Elm December 2015

EDUCATION LEADER AND MANAGER

Representing leaders and managers in education P O L I CY

PROFILE

AREA REVIEWS: A RISKY, FLAWED PROCESS? page 6

THE CAMPAIGN FOR A NATIONAL BACCALAUREATE page 14

M A ST E R C L A S S

FINDING SPACE TO BE CREATIVE page 18

DECEMBER 2015 @ATL_AMiE

UNDER PRESSURE

TACKLING THE THREAT OF EXCESSIVE WORKLOADS TOGETHER page 10

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ELM / DECEMBER 2015

INSIDE 4

Welcome

6 8

Excessive workload is one of the biggest issues facing the education sector and one of the main reasons for teachers and leaders leaving the profession. Teacher stress is nothing new, of course, but, as the unprecedented response to the government’s Workload Challenge showed, it has now reached an unsustainable level.

A survey of ATL and AMiE members shows that the problem is not going away. The vast majority of ATL survey respondents (80%) told us their workload was “unmanageable”, while 81% admitted they had considered leaving the profession as a response. Our members tell us about the huge amount of bureaucratic work they are obliged to undertake, which has nothing to do with the core business of education. Stories of acute teacher distress are common.

That is why we are launching a campaign to help teachers and leaders deal better with their ever-increasing workload. Nobody, whatever their line of work, should have to accept stress as a day-to-day part of their job.

At the same time, we are involved in ongoing advocacy to address the main causes of excessive workload – our overbearing accountability system and a culture in which everything is relentlessly tested – while contributing to the government’s working groups on other key drivers of workload, including deep marking.

Both schools and further education colleges are being pressed to achieve more with less.

Education professionals are an incredibly important resource, one that we cannot afford to spread too thinly or employ in tasks which have nothing to do with delivering effective teaching and learning. It’s time politicians woke up to the true toll excessive workload is taking on the profession and acted to end it, dealing with the root causes as well as the symptoms.

Education news including consulting on ‘coasting’

Area reviews

The view from Northern Ireland and Wales

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Under pressure from excessive workloads

14

Tom Sherrington on the new EBacc

17 18

The latest from AMiE

Leaders need space to think

20 22

Q&A: Pension changes

Teacher shortage crisis

ELM is the magazine from ATL, 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD Tel 020 7930 6441 Fax 020 7930 1359 Email info@amie.org.uk Website www.amie.atl.org.uk Editor Paul Stanistreet 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

PETER PENDLE AMiE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Sub-editor Laura Dean-Osgood Group art director Darren Endicott Advertising sales Michael Coulsey or Anthony Bennett 020 3771 7200 Account manager Kieran Paul Managing director Polly Arnold 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 they will fulfil their 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: Tim McDonagh

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NEED TO KNOW

NEWS IN BRIEF

KEEP UP TO DATE WITH THE LATEST EDUCATION SECTOR NEWS

BETTER WITHOUT BASELINE Early years education experts and unions are calling for baseline assessment tests for four-year-old reception pupils, being piloted in England’s schools this year, to be scrapped.

Campaigners believe the tests are harmful to pupils’ well-being and learning, and potentially disruptive to children in their crucial settling-in year.

ATL/AMiE is part of the Better Without Baseline alliance, which is leading the campaign calling for an end to reception-year testing. The campaign is raising concerns about the way baseline assessment affects both teachers and pupils. It aims to put pressure on the Department for Education to change tack.

Campaigners say there is no evidence the tests are good predictors of later performance and that they will be open to “gaming”, with some schools deliberately depressing scores.

ATL/AMiE has commissioned the Institute of Education to undertake research on the impact of baseline assessment, which will be published in January.

Watch the ATL website for details: www.atl.org.uk.

For more information on the campaign, go to: www. betterwithoutbaseline. org.uk.

INTERVENING IN ’COASTING‘ SCHOOLS AMiE MEMBERS still have a few weeks to contribute to the government’s consultation on new measures to intervene and take over failing or ‘coasting’ schools.

Education secretary Nicky Morgan launched the consultation in October on measures outlined in the Education and Adoption Bill, which is making its way through parliament.

They are intended to speed up the process whereby a maintained school is judged to be failing and academy sponsors are brought in to take over. The consultation closes on 18 December.

The consultation document, Intervening in Failing, Underperforming and Coasting Schools, seeks views from teachers, headteachers, schools, parents and local authorities on how schools eligible for intervention should be defined and how the powers of intervention available to regional schools commissioners (RSCs) should be used.

The new powers are expected to take effect from summer term 2016.

Three groups of schools will be eligible for intervention: schools judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted, schools that have failed to comply with a warning notice, and schools that are ‘coasting’. The government proposes that schools will be identified as coasting on the basis of three years of published performance data rather than Ofsted judgements (which had been considered), in the first instance using results from 2014, 2015 and 2016. The specific measures that will be used to determine whether or not a primary or

secondary school is ‘coasting’ are set out in the consultation document.

Nicky Morgan says the new measures “will allow teachers to get on with the job of improving failing schools and deliver on our commitment to extend opportunity and deliver real social justice”. ATL/AMiE and other unions have, however, warned that the bill, if passed without amendment, could result in thousands of schools being forced into sponsored academy arrangements without community consultation and despite the absence of evidence that academy status leads to improved school standards.

Simon Stokes, ATL’s senior policy adviser, said that the bill needed flexibility around school improvement options, taking into account the track record of academy success.

“As it stands the bill makes academisation a panacea for all schools,” he said, adding that the quality of academy sponsors varies hugely, particularly in their ability to raise the standards of education for poor children. Ofsted needed to inspect academy chains as well as individual academies to ensure there was proper evidence on academy success, he said.

“Sponsors should not be allowed to expand until they have a proven record of success.”

It’s important that AMiE members make full use of this opportunity to contribute to the consultation process. The consultation document and guidance on contributing are available here: www.gov.uk/government/ consultations/intervening-in-failingunderperforming-and-coasting-schools.

FE LOANS TAKE-UP NOT TAKING OFF New figures released by the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills show that the number of applications for FE loans fell by five per cent between 2013/14 and 2014/15,

from 70,820 to 67,280.

Although the number of approved applications increased slightly over the same period, from 56,220 to 56,870, almost £250m – 62% – of the £398m FE loans

budget was unused in the last academic year.

The think tank Policy Exchange has called for a major overhaul of the way the FE loans system operates.

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NEED TO KNOW

CAN MORE SLEEP IMPROVE SCHOOL PERFORMANCE? TEENSLEEP, a major study testing the impact of later school start times and a sleep education programme on pupil attainment, has been launched by the Wellcome Trust and the University of Oxford. The coordinators are inviting secondary schools in England and Wales to take part.

The project is a response to evidence that teenagers’ academic attainment is hampered by a lack of sleep and that they are obliged to ‘wake up and learn’ when their bodies are still prepared for sleep. The study will assess whether starting at 10am rather than 9am improves academic performance, and look at the impact of sleep education in improving sleep quality and overcoming teenagers’ ‘natural biological predisposition’ to stay up late.

Recruitment events are being held in Reading on 16 December, and London on 13 January. For more information, AMiE members should go to www.teensleep.org.uk or email teensleep@ndcn.ox.ac.uk.

INCENTIVES FOR NEW TEACHERS

THE GOVERNMENT is offering a range of enhanced bursaries and scholarships to top graduates to train to teach in key academic subjects.

The awards, which will be worth up to £30,000 tax-free, will be available from the 2016/17 academic year. They include £30,000 for graduates with a first-class degree training to teach physics, an increase from £25,000 in 2015. Trainees in physics with a 2:1 will continue to receive a £25,000 bursary, while trainees with a 2:2 will also receive £25,000, up from £15,000 last year.

Bursaries of up to £25,000 will be available in other EBacc subjects.

Teachers training on a School Direct (salaried) course in maths and physics will be able to earn £21,000 nationally and £25,900 in inner London.

APPRENTICESHIPS: IT’S ABOUT QUALITY TOO Employers have been in the spotlight because of changes to apprenticeship policy, but AMiE would like to see college leaders engage with this area too. With many colleges facing existential threat, apprenticeship funding is the only ring-fenced area of the further education budget.

The government aims to create three million new apprenticeship starts by the end of the parliament and is making concerted efforts to engage employers through its apprenticeship levy. In addition, the 'trailblazer' groups of employers are designing updated standards for the successful completion of an apprenticeship.

Cracks in the government’s drive for apprenticeships are beginning to show, however.

In October, Ofsted published a report criticising the quality of the apprenticeships on offer, stating that they do not benefit

young people, employers or the economy. Other commentators and organisations have raised similar concerns, pointing out that the emphasis on quantity is coming at the expense of quality programmes.

ATL/AMiE is drafting an apprenticeship policy, which will focus on the characteristics of goodquality apprenticeships that put the learner at the centre of the programme. As well as supporting designers of apprenticeship programmes in colleges, it is anticipated that the policy will be useful to members in schools who are advising students on career paths.

Details of the policy will be available online by the end of the year. Members will have an opportunity to contribute their views as to what a good-quality apprenticeship should look like.

JOIN AMiE COUNCIL AND HAVE YOUR SAY AMiE is seeking nominations from members to join its Council. AMiE Council is the essential forum that ensures members’ views and concerns are communicated to its professional staff. It enables members to help shape AMiE strategy and policy decisions, as well as AMiE’s responses to key government plans and consultations. The Council is also a brilliant opportunity to share insights and meet professionals from other parts of the education sector.

The feedback we get from members who have contributed to the Council’s work is excellent. Ralph Surman, deputy headteacher at Cantrell Primary School, described it as, “a fantastic opportunity to be updated on areas impacting on leadership across all sectors of education”, providing him “with a broader knowledge and understanding” that he has used to advise and signpost others.

Julia Neal, deputy director of sixth form at Torquay Girls’ Grammar School, said it had been particularly rewarding to work alongside colleagues from different sectors as, “it provides continuity and an understanding of how education works right across the spectrum”. Lesley Tipping, assistant principal, grŵp curriculum, at Grŵp Llandrillo Menai, agreed. “Finding like-minded individuals is very supportive in your professional life and hearing the experiences of others was beneficial to my understanding of all educational levels.”

To discuss Council membership further, contact jpearson@amie.atl.org.uk.

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

AREA REVIEWS: A FLAWED AND RISKY PROCESS

While a review of post-16 education provision in England is welcome, the government’s area review process is more about politics and cost-cutting than the creation of a system that delivers more for students and local economies WORDS PAUL STANISTREET

T

he first post-16 area review steering group meetings have been taking place amid warnings that the process is unwieldy, partial, hasty and ultimately unworkable. College leaders have raised concerns about the scope and pace of the reviews, as well as the likely cost to providers. Trepidation among further education and sixthform college leaders is understandable.

The government’s aim is to create “fewer, larger, more resilient and efficient” colleges, and FE commissioner David Collins has described his role as, “encouraging marriages, federations and divorces between colleges to try and set up a sustainable further education sector”.

While few would argue against the need to review post-16 provision in England, the fall-out from the current process is bound to be considerable.

The Skills Funding Agency has said that at least 30 colleges are likely to close as a result. With the comprehensive spending review (not announced when this issue of ELM went to press) unlikely to include a more generous settlement for FE, the stakes for college leaders could not be higher. As the skills minister has hinted, “the status quo is not an option” if colleges are to survive in this brave new world.

“There is clearly a strong case for a comprehensive review of post-16 education provision across England,” says Eddie Playfair, principal of

Newham Sixth Form College. “The incoherent market we operate in is increasingly characterised by selection, segregation and inefficiency and won’t be in any fit shape to serve young people’s needs at a time when resources are scarce. However, the flaw at the heart of these area reviews is that the least cost-effective provision is not in scope, and there are no incentives for collaboration or partnership between us. For many of us in sixth-form colleges, our main competition is coming from small school sixth forms, which duplicate what we already offer.”

‘Fundamental flaws’ The exclusion of school sixth forms from the review suggests a process that is driven not by the needs of students and local economies – the timescales alone make it impossible to pull together an accurate picture of these and there is no by-right employer voice on the steering groups – but by political considerations and the need to cut costs. According to James Kewin, deputy chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, the exclusive focus on FE and sixth-form colleges is a “fundamental flaw” in the process, arising from ministers’ reluctance to recognise or discuss

underperformance in schools and academies, where expansion of sixthform provision continues despite evidence that some school and academy sixth forms deliver worse outcomes than sixth-form colleges at a higher cost.

“Eking out further efficiencies in the most efficient part of the post-16 sector while ignoring the most inefficient providers is difficult to square with ‘the need to maintain very tight fiscal discipline in order to tackle the deficit’ – the explanation given in the policy statement for area-based reviews,” Kewin says. “The suggestion in the guidance that schools can ‘opt in’ to the reviews suggests that ministers have ducked the challenge of addressing underperformance in school and academy sixth forms. The guidance and policy statement have a lot to say about reducing costs and very little to say about improving quality.

There is little evidence that fewer, larger institutions actually deliver better outcomes for students, and it is worth noting that the government is committed to increasing the number of

“THE HONOURABLE THING FOR LEADERS TO DO WOULD BE TO CONSIDER THE IMPLICATIONS OF ANY CHANGES FOR THE LEARNERS IN THEIR AREA.”

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

small academy and free-school sixth forms. This does not look like coherent or joined-up policymaking.”

Mark Wright, assistant director of AMiE (leadership and management), agrees. “With the talk of efficiency echoing the wider government theme of austerity, it seems rather ridiculous that school sixth forms have been left out of the area reviews,” he says. “If this really was about economics rather than politics then school sixth forms would certainly be included.

Meanwhile it appears that many people in schools are blissfully unaware of what’s happening to their peers in further education, buffered by the up-to-16 ringfence, but themselves preoccupied by cutbacks due to rising costs and having to deal with the rising tide of pupil numbers.”

The challenge to make sound decisions based on good evidence has been further complicated by the sheer size of the steering groups – some are expected to comprise 40-plus members – and the paucity of data on which to base decisions, Wright adds. “The guidance doesn’t indicate that principals will automatically have a place at the steering groups, but governors are likely to wish to be accompanied by their principals – making the meetings very large and

difficult to forge clear, evidence-based decisions. Leaders need to demonstrate the impact their college has made, which is difficult to do in a backdated fashion. Ideally, they would have been collecting impact data for several years, but assembling impact evidence is the most expensive form of evaluation and most principals are not likely to have sanctioned such expense given the imperative to keep costs low and the absence of a business case for it at the time. But colleges without this data, and a healthy balance sheet, will naturally be at a higher risk in the bunfight over what provision ought to survive in the review process.”

The impact on learning There will be winners and losers, Wright says, with some financially viable colleges taking advantage of the opportunity to “empire build. The honourable thing for leaders to do would be to consider the implications of any changes for the learners in their area. The government talks a lot about ‘efficiency’ in its review documents – in fact, the policy could be called ‘Saving lots of cash from FE’ – but leaders need to carefully consider how their responses to the reviews will impact on the effectiveness of teaching and learning.”

Eddie Playfair urges leaders to “contribute positively” to the reviews and to be “constructive and creative”.

“We should see this as an opportunity to suggest collaborative area-based partnership which is in the interests of learners,” he says. “Sixth-form colleges have educational values at their heart and we can make a good economic case for broad and multi-specialist education and university progression, not simply training for our local employment market. Whatever happens we must avoid being panicked into ‘merger-mania’. Experience suggests that creating giant providers is often not the best option. If we want to meet the needs of all learners we will need strong local systems but not necessarily super-colleges.”

The steering groups that are leading the area review process will be composed of a range of stakeholders, including college governors, local education providers, regional schools commissioners, local authorities, FE and sixth-form college commissioners, members of local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) and government officials. Teachers and lecturers, however, will generally play no part in the process, which is disappointing given that it is education staff who, ultimately, will be responsible for the success or failure of the new arrangements. Learners too are absent, further underlining the top-down nature of the review process. It is unfortunate also that the reviews will not involve all post-16 providers in an area, a flaw that must call into question the legitimacy of the whole process. Add to this the size of the steering groups and it is hard to see how the process will generate well-founded answers to the questions it poses or how it represents the best use of the government’s (or, indeed, colleges’) limited resources.

Ultimately, as Eddie Playfair notes, the success of the reviews is likely to depend on the “imagination, system leadership and better instincts of those involved”. It remains to be seen to what extent self-interest will take a back seat to the interests of learners when careers, livelihoods and the futures of whole institutions are at stake.

3 MORE INFO The rationale and process involved in the programme of post-16 area reviews is outlined in more detail here: www.gov.uk/government/publications/post-16education-and-training-institutions-review.

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COMMENT: NORTHERN IRELAND

Reinventing FE MARIE-THÉRÈSE MCGIVERN HAS SET OUT A POSITIVE, YET CHALLENGING, VISION FOR FURTHER EDUCATION IN NORTHERN IRELAND when the city was known as ‘Linenopolis’ and was a global powerhouse in shipbuilding, engineering and textiles. The Technical Institute aimed to provide technical education to develop workers with the skills, ingenuity and innovation required in a bustling economy.

“For the next 60 years, the Tech was an open door for learning, a door that led to work, but in the last decades of the 20th century, we forgot a bit about what made us an industrial powerhouse – we forgot how to be Germany.”

COLUMNIST MARK LANGHAMMER DIRECTOR OF ATL NORTHERN IRELAND

T

he annual conference of Colleges NI, the umbrella group for Northern Ireland’s six FE colleges, took place in October, against the backdrop of a new draft strategy for FE, Skills to Succeed. The conference presented a buoyant, even bullish, outlook on the future, notwithstanding the challenges posed by austerity.

The keynote speaker was Marie-Thérèse McGivern, principal of Belfast Metropolitan College and an AMiE member. It is interesting to note that since 16 colleges were merged into six larger regional colleges in Northern Ireland, all six director/principal posts are held by AMiE members.

McGivern argued that we should look to Germany for an example of how cities can secure a successful, productive and competitive future.

Successful cities, she argued, require great leadership to harness ambition and to build coalitions. They must also be great places to live, with good transport links and a strong cultural infrastructure, as well as being attractive and welcoming. Finally, they must be able to create wealth productively, with skilled people at the heart of a powerful fusion of factors. She explained: “There is a tentative recovery in Northern Ireland, with 1.8 per cent growth, 37,000 extra jobs, £2.6bn in investment and a drop of 11,400 in unemployment. In 1906, the Belfast Corporation opened the Belfast Technical Institute at a time

McGivern noted that, with the rationalisation of colleges, the FE Means Business policy and the draft strategy for further education, FE was being challenged to “reinvent vocational training for a new age”. She cited numerous examples of the sector rising to this challenge, including the new system of apprenticeships, modelled along German lines, and higher level apprenticeships, including one in life sciences developed by Southern Regional College in partnership with leading pharmaceutical company, Norbrook.

Growing partnerships with both big businesses and networks of small and medium-sized enterprises have given FE in Northern Ireland a strong focus on creating a better, higher skilled and more productive economy for the future.

FE continues to make a significant contribution to addressing Northern Ireland’s social problems.

Nearly half (45%) of FE students in Northern Ireland come from the poorest communities.

Further education provides a supportive environment for these students, many of whom will have left school with few qualifications or none at all.

It is also a safe space in which to explore diversity. All colleges have a healthy intercommunal mix, within which those of different ethnic and racial backgrounds are represented proportionately. As McGivern argued, FE is a powerful contributor to solutions on poverty, disadvantage and under-achievement, as well as a pathway to work.

McGivern praised Stephen Farry and senior civil servant, Catherine Bell, for providing a positive strategic context for the sector. She made the challenges clear but she also set out a powerful vision for FE, one which, if realised, will serve the economy and people of Northern Ireland well.

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COMMENT: WALES

Put education first IT’S TIME TO REVERSE YEARS OF CHRONIC UNDERFUNDING IN THE WELSH EDUCATION SYSTEM

N

o one working in management in colleges or schools in Wales over the last few years will have been spared the headaches caused by underfunding. In 2010, the Welsh Government was paying schools £604 less per pupil than Westminster was providing in England.

That translates into more than £120,000 per year for an average primary school and a whopping £600,000 per year for an average secondary school.

Many commentators think the gap has since increased. Only last month we heard that school funding had been cut by more than £60 per pupil this year. So much for the Welsh Government’s pledge to protect school funding. Those in FE colleges are living with cuts of over six per cent to their overall budgets, with many colleges experiencing worse. There are now real fears for the future of post-19 education in Wales. The human cost has been immense, with hundreds of jobs axed.

Let’s be clear too that, while the Westminster austerity agenda has increased the magnitude of these cuts, this chronic underfunding long predates the election of the coalition government in 2010. Wales has been underfunding its education system for years. Those working in our schools and colleges have commented time and again on the deleterious effect that has had on students. It’s time to call a halt.

And that’s exactly what our election campaign for the 2016 National Assembly elections aims to do. We are unashamed in demanding that the next Welsh Government gives a commitment to ‘Put Education First’. That’s the title of our campaign – and that’s what our manifesto is all about.

We are not just asking that education be put first in terms of funding. We want it to be put first in terms of our children too. The ATL/AMiE manifesto is not a wish list for staff, but a concrete prescription for the future of the children of Wales.

We are outlining the things that we believe are

“WE ARE UNASHAMED IN DEMANDING THAT THE NEXT WELSH GOVERNMENT ‘PUTS EDUCATION FIRST’.”

COLUMNIST PHILIP DIXON DIRECTOR OF ATL CYMRU needed if we are to build a world-class education system in Wales.

We have five asks: build a strong curriculum with portable qualifications; develop the workforce; invest in education; give support staff fair pay; and keep the state education system.

Those are what you, the membership, told us really mattered. Without securing those five asks we will not be able to make the improvements that we all want to see in education in Wales.

Politics is about choice. The manifesto sums up the choices that we think our politicians should make. But they won’t know we want those things unless we tell them. And that’s where you come in.

We want members to engage in a conversation with anyone who is prepared to listen, as well as our politicians who must be made to listen. The manifesto is a blueprint for the conversations that need to take place. Copies are available online at www.atl.org.uk/puteducationfirst.

The Assembly elections take place in May next year. Between now and then we hope that we can persuade those who are seeking our votes that they really should put education first. Your future and the future of the young people in your charge are at stake. Over the next few months we will be rolling out our campaign. Please be part of it. Together we can make a real difference.

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F E AT U R E

orkload is a huge issue for schools and colleges, and it is not going away. A little over a year ago, the then deputy prime minister Nick Clegg warned that teachers were spending too much time on unproductive non-teaching work, such as excessive marking and the preparation of evidence for performance management. The Department for Education launched its Workload Challenge, prompting more than 44,000 teachers to share details of their “unnecessary and unsustainable workload”. Excessive workload, driven

by a range of factors, chief among them the pressures of inspection, is having a debilitating effect on staff in schools and FE, from trainee teachers through to headteachers and principals. It leaves them drained and dissatisfied, affects their performance as teachers and leaders, and lays waste to any attempt to establish a meaningful work-life balance. Overwhelmed by form-filling and accountability measures, unable to give their all in enriching their students’ learning, many opt to leave the profession. Others struggle through, keeping their heads down and hoping things will get better, while their sense of well-being and job satisfaction take hit after hit.

A new workload survey of ATL and AMiE members digs deeper into this troubling picture. Teachers, support staff and senior leaders (excluding headteachers who are being surveyed separately) working in schools in England were surveyed. A separate survey of FE is being prepared (as are surveys of members in Wales and Northern Ireland). The schools survey highlights the key drivers of excessive workload and illustrates some of the

Excessive workload is one of the biggest issues facing the education sector and one of the main reasons for teachers and leaders leaving the profession. ATL’s workload campaign is supporting individuals and workplaces to manage workload better WORDS PAUL STANISTREET ILLUSTRATION TIM MCDONAGH

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F E AT U R E

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F E AT U R E

challenges facing leaders and managers in education. The vast majority (80%) of more than 2,000 respondents reported that their workload is “unmanageable”, while 81% said they had considered leaving the profession because of workload. Almost two-thirds (64%) said they never take a break of 40 minutes or more during the school day. Of the rest, 10% said they do at least once a week and 16% said they do less than once a week.

Members were asked what activities contributed to their workload issues. The main tasks they thought should be done less frequently were marking, attending meetings, preparing for lesson observations, responding to emails and collecting evidence for performance management. The tasks they thought should be done more frequently were working collaboratively with colleagues, and professional development. Data entry and analysis, photocopying and preparing resources, and organising the classroom were most frequently cited as jobs that “shouldn’t be done by me”.

When asked what they would do more of if they could do less of the work they feel is unnecessary, almost half (46%) said they would do more collaborative working, while 45% said they would do more talking with individual parents or pupils, and 40% said they would spend more time observing colleagues’ teaching. A third said they would do nothing more as it would mean their work would have been brought down to manageable proportions.

Impossible expectations The findings bear out what most of us will know, either from direct experience or anecdotally: in far too many cases, stress, overwork and impossible expectations have become day-to-day

parts of the working lives of teachers.

And, of course, the issue of everincreasing workload also impacts on leaders and managers, whose workload has been spiralling for a number of years. The Department for Education’s 2013 school workforce census found that, on average, school leaders work between 55 and 65 hours each week. “The busyness can be unrelenting and erodes time that might otherwise be devoted to reflecting on what’s happening and how things might be tackled more effectively – the bread and butter of effective leadership,” says Mark Wright, AMiE’s assistant director (leadership and management). “The leaders who have taken part in the leadership survey tell us it is impossible to do everything expected of them and that even skilled prioritisation – itself not without risk given what gets left out – can still leave the flow of work at a level that impacts on the well-being of both themselves and their staff.”

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Education professionals know that hard work goes with the territory, but nobody should be expected to work in an environment that is, in Mary Bousted’s words, “incompatible with normal life”.

ATL and AMiE have been working on a number of fronts to address the issues.

This includes ongoing advocacy work and contributing members’ views to government working groups on some of the key drivers of workload: data management, resources and deep marking. But members need immediate support in their workplaces too, which is why ATL and AMiE have launched a work-life campaign to support teachers and leaders in managing workload. The campaign web zone includes a ‘work-life tracker’ to monitor work-life balance,

your working hours and the major drivers of your workload – and to see how you compare to others. It will also highlight where you can get help and advice on what can be done to manage workload, including guidance on time management, meetings, inspection and marking. And building on this year’s AMiE leadership seminars on leading with less, we will be developing a new publication for next year, which aims to explore the management of workload pressures. The aim is to end up with a suite of resources that will engage, support, advise and empower members to work with colleagues to address workload and work-life balance issues in their workplaces.

Working collaboratively The choice facing teachers and leaders should not be “live with it or leave”.

There are numerous examples out there of schools and colleges that have tackled workload effectively, with leaders working collaboratively with teaching and support staff to create workplaces in which stress is minimised and wellbeing actively promoted. The cooperative schools run by St Clere’s Cooperative Academy Trust, including St Clere’s Secondary School in Thurrock, provide a useful case study. “The key word here is cooperative,” says Paul Griffiths, chief executive of the Trust. “How we deal with our staff falls out of our values. If you go down the command-and-control leadership route, where somebody at the top makes all the decisions, that can work very effectively, but, for me, that is not enough in terms of developing leadership in an organisation like this.

You have to have appropriate delegation, appropriate priority setting, focusing on the core principles that are going to bring about school improvement, and really trying to make sure that the right person is doing the right job and everybody understands their roles and responsibilities. Yes, there is a lot of accountability, making sure you are bringing everybody to account, but you also have enough affiliative leadership so that you are working with others to make sure you are seen as a caring community rather than a hostile environment in which either to work or to be learning.”

One of the Trust’s aims is to ensure, “everyone has an appropriate voice at an

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F E AT U R E

appropriate level,” says Griffiths. The staff voice is heard through a joint consultative committee involving all the unions, and managers give staff early notice of any changes they are implementing so that feedback on workload implications can be taken on board and acted on. The Trust has taken a different approach to meetings, introducing shorter 10-minute and single-item meetings, and replacing some meetings with workshops.

Centralising back-office responsibilities across the Trust’s schools has also helped reduce costs and workload. Marking is the biggest workload issue at St Clere’s and the schools are using pupil feedback to rationalise it and make it more effective, taking into account the different workloads different teachers face. “You have to push it down to that level, using action research and becoming a learning organisation,” Griffiths explains. “Transparency is the rule. Be open, so if people have got issues they feel they can raise them, and be positive about complaints. Try to identify what there is in a complaint you can learn from, and, over time, you’ll find there are fewer complaints because your organisation is working in a more outstanding and autonomous way and is self-regulating. Obviously, staff do come to us and say they’re stressed. It’s about being reasonable and understanding about it – understanding the how and the why, and seeing if you can do something about it, rather than not accepting that there are going to be some difficulties.”

'Learning from mistakes' The key thing, Griffiths argues, is to have “a very clearly defined vision”, which is “appropriately shared and understood” so that everyone knows what the organisation is about and where it is going. “It’s important to find individual solutions that suit individual needs in their context but, generically, it’s about getting the vision right. You also have to get the teaching and learning right. You have to make sure people aren’t doing each others’ jobs, but doing their own jobs effectively as part of a team. I honestly feel that the teaching job is hard enough. You have to be responsible for what you have been appointed to do. You shouldn’t be in a situation where you are doing another person’s job. That’s where

the stresses in lots of jobs come from. I think you need good teachers in your classroom who are self-regulating. If you haven’t got that in a school it can be incredibly stressful. Bringing that about can be the first massive hurdle in reducing workload in a school. It’s maybe a hard thing to say, but that is the journey a school has to go on, to do that.”

It’s unlikely to be achieved overnight and a good deal of “learning from mistakes” is involved, but it can be done, Griffiths says. “There are workload issues. Why else did we have 50,000 teachers leaving the profession last year and 40% [of new teachers] leaving by their second year?

It’s got to be the stress and the strains in the system. We haven’t got all the answers. But we’re not losing staff like that. We have staff who want to work with us. It can be done. The problem is it’s not a system-wide experience.”

Much was expected from government in the wake of the Workload Challenge, but its response disappointed many. The Department for Education agreed to do more to consider the impact on schools when introducing policy changes, and to introduce a minimum lead-in time for significant accountability, curriculum

“You shouldn’t be in a situation where you are doing another person’s job. That’s where the stresses come from.” and qualifications changes. More support was promised for school leaders and Ofsted committed not to make substantive changes to inspections during the academic year “except when absolutely necessary”, and to make its guidance more streamlined and concise.

The Department for Education has since launched three workload review groups on marking, planning and resources, and data management – intended to ensure that teachers can focus on “inspiring young people” rather than on “bureaucracy and paperwork”. These groups are a positive step in addressing the causes of unproductive and unnecessary work, though they do not address the one identified by teachers as the most significant – the inspection regime – and ATL/AMiE will continue to

lobby for changes here. At the same time, more needs to be done to support colleagues dealing with these issues now. That’s where the work-life campaign comes in.

New resources to help The campaign will give leaders and teachers an opportunity to assess their own workload and offer support to help manage it better. Over the coming months, ATL/AMiE intends to develop resources in conjunction with members, which will help leaders to begin collecting data to get a sound view of what is happening at their workplace and what they can do to get on top of workload issues. And it will feature toolkits and resources, including case studies of schools, colleges and trusts like St Clere’s, which have developed successful strategies to deal with workload and promote well-being. As Paul Griffiths argues, a command-andcontrol model of leadership doesn’t offer a lasting solution to the problem of workload. It can lead some managers to place yet more pressure on staff as they put in place tick-box processes to make sure the school or college is “Ofsted ready”. Trust is of critical importance.

The government needs to trust schools and colleges to do what they do best. And leaders need to develop collaborative ways of working with staff that pay due respect to their professionalism and do not load them with impossible expectations. With pupil numbers on the rise, and teacher recruitment stalling, it’s obvious that something will have to give. The system needs to attract new, talented staff members, retain existing ones, and give a new generation of leaders something to aspire to. None of this will be possible while excessive workload continues to take its toll.

3 MORE INFO We want AMiE members to engage with the campaign.

Your feedback and engagement will help us develop sharper resources and support our advocacy in lobbying the government to tackle the root causes of excessive workload across sectors. Go to www.atl.org.uk/ abouttime for more information.

We are also looking for examples of practice that has helped mitigate the issues of reduced funding and increased workload in schools and colleges, for inclusion in AMiE’s forthcoming publication Leading with Less. If you have examples you would like to share, please get in touch with Mark Wright: mwright@amie.atl.org.uk.

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PROFILE

Building from the ground up TOM SHERRINGTON IS ONE OF THE DRIVING FORCES BEHIND THE MOVEMENT TO CREATE A NATIONAL BACCALAUREATE FOR ENGLAND. RATHER THAN LOOKING TO GOVERNMENT FOR SOLUTIONS, HE WANTS SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES TO SHAPE IT WORDS PAUL STANISTREET PHOTOGRAPH LOUISE HAYWOOD-SCHIEFER

H

eadteacher Tom Sherrington has always believed in the value of a rounded, balanced education for his pupils – one in which academic rigour meets moral and cultural education, creativity and the arts, and each is valued equally.

When, in 2012, Michael Gove set out his vision for a new “English baccalaureate” (EBacc), requiring secondary school pupils to study English, maths, a language, a science and history or geography, Sherrington felt consternation and anger, not only at Gove’s “narrow idea of what learning must involve”, but also at the then secretary of state’s attempt to hijack the term “baccalaureate”. Having spent three years teaching at an international baccalaureate school, it was obvious to him that the EBacc represented no more than “a set of academic GCSEs, the palest imitation of a baccalaureate anyone could imagine”. Sherrington was furious, but instead of simply complaining, he began to set out what he thought a national baccalaureate should be. It was the start of what has become a game-changing grassroots campaign to resist the narrowness of ministers’ thinking about curriculum and develop a viable alternative model that does better justice to the term.

Sherrington was head of King Edward VI Grammar School in Chelmsford at the time. Shortly afterwards he became a founding member of the Headteachers’ Roundtable. The group began

discussing the EBacc and how to respond to it. “I found that other heads were interested,” Sherrington says. “My model was very simple and it gave us something to work around. We started developing our own model and found lots of other people were doing the same. I realised there was momentum to be found in the system.”

The Roundtable organised an event at Highbury Grove School in Islington, where Sherrington has worked as headteacher since September 2014, bringing together a range of experts to discuss the prospects for a national baccalaureate. Subsequent meetings led to the setting up of the National Baccalaureate Trust and the piloting of the model in a small number of schools. A website will launch before the end of the year, offering support and guidance to schools and colleges interested in participating.

England model that Sherrington has helped develop includes not only academic and technical qualifications (the “core learning”), but also an extended project – an in-depth study of a subject relevant to the student’s learning – and a significant personal development component, providing genuine “breadth” to the curriculum, an aim that ATL/AMiE supports. “We’re saying that within a baccalaureate structure every student should complete a personal development programme that takes stock of their creative pursuits, their physical education, involvement in community service, work experience and all the things that develop those rounded interpersonal and communication skills everyone recognises are useful and important,” Sherrington explains. “It shouldn’t be open to chance whether the school or college you go to offers this. We want to

“IT’S PRETTY EXCITING, TO HAVE GONE FROM A SKETCH ON A BIT OF PAPER TO THE POINT WHERE WE ARE ABOUT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.” “We get enquiries from pretty much everywhere, including independent schools, grammar schools and the FE sector,” Sherrington says. “The interest is there. If we can get the organisational infrastructure behind it, the funding and some people to run it, we’ve got a model that can really work and take off.

It’s pretty exciting, to have gone from a sketch on a bit of paper to the point where we are about to make it happen.”

The National Baccalaureate for

get to the point where there’s an expectation that every young person will have a really rigorous personal development programme and it’s an entitlement for them to have that.”

The second important dimension is that the baccalaureate framework is inclusive, with all students – whether they are in an academic sixth form or undertaking technical/vocational study – in the same system, and a pathway to success available to every student,

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PROFILE

Headteacher Tom Sherrington

whatever their level of study. “Every child, regardless of their starting point and attainment level, can aspire to complete a baccalaureate at an appropriate level,” Sherrington says. “At the moment, the way the exam system works means that a high proportion of pupils are deemed to have failed. They don’t have good qualifications, they have bad ones. We think that’s wrong.

We want all learners to aspire to complete the advanced baccalaureate, but those who complete an intermediate-level baccalaureate or a foundation baccalaureate or even a baccalaureate at entry-level, where you might be talking about a young person with learning difficulties, will still have an entitlement to recognition for what they can do.” A baccalaureate at entrylevel will have the same basic structure as one at advanced level, with a core learning component, a project and a personal development programme.

All leave with a ‘transcript’ that captures what they have achieved in a common format, giving universities and employers a more rounded picture than standard examination grades can provide by themselves.

Flexible framework The idea is to change the way success and achievement are viewed. “We want to see a system that is universal, but flexible enough so that all learners can fit into it, while giving everybody something to aim for.” The framework should allow exams “to do the job they are designed for” while also acknowledging that they do not tell you everything that is important about a young person. The core learning component is built around existing academic and vocational qualifications, such as A-levels and BTECs. “We decided not to mess with what is already there,” Sherrington explains. “The system can’t take it at the moment and no one’s got an appetite to change everything. There are existing qualifications which deal with academic learning, A-levels and GCSEs. There are vocational qualifications which are impossible to line up against the others. Our approach is to say that doesn’t matter.

We’ll engage with what this person has done for its own sake. Our view is that the core learning is defined by the level of qualification the students are going

for without trying to make them equivalent in any way. We haven’t introduced any minimum requirements yet. Probably, in time, we’ll be talking about a minimum of three A-level equivalents or something like that. At Highbury Grove it’s three A-levels or a mixture of BTECs and A-levels. In a technical college, it might be your standard Level 3 diploma in computer science or agricultural studies that’s defined by the institution as the core learning. It makes it very flexible.

Initially, we don’t want to rule anyone out and say you’re not in the baccalaureate. It is open to people to say what they think should count.”

The idea is to be as inclusive as possible. “We want people to get inside the circle and be part of the movement,” Sherrington says. “It’s an opportunity to help shape it and make it something viable for your situation.

We need as many providers as possible to chip in and say, ‘We think this looks good, this is affordable, deliverable and of high quality’. If people can do that, it’s going to catch on. If it’s too easy or too expensive it won’t.” The Trust will conduct a range of regional seminars and events over the next couple of years, giving institutions an opportunity to share ideas and models.

A second wave of pilot schools and colleges will join the scheme in 2016.

Participating providers can either set up their own model or buy into an existing one. “We don’t think there needs to be one rigid model for a baccalaureate as long as there are key components that are common to all. In a few years we’ll see what people have done and at that stage we might tighten it up and stipulate more compulsory elements. We’re trying to make it a grassroots movement, independent of government. It’s more democratic to have curriculum models that communities design and can be approved, rather than the other way around. That, to me, is a far healthier process than a secretary of state saying what the curriculum should be.”

3 MORE INFO If your school or college would like to take part in the 2016 National Baccalaureate for England pilots email Mark Wright: mwright@amie.atl.org.uk for more information.

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R E S OUR CE S/C ON TA C T S

PUTTING EFFECTIVE RESTRUCTURING INTO ACTION

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embers will have received a copy of AMiE’s latest publication, Restructuring in colleges, schools and academies: Handling change with care, with this edition of ELM. Restructuring is one of the leading prompts for requests from members for casework support and it is evident that there is a need for improvement in approaches to change management.

This publication considers the thinking behind effective restructuring processes, and describes the actions required to implement them. It is based on research conducted within the sector and highlights the common mistakes leaders should avoid, as well as the need to work smartly and collaboratively in order to ensure an effective transition to new ways of working.

While the publication is aimed at those leading the restructuring process, it is written in a way that should appeal to those aspiring to senior leadership roles as well as those members of staff who would like to have a clearer idea of what good

practice in this area looks like. Watch out for forthcoming AMiE CPD based on this work.

3 MORE INFO Please contact jpearson@amie.atl.org.uk if you would like a copy.

LEADERSHIP COURSES FOR MEMBERS AMiE has a UK-wide network of elected representatives and members of staff who can help you with your queries.

For more information on your regional contact and their contact details, please see amie.atl.org.uk/aboutamie/your-union/contact-us.asp.

Here is a selection of course names and dates.

GETTING THE NEXT FIVE PER CENT

Leeds

Manchester

2 February 2016

28 January 2016

London

London

15 July 2016

17 June 2016

LEADING OTHERS

CREATING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE TEAM Nottingham

MANAGING PERFORMANCE THROUGH CRITICAL CONVERSATIONS

12 February 2016

Exeter

London

14 March 2016

24 May 2016

Manchester 23 May 2016 Sheffield 21 June 2016

For more information on these courses and to book, please see amie.atl.org.uk/join-in/cpd/overview.asp.

Please note: 2016 courses are not yet bookable.

ABOUT AMiE 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 amie.atl.org.uk/join or call 0845 057 7000 (local call).

Let AMiE take you further.

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 AMiE 35 The Point, Market Harborough Leicestershire LE16 7QU Tel: 01858 461110 Fax: 01858 461366 amie.atl.org.uk National helpline Tel: 01858 464171 Email: helpline@amie.atl.org.uk David Green Assistant director of AMiE (employment services) Tel: 01858 411540 Mobile: 07711 929043 Email: dgreen@amie.atl.org.uk Mark Wright Assistant director of AMiE (leadership and management) 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 AMIE.ATL.ORG.UK FOR FULL SUBSCRIPTION DETAILS, MEMBERSHIP ELIGIBILITY AND FURTHER INFORMATION.

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MASTERCLASS

Time to think

THE FURTHER EDUCATION TRUST FOR LEADERSHIP’S FELLOWSHIP PROGRAMME SHOWS WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED WHEN LEADERS ARE GIVEN SPACE TO THINK SERIOUSLY ABOUT SOMETHING OTHER THAN THE LATEST GOVERNMENT DIRECTIVE WORDS PAUL STANISTREET

A

s every leader in education knows, time to think is in short supply. Policy turbulence, budget cuts, and workload and accountability pressures combine to ensure that, for the most part, there is little time to do more than ensure that the demands of the latest policy initiative or quality-assurance measure are met. The Further Education Trust for Leadership’s fellowship programme aims to change that and give leaders in FE the time and space they need to reflect and be creative

in ways that will benefit the sector and shape its long-term future.

An emphasis on creativity The founding group of fellows were drawn from very different institutions, and each worked on a distinct project.

Ruth Allen, development manager at the Cornwall College Group, looked at how a creative culture could be fostered within a college. Ann Creed, a consultant working with the Workers’ Educational Association, examined leadership behaviours that support part-time tutors working in outreach settings. Alex Day,

director of adult and higher education at Peter Symonds College in Winchester researched risk behaviour among sixth-form leaders. And Tim Ward, chief executive of the Learning Curve and chair of the Third Sector National Learning Alliance, studied the challenges facing leaders of third-sector learning providers.

The end result of the six-month programme is a rich set of data, drawn from interviews and surveys conducted with leaders and teaching staff from different corners of the sector, and a detailed list of recommendations, with some strong common themes. Although

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MASTERCLASS

“GIVEN THE CHALLENGES, IT IS MORE IMPORTANT THAT LEADERS ARE ABLE TO FIND THE TIME AND SPACE TO BE CREATIVE AND TO TAKE RISKS.”

PHOTOGRAPH: GALLERYSTOCK

their focus was on FE, the crossover with the schools sector, which, increasingly, faces many of the same challenges, is obvious.

All the fellows noted the huge pressure placed on leaders, whether through inspection and accountability, poorly thought-out policymaking or financial belt-tightening and restructuring. In such an environment, Ruth Allen argued, it can be tempting to revert to a “commandand-control” model of leadership, adapting to the latest policy directive rather than thinking creatively about what is possible for both institution and sector. Yet, given the challenges, it is more, not less, important that leaders are able to find the time and space to be creative and to take risks, supporting best practice while helping shape policy that is informed and intelligent.

Clear vision and values This was not only an important benefit of the fellowship programme, but a key finding in some of the research, particularly that looked at creativity and risk. Ruth Allen described a complex picture of the “enablers” and “disablers” of creativity in the workplace. To foster a creative culture in a college, she argued, a number of factors had to be present, including a clear articulation of values and vision, a strategy in which all staff are stakeholders, and creative leadership styles, supported by leadership development programmes.

Alex Day examined risk behaviour among sixth-form college leaders.

She found there was a need for a “culture shift” among sector leaders in thinking about risk, towards seeing it as an opportunity rather than just a threat.

The current risk-management process was “a barrier to creating a more entrepreneurial culture in our colleges,” she said. Colleges should instead adopt a risk and opportunity management process incorporating both, she argued.

Principals, her research suggested, were in general more likely to take risks than their senior management team, who often ensured the overall group attitude to risk was ‘well moderated’.

Ann Creed looked at the leadership styles that support the well-being of

part-time tutors in outreach settings and ensure best-quality delivery in the classroom. She found that mutual trust and cooperation were ‘deal breakers’ in creating a successful leader-teacher relationship. Yet, in a number of cases, tutors reported poor management practice and low morale. All the teachers Creed interviewed had experienced restructuring, and a large number believed that the balance between responsibility to senior managers and responsibility to tutors had become too skewed towards the former. While acknowledging that middle managers faced a “difficult balancing act” in adapting to continual reform and financial pressure, while trying to develop creative, collaborative workplaces in which staff feel trusted and empowered, she argued that a culture change was needed, towards valuing teachers “in a more proactive way”.

Tim Ward examined the challenges facing leaders of third-sector learning providers. Although the third sector was exceptionally good at reaching disadvantaged groups, he said, its role was poorly understood and, as a result, it suffered from the unintended consequences of policy in other areas.

Although providers were meeting government objectives in “getting people into work and enabling them to take more control of their lives”, all described “a significant level of tension” between their “mission priorities” and “public policy and funding systems”.

FETL is planning a programme of dissemination to communicate the findings of the founding fellows’ research more widely. Tim Ward is in no doubt as to the significance of the work. “All the fellows’ research will add value to the sector,” he says. “It has applications, but it’s not about meeting this week’s policy objective. That’s a really good space to be in. When we do our day jobs we are compromising all the time. Somebody needs to look at the FE sector and say, this is what it is actually like, not what we would like it to be, or what it should be.”

3 MORE INFORMATION Details of the research and the next round of fellowships are available from: www.fetl.org.uk.

KEY MESSAGES Fostering a creative culture • A culture of creativity improves an organisation’s capability to steer its way through, and even capitalise on, any turbulence.

• Leaders must clearly articulate their values and vision, and support others in taking the organisation forward.

• Everyone within a college should be a stakeholder in its vision and strategy.

By proactively engaging staff in shaping them, leaders can embed organisational strategy and vision at all levels.

How leadership styles affect part-time tutors • Mutual trust and cooperation are ‘deal breakers’ when it comes to ensuring a successful working relationship.

• Leadership styles and behaviours that support teacher well-being and effective practice focus on student progress and outcomes, and reflect an understanding of teaching and learning.

• Leader effectiveness in promoting high-quality learning is about practical resourcing, and also concerns the ways in which leader behaviour influences teachers’ self-esteem and confidence.

Risk attitudes among leaders • Current risk-management processes in colleges are focused on threats and ignore opportunities. Colleges should adopt a management process that incorporates both.

• Colleges should define their risk appetite based on an understanding of the trade-offs between high- and lowrisk appetites and the culture of the college.

• Principals are more likely to be in risktaking categories than other members of their senior leadership team. A mix of risk-taking types may help ensure the overall disposition of the group to risk is well moderated.

Leadership challenges in the third-sector • Current models of vocational learning and skills do not take account of the work of third-sector providers or their contribution to both social inclusion and the economy.

• There is tension between the needs and mission priorities addressed by these providers and public policy and funding systems.

• More research is needed to capture the characteristics, value systems and behaviours that enable third-sector organisations to work so well with disadvantaged learners.

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ADVICE

How will the reduced lifetime allowance announced in the government’s reforms to pensions affect teachers and lecturers?

WORDS LIGHTHOUSE GROUP

I have heard that the maximum amount you can hold in pension benefits without having to pay extra tax, known as the lifetime allowance, is being reduced from next April.

Is this likely to affect highearning education professionals? If so, how can I find out if I am affected and is there anything I can do about it?

The pension reforms announced by the government in the 2015 Budget included a reduction in the lifetime allowance (LTA), which has thrown a spotlight on how high earners may be hit with unexpected tax bills or, in the case of education professionals, lower pensions. Higher paid and longserving education professionals are most likely to be affected. The rules are complicated, but understanding them is critical to avoid losing benefits unnecessarily, particularly if you have spent your working life building up a pension pot.

For most people, the LTA is currently £1.25m. This is set to reduce to £1m from tax year 2016/17, although the government has said it will rise in line with inflation from 2018.

The LTA is the total value of all private and work pensions, excluding any state pension, which an individual can build up without paying extra tax. If the value of all the

pension benefits you have accrued exceeds the LTA, you usually have to pay 55% tax on the excess (instead of your usual rate of tax) when you withdraw money or buy an annuity.

However, members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme who exceed the LTA will find that their pension is reduced for life.

According to the Government Actuary’s Department, a member retiring aged 60 in 2018 who has a LTA charge of £30,000 will find that their pension will be reduced by £1,323.92 a year. In addition, their retirement lump sum will be reduced by £3,971.76.

With this reduction comes the possibility that you will hit the limit earlier than expected. For example, if you boost your pension pot by making regular additional voluntary contributions or a lump sum payment, remember that these count towards your LTA. For members of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, the total value of your pension benefits is calculated on the basis of 20 times every £1 of pension you will get in the first year, plus your lump sum, plus any other pension benefits you have accrued.

If you currently have between £700,000 and £800,000 worth of benefits or more in total you could be at risk.

Your Annual Benefit Statement (ABS) from the Teachers’ Pension Scheme should tell you how much of the LTA your benefits currently represent, but bear in mind that this is likely to be an underestimate, as the ABS is based on data up to March in the previous year and cannot account for other benefits you may hold elsewhere.

“MEMBERS OF THE TEACHERS’ PENSION SCHEME WHO EXCEED THE LIFETIME ALLOWANCE WILL FIND THEIR PENSION REDUCED FOR LIFE.” If you have already exceeded or are close to exceeding the LTA, it may be possible to protect yourself from the additional tax by applying for individual protection from HM Revenue & Customs, once the rules are confirmed.

Before making any decisions about this or any other issue affecting your pension benefits, you should consult a professional financial adviser with expert knowledge of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme and related issues.

They will be able provide advice that is tailored to your needs and objective.

They will be able to help you work out the total value of your pension benefit and, if appropriate, apply to protect the benefits you have built up.

Advisers at ATL+ partner Lighthouse Financial Advice have the specialist knowledge and expertise required to provide education professionals with informed advice that is easy to understand.

3 MORE INFO If you are concerned that you may be affected by the reduction in the lifetime allowance, why not call them on 08000 85 85 90 or email appointments@ lighthousefa.co.uk and arrange a complimentary, no-obligation appointment with one of its professional financial advisers.

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U N I O N M AT T E R S

CAUGHT IN THE NET The Treasury’s proposals for a public sector exit payment cap won’t just affect high earners – ordinary workers will be hit too WORDS PETER PENDLE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, AMiE

Y

ou could be forgiven for missing the commitment, tucked away in the Conservative Party’s General Election manifesto, to place a cap on public sector exit payments. With undue haste, the Treasury immediately launched a consultation proposing that the cap be set at £95,000.

In these austere times, it might appear that such a cap is a good thing and that managers shouldn’t receive huge exit packages when they move on. The reality, of course, is that few do. For example, in FE, funding agreements between providers and funding agencies have put all sorts of curbs on allegedly excessive payments in recent years.

Professional advice has to be sought from auditors and solicitors. Large exit packages have become the exception rather than the rule.

I am yet to meet a college principal or senior manager in FE who is not totally committed to their learners. Most have spent their entire careers working in the sector, starting as lecturers and painstakingly working their way up over time. Finally, at the pinnacle of their careers, they find themselves in an environment where, despite having 25% of their funding stripped away, they are still expected to deliver ever-better outcomes. No wonder there are problems when the Ofsted inspectors call or the budget no longer balances. Like football club owners who sack their managers after a poor run of results, many corporation chairs seek the quick solution. A disappointing Ofsted inspection or a visit from the FE commissioner can prompt corporation boards to ease chief executives and others out of their posts without ceremony.

Even so, some might argue, £95,000 isn’t such a bad outcome. But most college principals and senior managers in this position will never get another job at a similar level. Many will never

work in the sector again. Unfortunate, you might say, but if they can’t deliver, they have to go. Maybe so, but spare a thought for those about to fall victim to the area reviews, the government’s latest attempt to cut costs in the sector.

Everyone knows that the only way to achieve significant savings is to reduce spending on salaries, and these savings will be made disproportionately at senior levels. Committed and effective leaders and managers will pay the price.

One unintended consequence will be even fewer managers prepared to risk moving into senior roles when they know their head could be on the block.

And managers sometimes want to move people on: those only doing just enough and holding back performance improvement. The option of a negotiated settlement to encourage these people will become much more difficult to achieve. It is likely to lead to an increased use of disciplinary, competency and capability procedures: these can often take months or sometimes years to reach the desired outcome.

It is important to read the small print in the Treasury’s consultation document. This is not a policy that will only affect high earners. The document

payment package. For those in the Local Government Pension Scheme, the position could be even worse.

Security at risk Our response argues that policy formation is undermined and legitimacy weakened by a consultation period restricted to the summer period. The proposed £95,000 cap is based on political headline-grabbing, not evidence. Overall, the proposals lack context and ignore the trend of decline in use, as well as the individual circumstances of employees or employers. Crucially, the inclusion of unreduced pension access means that too many people are caught by the value of the cap. The policy impacts on school leaders and managers, as both employers and employees. It is not limited to payments to high earners in the public sector and will have a wider, quite unfair, impact on schools and colleges, particularly on long-serving, average-salaried members of staff. These are ordinary workers dedicated to public service and improving the life chances of their learners.

The government must rethink its proposal. Employees’ security will

“SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THOSE ABOUT TO FALL VICTIM TO THE AREA REVIEWS, THE GOVERNMENT’S LATEST ATTEMPT TO CUT COSTS IN THE SECTOR.” covers the entire exit package.

Specifically, the proposal to take into account the value of early access to unreduced pensions has worrying implications. Those in the present career-average Teachers’ Pension Scheme have serious reason to be worried. Our modelling shows that a teacher or lecturer who earns £30,000 with only 23 years of full-time service would be entitled to an unreduced pension package of a value that would exceed the total value of the capped exit

be put at risk by this policy at a time when the public sector is suffering severe cuts, often resulting in job losses.

College and school budgets are under great pressure, likely to increase over the course of this parliament. AMiE would rather see people in work but, where redundancy cannot be avoided in schools and colleges, we believe it is appropriate that fair settlements are made, and exit payments can help bridge employment gaps or provide security for retirement.

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FINAL WORD

ick Gibb, the schools minister, thinks the current teacher supply shortage in England is not a crisis. No, he airily asserts, it’s a challenge; one to which the government is rising. I am not, however, able to accept Mr Gibb’s assurances that he has the situation under control. When I talk to school leaders, there is one issue that dominates our conversations: how to attract teachers to their schools – not just teachers of science, technology, engineering and maths (the STEM subjects), but across nearly all subjects and age phases.

The figures are alarming.

Applications to teach are falling – down by 21,000 compared to this time last year – and are dropping in every region in the country. Yet official figures reveal that England will need 160,000 additional teachers over the next three years. On current recruitment trends, that could mean a shortfall of 65,000 applicants to teacher training over that period. At the same time, pupil numbers continue to grow, with a projected 582,000 more primary- and secondary-age pupils by 2020. So we have a perfect storm of rising pupil numbers and falling teacher recruitment. My experience in education, both in schools and in university departments of education, tells me that a teacher recruitment crisis builds up very quickly and is the

devil’s own job to turn around.

Already it is the case that one in five English and maths lessons are taught by a teacher without an A-level qualification in that subject. Ofsted’s recent report, Key Stage 3: The Wasted Years, found that inspectors were concerned about the slow progress made in English and maths, and the lack of challenge for the most able pupils. One explanation for Ofsted’s critique of Key Stage 3 teaching might well be the high proportion of teachers who are taking Key Stage 3 classes in core subjects for which they have not studied beyond GCSE, and for which they have not been trained.

The government acknowledges that as the market in graduate employment improves, so the pressure on teacher recruitment increases. School leaders are told by ministers that they are free to attract the best teachers with higher salaries. This statement provokes

CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS? 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

hollow laughter among those I talk to, who view the prospect of a 12% real-terms cut in their budgets with alarm. And the government cannot get away from the reality of the effect a further four years of the one per cent public servant pay cap will have on potential recruits to the profession.

So what can school leaders do to address the problem? One thing is clear: if teachers are not coming in through the front door, school leaders

“SCHOOL LEADERS ARE TOLD THEY ARE FREE TO ATTRACT THE BEST TEACHERS WITH HIGHER SALARIES. THIS STATEMENT PROVOKES HOLLOW LAUGHTER AMONG THOSE I TALK TO.” must do all they can to try to retain those who are already working in their schools. Teacher retention will become an evermore vital leadership aim. And that is where AMiE, your professional association, comes to the fore with training and resources that are grounded in school leaders and college managers ‘doing the right thing’ – leading their institutions ethically, with integrity and vision. Go onto the AMiE website and download our publication Well-being: Leading and Managing A Well Workplace. You can also book a place at AMiE’s leadership conference and share your experiences with other colleagues who will, without doubt, be facing similar challenges to yourselves.

One thing is clear: the more challenging the working environment, the more demands placed on school and college leaders, the easier it appears to be to cut corners, to let the ends justify the means. This is a great mistake. Your staffing resource is your greatest asset. Treat it well.

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