE in March 2016.

Marking It should be manageable, meaningful and motivating. Carry out a review of marking practice, evaluate the time implications of marking policies, monitor marking practice, evaluate its effectiveness and challenge any fads.

Planning and resources Planning should not be done simply to please outside organisations. Teachers should have well-defined blocks of time to undertake meaningful planning. You can’t judge good teaching by seeing a lesson plan. School leaders should review the demands of planning, ensure that schemes of work and resources are available, and give time for planning new ones.

Data management School leaders should conduct regular audits of data management procedures, including that for governing boards. Only collect summative data three times a year at most, collect the least amount of data and at agreed data collection points.

3 MORE INFO For more on the guidance for leaders go to www.atl.org.uk/ dfeleaderguide

POSTER ON CUTTING WORKLOAD

National helpline Tel: 01858 464171 Email: helpline@amie.atl.org.uk

AMiE 35 The Point, Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7QU Tel: 01858 461110 www.amie.atl.org.uk

LEADING TO OUTSTANDING TEACHING & LEARNING COURSE:

• what success looks like – the key factors

• how to create a create a strong vision and climate of outstanding teaching • what excellent teacher self- assessment looks like

WHO CAN JOIN? Colleges: AMiE welcomes managers at all levels in FE colleges, sixth-form colleges and adult education providers.

Schools: We warmly invite school headteachers (including those in academies), deputy headteachers, assistant headteachers, acting headteachers, bursars and business managers to join AMiE. We also have many members in national organisations, training organisations and other areas of the education sector, including HE.

CONTACTING AMiE

The Department for Education is urging leaders to make use of three reports recommending ways to address workload caused by lesson planning, marking and data collection. An action plan setting out how the DfE plans to reduce workload is also available from www.gov.uk/ government/publications/reducing-teachers-workload

• how to put student experience, development and progression at the heart of teaching in your school or college

We are the only union to represent managers and leaders across the entire education sector, providing: • help, advice and support: a confidential helpline, online guidance and a network of professional and experienced regional officers to support you in your role as both an employee, and as a manager or leader • excellent personal and professional development: accredited training and development opportunities for you in your role as a manager or leader • a voice in the education debate: an opportunity to influence policy and get involved in issues that affect you • publications and resources: a range of free publications focused on contemporary leadership issues • more for your membership: discounts and rewards for you and your family on a range of products and services.

And, with 50% off your first year’s membership*, there’s never been a better time to join AMiE. Join online at www.amie.atl.org.uk/join or call 0845 057 7000 (local call).

Let AMiE take you further.

• how to build and manage successful teams including developing colleagues and ensuring high standards and expectations for all.

The course is for those new and aspiring to senior roles, established middle and junior leaders, those new to a leadership role, course or subject leaders, pastoral staff leaders, support staff leaders and those with potential to move into these roles. 9am, 23 June in Bristol. £50. Go to www.atl.org.uk/learningzone

Mark Wright Director of AMiE Tel: 020 7782 1530 Mobile: 07436 805330 Email: mwright@amie.atl.org.uk For membership queries, please contact the membership department on 020 7782 1602 or email: membership@atl.org.uk. *TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY, VISIT WWW.AMIE.ATL.ORG.UK FOR FULL SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS, MEMBERSHIP ELIGIBILITY AND FURTHER INFORMATION.

APRIL 2017 | ELM 17

Look, listen and learn TERRY PEARSON, CONTRIBUTOR TO NEW BOOK RECLAIMING LESSON OBSERVATION, EXPLAINS WHAT LEADERS AND MANAGERS MAY GAIN FROM TAKING A MORE VARIED APPROACH TO LESSON OBSERVATIONS

VIEW PICTURES/UIG VIA GETTY IMAGES

T

hroughout my career, I have observed more than a thousand teachers working in settings including schools and colleges. In most, lesson observations follow a similar format: a manager or leader watches, makes notes and then gives the teacher feedback.

It has been done this way for 25 years.

However, 2013 research by Dr Matt O’Leary, Developing a National Framework for the Effective use of Lesson Observation in Further Education, shows that there is considerable scope for improving lesson observations. This study of almost 4,000 teachers in further education colleges in England found 74.8% did not agree that lesson observations helped them improve as classroom practitioners.

Research in 2014 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) found that compared with teachers in 33 other countries, fewer teachers in England reported that the feedback they received about their performance led to positive changes in their teaching practices.

18 ELM | APRIL 2017

By adopting different ways to encourage teachers to reflect on their teaching, the primary benefit of lesson observations – to support teacher professional learning and proficiency in the classroom – can be enhanced.

Moreover, a teacher’s self-efficacy, which is defined by researchers Megan Tschannen-Moran, Anita Woolfolk Hoy and Wayne K. Hoy as “a teacher’s belief in their capability to organise and execute courses of action required to successfully complete a specific teaching task in a particular context”, can also be boosted by rethinking the approach to lesson observations.

Research by PT Ashton and RB Webb, Making a Difference: Teachers’ Sense of Self-Efficacy and Student Achievement, shows that teachers with a high sense of self-efficacy demonstrate greater

levels of enthusiasm, are more willing to experiment with innovative teaching methods, and work longer with struggling students.

In short, the more efficacious a teacher is, the more their students advance in a range of subjects.

Instead of focusing on traditional lesson observation, school leaders can do more to promote their teachers’ self-efficacy by enabling them to: •w atch their own teaching, perhaps by video •w atch the teaching of others •b e watched while teaching and receive feedback.

Self-observation, for example, allows teachers to see themselves through their own eyes and, to some extent, relive particular episodes of teaching through recalling and

“THE POWER OF THIRD-PARTY FEEDBACK IS ALMOST ENTIRELY RELIANT ON THE CREDIBILITY OF THE PERSON GIVING IT AND THE TRUSTWORTHINESS OF THE INFORMATION BEING PRESENTED.”

MASTERCLASS

reviewing emotions, thoughts, ideas, perceptions and concerns. In turn, it allows them to identify setbacks, recall what they felt at the time and what, if anything, they did to overcome the obstacles that faced them.

Observing other teachers also has an impact on self-efficacy. When teachers watch colleagues they not only gather information about the abilities of their peers, but they may also see their own teaching in that of their colleagues. This can lead to a heightened self-awareness of who they are as teachers as well as the practice they use. Peer observation of teaching – most notably when the

emphasis is shifted from observing to evaluate teaching to observing to learn from teaching, has been shown to increase teachers’ – confidence when they see others successfully using similar practice to themselves. They may also see others do well in situations where they have been less successful, which provides them with evidence of the success of alternative ways of working in classrooms, which may increase their willingness to explore these further.

Leaders and managers should consider how peer observation may be used to help teachers identify and underscore their capabilities in the classroom and their readiness and enthusiasm for trying out alternative ways of working.

Feedback received from being observed by another in the form of

verbal persuasion is potentially the least influential source of self-efficacy information.

The power of third-party feedback is almost entirely reliant on the credibility of the person giving it and the trustworthiness of the information being presented.

Leaders and managers need to explore how feedback can be delivered in a way that is focused on helping teachers to see the things that inspire them to teach in the ways they do, allowing them to gain an insight into their practice, rather than as a means of classifying the quality of their teaching. This won’t be easy for many. It will require a culture change because for the whole career of many leaders, managers and teachers the only type of lesson observation experienced, following their initial teacher education, has been that of third-party observation followed by feedback. This method of observation has been policy-driven rather than influenced by credible research findings and has become entrenched in the lives of leaders and teachers.

In my experience it is rare for schools and colleges to invest time and effort into developing lesson observations that enable teachers to learn from seeing the work of colleagues, although this does of course happen during initial teacher education.

Moreover, when teachers are given the opportunity to see themselves at work, for example through videos of their teaching, they are rarely left to analyse their performance for themselves. This is usually done by a manager or leader.

It is important to note that while self-perceptions of teaching efficacy are personally constructed, teachers develop a self-view of how to teach in their organisations, which is shaped by their perceptions of how others teach and through feedback which they believe meets the approval of those around them. Several studies have confirmed the importance of the institutional setting for the development and enhancement of self-efficacy.

Teachers who work in organisations with a supportive organisational climate that fosters highly collaborative relationships and enables teachers to exercise control over key working Terry Pearson is an AMiE member and education researcher and consultant.

Reinvigorating lesson observations – getting started There is no one-size-fits-all approach to using lesson observations to develop teacher self-efficacy. Nevertheless, school/college leaders and managers might find the following actions helpful.

• R aise awareness among teachers and leaders in schools/colleges of the benefits of enhanced teacher self-efficacy, particularly for improving student outcomes.

• Emphasise the important role lesson observations can play in addressing staff development needs as well as identifying them.

• Review the lesson observation policy to make sure it includes a range of observation opportunites.

• Encourage teachers and leaders to experiment with lesson observations so the policy evolves and captures the multiple ways in which observations can contribute to teacher learning.

• Help teachers develop skills to set their own professional development agendas and provide support for completing them.

Key research findings and detail of a framework for considering how lesson observations may be used for enhancing collective teaching efficacy at the level of an entire organisation, and at relevant group and team levels, as well as teaching efficacy for the individual, are outlined in a chapter of Reclaiming Lesson Observation: Supporting excellence in teacher learning. O’Leary, M. ed., Routledge. 2016.

conditions are more likely to exhibit high levels of self-efficacy.

Consequently leaders, managers and teacher educators should find ways of developing systems in their organisations that enable teachers to access a range of lesson observations during their work and during their training if they are to cultivate selfefficacy among their teaching staff.

APRIL 2017 | ELM 19

ADVICE

Wrongfully denied pay progression

What can you do if you’re refused a pay rise for reasons unrelated to your performance?

I’m a senior leader at a maintained school and I’ve been told I won’t get a pay rise this year because the school has rising costs.

I feel this is unfair because I’ve worked hard and the school’s results have improved. How can I challenge this?

Firstly, the school’s costs are not a valid reason for denying you pay progression.

If you are employed at a maintained school or you transferred to an academy, you are covered by the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), which says decisions on pay must be clearly attributable to the individual’s performance and related to appraisal.

When deciding whether a leader should receive pay progression, the school needs to determine whether performance has been of high quality, which will be measured using the appraisal targets set by the leader and the chair of governors.

It is worth noting that even if all objectives have not been met, leaders

will not necessarily be denied pay progression. AMiE recommends that the school’s pay policy should set out clearly the discretion the school has in making these decisions. Make sure you read this policy carefully. It may be that you have performed well but circumstances within the school have affected your ability to achieve your targets. Staff absences, funding and poor health resulting from unreasonable workload are examples of problems that may have had an impact on your ability to meet appraisal targets.

The STPCD says that pay for deputy and assistant heads will be decided annually, usually by the governing body. Some headteachers have delegated powers to make decisions on pay. However, AMiE opposes this type of policy and will help you to challenge it if it applies in your school.

A recommendation on pay must be included in the appraisal report and those making decisions on pay must “have regard” to the recommendation.

The STPCD also says that if the appraisal shows a “sustained high quality of performance”, the individual should expect to be moved up the pay range.

The appraisal report and findings should be handed to the pay committee, the governing body or the person making a decision on pay, who will

“THE SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PAY AND CONDITIONS DOCUMENT SAYS DECISIONS ON PAY MUST BE CLEARLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO THE INDIVIDUAL’S PERFORMANCE AND RELATED TO APPRAISAL.” 20 ELM | APRIL 2017

consider the recommendation by the appraiser, usually the head.

The STPCD says the committee may also invite individuals to give oral or written representations before making their decision. This is important when the appraisal report recommends that a pay rise should not be given.

It is best practice that written confirmation will be given on the decision to withhold pay progression, setting out the reasons, usually at the same meeting.

If you have been told you cannot have a pay rise and you believe the decision is unfair, the first thing you should do is read your school’s policy on pay, and then get in contact with AMiE. Initially, we will raise your issue informally. Then, if necessary, your case may be pursued as a formal grievance.

AMiE has successfully challenged cases where pay progression has been withheld, using the STPCD. Within the last 18 months, cases have included an acting head who was told there were no funds for a pay rise. An appeal usually takes four to six weeks to resolve, although it may take longer.

You may worry that challenging a pay decision will sour your relationship with your manager, but a good leader will always challenge unfairness. If your challenge is supported by evidence and presented professionally, the process may enhance your reputation as a leader who stands firm, while keeping dignity and respect.

3 MORE INFO If you have been turned down for pay progression, please contact your local AMiE officer or call, in the first instance, the helpline on 01858 464171.

U N I O N M AT T E R S

PLAYING THE WAITING GAME ATL-AMiE is urging the Government to publish its consultation paper on primary assessment promised at the start of the year WORDS SALLY GILLEN

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alks on reforming primary assessment and accountability remain high on ATL-AMiE’s agenda. As ELM went to press, a consultation paper on proposed changes that Justine Greening promised would be published at the start of the year had yet to appear.

ATL-AMiE and other unions have been meeting regularly with the Department for Education since April 2016, to discuss concerns over primary assessment, which descended into chaos last year.

Six months into the talks, Greening said that she would publish a consultation paper on primary assessment and accountability, covering issues including the best starting point to begin measuring progress at the beginning of 2017.

“Our members need to know that the Government has listened to their concerns,” says ATL policy adviser Anne Heavey. “We met with the Standards and Testing Agency, the Department for Education and other unions to discuss these issues in depth; now we need to see a plan we can all get behind and trust for the long term.”

While unions continue to wait for the paper to be released, MPs on the Education Select Committee have been conducting an inquiry into primary assessment, which ATL-AMiE has submitted evidence to. We said the current system does not work. While accountability is important, the overreliance on the individual test and assessment results of pupils has not given us a fair or reliable accountability system.

We are not opposed to assessment and testing, but the primary purpose of assessment and testing should be to support and inform teaching and learning. Teachers and leaders should be able to access training and support to develop their assessment skills and knowledge. The school curriculum and assessment arrangements should be accessible to all learners, including those with SEND or low prior attainment, and

provide useful information to parents and teachers about children’s learning and development.

Heavey says that while schools minister Nick Gibb conceded assessment did not go “as smoothly” as he had hoped last year, he downplayed the debacle when he gave evidence to the committee in February.

“Nick Gibb doesn’t seem to think teachers will ensure children know their times tables without a new test,” says Heavey. “This lack of trust is poor, when just days before speaking to the college of teaching Justine Greening made a big point in calling teachers the ‘experts’.

“Ofqual (which helps quality assure the work of the STA) thinks that any changes or new assessment should undergo significant trials before roll-out,” she said.

More positively, Gibb seemed a lot less convinced that a reliable and accurate baseline model exists for a reception

“THE DATA THAT HAS COME OUT OF THESE ASSESSMENTS IS NOT A FAIR REFLECTION OF THE WORK THESE SCHOOLS HAVE DONE.” baseline test, and Ofqual representatives also appeared sceptical that a reception baseline assessment could work.

The meetings that have been taking place since April have focused on finding consensus about what an assessment and accountability system could look like that would work for the pupils, parents, schools and also the Government.

“We have all got our ideas about what information we need to know that schools are running comfortably – what parents need, what is useful for pupils, what helps transition,” says Heavey.

“How do we bring it back to teaching and learning rather than just measuring the children for numbers to feed into league tables that people don’t understand?”

“We have had some quite concerning casework involving leaders in the last term whereby the new progress measures have caused problems for staff where they have got unexpected results.

Because the attainment threshold is still so high – 65% is the floor standard – nationally only 53% of children hit that attainment threshold, so very few schools got through on attainment alone.”

The reading test in particular caused a lot of problems. The writing assessments were also very problematic.

“The data that has come out of these assessments is not a fair reflection of the work that these schools have done. A lot of leaders have felt very vulnerable.

We’re aware that, because of the use of KS1 data, which has its own set of problems, there are a lot of leaders, particularly those who are trying to take on schools in challenging circumstances, who now find themselves incredibly vulnerable.

“Leaders with performance targets that say 80% will reach this are unrealistic. We did some work in the last cycle to prepare for this, suggesting to leaders how to set ambitious and meaningful targets that wouldn’t set people up to fail. Obviously, the message didn’t get through to everyone,” she adds.

ATL-AMiE is hoping to see meaningful long-term alternatives we can buy into.

That’s what we’ve been negotiating for, and one of the reasons why we backed down over industrial action this year.

While ATL-AMiE supported removing levels in principle, the DfE did nothing to help schools prepare parents apart from a couple of leaflets with the results, Heavey points out. “With every school having to find its own way without levels, it’s confusing,” she says. “We really need to see this consultation paper now.”

3 MORE INFO For more updates on AMiE-ATL’s response to the consultation paper when it is published follow @ATL_AMiE

APRIL 2017 | ELM 21

FINAL WORD

chool funding has risen up the political agenda. School leaders, in their desperate attempts to balance budgets, are thinking the previously unthinkable as they consider narrowed curriculums, reduced subject choices, larger class sizes, redundancies and even shortening the school day.

But there is a danger, in all the furore, that education professionals could take aim at the wrong target. The proposed national funding formula (NFF) is not the problem. Remarkably, for a Conservative Government, the NFF is progressive, giving greater weight to pupil deprivation (up from 7.6% to 9.3%), to low prior attainment (4.3% to 7.5%) and English as additional language (0.9% to 1.2%). Under the formula, 44% of pupils in England will get more money.

However, the emphasis on deprivation has angered the f40, a group of councillors from the country’s lowest funded local authorities. In a letter to Theresa May, they argue “the proposals direct too large a proportion towards deprivation”.

But, the 2016 social mobility report should make us face the unpalatable fact that, in the UK, pupils’ educational achievements are dictated by the circumstances of their birth. The UK has the fifth largest economy in the world, and yet 2.3 million children are officially classified as poor.

Inequality begins at birth and grows with the child.

The stats are shocking: social class is a major determinant of school readiness – and in the last decade half a million

22 ELM | APRIL 2017

children were not ready for school aged five. As the commissioners note, the link between social demography and educational destiny has not been broken: over the past five years, 1.2 million 16-year-olds – disproportionately from low-income homes – have left school without five good GCSEs. So I have no problem with the proposed funding formula’s weighting for deprivation. Poor pupils need significantly more support in school to achieve their potential. Instead of directing its ire at the formula, the f40 should be focusing on the funding settlement overall.

School leaders are expected to make £3 billion of ‘efficiency savings’ – an eight per cent real-terms cut in school funding by 2020.

The funding gap is compounded by Government incompetence. A recent National Audit Office report found the

FOCUSING ON FUNDING M A RY B O U ST E D, AT L G E N E R A L S E C R E TA RY

“THE STATS ARE SHOCKING: SOCIAL CLASS IS A MAJOR DETERMINANT OF SCHOOL READINESS – AND IN THE LAST DECADE, HALF A MILLION CHILDREN WERE NOT READY FOR SCHOOL AGED FIVE.” DfE had a list of the policy reforms it required schools to implement, yet no idea how much they would cost. The NAO noted: “It does not have assurance that its policies are affordable within current spending plans without adversely affecting educational outcomes. It leaves schools and multi-academy trusts to manage the consequences individually.”

While schools are left to their own devices, searching desperately for ways to balance the books, watching their buildings deteriorate and their resources dwindle, the Education Funding Agency purchases land, and buildings, at hugely inflated prices, to build free schools, often in areas where there is no pupil need.

In its botched Budget last month, May’s Government announced £320 million to create free schools, some of which might be selective. This will come back to haunt the prime minister.

As existing schools struggle with inadequate funding, and as the effects become clear to parents, local MPs will come under increasing pressure – which they will heap upon Government ministers.

In the meantime, my advice to school leaders is: do not hide the choices you are having to make from parents. Be clear where the cause of the problem lies – and work with parents, governors, unions and other stakeholders to campaign for a fair funding settlement for schools.

It takes some time for education to rise up the political agenda in the way that the NHS does so regularly.

But now that it has, we should not waste it by aiming at the wrong target.

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