EDUCATION LEADER AND MANAGER
Representing leaders and managers in education P O L I CY
HEADTEACHER RETENTION RATES: WHY ARE THEY FALLING? page 8
PROFILE
M A ST E R C L A S S
HOW A SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGER IS MAKING SAVINGS page 13
STANLEY PARK HIGH’S INNOVATIVE APPROACH page 18
JULY 2017 @ATL_AMiE
CASH CRISIS FUNDING CUTS ARE PUSHING SCHOOLS TOWARDS FINANCIAL MELTDOWN PAGE 10
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ELM / JULY 2017
INSIDE 4
Education news: with schools in crisis, ATL-AMiE steps up funding campaign
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The view from Wales and Northern Ireland
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How and why headteacher retention rates are falling
10
Funding cuts: running schools on a dwindling budget
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Looking at ways to make savings
18
Stanley Park High’s innovative approach
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Q&A: When parents post negative comments online
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Education is finally getting the attention it deserves
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 director 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. Cover: Ana Jaks
MARK WRIGHT AMiE DIRECTOR
@MarkW_AMiE
Welcome
Theresa May’s announcement back in April that there would be a general election this month was met with few cheers. It did, however, present an opportunity to force a debate on the biggest issue affecting education – funding. In the run-up to the election, politicians seemed to finally hear the alarm that education leaders have been sounding over cuts. Some, though, were listening more keenly than others. The £1 billion pledged by the Conservatives would equate to a real-terms cut by 2021-22. Labour’s £4.8 billion would protect per pupil funding, while the Liberal Democrats promised £2.2 billion, which would ensure no schools lose out under the national funding formula. As I write, the election result is not yet known, but let’s hope that whichever party is voted in, it honours its manifesto pledge on funding. For the Conservatives this will mean adding to the pot. When schools are forced to ration pencils (see page 10), it’s clear we have reached a crisis. Post-election, ATL-AMiE, along with the NUT, will be continuing to lobby on funding to make sure leaders have the money needed to deliver a first-class education to children and young people. As we know, underfunding is exacerbating recruitment and retention problems and making leaders’ tough job even tougher. It’s unsurprising, then, that the retention of headteachers is dropping (see feature page 8). But despite the pressures, there are many heads whose energy and commitment is an inspiration. David Taylor, head of Stanley Park High School, has turned the school from the last choice of local children and parents to TES Secondary School of the Year 2016. The secret of the school’s success is that students’ well-being comes before results, proof that sticking with an ethical approach, even when it’s put to the test, pays off (page 18). Lastly, before you head off for your summer break, ATL-AMiE is running two FREE leadership events next month, looking at ways to prioritise workload. If you’re interested, get in touch. mwright@amie-atl.org.uk. Details on page 17.
GET IN TOUCH
www.facebook.com/atlunion @atl_amie
JULY 2017 | ELM 3
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NEED TO KNOW
NEWS IN BRIEF KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST EDUCATION SECTOR NEWS
ATL AMIE STEPS UP FUNDING CAMPAIGN
ATL-AMIE IS URGING the Government to increase funding for schools and colleges urgently, as heads warn they are being forced to make redundancies, increase class sizes and consider reducing the school week. Ahead of the general election – ELM went to press days before polling – ATL-AMiE campaigned heavily for candidates to pledge that they would not make any further cuts. We called on members to email their MP via www.schoolcuts.org.uk.
PHOTOGRAPHY: REHAN JAMIL
ATL TO DEVELOP LEADERSHIP CODE ATL-AMiE will develop a code of practice that sets out the conditions needed for leadership to thrive, after delegates at this year’s Annual Conference heard that leaders are increasingly being expected to achieve more with less money. Backing the motion proposed by AMiE president Julia Neal, Simon Clarkson said leaders needed to be able to expect realistic challenge and reasonable job security. “We need to protect leaders. A code of practice would start to do that,” he said. A framework for ethical progression into leadership will also be drawn up by ATL-AMiE, following a motion proposed by ATL Future convener Louise Atkinson. Newly qualified teachers are being promoted rapidly, without support, she said. AMiE council member and headteacher Robin Bevan proposed a motion calling for better training of governors and more effective actions if standards falter, which was also carried. “It’s not uncommon for school leaders to spend considerable amounts of time compensating for the misjudged actions of governors,” he said.
ATL general secretary Mary Bousted addresses heads, teachers and parents at cuts protest and signs petition
ATL-AMiE’s election manifesto made clear many schools are in financial crisis. The Department for Education drive to save another £3 billion by 2020 will place more pressure on schools. Addressing hundreds of people at a protest against cuts, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, where schools are predicted to lose £33 million in the next four years, ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said the Government was peddling “half truths” over education funding. “When the Government says we are spending more on education than
ever before, what it doesn’t say is we have more children and young people in schools than ever before,” she said. “At the time when pupil numbers are at their highest, we are making teachers redundant.” Underfunding means fewer teachers, bigger class sizes and a narrower curriculum, added Dr Bousted. “We want the funding cuts to stop. Education is the birthright of children and young people. It opens minds, it gives possibilities.” See feature page 10
DEVELOPING FUTURE LEADERS A NATIONAL ACADEMY for Educational Leadership will be launched in Wales by spring 2018, education secretary Kirsty Williams has announced. The arms-length organisation will develop the next generation of leaders. Ann Keane, former chief inspector of Estyn, has been working with a shadow board of experts and has made recommendations based on consultation with groups including headteachers. The recommendations include allowing fair access for teachers to develop their leadership skills, using the latest evidence and research into how leadership in schools makes a difference, and developing leaders while identifying future leaders.
Williams said: “The quality of our education system cannot exceed the quality of our teachers and leadership is central to this.” Director of ATL Cymru Keith Bowen said: “These plans are broadly welcome. Leadership is important and we are pleased that the Government recognises this. Nevertheless, in order that it will work, funding must be available to support leadership training for those who want it." He added: "There will be lots of work to do in terms of ensuring that everyone in the education sector has access to training and CPD. "We look forward to hearing more detailed plans in the coming weeks."
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COMMITTEE REPORT ON RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION FAILS TO ADDRESS KEY ISSUES THERE IS A SIX PER CENT shortfall in the number of trainee teacher applications, according to a report by the Education Select Committee. The report, based on the committee’s inquiry into recruitment and retention, concluded there are “significant challenges,” and raises concerns about workload, the status of teachers and access to high-quality CPD. Responding to the report, ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “While we welcome the Government’s recognition of the importance of teacher retention, workload and continuing professional development, its defensiveness around the scale of the teacher shortage problem continues, showing a failure to engage with one of the biggest issues that schools are currently facing.” She added that the Government is ignoring the fact that less than half of teachers have over 10 years’ experience and the trend of teachers leaving the profession for reasons other than retirement is growing. The Government is also adopting “ostrich-like denial” over the real-terms cuts to teachers’ salaries, said Dr Bousted.
She added: “Until it accepts that its policies have made the situation worse, progress in reducing the current high workload levels will be frustratingly slow.” Meanwhile, early findings from an 18-month study by the National Foundation for Educational Research on teacher retention in English secondary schools has found the Government’s failure to meet its target for trainees in maths and science, together with low retention of teachers in these subjects, will make it difficult for it to meet its 90% target for students taking these GCSEs at EBacc. ATL senior policy adviser Alison Ryan said: “The drivers of excessive workload must be tackled as a matter of urgency," adding: “Excessive accountability, external changes, performance management and uncompetitive remuneration all need to be addressed. “This should include an urgent review of Ofsted, which remains a key driver of an unhealthy and alienating work climate. Proposals for education change should be reviewed in terms of impact on workload.” See feature page 10
AMIE COUNCIL MEMBERS ON NEW UNION EXECUTIVE INCOMING AMIE VICE PRESIDENT and college assistant principal Lesley Tipping is among a dozen ATL-AMiE members elected onto the Joint Executive Committee of the National Education Union (NEU). Two other AMiE council members, Robin Bevan, headteacher of Southend High School for Boys, and deputy head at Cantrell Primary School, Ralph Surman, also have places on the committee. They will work with 18 NUT members on the Executive, which will hold its first meeting in September. Tipping, who is based in Wales, said: "FE has had a rough ride in the last few
years. It still is. So it's critical that our voice is heard on the Executive going forward. It's very exciting to be part of what will be an all-embracing new union." Bevan said: “I was the first headteacher to be elected onto the ATL Executive and for 10 years I’ve been bringing a leadership perspective to policy debates and campaigns. It’s now time to ensure leaders’ needs are brought together in the NEU. As a member of the Joint Executive, I’ll be working to make sure AMiE’s authoritative and supportive stance is sustained in the NEU.”
INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY A NEW INDUSTRIAL STRATEGY must ensure reform of skills education is properly funded and is based on evidence, ATL-AMiE has warned. Earlier this year, the Government launched a consultation on its green paper Building Our Industrial Strategy that outlined 10 pillars, including “developing skills”, which it says mean a new system of technical education for those not going to university, boost STEM skills, digital skills and numeracy, and raise skills in “lagging areas”. ATL policy adviser Janet Clark said: “We’re delighted the Government recognised the vital role skills education plays, contributing to increased productivity and a strong economy. We believe FE colleges delivering technical education will be crucial to economic success post-Brexit. “However, the Government needs to think about several key issues if it is to succeed. As we move into this new technical education system, it is vital skills education is properly funded and we have a period of stability after the turbulence of recent years. “The Government also needs to ensure any reform is developed with experts in pedagogy and is based on evidence, and there is research on where and why skills gaps exist. We also do not believe STEM skills shortages will be fixed by forcing students to study maths, and non-STEM subject areas and industries must not be neglected.” You can read ATL’s responses at www.atl.org.uk/responses.
AMIE REP HIGHLY COMMENDED
AN AMIE MEMBER who has been a rep for two years has been highly commended in the Rep Awards 2017. Ken Parker, who is employed at Waltham Forest College, was recognised for his “affable and personable” approach, which has seen the number of ATL-AMiE members increase by 16 since he took on the role. Nominator and AMiE organiser Ellie Manns said: “Ken actively seeks to raise the profile of the union, regularly updates members and seeks their views, as well as holding regular meetings.” JULY 2017 | ELM 5
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COMMENT: WALES
Reform agenda gaining momentum A PUSH TO IMPROVE CURRICULUM AND TEACHING STANDARDS HAS THE PRESSURE MOUNTING FOR THE WELSH EDUCATION WORKFORCE
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year is a very long time in politics. And in education it’s been a busy year indeed. The cabinet secretary has made a series of pledges that directly relate to the Welsh Liberal Democrat manifesto last year: the pledge to cut class sizes for infants in the most crowded classrooms, the launch of the National Academy for Education Leadership, and the Education Workforce Survey, carried out for Welsh Government by the Education Workforce Council. The Pupil Deprivation Grant has been renamed the Pupil Development Grant and funding has been allocated for this year. The education reform agenda is well underway. The review of Welsh education by the OECD earlier this year said: “Wales should continue its efforts to reform the curriculum and raise the standards of teaching, in order to improve the quality and equity of its school system.” With roll-out of the digital competence framework, changes to professional standards imminent, greater expectations (especially for FE) in terms of the Welsh language, curriculum changes and additional learning needs reform, a huge amount is being expected of the education workforce. Here are some updates on key aspects of planned reforms: Curriculum for Life The Curriculum for Life, which is growing from Professor Graham Donaldson’s Successful Futures, has seen an increase in the number of Pioneer Schools and a change in momentum from Welsh Government. We said in our Put Education First
“IT LOOKS LIKE THE DATE FOR USING THE NEW CURRICULUM IN SCHOOLS MAY BE LATER THAN THE EXPECTED 2018 THOUGH IT COULD STILL BE READY FOR THE 2021 ROLL OUT”
manifesto that the new curriculum should be done once and done well, and it looks like the date for using the new curriculum in schools may be later than the expected 2018 – though it could still be ready for the 2021 roll-out. Professional standards Professional standards for teachers have been developed and are expected to be used in schools soon. Meanwhile, work is underway to develop the standards for post-16. Unlike the school ones – of which there are many – the post-16 standards are likely to be fewer in number. The plan is they will be applicable across settings and types of study – including work-based learning and schools. The standards are expected to be used from the autumn.
COLUMNIST MARY VAN DEN HEUVEL POLICY ADVISER, ATL CYMRU
Tertiary Education Authority Proposals for the Tertiary Education Authority are not concrete yet. However, we are expecting that the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales (HEFCW) will be changed to create a single body overseeing skills and funding for research in both FE and HE. This announcement was based on the Hazelkorn Report, which came out last year. More details on what this will mean for the FE workforce are not yet clear. But as HE level courses are often taught in FE institutions, some of the aspirations behind the change seem sensible. How they are implemented, however, will be key. It has not all been plain sailing for the cabinet secretary. The Schools Challenge Cymru money has been reallocated following a Welsh Government assessment of the scheme. The squeeze on education funding in England continues to have a knock-on effect in Wales. But how the Welsh Government spends money on education is its decision. The next funding round will be important for the education sector, and a test for the cabinet secretary.
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COMMENT: NORTHERN IRELAND
When an inspector calls... WHY LEADERS HAVE BEEN REFUSING TO COOPERATE WITH THE EDUCATION AND TRAINING INSPECTORATE FOR THE LAST SIX MONTHS
S
COLUMNIST MARK LANGHAMMER DIRECTOR OF ATL NORTHERN IRELAND
ince January, school and college leaders have been refusing to cooperate with the Education and Training Inspectorate (ETI). The industrial action, which means staff do not prepare for or participate in inspections, respond to the ETI communications or attend training, is in response to a derisory pay offer. In October 2016, education minister Peter Weir imposed a 0% pay ‘settlement’ in 2015-16 and a 1% settlement in 2016-17. Weir’s decision acted as a lightning rod. And 83% of ATL-AMiE members voted for industrial action short of strike. The boycott is working. So why ETI? The Northern Ireland Teachers Council (of which ATL-AMiE is a part, along with NAHT, INTO, UTU and NASUWT), has consistently raised concerns about the impact of the ETI on workload. Teachers are not simply focused on the symptom of workload, but on its causes – which we ascribe to the accountability system, its policing and the behaviours, practices, unintended consequences and effects which derive from it. The causes are: • centrally driven political targets • a narrow systemic curriculum focus to address international benchmark targets (PISA, TIMMS, PIRLS, etc) • a narrowly focused, results-driven, target culture of performance managerialism • the application of new technology, notably big data, as a managerial tool. The target culture presents problems. We know that high performing education systems are characterised by high-trust, high-discretion work environments, as well as high-autonomy, selfdirected accountability systems. Target-driven managerialism can drive low performance systems from poor to average. New Labour did this in the late 1990s and 2000s within health and education. Northern Ireland’s system, however, is not poor. It is average or better by international comparison. The 2011-16 Programme for Government narrowly focused on the target of five “good” GCSEs at grades A*-C. This is the only
published political target for educational performance and has led to unintended consequences, such as gaming the system, choosing “easy” exams/exam boards, not entering (or entering privately) pupils who might contaminate the statistics, in-school cramming, teaching to the test, a crude focus on the C/D grade boundary and widespread private tutoring. At the apex of the accountability system, aside from “results”, is our system of inspection. The profession is ill at ease with a “name and shame” style of riskbased, punitive inspection. The Northern Ireland Assembly’s Education Committee produced a detailed inquiry report in November 2013, which unions welcomed. Its most important recommendations, however, remain unaddressed. Recommendation 2, that “school improvement services should be aligned with school inspection in a single organisation in line with the practice in Scotland”, sought to steer inspection towards the supportive, developmental (and no less robust) Scottish model, as opposed to that of Ofsted in England. Recommendation 4, that “school inspection complaints should explicitly allow for the possibility of a revision to an inspection finding and that consideration should be given to a reformed school inspection complaints procedure which would allow for investigation by personnel outside of the Inspectorate or the Department of Education.” Both the spirit and letter of the Assembly’s key recommendations have not been implemented. AMiE’s position is that industrial action will not end without the establishment of an Independent Professional Arbitration Panel as the end-point of the ETI’s complaints system. It cannot be right that it remains exempt from external scrutiny. This will require a change of emphasis and culture, as well as reform, at the ETI. To use a sporting analogy, the chief inspector has lost the dressing room of the teaching workforce. We are not wrong in identifying the ETI as a key progenitor of many of the behaviours, practices, procedures and culture that feed the hyper-accountability at the heart of teachers’ workload concerns. AMiE principals facing inspection should follow the guidance at www.atl.org.uk/latest/atl-northernireland-industrial-action-guidance. Do not hesitate to call AMiE for advice on 028 90782020 or email mlanghammer@atl.org.uk. If needs be, we will endeavour to accompany you on the first day of your inspection to ensure your right to take lawful industrial action is respected. JULY 2017 | ELM 7
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P O L I C Y M AT T E R S
COUNTING HEADS
RESEARCH REVEALS LEVELS OF RETENTION AMONG SCHOOL LEADERS IS FALLING
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WORDS PAUL STANISTREET
he crisis in recruiting and retaining teachers is affecting headteachers across the country, with even those leading outstanding schools struggling to attract good candidates. Until recently, however, little attention has been given to the retention of heads themselves. In April, research published by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) showed retention among headteachers in England is also dropping. The study, Keeping Your Head: NFER Analysis of Headteacher Retention, found among primary headteachers it fell from 94% in 2012 to 92% in 2015. For secondary heads, the drop was 91% to 87%. “The leadership pipeline is vital to the success of our education system,” says NFER chief executive Carole Willis. “Given the challenges ahead, it’s more important than ever to understand how headteacher retention rates are changing, and why.” With a 2016 report, The School Leadership Challenge: 2022, predicting a shortage of 19,000 school leaders in England, addressing falling retention should be a priority. For AMiE director Mark Wright, the NFER’s findings are no surprise. “The growing burdens of the headteacher role make it almost undoable without an undue cost to personal well-being,” he argues. “Governors are often wellintentioned, but they don’t know enough about how to support their heads. They will say ‘take a day off, you’re working too hard’ but that simply impacts on deputies and assistant heads who are also working too hard.” The overall picture painted by the report is of headteachers as a group of
professionals who often find themselves thrown into an unfamiliar role without induction or ongoing support and subject to huge pressures in the form of accountability demands and policy churn. Schools rated inadequate and those where attainment was low had a higher turnover of headteachers. In convertor academies and single academy trusts, retention was found to be higher, but it was lower in sponsored academies and larger multi-academy trusts (MATs). “The NFER’s findings are significant, especially as schools with poorer Ofsted ratings – those that require most help – are hit hardest by poor retention,” says Wright. Governors are also reporting that they are struggling to replace headteachers when they leave, he adds. Heads interviewed by the researchers felt “ultimately responsible” for the success of their school and described the outcome of inspection as “high stakes” for them, with a lasting impact on their career. For some, “panic” about being downgraded left them feeling vulnerable. In schools downgraded, less than a quarter of headteachers who had been in post for five years or more at the time the school was downgraded were in headship three years later, indicating the significant pressure heads face to turn around struggling schools quickly. The evidence, the report says, “suggests that once a headteacher has been in charge of a school for at least two years they are much more likely to be held directly responsible for a school’s Ofsted judgement”. Some said they were held to account before they had an opportunity to make
an impact. Others said accountability pressures meant “heads don’t get the opportunity to learn from their mistakes”. Another said there is “a throw-away approach to professionals”. To take a school from “a legacy of inadequacy” out of special measures in two years, he said, was “completely undoable and unrealistic”. Heads at every level reported feeling pressure from accountability, with one noting that their team was busy preparing paperwork for the next inspection rather than for the new term. Headteachers in schools that had recently become sponsored academies and those in larger MATs, where retention rates are lower, cited concerns about professional autonomy, among other factors. One said: “I no longer feel valued in my knowledge or experience.” A dominant theme in the interviews was the pace of policy change, which meant further pressure for leaders. And while some were confident in dealing with change, others wanted to be consulted more about it. Some headteachers complained of a lack of support for leaders striving to improve their schools, and numerous teachers, including both those happy in their role and those considering leaving the profession, said there was a need for more support, coaching and mentoring opportunities. The report recommends ways to retain headteachers, including career pathways for school leaders, better induction and support for new heads, more CPD and more support to improve (see box).
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Wright says headteachers face unrealistic demands and need to be given the freedom to prioritise and to lead. “At present, they are treated like robots expected to deliver a totally unrealistic list of expectations. Detached from reality, they are no longer doing ‘leadership’, which must be grounded in reality, but are struggling with an unmanageable flow of work. This is far from healthy for a system tasked
He adds: “The number of teachers entering initial teacher training has been below the Government’s annual target for the last four years.” Staff engagement is a key factor in improving teacher retention, he says. “For some groups of teachers, retention rates could be improved by addressing the causes of their dissatisfaction with teaching. Attention should be given
“IT’S MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER TO UNDERSTAND HOW HEADTEACHER RETENTION RATES ARE CHANGING, AND WHY” with improvement. Any improvement must rest on a healthy high-functioning workforce or it is both unsustainable and unethical.” Recognising the pressures on leaders, ATL-AMiE has been running a workload campaign to help those in senior positions cut unnecessary workload. At Annual Conference in April, delegates passed motions that mean ATL-AMiE will campaign for better training for governors, whose role should be to support and challenge leaders, and develop a code setting out the conditions in which good leadership thrives. From September, the number of leaders in membership will increase by 11,000, when ATL-AMiE amalgamates with the NUT to become the National Education Union (NEU). With extra resources and more members in senior positions, the NEU will be in a better position to push for changes that will lead to better support for headteachers – a key issue identified by the NFER. The researchers also found that heads were more likely to leave in the first year after their school is downgraded, and a 2016 study into teacher turnover found heads in schools downgraded from requires improvement to inadequate often lost teachers. A report by the Education Select Committee into recruitment and retention highlights “significant challenges” such as workload, high-quality CPD and the status of the profession. Senior economist at the NFER Jack Worth, who is working on an 18-month study into teacher recruitment and retention, says: “While the overall number of teachers has grown in line with pupil growth, it is concerning for the longer term that it seems to be getting more difficult to retain working-age teachers.”
to the factors we found to be associated with retention, including job satisfaction; having adequate resources; reward, including appropriate pay but in other ways too; and recognition to help teachers feel valued. These factors are likely to be important in maintaining engagement among motivated teachers. “Pay is a complex factor. The NFER’s earlier research showed that teachers leaving the profession saw a wage reduction of 10% on average after one year, suggesting higher-paid jobs outside teaching are not a strong incentive. However, other research has found lower teacher retention rates in areas with higher wages outside of teaching, suggesting a buoyant outside labour market encourages teachers to leave.” While pay is not the main factor impacting retention, it is nevertheless significant, says Wright, adding that the value of teachers’ pay has fallen 11% since 2010. “I’ve met headteachers aghast to meet former staff working at supermarket checkouts, who do not regret leaving. They are paid the same but without the stress of teaching. “The Government has treated teachers and leaders like dispensable widgets in its focus on ‘improvement’ but this has been done by allowing a punitive and unhealthy performance culture to take hold that is just not an environment in which people want to work, so deciding to walk away is a rational choice. “Newly qualified teachers are expected to be the finished article as soon as they have trained. This leads to stress and burnout and is a big reason why 40% don’t remain in teaching longer than five years – many just cannot conceive of being able to teach until they are 68 so leave to find another, more sustainable career while they are young enough to switch.”
THE NATIONAL FOUNDATION FOR EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH PUBLISHED KEEPING YOUR HEAD: NFER ANALYSIS OF HEADTEACHER RETENTION. ITS RECOMMENDATIONS INCLUDE: Clarify the career pathways Pathways should allow heads to lead a challenging school without there being a risk to their career, and more experienced heads should be encouraged into challenging schools. More support Access to formal induction and transparent performance management, with clear objectives for school improvement, alongside opportunities for support and development, within a culture that does not make heads feel weak. Heads who are not performing should be supported to improve before being removed. More guidance Clarity about what is expected within timescales, and those holding heads to account should understand the trajectory of sustainable improvement, eg are there indicators of improvement before headline results improve? This may help heads who feel they are doing all they can to improve their school being told change is not happening fast enough. The report is available here: www.nfer.ac.uk/publications
Worth says: “A greater focus should be placed on staff well-being. This could include schools having a governor or trustee responsible for staff welfare, or a member of the management team with specific time and responsibilities in this area. Mentoring and/or mental health provision could be beneficial for some. School leaders – including governors and trustees – have a key role to play in protecting staff from what was described as a ‘tsunami of change’. This should include being able to distil policy without it becoming burdensome for staff.” JULY 2017 | ELM 9
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F E AT U R E
Cash crisis
Funding cuts are pushing schools towards financial meltdown, leaders tell Sally Gillen ILLUSTRATION ANA JAKS
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he day before the Easter break, deputy head Donna Jagger gave her class an unusual task. She asked each child to measure their pencil. If under three inches, they were allowed to throw it in the bin and collect a new one. “Any shorter and we thought handwriting would be affected,” explains Donna. “I made tiny labels by cutting two into 50 strips and those children who got a new pencil collected one, wrote their name on it and stuck it to their pencil.” She pauses. “We used to ask the children to draw a margin down the side of their maths books. Not now. We want them to use the whole page, all the paper.”
SEARCHING FOR SAVINGS The pursuit of marginal gains has become the preoccupation of many senior leaders trying to keep their school or college running on a dwindling budget, and at Donna’s school it’s not over yet. A primary with 310 pupils, her school is in the fourth worst-funded county in England. Early indications show that under the national funding formula (NFF) the school will lose the equivalent of two teachers’ salaries.
“We used to ask the children to draw a margin down the side of their maths books. Not now. We want them to use the whole page, all the paper”
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F E AT U R E
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F E AT U R E
“We are getting to the point where we will be telling parents they will need to buy everything for their child and we’ll need to charge for books,” she says. With many pupils coming from homes on the council estate surrounding the school, that would be a difficult ask. Around 30% have free school meals, although Donna suspects many more are eligible but their parents won’t come into the school to fill in the form. Asking them to pay for the basics would not be easy. Nor would it feel right. But it’s just one example of the many hard decisions school leaders around the country are being forced to make to have any hope of balancing the books. Yet the Department for Education (DfE) insists schools can save another £3 billion by 2020. “Well, if those people at the DfE would like to come to my school and see me snipping paper to get 50 labels out of two and helping children measure their pencil then they would be welcome,” says Donna. She recently wrote to parents thanking them for their donations, which had been used to pay the school’s electricity bill. In the same week, she was forced to turn down an outstanding teacher for a job because she couldn’t afford to pay her, and she has had to cut the support for an autistic student to just eight hours.
FINANCIAL PRESSURES These days, only applicants on M1 to M3 pay points are being considered for jobs; half of the school’s 12 staff have four years’ or less experience. Determined to offer continuing professional development, but unable to pay for cover for staff to go on courses, Donna says she and the head now take classes for teachers so they can be released to
“There is money but it is being spent on vanity projects. Meanwhile, we have schools where children are having to measure their pencils” observe other teachers in the school, as part of a coaching programme. “The cuts are frustrating and irritating, but the worst thing is knowing you aren’t doing the best for the children in your care,” says Donna, who spoke powerfully about the financial pressures at her school when she seconded a motion at Annual Conference in April, calling for urgent transitional funding for schools, ahead of the introduction of the NFF in 2019. In our response to the consultation on the formula, which closed on 22 March, ATL-AMiE
KEY STATS FOR 2022
SOURCE: WWW.SCHOOLCUTS.ORG.UK
93% -£86,951 AVERAGE CUT TO PRIMARY SCHOOLS
-£338
AVERAGE LOSS PER PRIMARY PUPIL
welcomed the principle of allocating more money to disadvantaged children, but warned that the overall funding pot would need to be significantly increased. As ATL policy adviser Usman Gbajabiamila explains: “The thing that has really created a problem is the unfunded costs schools are having to face. It’s not only staff costs, such
OF SCHOOLS WILL HAVE PER-PUPIL FUNDING CUT
-£370,298 AVERAGE CUT TO SECONDARY SCHOOLS
-£436
AVERAGE LOSS PER SECONDARY PUPIL
as national insurance and pension contributions, but a lot of directives from the DfE such as changing GCSEs and the curriculum generates massive costs for schools and they weren’t properly funded for these changes. Then you add on things like the apprenticeship levy and schools are really starting to say this is too much. Lastly, a lot of cuts to children’s social care has meant schools have had to pick up a lot of that. So there are direct and indirect costs.” A TOXIC MIX BREWING Funding topped the agenda at this year’s Conference, with general secretary Mary Bousted describing it as the basis of a “toxic mix brewing in education”. AMiE’s work to raise the profile of ethical leadership, which we have led with the Leading in tough times: keeping ethics at the heart of your practice publication, is under threat because of the funding squeeze, she warned. “There are heads who tell us they can’t afford to be ethical, as a deputy headship role they are advertising comes with a 100-hour -a-week workload and that’s just ‘how things are’.” Worse still: “According to the National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee’s reports into the financial sustainability of schools, the DfE does not know how schools are going to make the
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F E AT U R E
required £3 billion of efficiency savings.” Nor does it know how much it costs schools to implement its policies. REDUCING THE SCHOOL WEEK At the maintained school in Barnsley where AMiE vice president Josie Whiteley is a governor, experts were brought in to recommend ways to cut further. They had bad news. “They told us there was literally nothing more we could cut. We are now losing £1,000 a day. After a month, that’s a teacher’s salary. There are so many students per class, they barely fit in the room.” With nothing left to cut, some schools are being left with no choice but to take drastic action. Reducing the school week is the next, reluctant step some are planning to take. A secondary in Kent is among them. And heads in West Sussex, who have been campaigning against funding cuts, are considering doing the same. “When reducing the school week starts to happen – and it’s not if, but when – it is an indication that it’s desperate times requiring desperate measures and will hopefully motivate parents to speak to their MPs, to find out what’s going on,” says Gbajabiamila. “If parents have to start leaving work to pick up their children, and especially if they are doing work where they get paid by the hour, it’s going to start impacting on families’ finances, impacting on childcare, and become a safeguarding issue if children aren’t in school.” He adds: “More and more schools are threatening to do this. I have not known of a school to do it yet, but some schools are seriously considering it.”
“We are now losing £1,000 a day. After a month, that’s a teacher’s salary. There are so many students per class, they barely fit in the room”
LEADING WITH LESS AMiE director Mark Wright says: “It is a huge source of frustration and stress to have the responsibility for providing pupils with a good education without the funds and therefore the agency to do it. Something will have to give in order to make the Government wake up and see that it is presiding over a crisis. In the meantime, we need to do everything we can to share good practice in stretching meagre budgets. While it certainly shouldn’t be down to rationing pencils, every little bit can help, so it’s worth leaders being aware of the measures taken elsewhere. We are publishing a handy guide on this in autumn, Leading with less, so do join other members in sharing with us the measures you are taking, and we’ll look to incorporate them into the booklet.” Contact mwright@amie.atl.org.uk
BIGGER CLASS SIZES ATL-AMiE and the NUT have been lobbying Government over funding cuts for months. Findings from our funding survey of more than 1,200 staff, carried out with the NUT, made front-page news when they were released in April. We found: 76% said their school’s budget has been cut this year compared to last year; 73% said their school has cut spending on books and equipment (73% in secondary schools and 74% in primaries); 50% said their school has bigger class sizes than last year. Our findings were cited by MPs debating school funding later in the month. The school cuts website, developed by ATL-AMiE and the NUT, allows users to see how much money schools will lose by postcode. It has quickly become a powerful lobbying tool, highlighting the local impact of cuts. It shows 93% of schools will face real-terms cuts to per-pupil funding by 2022. MPs from all the main parties, who attended a parliamentary event hosted by ATL-AMiE, the NUT and other unions back in March, were shocked to discover after using the website how much schools in their constituencies would lose – which in some cases was many millions. The website has had 3.8 million hits. Over a single weekend in April, 500,000 people logged on.
BOOST URGENTLY NEEDED Urging headteachers to continue lobbying their MPs, Gbajabiamila says: “Encourage parents to write to their MPs, too. The more we scream and shout about it, the more likely it is the Government will take notice and make a change.” He adds that many parents have set up campaign groups and they should be urged to take a look at the school cuts website. Following the general election earlier this month, he adds there is a danger that the urgently needed boost to school funding will drop down the political agenda, having seen the consultation on the NFF delayed by Brexit and the subsequent election of a new prime minister. “We need to emphasise that we want improvement now,” says Gbajabiamila. “We do not want any more delays. This has been on the agenda and burning away for long enough.” Rescuing schools in dire financial positions should be simple. After all, billions have been made available for free schools and grammar schools, and in the spring budget another £300 million was earmarked to expand the number of free schools. “There is money but it is being spent on vanity projects,” argues Gbajabiamila. “Meanwhile, we have schools where children are having to measure their pencils.” Visit www.schoolcuts.org.uk JULY 2017 | ELM 13
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PROFILE
Crunching the numbers A SCHOOL BUSINESS MANAGER EXPLAINS HOW SHE HAS SAVED HER SCHOOL THOUSANDS WORDS SALLY GILLEN
H
ow many schools are paying for fax machine subscriptions they never use?” If you are looking for ways to save money, you may want to consider this school business manager’s question. By getting rid of what is now an archaic piece of office equipment, Ursula (not her real name) saved £1,800. A modest amount, perhaps, but still money that could be used on resources for children’s learning.
“I am a very keen believer in marginal gains,” she says. School business managers’ skills have never been under more pressure and their skills never more prized. Before becoming a school business manager three years ago, Ursula had spent a decade as an export manager in retail. Her background in the corporate world, which she describes as “demanding and all about finding efficiencies”, has given her the skills to spot where cash can be saved. “I love my job and the challenges,” she says, while acknowledging that the pressures on some school business managers are now considerable. “Working in the private sector was all about profit, but making savings at the school is about ensuring the school is viable.” With a degree in multimedia computing, with e-commerce, business and databases, Ursula is responsible for the school’s £1.9 million budget,
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PROFILE
and is undertaking a masters in leadership and management. Taking up the job at the primary school her children had attended in a deprived part of northern England, Ursula immediately saw where a number of changes could be made. Taking a ‘Kaizen’ approach (a Japanese word that means continuous improvement), focusing on elimination of waste/duplication, she began by standardising processes. A good team is essential to taking on a management of change strategy, says Ursula, adding that you need to provide a clear vision and a lot of coaching. Understanding skill gaps and following a ‘train to delegate’ approach is also important. Firstly, having worked in IT before undertaking some business management courses, she tackled the school’s communication systems. It is not uncommon, she says, for staff in schools to use a range of email addresses, some personal. Giving all staff a school email account helped the school’s efficiency because it meant email became a more effective channel for communicating changes to staff. “Whatever communication channel you choose, make sure you are clear that it is the official channel for communicating.” At her school, she found there were staff who never used email. In the first 18 months, she also looked at ways that staff time could be used more efficiently. “I was able to push electronic attendance. Initially teachers would fill out paper registers, and the information was then inputted by the admin team. This took too long, and was an important change in terms of using technology. “Teachers take the electronic register now. We now have trusted data, with minimal human input and, hence, fewer errors. It means we can evaluate and understand the dynamics of those factors that promote pupils’ absence and tackle persistent absence based on real data.”
Training administrative staff and teachers to use mail merge allowed labels for books and hooks to be printed swiftly, saving time for teachers who had been typing out individual labels. “It’s the little things that can lead to efficiencies,” says Ursula, adding that technology often offers ways to do things more efficiently. However, she concedes
She adds: “We have been bamboozled by business technology and people trying to sell things on to schools. By changing the alarm system we saved not just pennies, but a meaningful chunk of money, £3,500 a year.” Like many other schools, there has been no choice but to look at reducing staff numbers.
“WORKING IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR WAS ALL ABOUT PROFIT, BUT MAKING SAVINGS AT THE SCHOOL IS ABOUT ENSURING THE SCHOOL IS VIABLE” that given the many demands on staff time, training can be difficult to fit in. Her approach is to look at where money can be saved in areas that won’t have a negative impact on children’s education so that money for books and resources needed for learning are protected. Contracts and procurement arrangements should be looked at carefully, says Ursula, adding that many have been in place for years and schools can often find a better deal from another supplier. Equally, school business managers may be missold items or services they do not need. “In terms of procurement you must be able to defy and challenge,” she says. “There’s this complacency among businesses that schools can pay and it’s all fine. Maybe at one time that was the case but not now.” However, she adds that before making significant changes, it is important to seek advice. When she looked at changing the security system, she first checked with the school’s insurers that she was doing the right thing. “I discovered that the alarm system we had in the school was a grade 4, when it only needed to be a grade 2. I said to the company ‘when and how did you take the liberty to advise that we need a grade 4? It is a school, not a bank.’”
“It’s never easy going into redundancies; these sorts of decisions aren’t taken lightly; it’s traumatic to have to tell someone who has worked at the school for over 20 years that they’re no longer needed, especially when you know they will struggle to find something else.” High turnover among lunchtime supervisors also encouraged Ursula to rethink whether they were needed. Money spent on each disclosure and barring check for staff, who often spend a short time at the school, was eating into the school budget. In 18 months, £800 was spent on paying for checks. “To me it is a point of honour that the school isn’t in deficit,” says Ursula. Fortunately, she works well with her head, but she knows from time spent at other schools that the relationship between heads and business managers is not always an easy one. “As a business manager, you have to be aware of how you put your business case together. You must have the right statistics, the right arguments and then everything can flow and people around you can make the right judgements if you present it right and make a case for it. You need to be professionally prepared and able to show results. I have a wonderful governing body and that’s how I’ve made a lot of changes.” “We manage well now, but I don’t know how it will be next year,” says Ursula. “There is uncertainty among staff, but I hope I’m training and preparing them to cope with the challenges.” JULY 2017 | ELM 15
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R E S OUR CE S/C ON TA C T S
LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE Tickets for AMiE’s first leadership conference, which will be held in London on 25 November, are now available. Speakers include Roger Bretherton, who will be talking about the psychology of leadership, and Steve Chalke MBE, founder of the Oasis Charitable Trust, which runs more than 40 academies. Key issues for leaders will be on the agenda: dealing with governors, recruitment and retention, and managing change in difficult times. Recognising that budgets are stretched, AMiE is offering the 100 places FREE on a first come, first served basis. Given the anticipated popularity of the event, if you are allocated a ticket but are unable to attend, please can you let us know as soon as possible so that your place can be offered to a colleague on the waiting list. Conference agenda 10.00 Registration & refreshments 10.30 Welcome by ATL general secretary Mary Bousted
ABOUT AMiE
10.45 Roger Bretherton – leadership psychology + Q&A 11.30 Break 11.45 Marie-Claire Bretherton – practical leadership during tough times + Q&A 12.30 Lunch/networking 1.15 Keynote Steve Chalke MBE – founder Oasis Charitable Trust + Q&A 2.15 Breakout sessions: • dealing effectively with governors • recruiting and retaining staff – best practice • managing change in difficult times • personal and organisation resilience. 3.15 Round-up, final words + Q&A 3.30 Close
3 MORE INFO For tickets, contact Katherine Griffin, kgriffin@atl.org.uk
NEW HEADSHIP CONFERENCE
Are you a new or aspiring headteacher? AMiE is offering two places to the national early headship conference 2017, which will be held on 13 October at the National College for School Leadership in Nottingham. Professor Jill Berry, who was interviewed in February’s ELM on how to move from deputy to head, is among the speakers. For more details, go to www.forumeducation.org/events/national-early-headshipconference-2017. Contact AMiE director Mark Wright mwright@amie.atl.org.uk.
prioritisation techniques and ideas to help leaders keep a boundary between work and home will be covered. AMiE director Mark Wright will run a session on what constitutes ethical leadership and how it
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 ForumEducation www.forumeducation.org
The 3rd Annual
National Early Headship Conference Friday 13th October 2017
The Jubilee Conference Centre, Triumph Road, Nottingham NG8 1DH.
National helpline Tel: 01858 464171 Email: helpline@amie.atl.org.uk
A conference to inspire, inform and support those new to, or in the early stages of, headship. Including inputs from a range of expert practitioners and leading education sector thinkers.
Introducing Our Guest Speakers Andy Buck
Dr. Jill Berry
Author, speaker, former headteacher and director at National College, now managing director of #honk and founder of the Leadership Matters
Expert researcher and writer on transition from Deputy Head to Headteacher, former Headteacher.
★★★★★
★★★★★
Lorraine Petersen, OBE
Sir John Dunford
Former headteacher and CEO of NASEN. Expert on staff and pupil wellbeing.
School leadership expert, researcher, writer, and former Headteacher & Pupil Premium Champion.
★★★★★
★★★★★
Andrew Morrish
Michael Pain
CEO of Victoria Academies, National Leader of Education, & author of ‘The Art of Standing Out’
Director of Forum Education, Founder of the National Early Headship Conference. Adviser to leaders of schools and multi-academy trusts.
“An insightful and well designed event. Very supportive and inspiring.”
“Practical and pertinent advice for new headteachers.”
AMIE LEADERSHIP EVENTS Two events focused on workload and ethical leadership are running in July. The workshop on workload will look at how leaders can increase staff efficiency and productivity without worsening stress and burnout. Workload
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.
can be applied. The course is FREE and runs from 12-4pm in Birmingham on 3 July and from 12-4pm in Cambridge on 14 July. To find out more, go to www.amie.atl.org.uk/join-in/ events/leadership-events
AMiE 35 The Point, Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7QU Tel: 01858 461110 www.amie.atl.org.uk
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MASTERCLASS
Going against the grain STANLEY PARK HIGH SCHOOL TAKES PRIDE IN ITS INNOVATIVE APPROACH WORDS SALLY GILLEN
T
welve years ago Stanley Park High School faced challenges. Fifteen per cent of students achieved five A-C GCSEs, and, located in the highly selective London Borough of Sutton, with five nearby grammars and another six schools operating some sort of selection, it was bottom of the pile. “In all but name we were classed as a secondary modern,” explains headteacher David Taylor. “Only 12 of the 90 children from the local primary wanted to set foot in the place.” Today, 60% of students achieve five A-C GCSEs and last year Stanley Park High was named Secondary School of the Year by the TES for its “creative, ambitious and supportive culture”. Judges were particularly impressed by the school’s decision to place students’ welfare and well-being above everything else, especially when schools are under huge pressure to focus on results. The story of Stanley Park High’s transformation since 2005, the year Taylor took over, is fascinating. His first year was tough. Students lacked boundaries, staff lacked confidence. He began by addressing both, tightening up on areas like classroom conduct. Then came an opportunity. The Government launched its Building Schools for the Future programme, and Stanley Park High became Sutton’s One School Pathfinder. The brief was ambitious: design a new school that’s innovative around leadership structures, curriculum, learning and teaching, ICT/media and learning spaces. “We set off on a bit of a journey,” says Taylor. It took him and his
staff, along with an architect, on an international education tour, visiting schools in places including the United States and Denmark, where they gathered ideas. One in particular, Hellerup School, in Copenhagen, was especially radical in its approach. No classrooms, just open spaces, where children – some of them barefoot – were working on projects. “The kids were confident, articulate, presented themselves well and were knowledgeable – everything you would want from a student,” Taylor recalls. “You had a system that appeared to give the students total freedom – completely different from what we were doing – yet they were getting fantastic results. “What came out for us was the totally trusting relationships,” he adds. “They had built the system around the assumption everything is going to go right. In the UK, the education system seems to have a default setting that everything is going to go wrong. There are checks and balances for everything,” he laughs. “Your starting point has to be ‘this is going to go right. I trust that people are going to do this and if they don’t get it right then they are going to learn from mistakes’.” From that sprang a fundamental question for Taylor: how would he and his team build an education system, both in terms of structures and practices, to enable trusting relationships to flourish? “We knew if we did that we would allow children to learn, to succeed and be happy,” he says. A return trip to Hellerup School was organised. This time all staff went, with
the governors and 30 students, who spent a few days at the school and were asked what they could take home from the experience. “Our students were impressed with the friendliness and the positive relationships with the teachers and other staff. However, they said that they would need a bit more structure, more routine. I think we’ve managed to get the balance right here,” says Taylor. Visiting the school, it’s clear that Stanley Park is doing things differently. The building itself is impressive (it won a national building award in 2012). From the reception, you move into an atrium, where clusters of students are working – some are putting the finishing touches to a fashion show to be held the following night. A series of studio spaces lead off the atrium. These are the bases for the four mini-schools, to which students are allocated when they arrive in Year 7 and remain until they leave. One school is for children with autism and has 91 students. The three mainstream schools each have around 350 children. “We create a small, nurturing environment, where students have to develop fewer relationships, but then as they go through the school we build their capacity to develop relationships with a greater number of people,” explains Taylor. “In Years 9, 10 and 11 we have mixed-age tutor groups.” The curriculum has also been designed with transition in mind. Year 7 and 8 students spend half their time on core subjects and the other half following the Excellent Futures Curriculum (EFC), where they undertake a project each half term. Students arriving from primary school have seven teachers instead of 14, explains Taylor, adding that over half their time is spent with one teacher who gets to know them very well doing EFC. Projects are wide-ranging and each covers, for example, elements of English, science and history. Many have a social
“WE ALLOW CHILDREN CHOICES, WHICH IS COUNTER TO WHAT THE POWERS THAT BE BELIEVE EDUCATION SHOULD BE ABOUT”
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MASTERCLASS
David Taylor, headteacher
element and students will work with people from outside the school who see the work exhibited at the end. Building on the relationship ethos, staff profiles, which include details of hobbies and interests, hang on the walls of the atrium. It’s not just a nice touch or for show. EFC students are given the opportunity to work on a project of their choosing and they are encouraged to find a teacher with an interest in their topic to mentor them. Katie Alden, a lead EFC practitioner, says giving students the freedom to do a project on something that interests them came from a trip to Iceland. “As an NQT, I was given freedom to help redesign the EFC curriculum. Here you’re able to do what is right for the students without having someone constantly checking up on you or the fear of getting into trouble if you make a mistake. It’s also really nice to have the opportunity to decide what you think the students will benefit from learning about rather than just teaching everything on the national curriculum. “I was NQT+1 when I went to Iceland and it was great to think I was having those conversations with the senior leadership team,” she adds. Part of the value of the EFC is that students have opportunities to redraft their work and improve it ready for exhibition. “I think it’s important for students to feel their work matters. Knowing they have a real audience dramatically increases the
quality of their work, and for a 12-year-old to know they are doing something that is important to the community is a major achievement.” Students are given the assessment criteria for each project so they know what to aim for. Once they have experience of working on projects, they help write the criteria. Their feedback on the project is gathered by staff throughout. The projects take a long time to plan and two or three times a year students are sent home at 12.20 (tutor time is scrapped and lunch shortened so no lessons are cut) so the EFC team has time within the school day to plan the projects. It is an example of the attention given to workload by the senior leadership team. There is minimal data and reporting (just three collections a year) too, says associate head Carol Symons, who is leading work on ways to cut out timestealing tasks. As part of that work, the way performance management is carried out is under review. “I’m aware that the process requires a lot of time – formal lesson observations, formal feedback, formal write-ups and I think that could be done better,” says Symons, adding that student, staff and parent well-being is a key feature of the school improvement plan. “We’ve been driving that hard this year,” she says, “but I wouldn’t say we’ve cracked it.” Morale boosters such as Bubbly Bonus, where staff secretly nominate colleagues who have gone the extra mile, have been
introduced. Similarly, students are nominated for Star of the Term and presented with a certificate. As head, there are, of course, other pressures for Taylor. Early indications are that his school may do a little better under the national funding formula, although he has concerns that they could take a hit once the new SEN funding model comes in. A new Harris academy is opening nearby. Competition on one hand, but, as Taylor points out, the Harris ethos is very different from that at his school. “We are very honest with our parents. We say this is what we are about, this is what we believe in and if it fits with your values and your child’s values then come to us. Don’t choose Stanley Park High because of our building. Choose it because of the practice within it. “We tell them the school is about relationships, that this is not a school dominated by results. We have had teachers join who said they were fleeing the over-domination of exam results and practices associated with that.” Going against the grain, of course, takes courage. “When you set yourself up on a different course, it does make you an easy target,” says Taylor. “I’m very conscious that what we are doing is not always what the powers-that-be perceive as education. We don’t force the kids to do the Ebacc. We don’t have all those separate subjects, we have our EFC. We allow children choices, which is counter to what the powers-that-be believe education should be about. “So that does sometimes make you feel vulnerable,” he admits. “Because if at any given point your results do go down, you’re very conscious that your areas of innovation will be targeted. But we stick with it because we absolutely believe in it. You have to hold your nerve.” JULY 2017 | ELM 19
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ADVICE
Criticised on social media How to respond to negative comments posted by parents Some parents have set up a Facebook page where members are urging people not to send their children to the school because it is like a “zoo”, with no focus on discipline. Myself and my deputy have also been criticised. How should I respond? Your concerns are understandable. Social media is a fact of modern life, and by setting up a Facebook page, these parents are taking their gossip from the school gate to a far wider audience. Their actions put the school’s reputation and the credibility of you and your staff at risk. Despite the negativity of the comments, the page remains within Facebook’s own community standards, so you are unlikely to succeed if you try to have them removed. In any case, the parents could simply create another page. So your options come down to responding to posts and comments on the page, and speaking directly to parents if necessary. Try to respond quickly to comments. If there are many, be selective. Choose those you can rebut or correct with facts (eg from your last Ofsted report), pointing out where allegations are unfounded, and countering them with the truth.
You want your replies to be read, so keep them short. Be gracious and positive. Thank people for their interest and for raising issues of concern. I realise it may be difficult, but try to sound empathetic. An angry response will simply reinforce the parents’ negative views. There is no point in feeding trolls, so the more ludicrous or abusive comments may not warrant any response. If there is anything hateful said, take a screenshot and ask the page administrator to remove it. If this fails, consider reporting the content directly to Facebook. If any of the posts or comments amount to a genuine complaint, then thank the parent for drawing it to your attention, and offer to find a solution. Follow this with an invitation to expand upon their complaint through your existing procedures. The aim is to move the discussion offline so that it can take place in private.
Facebook page, make sure it is being used effectively and is well promoted. You can counter the type of negative views being put forward on the parents’ page through your own posts about the school. If you don’t have a page, then consider creating one. All of this will take up time and will require experience using Facebook. A small team of responders may be the best option, using an official account linked to the school. You will need to prepare some suitable scripts, and ensure facts and information supporting the school are accurate. Ensure that staff are properly trained, fully briefed and are clear about how to respond. Finally, if you do not have one, then consider drawing up a crisis management plan. This particular issue may not be at crisis level yet, but the nature of social media means it could quickly develop into one.
“THERE IS NO POINT IN FEEDING TROLLS, SO THE MORE LUDICROUS OR ABUSIVE COMMENTS MAY NOT WARRANT ANY RESPONSE” It may be helpful to invite the page administrator and some of the parents to a meeting with you and the chair of governors to discuss their concerns. You would need to judge when the time is right for this, and it may depend upon how the parents react to the school’s online responses. This may become your only direct option should the page administrator subsequently remove your comments or decide to block you. It will also help to use social media proactively. If the school has its own
Being prepared will make it easier to manage should things get especially bad. Note: Facebook’s community standards allow open and critical discussion. However, they say Facebook will remove content that appears to purposefully target individuals with the intention of degrading or shaming them. 3 MORE INFO For more information, see www.facebook.com/ communitystandards
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U N I O N M AT T E R S
ACCOUNTABILITY PRESSURES IGNORED IN CONSULTATION Despite some potential positives, the DfE’s proposed reforms of primary assessment have missed the mark WORDS SALLY GILLEN
O
n 30 March – two months later than expected – the Department for Education (DfE) published its consultation paper on primary assessment. Its proposals fall some way short of what leaders were anticipating. Disappointingly, the paper fails to address accountability problems, despite a promise by the education secretary that they would be considered alongside the operation of assessment when the consultation was announced back in October 2016, says ATL policy adviser Anne Heavey. “It is not good enough, because a lot of the problems come from the high-stakes nature of assessment and the threat this poses to leaders,” she argues. “Until that context is addressed, it doesn’t matter what’s introduced – it won’t work.” She adds: “The key issue for leaders is having to do well in SATs to retain control of their school, which is, unsurprisingly, making it harder to retain senior leaders in primary schools. “The DfE’s addiction to data, which it uses to make remote, decontextualised
“THE PAPER ASSUMES THE SYSTEM IS 90% THERE AND WE ARE TINKERING TO IMPROVE THE LAST 10%”
judgements about school effectiveness, is deeply problematic and damaging to leaders’ confidence. The paper assumes the system is 90% there and we are tinkering to improve the last 10%. ATL-AMiE’s position is that the system needs to be significantly overhauled.” ATL-AMiE’s response to the consultation makes it clear that we need to move away from the individual testing of every child in schools, to sample assessments, and we also oppose the plans set out in the paper to introduce a new baseline assessment and multiplication check. Despite the glaring omission of any proposals to address accountability, two potential positives are contained in the document. The first is that the DfE has conceded the approach to the assessment of writing in Years 2 and 6 that came in last year simply isn’t working, and it intends to explore moving towards a system that looks more like best-fit. ATL-AMiE cautiously welcomes this, although we need to see details soon because we know the Government would like to bring those arrangements in for next year, which is a very tight timeline. One of the big problems with what was used last year was that the interim writing frameworks weren’t trialled. “We wouldn’t want to see another botched, rushed job, so they really need to get on with this,” warns Heavey. “Although this is a positive, the DfE needs to move away from focusing so heavily on the spelling, punctuation and grammar aspects of writing, and find a way to recognise whether there is an
effective piece of writing as a whole, that is creative, eloquent, and is meeting its purpose, rather than semicolons being in the right place and properly shaped commas.” The second positive is the prospect of removing key stage 1 SATs. However, it may come at a price – a fully established baseline test. The first year for the removal of key stage 1 SATs is 2022, with the proviso that the baseline is working. “Given that we don’t believe that’s possible, we could end up with even more flawed assessments, so we need to welcome the willingness to consider removal – but simply bringing in an equally flawed and problematic assessment isn’t a fair price,” says Heavey. “The DfE has talked itself convincingly out of the current arrangements, but said we have to put up with them until we get the baseline it wants. We say that if those arrangements aren’t good enough now they should be stopped.” Tellingly, in 2015, 15,421 schools undertook the DfE-approved baseline assessments. Last year, the number had dropped to 3,901. Research commissioned by ATL-AMiE and the NUT in 2015 and published in 2016 concluded baseline assessment was pointless and could not be used to identify children with SEND, making it useless to teachers. “Both KS1 SATs and baseline are flawed,” says Heavey. “We should not accept one in place of the other.” 3 MORE INFO To read more on assessment, go to www.atl.org.uk/consultationblog
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FINAL WORD
n the run-up to the general election, for the first time in a long time, schools were central to the political debate. Labour’s first party political broadcast argued that schools were facing unsustainable cuts to their budgets. Whatever you thought of the winsome children asking their teacher why they could no longer use the school library (because, she said, it had been shut down), the fact that funding was Labour’s first campaign indicated that education, and indeed, the state of public services generally, was at the heart of its campaign. However you voted, the political, and therefore media focus on funding, has to be a good thing. Education has, for too long, languished behind health in the attention it is given by the media and in the public’s consciousness. Cuts to education funding do not result in blocked beds and dramatic pictures of sick people spending hours on hospital trolleys. But the impact of cuts to education funding is as damaging to schools and colleges as cuts to NHS funding are to hospital care. The effects are simply more hidden. The school cuts website developed by ATL-AMiE and the NUT has been tremendously effective in bringing home to parents and school leaders just how devastating the real-terms cuts to their budgets will be. The full scale of the problem is laid bare in a National Audit Office (NAO) report, Financial Sustainability of Schools, which reveals that the Government estimates schools will be required to find £3 billion of savings by 2019-20. This is a real-terms cut of eight per cent when rising costs associated with pay rises, increased
national insurance and pension costs are taken into account. The Government responds by declaring that it is spending more on schools than ever before. What ministers neglect to add is that there are more pupils than ever before, who need teachers, classrooms and learning resources. Ministers know this, but what they do not know, incredibly, is how much their tsunami of reforms to the curriculum at primary and secondary level, qualification reform, and all the other duties they have placed on schools, actually costs. This leaves the NAO, remarkably, to conclude: “The Government does
PAYING ATTENTION TO EDUCATION 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 IMPACT OF CUTS TO EDUCATION FUNDING IS AS DAMAGING TO SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES AS CUTS TO NHS FUNDING ARE TO HOSPITAL CARE” 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.” This can only, I believe, be a testimony to the chaotic and untested nature of Michael Gove’s grand reform programme. Further education colleges have, of course, been subject to a funding squeeze for a far longer period. No wonder it is often called the ‘Cinderella sector’. But, despite 65% of 16- to 18-year-olds and two million adults choosing to study in FE, it continues to bear the brunt of the harshest cuts. A report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, published in February, showed that by 2020 spending per student in FE will be at the same level as it was in 1990. With restricted budgets, unmanageable workload and the instability caused by the continuous cycle of mergers and restructures, it is no surprise that the sector faces a recruitment and retention crisis. Yet, despite these real and urgent problems, the Government announced the Skills Plan, which tells the sector it must reinvent itself as the provider of T-levels and apprenticeships over the next five years. Through the Skills Plan, the Government believes, the UK’s productivity problem will be solved and there will be enough skilled workers to keep the post-Brexit economy afloat. I don’t foresee politicians continuing to dodge education funding challenges.
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GOLDSMITHS’ GRANTS FOR TEACHERS
2018 GRANTS FOR PRIMARY AND SECONDARY TEACHERS Take Time Out from the Classroom! The Goldsmiths’ Grant for Teachers provides an opportunity for teachers and head teachers to undertake a project of their choice, in UK or abroad, aimed at enhancing their personal and professional development. The Grant forms part of the long-term commitment of the Goldsmiths’ Company to support teachers and head teachers in the UK. Grants will cover travel, accommodation, material costs, etc, up to a maximum of £3,000. In addition the Goldsmiths’ Company will pay a maximum of £2,000 supply cover to your school. For guidelines and further detail visit our website: www.thegoldsmiths.co.uk/charity/education/grants-teachers Or apply to: The Deputy Clerk, The Goldsmiths’ Company Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, London EC2V 6BN
DON’T DELAY – APPLICATIONS MUST BE IN BY 1 DECEMBER 2017
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01/06/2017 31/05/2017 10:32 15:02
Free fundraising kit for your school AllStar Games is a brand new fundraising event that gets your class or whole school excited to raise money to save lives, have fun and get active.
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FIGHT FOR EVERY HEARTBEAT bhf.org.uk
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ORDER YOUR FREE FUNDRAISING KIT TODAY Go to bhf.org.uk/allstars to find out more
© British Heart Foundation 2017, a registered charity in England and Wales (225971) and Scotland (SC039426).
28/04/2017 10:31 17:01 01/06/2017