Report March 2014

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report

MARCH 2014

THE MAGAZINE FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF TEACHERS & LECTURERS ÂŁ2.50

Board skills

A fuss about FE

The impact of skills-based criteria for school governing bodies

NUS president Toni Pearce on how FE changed her life

In at the deep end?

Why School Direct is leaving some trainees without the support and skills they need to teach

ADVICE Whistleblowing: what to do if you suspect wrongdoing at work

JOIN THE DEBATE Paralympian Ade Adepitan on the power of sport to change lives

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Contents

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10

Welcome

ALEX KOCH

22 Features

Your ATL 04

08

News Including members taking ATL’s Shape Education campaign to the shadow education secretary and ATL’s views of A-level reforms

10

In at the deep end?

A look at how the new teacher training scheme School Direct is going so far

18

Fan of FE Report speaks to NUS president Toni Pearce

Noticeboard Information, events and opportunities to get involved

Help and advice

Join the debate 14

Agenda General secretary Mary Bousted considers the impact of losing national curriculum levels

15

ATL in Wales and Northern Ireland Philip Dixon and Mark Langhammer give their views

17

Letters ATL members have their say on early years, parents’ evenings and older teachers

Resources

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26

ATL resources Publications, factsheets, newsletters and CPD

Governing issues Report examines proposals to change the criteria for school governors

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28 29

Classified advertisements Crossword Your chance to win £50 of Marks & Spencer vouchers

Final word Paralympian and campaigner Ade Adepitan on the opportunities sport can create

22

Whistleblowing Advice on your legal rights when reporting wrongdoing at work

23

Contact All the details you need to get in touch with ATL

24

Building a team Guidance on turning a group into an effective team

Report is the magazine from the Association of Teachers & Lecturers, 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD Telephone: 020 7930 6441 Fax: 020 7930 1359 Email report@atl.org.uk or membership@atl.org.uk Internet www.atl.org.uk Managing editor Victoria Poskitt Editors Alex Tomlin, Charlotte Tamvakis Head of advertising sales Stephen Price 01603 772856 Advertising sales Lisa Marrison (née Parkinson) 01603 772521

F

Alison Sherratt, national president, ATL

ebruary is notorious in education for being tough for professionals and pupils alike. Dark mornings, gloomy evenings for the school run, cold and wet weather, and children and staff having to step up a gear to get through the amount of work needed to prepare for exams and SATs later on does not help to make for jolly times.

However, the first three days of February were particularly hard to cope with, and made the motivation to get out of bed even more difficult to achieve. Those of you who wake up to radio alarm clocks or watch the early morning news bulletins on television will have felt even more beleaguered than usual.

Recent announcements of the Secretary of State for Education’s latest (and I quote our general secretary Mary Bousted) “wizard wheezes” have covered a range of topics from formally testing fouryear-olds within weeks of them starting the biggest change in their short lives, to asking professionals to enforce discipline by demanding the perpetrators write lines like Bart Simpson. And I’m not sure they had the desired effect on that young man.

I could fill the whole magazine with responses to his latest announcements, but I only have limited words for this piece so will respond to just one. If the Secretary of State wants state schools to emulate independent schools then there is one obvious place to start. Reduce class sizes to an equitable ratio. Here at ATL we have valued colleagues in both independent and state schools and support them all equally.

And finally, you will find within this issue of Report an interview with Toni Pearce, NUS president (page 18). I met her not so long ago and found her to be an inspiring young woman and an excellent leader of the student union.

We also need your help to monitor the effects on education of the changes that are evolving around teacher training. Read the article on page 10 and let us know what is happening in your area. We need your voice.

Report is produced and designed for ATL by Archant Dialogue Ltd, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1RE. Email: mail@archantdialogue.co.uk Production editor Lucy Mowatt, Art editor Claire Leibrick, Creative director Nick Paul, Managing ad production controller Kay Brown, Publishing director Zoë Francis-Cox, Managing director Mick Hurrell Printed in the UK on FSC-accredited stock. Subscription: Non-members, including libraries, may subscribe at the rate of £16 per year. 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 the articles in Report are the contributors’ own and do not necessarily reflect ATL policy. Official policy statements issued on behalf of the Association 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.

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ANDREA MARTIN

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ATL members Bea Harvey (left) and Helen O’Grady (right) discuss their vision for education with Labour’s shadow education secretary, Tristram Hunt MP

Time to shape education ATL members shared their vision for education with the shadow education secretary in the first of a series of meetings with MPs ahead of the next general election.

Labour MP Tristram Hunt met Bea Harvey, ATL branch secretary and Executive

member for Staffordshire and Stoke, and newly qualified member Helen O’Grady, who sits on the steering group of ATL Future, at his constituency office in Stoke in January as part of our Shape Education campaign.

Helen O’Grady described the pressures

“Damaging” new A-levels Plans to reform A-level exams will not benefit most young people and are being brought in too quickly, ATL is warning.

ATL’s submission to a consultation on the proposals being carried out by exam watchdog Ofqual argues the exams should be designed to do more than provide universities with a way to pick which students they want.

ATL policy adviser Jill Stokoe said: “A-levels should enable students to show what they have learned and be useful to young people whatever they want to do, whether it is further study or finding a job. www.atl.org.uk

“AS-levels should be retained as the first half of A-levels otherwise we fear many students will lose out because they will no longer have the wake-up call of AS results to push them into working harder, it will make it more difficult to change subjects if they make the wrong initial choices, and many may be dissuaded from doing subjects perceived as being harder.

“We also think the proposed timetable for implementation of the new-style exams is far too short and therefore unworkable. It would be hugely damaging to young people to rush in new exams before the exams

on new teachers, the work of ATL Future and its concerns about employing unqualified teachers and teachers with only a few weeks’ experience taking classes, while Bea Harvey raised the issues of Ofsted and a College of Teaching. They used the opportunity to pass on Shape Education postcards members had completed as part of the campaign.

Mr Hunt said: “It was great to meet ATL members and hear about the issues that matter to them, identified through their Shape Education campaign. I will continue to listen to, talk with and consult education professionals in schools and colleges as we approach the next general election.

“I am clear that no education system can surpass the quality of its teachers and that is why my focus will be firmly on attracting new talent and building on the existing body of excellent teachers.”

Hundreds of you have already filled in and returned postcards as part of our Shape Education campaign, which is an opportunity to influence ATL’s vision for education by highlighting the issues that matter most to you at a time when the political parties are drafting the manifestos they hope will win your vote in the 2015 election. More members are meeting their MPs to raise these issues in the coming weeks.

You still have time to engage with your MP — for more information, including details of how to order more postcards and lobby your MP, see www.atl.org.uk/ shapingeducation. You can also join the debate at www.twitter.com/atlunion using #ShapeEducation.

have been properly prepared and rolled out.”

ATL also believes many schools will drop AS-levels, and this is likely to lead to students doing fewer subjects at A-level, AS-levels being devalued, and universities relying on GCSE and predicted A-level grades when offering places, which could encourage more universities to design their own exams that tend to favour students from independent schools.

Ms Stokoe added: “If it does not count towards an A-level grade we fear many schools will drop practical work, for example in the sciences, as it is expensive to carry out because it requires laboratories, lab assistants and equipment.”

March 2014

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Mesothelioma Bill passed Facility time “distraction” New laws to help people who suffer from instead of the current policy of managing the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma asbestos in situ. Steps need to be taken to have been passed — but without a key mitigate this risk through a programme of amendment that would have benefited asbestos removal from schools and other more sufferers of the disease. public buildings.”

The Mesothelioma Bill, which received In February, the government said it will Royal Assent on 30 January, means there need to spend an extra £6 million on the will be a payment scheme for people Schools Property Data Survey Programme suffering from mesothelioma who cannot to assess the condition of buildings at 8,000 trace their employer or their employer’s schools in England — yet it will not be insurance company when that employer examining the presence of asbestos. was responsible for their exposure to Julie Winn, chair of the Joint Union asbestos. Anyone diagnosed with Asbestos Committee (JUAC), of which ATL mesothelioma from 25 July 2012 will be is a member, said: “[This] is a golden able to make a claim to recover 75% of opportunity for the government to collect the average data centrally on compensation. the presence and The Bill applies management plans Asbestos-related to the whole of for asbestos in UK illness is not being taken as the UK. schools. Without seriously as it should be In January, this information, Parliament voted the scale of the against proposed problem cannot amendments to the Bill that would have be known and proportionate resources seen victims receive compensation in full, cannot be planned for and allocated. and not only for those diagnosed on or “Why has asbestos been inexplicably after 25 July 2012. excluded from this survey? We believe it ATL member adviser Carolina suggests the government is burying its Sankarsingh said: “Yet again we are seeing head and does not want to know the true that asbestos-related illness is not being scale of the problem and how much it will taken as seriously as it should be by cost to fix it.” politicians. Public buildings, in particular ATL keeps a record of any members many school buildings, still contain who have been exposed to asbestos in the asbestos and this means pupils and those workplace through an asbestos register. who work in education are at risk of mesothelioma.

See: www.atl.org.uk/asbestos for more advice along with details of reporting the “ATL still firmly believes phased removal presence of asbestos in your school. of asbestos is the best course of action

‘‘

’’

Bizarre behaviour New behaviour guidance for schools encouraging firmer discipline enforcement is unnecessary and contradictory, according to ATL. In February the government published new advice, which lists sanctions such as litter-picking, writing lines and asking pupils to report at the school early, which it says are as crucial for effective education as praising and rewarding good behaviour.

“Michael Gove’s own behaviour is becoming increasingly bizarre.

While he says he wants to give school leaders and teachers the power to make the right decisions for their schools, he takes every March 2014

New government advice limiting the support unions can offer schools is an unnecessary distraction and is not workable, according to ATL. The Department for Education (DfE) guidance, which was published in January, says teachers funded by the taxpayer should not work full time on trade union work.

ATL believes local authorities and schools already have flexible, reasonable and regularly reviewed arrangements to ensure staff are released for trade union work at times that fit their local circumstances.

Mark Holding, ATL assistant general secretary, said: “Numerous studies have found that trade union representatives help schools save money by boosting teachers’ skills, helping staff work as efficiently as possible, minimising turnover, reducing conflict at work, and improving health and safety — all of which benefit children. The advice is a one-size-fits-all approach and is simply not workable.

“ATL will continue to work with local authorities and headteachers to keep union support for schools working well, so that we can all focus on the day job of teaching children and raising standards in the classroom. As the DfE advice itself acknowledges, facility time accounts for less than 0.1% of most local authorities’ school and schools’ pay bills, even before any of the benefits of union work are taken into account.”

For more information, see: www.atl.org.uk/facilitiestime

opportunity to tell them what to do,” said ATL general secretary Mary Bousted.

“Behaviour is good or better in more than 90% of schools, according to Ofsted. Teachers feel empowered to discipline pupils when they are working in schools that have effective behaviour policies, which are consistently applied. And they need parents to support them.

“They do not need one-size-fits-all advice from this government about pupil behaviour.”

Dr Bousted said it came as no surprise the advice was published two days after Ofsted announced no-notice behaviour inspections.

“The increasing politicisation of Ofsted is becoming more evident day by day,” she said. www.atl.org.uk

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make their intentions clear and we want Labour to commit to the resurrection of the SSSNB, which the Tories shamefully cut as one of their first acts in 2010.”

ATL president Alison Sherratt praised TAs she had worked with over the years in her capacity as an early years teacher. Paul Dix from Pivotal Education spoke about practical opportunities for excellent support professionals and the importance of support staff in driving achievement and maintaining standards in schools.

Lisa Miller, from Practical Tactics, led a session on behaviour management and Ronnie Young from Lighthouse Professional Development spoke about working creatively with SEN children in the curriculum. ATL learning and development officer Jacqui O’Neill addressed the ever-growing problem of lone working for support staff, particularly in libraries and playgrounds. Kate Quigley, ATL learning and development manager, led a session on assertiveness.

The day concluded with a Q&A session,

DUNCAN

Support staff members working in all sectors and regions of the UK gathered to hear about the challenges facing education and take part in CPD opportunities at ATL’s first-ever support staff conference in February.

Speaking at the conference, ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “ATL is in no doubt our schools would not have improved and met their current standards of achievement without the work of support staff. Often unthanked, undervalued and certainly underpaid — but essential. Our schools simply could not run without you.”

She reminded members of ATL’s campaign to stop schools’ use of support staff as teachers and explained ATL’s Shape Education campaign. “Schools are getting teaching on the cheap and selling children short by using TAs, cover supervisors and HLTAs to teach children on a regular basis rather than employing qualified teachers,” she said.

“ATL will be pressing the politicians on behalf of support staff. We want them to

“Sensible” STRB report ATL has welcomed recommendations for teachers’ non-pay terms and conditions made in the School Teachers Review Body’s (STRB) 23rd report, published in February.

The report says the limit to teachers’ working hours of 1,265 hours and 195 days, and regulations giving teachers 10% of their timetable for planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time should be retained. It also recommends school leaders’ pay progression is more closely linked to their performance.

Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, said: “We are pleased the independent STRB has listened to teachers and produced a sensible report that reflects the hard work and long hours teachers already spend both in school and after hours marking and preparing children’s work.

The STRB has recognised that most teachers already work far in excess of their stipulated hours and headteachers already have enough flexibility to organise catchup and revision classes if pupils need them.

March 2014

NICOL RO BERTSON

First for support staff

She added: “Teachers already do more unpaid overtime than most other professionals, yet have seen pay fall in real terms for four years. Teachers will be pleased the STRB has not proposed any radical departure from current pay and conditions.

“And we are relieved the STRB has sensibly resisted pressure from Michael Gove to increase teachers’ formal working hours and has also decided to protect the existing limits on what teachers are expected to do in their own time.”

Dr Bousted welcomed the STRB’s decision to accept ATL’s arguments for retaining the link between the number of pupils and headteachers’ pay, but said ATL is wary of the potential for inconsistency with the removal of leadership pay spine points.

The consultation on the STRB recommendations closes on 13 March and the Secretary of State for Education will then confirm how they will be implemented.

ATL membe rs shape educ help at ATL’s supp ion at or conference t staff

led by lead member for support staff Debbie Polwarth and national official Peter Morris.

Dr Bousted congratulated ATL’s Support Staff Members Advisory Group (SSMAG) on organising a conference representing another step forward for support staff in ATL. See page 8 for information about getting involved in ATL’s sector advisory groups.

ATL has produced a factsheet advising on best practice, Classroom Observations: Support Staff. See www.atl.org.uk/factsheets for this and all ATL’s advice factsheets. More information about our Shape Education campaign is available at www.atl.org.uk/ shapingeducation.

Dates for debate Key themes from ATL’s Shape Education campaign will be debated at ATL’s Conference.

Hundreds of delegates will come together in Manchester in April to determine the union’s priorities for the year. The key themes will be developed into ATL’s education manifesto to be launched later in the spring.

On Monday 14 April, debates will focus on assessment, targets and inspection; Tuesday’s sessions look at curriculum; Wednesday’s debates centre on equalities issues including the impact of poverty on children’s attainment and life chances.

Issues on pay and conditions will also be debated and there will be motions asking political parties to use evidence rather than ideology when creating policies and to reveal the cost of their education plans. Follow the debate at www.twitter.com/atlunion using #ATLConf2014 and at www.atl.org.uk/conference2014. www.atl.org.uk

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your ATL / noticeboard, get involved

Noticeboard Trusting in your membership The ATL Trust Fund is here to help members and their families in troubled times. In a recent case, the ATL Trust Fund helped a member and father who was off work with stress and depression. He was on half pay that was set to be reduced to nothing, his savings were exhausted, and his stress and depression were getting worse. He applied to the fund, which provided a termly grant for his school-age children that helped alleviate some of his immediate financial worries.

In another case, a recently widowed mother of two pre-school-age children had no transport because her car needed fixing and she could not afford the repair bill. No transport meant she could not take her children to nursery and so could not work.

The ATL Trust Fund paid the member’s bill and she returned to work.

Another member suffering from a mental health condition that led to sickness absence asked the fund for help paying for immediate psychiatric treatment because the NHS waiting list was very long. An award from the fund meant she could return to her teaching post far more quickly than she otherwise would have done.

ATL’s Trust Fund is a charitable fund that can provide confidential support and financial help to members in times of illness or hardship. The above are just some examples of how the £1 a year you opted to contribute to the Trust Fund when you joined ATL has helped fellow members.

Awards have also been made towards

Advisory group elections Elections to take part in ATL’s member advisory groups for the independent, FE and support sectors will soon take place.

ATL’s Independent and Private Sectors Advisory Group (IPSAG), Further and Higher Education Sectors Advisory Group (FESAG) and Support Staff Members Advisory Group (SSMAG) play an important role in advising ATL’s Executive Committee on specific matters relating to their sector and promoting best employment practice.

IPSAG and FESAG meet four times a year on Saturday afternoons at ATL’s London office. SSMAG meets three times a year on Saturday mornings. Other discussion is conducted by email. Members are elected on a two-year cycle. The role is voluntary but travel and subsistence expenses are met by ATL. If you are interested in standing for one of the advisory groups, you should send an email to Heather Ralston at hralston@atl.org.uk, along with a supporting statement of up to 200 words. FESAG and IPSAG candidates should also

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the cost of respite care, nursing care, wheelchairs, stairlifts, funeral expenses and travel costs, and termly awards and clothing grants may be granted for the dependent children of members. The fund can refer you to other organisations such as the Teacher Support Network to provide, for example, financial advice.

The fund can help current members, including members of AMiE, and former members and their dependants; student members are not eligible to apply. For more information and to apply see www.atl.org.uk/trustfund, or you can call the Trust Fund administrator on 020 7782 1573.

supply a supporting nomination from their branch, or the nominating signatures of five ordinary members. Applications must be received by 10am on Monday 16 June 2014.

The Executive Committee will consider all applications and elect a representative group for each sector. All applicants will be informed as to whether they have been successful as soon as possible after the executive decision.

Further information on the advisory groups can be found at www.atl.org.uk/memberworkinggroups.

TUC conferences Members interested in joining ATL’s delegation at the TUC’s disabled workers’ and LGBT conferences in 2014 should email ATL’s equalities officer Wanda Wyporska at wwyporska@atl.org.uk with their ATL membership number and a 100-word statement about why they wish to go by 20 April.

The dates of the conferences in 2014 are: • TUC disabled workers’ conference: 28-29 May • TUC LGBT conference: 26–27 June.

C

tes at a TU ATL delega in 2013 conference

March 2014

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March 2014

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cover feature / teacher training

Learning lessons M

ore than 6,500 prospective teachers started on the School Direct route into teaching in September as part of the government’s drive to train more new teachers ‘on the job’ in schools. ATL has repeatedly expressed concern to government ministers about the practicalities of the scheme, the confusion surrounding it and the potential impact on the education system as a whole. Towards the end of their first term, we asked our School Direct members about their experiences. In only the second year of the scheme, and its first as one of the mainstream routes into teaching, it is too early for a full analysis. But our survey results suggest some of our concerns are warranted.

School Direct puts schools in charge of recruiting and training people they would like to employ once they gain QTS. Trainees develop their skills in schools, with support from higher education institutions (HEIs) and other schools. Some, for priority subjects, are salaried; others pay course fees for which bursaries are available in some cases.

While many members told us School Direct is well managed and offers the training they want, the scheme is not going so well for others. Some members describe a lack of organisation, awareness and support that suggests it is not always fully understood or well planned for by schools. ATL is concerned this lack of consistency in the scheme is taking a toll on trainees, mentors and pupils, on teacher supply, and on the HEIs that offer and support teacher training.

ATL policy adviser Alison Ryan said: “ATL has always said it’s important to have a variety of routes into teaching, because

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As this year’s cohort of School Direct trainees approach the half-way mark of their training, Report assesses the impact of the programme so far. Words by Charlotte Tamvakis prospective students will have different experiences, be at different stages of life and have different learning needs. But what we are seeing with School Direct is that many schools, HEIs and staff need a lot more guidance and support than they’ve received so far to ensure greater consistency and quality.

These new teachers are, in some cases, taking full responsibility for a class with little support and training behind them. Teaching is a highly skilled occupation and children deserve to be taught by those who have been properly supported to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence to do it.”

She added: “We know traditional PGCEs are also not always perfect, and there are some variations in existing initial teacher education (ITE) routes, but to be seeing such big inconsistencies so early with this flagship new training scheme does concern us.”

The mentor-trainee relationship is one element of teacher training that ATL knows is not always as good as it could be, but members’ experiences of this on School Direct are very patchy. One member said: “Mentoring has been almost nil. Only on my insistence did we have meetings, but they were often cancelled, and my mentor had no idea what she was supposed to do or what the course entailed.

“I love the school, and if I were a teaching assistant (TA), would be perfectly happy. But my department is not geared up to, and should not have participated in, School Direct.

The training is nowhere near as good as the structured programme for PGCE students in the same school.”

One member decided to leave the course because she was so unhappy with the lack of support. She said: “A one-hour meeting with

a mentor isn’t sufficient to go through the week’s lessons and one formal observation per week doesn’t give enough feedback. A disproportionate amount of time was spent planning lessons and doing academic study, with too little spent analysing lessons with experienced teachers to improve practice.”

On the other hand there are examples such as Helen’s. The former retail manager, training in Staffordshire, said: “Mentor meetings are frequent enough but are organised not to take up too much time. It’s great to be classroombased and to teach with support if necessary.

Group teaching was used initially to develop confidence and skills. I did whole-class teaching when I felt ready, with full support from a teacher and a TA.” And Will Tyrrell, 23, who is teaching English in a secondary school in London, is also positive, saying: “I have had excellent support, and my time spent teaching has been brilliantly purposeful and rewarding.”

But he added: “I was prepared to teach because of my prior experience in education, but I do not think this would have been the case had I been a less experienced trainee.

Even as it was, the immediate start as a teacher solely responsible for the learning progress of a class was overwhelming to begin with.”

ATL is also concerned School Direct is not preparing trainees well enough to plan for and take their first classes. Although almost three quarters of members in our survey said they would recommend School Direct as a good route into teaching, with 21% feeling ‘very prepared’ and 56% ‘fairly prepared’ to take their first lesson, more than a quarter (27%) said they did not feel ready to teach their first lesson: six per cent said they were March 2014

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also raises serious questions around how well some schools are organising the training. We know teaching is demanding, but it seems as if for some it has not been planned effectively, with students struggling with the workload of a near-full-time teaching role and the studying that is required at the same time.”

One member said: “Many on my course dropped out early because of stress, very experienced people who would have been fantastic in the classroom. The DfE needs to take a good look at why people are dropping out and support teachers better.”

ATL’s view is that ITE should include a breadth and depth of knowledge. In addition to subject pedagogy, training needs to ensure new teachers have sufficient understanding of child development and special educational needs, gained through evidence-based theory, along with classroom practice and access to specialist expertise. ITE also needs to develop critical and reflective skills. The School Direct model not only means some trainees may not be taught enough pedagogy and child development , but that the HEI education departments that are the source of this expertise are being jeopardised.

James Noble-Rogers, executive director of the Universities Council for the Education of Teachers (UCET), has said: “An element of centre-based training in HEIs and SCITTs can be a route to get new policies and new ideas into schools. Entirely school-based training risks replication of established orthodoxies and institutional conservatism.”

Being part of their school’s teaching workforce, many School Direct trainees told us they simply do not have enough time to complete the academic study element of their

MBI/ALAMY

not at all prepared, and 18% described themselves as ‘inadequately prepared’.

At the same time more than 40% said they had not received any support in planning, and there were variations in teaching hours. Seven per cent had no reduction in their timetable at first, while for those who did, it ranged from a 10% reduction to, in one case, 100%. A 60% teaching timetable was the most common.

One trainee, who received no advice about planning, said: “Six lessons to plan and prepare from the outset is too much too soon, on top of everything else you’re expected to do.” She said it was regularly pointed out that because she was on the salaried route, she was “very lucky and should put up and shut up about the workload”.

An ATL member in his 30s, based in the north west, said: “I was teaching classes within a day of term starting — and was rushing around sorting out enrolment, induction, IT access, etc, between lessons, so I had no chance to observe lessons and see how other teachers began the year.”

A 33-year-old member in London said: “In school, I spend almost all of my time in the classroom either teaching or supporting learning, and I get about an hour out of the class to prepare. The rest of my planning and preparation is done in my own time. The only development in my own subject knowledge has come from independent research in my own time. We need to be taught the basics around planning, assessment, progression, etc, as this is sadly lacking at the moment.”

“Many schools want a greater role recruiting and training trainees and, at this early stage, there is evidence School Direct can work well,” said Alison Ryan, “but the survey

training. One member said: “Because so much time is spent in school there is not enough time to do the academic study and assignment writing. It’s a very heavy workload as you’re effectively working full time and undertaking masters-level assignments.”

The government is rapidly expanding School Direct. It had 400 trainees in 2012-13; this year the target was 9,500, although only around two thirds of these places were filled, and next year the government hopes to fill 15,400 places. This expansion has led to less funding for the PGCE route through HEIs, which means the courses they run are becoming financially unviable: the University of Bath and the Open University both recently announced they will close their PGCE courses.

“If an HEI closes its PGCE, this reduces its capacity to support local schools. And as the gap between education research and ITE gets bigger, the knowledge base of teachers gets potentially weaker,” said Alison Ryan.

Professor John Howson, visiting senior research fellow at the University of Oxford’s Department of Education, and an authority on the teacher labour market, has predicted universities with no primary training and secondary courses with fewer than 150 places will be at risk of closing, and that “there will be a tussle between the School Direct route and higher education in many subjects as to which places will be filled if the government cannot attract enough potential applications”.

With around a third of School Direct places unfilled this year, there are also questions over projections of the number of teachers needed.

Although the government says it overestimated so there should be no shortfall if places are unfilled, Professor Howson believes there is a recruitment shortage at the primary level and in maths and physics at the secondary level, while other subjects have been allowed to over-recruit.

Alison Ryan said: “The ability of the School Direct model to be fine-tuned enough to address these needs is compounded by the fact there are currently no accountabilities for schools having to fill their allocated places, unlike HEIs. Nor is there currently the requirement or incentive for schools to keep the DfE informed about whether they are filling places, leading to an information vacuum until crucially late into the process.

“So we come to a situation where universities could be turning people away because their courses are full, while www.atl.org.uk

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School Direct places in the same area remain empty, or vice versa, yet there is no scope for them to shift those allocations.”

At the same time, we do not know how many schools will continue to offer School Direct places next year, either because they go on to permanently employ their trainees — which would also have an impact on their need for HEI support — or because they may have been put off after their first year of the scheme.

Our survey also shows that the HEI-school relationship can be problematic: many more trainees described communication between their training provider and workplace as ‘poor’ or ‘fair’ (61%) than said it was ‘good’ or ‘very good’ (39%). A 33-year-old trainee in London said: “The issue with the School Direct route is that all responsibility for our training appears to have been devolved, but no one is clear who it has been devolved to.

The schools assume the university will be giving us basic knowledge of theories and processes, and the university assumes the school now does this. [Because] the organisation of the scheme has been terrible the school will not be participating again next year.”

“It’s a good programme but it seems poorly organised where I am,” said a 25-year-old member, also in London. “I like the fact I get to spend a lot of time at school, improving and working with experienced teachers. The school where I do my placement is great, my mentor is very supportive, but the other school running the training sessions does not seem very organised and I often get different information from what’s sent by the university, if I even receive the information.” www.atl.org.uk

When we asked trainees about awareness of the programme, half described the perception of School Direct in their school as ‘mostly positive’, for 23% it was ‘sometimes’ positive, 13% said it was ‘sometimes’ or ‘mostly’ negative, and 15% said there was little awareness. And almost a quarter (23%) said there was no clear understanding that he or she is a trainee rather than a newly qualified teacher.

“Many teachers were unaware there were trainees, and many were not briefed as to the nature of School Direct, that it is different from the GTP. I am perceived a lot of the time as a TA, both by staff and students and little has been done to correct this misconception, other than by myself,” said a member based in Devon.

ATL member Will Tyrrell said: “I think the School Direct route is potentially excellent, for certain trainees in certain schools. I feel the course has served me better than PGCE courses have served some of my friends. I do worry, however, that the quality of School Direct training is hugely dependent on the school in which the training takes place. The training provider has a comparatively minuscule input and impact.”

‘‘

I do worry that the quality of School Direct training is hugely dependent on the school

’’

Another trainee concluded: “I would not recommend this course at present. A schoolbased training route is the ideal route, but I feel my training has suffered due to lack of support from the university, as well as the sheer demand on our time due to the pressure of assignments as well as planning and teaching lessons, which the normal PGCE route does not seem to suffer from.”

Just last month Ofsted announced new “tougher” proposals for inspecting teacher training. “A supportive quality control system is urgently needed, but given its own variable quality, it is questionable whether Ofsted is up to this,” said Alison Ryan, adding: “It will be difficult to assess the full impact of School Direct because there is the as-yet unknown impact on staff and pupil outcomes, and it has been brought in when there are so many other changes happening across education.”

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said:

“School Direct is, at present, too much of a lottery. If a trainee is in a good school that understands what constitutes effective ITE, with good mentors who are given the time to work with trainees, then trainees have a good experience that will prepare them well for their future working lives as teachers.

“If, however, the school is unprepared for the much greater responsibilities School Direct brings, trainees get a poor deal. And it is not just trainees who suffer — their pupils are also getting a raw deal. School Direct should be subject to the same Ofsted inspection criteria as university-based partnerships. Politicians never fail to inform us that we have the best-ever generation of teachers. But the gains of recent years could be lost if School Direct does not become less of a lottery.”

Alison Ryan concluded: “Variations reflected in our survey suggest some quite serious flaws in the programme, not least if it can really be expanded at the pace intended.

We know one size does not fit all, but the emphasis on School Direct as the preferred route into teaching, and the speed and extent of its introduction, when this is not being driven by evidence of what makes the most effective ITE, is a real concern, and could be coming at the expense of promising new teachers.

“If the coalition is wedded to this method of teacher training, it must work with schools to improve the programme before it finds itself with a legacy of teacher shortages.

School Direct should be one of several routes into teaching, introduced at a sustainable pace, with proper planning for places and accountability. We would like to see a set of guidelines covering issues such as the balance of teaching, reflection and study time at different stages of the training, along with a means of sharing good practice.”

What do you think? Are you a mentor or a trainee on School Direct who would like to share your experiences? Email report@atl.org.uk or join the debate at www.twitter.com/atlunion.

ATL has produced guidance for mentors and mentees, A Guide to Mentoring, which is available at www.atl.org.uk/publications.

ATL is lobbying for a motivated and valued workforce through our Shape Education campaign. See www.atl.org.uk/shapingeducation

March 2014

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A world without levels With national curriculum levels soon to disappear, the issue of what will fill the void could create a toxic mess, says ATL general secretary Mary Bousted

N

ational curriculum levels are on their way out — they will no longer be the currency of progress for pupils in primary and secondary schools when the new national curriculum comes in for most year groups in September 2014. The demise of the levels has been a source of some concern and consternation for many involved in primary education. While no one would argue the levels were a perfect vehicle for assessing pupil progress and attainment, they were, at least, a common currency, used nationally, to measure individual and school achievement.

The problem with national curriculum levels is that, too often, they became a shortcut to summarise pupil achievement and progress. The allocation of a level defined too easily, and inadequately, the complex thought that should go into the assessment of each individual child’s progress and achievement. And while the levels should have been used to underpin thoughtful and evidenced teacher formative assessment, in too many cases this bedrock of effective professional practice has been undermined by levels and by the urgent need to show progress as defined by the level statements, which can be useful, if narrow, indicators of achievement.

The results, for too many primary pupils, have been negative. Those pupils who do not fit easily into progression through levels, those who excel at one aspect of the curriculum but need support in another, have too often found their individual needs have not been met, nor their individual strengths recognised.

Another result of an over-reliance on levelled assessment has been the explosion of writing in primary schools.

Too much pupil writing is not done for a real purpose or audience (which would give it meaning) but for assessment and

www.atl.org.uk

accountability purposes. The teaching of their achievements in a way that the a broad and balanced curriculum, which current raw attainment scores just do not would give each child access to a range of allow. However, the government has not knowledge areas and physical and indicated that it is willing to replace the emotional skills has, too often, been the floor targets for primary schools with a casualty of the enormous pressure to progress measure. So, schools will be meet floor targets as measured by the measured by progress, but also by fixed percentage of pupils reaching the targets for pupil attainment. required level.

The government really needs to make So, from September, it’s all change! its mind up and choose one of the two Out with levels, in with … er … no one because, together, they are a toxic mess. knows. And that is the problem. Because, Recent experience has shown that, in a without any national guidance as to what battle between test scores (raw attainment) should replace levels, the danger is and value added measures, the test scores primary staff will spend inordinate always win. If the government is serious amounts of time devising their own about progress measures, it has to make assessment schemes, or, even worse, them the sole measure of assessing the bypassing this process and buying in school’s effectiveness. commercial The abolition of levels is just alternatives. This is one part of the implementation a problem that has Out with levels, of the revised primary national commanded the curriculum to be taught in all in with … er … no attention of advisers local authority primary schools. one knows at the Department ATL is producing a new website for Education and that will help support ATL the Education Select Committee. One members to create a curriculum that proposed solution is the baseline counts in their schools. This interactive assessment of four-year-olds. I have been resource will feature detailed case study assured by civil servants this would not videos and resources from primary schools involve a test in the normal sense (as in that have taken different approaches to sitting in rows, writing). Indeed, given their school curriculum. There will also be the age of the children, how could it? information about curriculum approaches, Rather, it would be teacher assessment, signposting to useful subject guidance and done over a period of time (perhaps six the opportunity to discuss and share best weeks), to assess the baseline pupil practice with other education practitioners. achievement against which progress We want to support a positive would be measured. profession-led response to the curriculum And now we come to the heart of the changes. The new website will be launched matter. If government policy is moving at ATL’s Conference in April and we look to measure progress, how far pupils’ forward to your responses and understanding, knowledge and skills contributions to a continuing conversation have developed in a given time, rather among education staff about your than absolute achievement, then a approaches to curriculum development properly developed baseline could be and implementation. a step in the right direction. Progress See www.atl.org.uk/curriculum for more about changes to the curriculum, including measures would allow schools with ATL’s timeline for primary schools disadvantaged intakes to demonstrate

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March 2014

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join the debate / Northern Ireland and Wales

Northern Ireland Mark Langhammer

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Wales Dr Philip Dixon

Northern Ireland’s education is something of a curate’s egg, according to PISA results

The Tabberer review into teacher training in Wales has not gone deep enough

The findings from the 2012 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) were released in December 2013 and saw Northern Ireland ahead of Wales, below Scotland and England, and significantly below the Republic of Ireland on all counts.

PISA is the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s survey of educational achievement and focuses on the ability of 15-yearold pupils to use knowledge and skills to meet real-life challenges.

PISA 2012 also reported on school and pupil attitudes.

Pupils in Northern Ireland achieved a mean score of 487 in maths — similar to our performance in 2009.

Socio-economic background has a larger effect on pupil attainment here than on average across the OECD countries.

Northern Ireland’s performance in reading (498) is similar to 2009 (499) and the OECD average of 496. One

A little while The Tabberer Review duly ago, to prepare appeared and made some our response pertinent points for reform of for the the current system. But I think Tabberer it’s fair to say that many felt it review of ITT had not really gone deeply in Wales, we enough into the issues, and surveyed our members for their I suspect the Welsh Government views and experiences of teacher will return to the whole issue of training. The responses were how we train our teachers informative in the extreme. sooner rather than later.

Two student concerns stood Obviously no system is out overwhelmingly. Firstly, that perfect and all training is the content of slightly removed some courses from reality.

The content As with school needed radical updating and inspectors, of some courses was predicated there is needed radical on an outdated inevitably a loss updating view of the of contemporary classroom. awareness when Secondly, that they wanted far lecturers leave the actual more training in behaviour classroom. There is also the management. perennial problem of politicians Older members were and lobbyists wanting to stuff concerned some institutions everything they think is were not preparing new teachers important into teacher training. sufficiently well for the That sort of thinking stems challenges they might face and partly, I suspect, from the belief were divided about their own that teachers cannot learn or experience of teacher training. develop in any real way once Some felt it had been very useful they’re in the job. We know, while others felt it had been however, that ITT is a start, completely useless. not an end.

notable feature is that almost two thirds of OECD countries have a smaller difference between the highest and lowest percentiles than Northern Ireland.

In science, our pupils achieved a mean score of 507, similar to 2009 (511) and not statistically different to the OECD average (501). Only 17 countries outperformed Northern Ireland in science. There was a widespread distribution in attainment between the lowestand highest-scoring pupils in science, with only eight countries having a wider distribution.

One interesting finding, for a selective system, is that our high achievers in reading and maths performed significantly worse than the OECD average. The good news is pupils were largely positive about teachers, with 87% reporting they get along well with most of their teachers.

So, our system isn’t world class.

Like a curate’s egg, it’s good in parts, but social class dictates results more in Northern Ireland than elsewhere.

You can read all the results at www.northernireland.gov.uk and search for ‘Pisa 2012’.

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‘‘

’’

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Report, ATL, 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD report@atl.org.uk @ATLReport The views expressed in the letters printed in Report do not necessarily reflect ATL policy or opinion.

STAR LETTER

Early years fears The article ‘Focus on foundations’ (Report, February 2014) is exactly what we early years leaders have been saying for years. It is deeply worrying that early years education ideals are to be sacrificed on the altar of progress and standards.

There is nothing to be gained by pushing young children into formal education when they are not ready. This doesn’t mean that they are not capable of learning and achieving a great deal. A well-thought-out and carefully structured curriculum is more than capable of stretching the minds of the youngest pupils. Giving learning opportunities through play, ensuring activities are open-ended and encouraging independence are the basic building blocks of a solid foundation to lifelong learning.

The clue is in the name ‘foundation stage’. A page of adult-directed ‘work’ demonstrates nothing of what a child knows. A child who is able to select the things they need for a task, or who can talk about what they are doing and why, gives a much clearer insight into the level of understanding and the gaps that need to be addressed. Everything done in our classroom was ‘work’ — we worked in the sand, we worked outside — there was no distinction between formal and informal learning, and as such children, parents and carers appreciated the value of ‘play’. More importantly, all the children left reception confident, capable, independent learners. They could read, write and calculate, in spite of the fact that they did ‘nothing but play all day’.

Sadly no child today is allowed to develop in their own time. We have a duty to all children to provide the learning opportunities to meet their needs, not just a watered down formal education with some play tucked in as a concession. When young children are excited and stimulated by their learning environment and taught and encouraged by well-trained staff who understand their needs, their progress and attainment is clear to see. It is my belief that much of the problem with standards generally can be attributed to making children run before they can walk.

L Hayden, Sheffield

WIN

L Hayden wins £100 in book tokens. If you want to voice your opinion on any issues raised in Report or any other aspect of education, please send a letter or email to the addresses above, including your phone number. One star letter will be chosen every issue to win the book tokens.

Parents’ evening by numbers I attended my son’s Year 8 parents’ evening last night. However, I discovered I don’t have a son, just a set of numbers. It started with the language teacher who said my son’s progress was a ‘concern’. His target for the end of the key stage is 6b, he’s now at 5c. Surely he’s well on the way? “Ah no,” was the reply, “we start GCSEs early so he needs to be there by the end of this year.” “But that’s not the end of key stage 3?” “No, but that’s what we do here.”

Next was geography. Here I got “He started a 7c, he’s a 7c now.” His target for March 2014

the end of the year is a 7c, so I guess he can sit and chill for the rest of the year.

The music teacher, however, described him as a “4b”; he had depreciated. Respite and sanity came from the PE teacher. He knew my son’s interests and wanted to know more about him. He described his personality and said how nice he was to teach and other things that, as a parent, I wanted to hear; that meant something.

Feeling more positive, it was off to RE. Surely here we would discuss the person?

No luck: his RE teacher only knew what he was, what he is and what he will forever be. Maths was inevitably the

facebook.com/ATLUnion

Tough older teachers I loved the article ‘A late start’ (Report, February 2014) about the two people who became teachers later in their lives. Like many others, I have enjoyed watching Tough Young Teachers on BBC3, but I have felt that there has been something missing.

Teach First is having an impact, but one wonders whether a ‘Teach Second’ (or indeed third, fourth or last) would be valuable too. Oscar Wilde's old adage “Those who can’t, teach” looks quite wrong when one hears of people switching successful careers to teaching to help ensure Britain (not just its economy) is supplied with well-educated, wellrounded young people.

I left a global firm of business advisers in 2009 to become a teacher after more than 10 successful years working in London. I was aware of at least one other senior manager who had taken a similar choice (when I last heard from him, he was a deputy head at a primary school).

People like this have been joining for years; not merely because there happened to be an economic downturn from 2007-08. And are they tough? I'm aware of one ATL member (ex-private sector) whose child was born the day he began his PGCE and another whose second child was born just as he left his private sector career to begin to train in teaching. Maybe those ‘tough young teachers’ (single, childless and without mortgages or other family commitments) might learn something from the ‘teach second’ crew?

B Waine same, as was English. Before my escape, it got worse: there was the graph showing the furrow ploughed out for him. My boy wouldn’t be allowed to flourish in the summer and dawdle in the winter, oh no, even progress all the way is the only route, not a bumpy road of learning.

As a teacher, I understand the code, I even understand the pressure to use it, but I don’t agree with it. Thank heavens for the PE teacher! As for the rest, is this really what we’ve let Ofsted do to our children?

J Wilson, West Yorkshire

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profile / Toni Pearce

Fighting for FE Campaigning for gender equality, disability rights, a voice for young people, and more recognition for further education, Toni Pearce has a lot to achieve in her time as NUS president, as she tells Alex Tomlin

‘‘I

t’s a huge shame that further education is overlooked by policy-makers and the media. Sometimes somebody needs to make a fuss about FE,” says president of the National Union of Students (NUS) Toni Pearce.

As the first NUS president not to attend university, Toni is extremely proud of her FE background and is very much prepared to make a fuss about it, having risen to her current position through what she describes as “a series of fortunate events”.

The first of these does not sound very fortunate: discovering when she began at Cornwall College at the age of 16 that she needed operations on her hips due to a hyper-mobility disorder that left her in great pain, struggling to walk, and forcing her to give up her beloved sports. She began running sports clubs for others through the student union and then got involved in her first campaign: to improve accessibility for disabled people in her college.

“It was issues you don’t realise until you’re in a wheelchair or can’t get into classrooms,” she recalls. “Just things like getting the automatic doors to work in the library. That was the first campaign I got involved in. It was quite a small thing, but having done that, having changed something, it gave me a real sense of not being helpless. It proved to me that you can make a difference if you do it right.”

She continues: “Just getting angry and shouting might not have achieved anything. It’s about understanding

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what other people are trying to get out of the situation and the right arguments to use.”

Having tasted success, Toni joined a delegation from the student union to lobby Parliament about the reduction in level 3 courses for adults, admitting that one of the reasons for going was that she’d never been to London. However, from there her involvement in NUS grew and she became first president of Cornwall College student union, then NUS vice president for further education before being voted in as president of NUS for a year, which ends in July 2014.

In this capacity, she hopes to engage a wider range of people. “NUS has generally represented university students of a certain type, traditional 18-21 Russell Group students,” she says, “and they do need representation, but the demographic of students is changing, with people working while studying, mature students with families, people who wouldn’t primarily identify themselves as students.”

She is also keen to balance up the perennial divide between academic and vocational courses. “You hear people say vocational education is important but I get the feeling they’re saying it’s important for other people’s children, not for their children.

It’s frustrating because I don’t think there’s anything that says academic qualifications are any more prestigious or more difficult than vocational qualifications.”

She believes the origin of the divide goes all the way back to the Renaissance with “the idea that if you’re good with your mind you’re closer to God, and the first people who studied were in the church. If you do things with your hands, it’s more base. The people who use their minds will run the country and the ones who use their hands work for them.”

She also believes the divide is exacerbated by there being a greater incentive for schools to get pupils to university than onto an

apprenticeship, and calls for a genuinely independent careers advice and guidance service to point young people in the most appropriate direction for them.

Toni believes not just that vocational subjects are viewed as inferior but also that those who teach them are not given enough credit, reward or status. “It’s a bit farcical that you can work in an FE college and teach people to do highly skilled jobs but not be qualified to teach,” she says. “The idea of dual professionalism that exists in FE, where you’re a professional in your field and a professional teacher, is really important and something we should hold on to.

“FE falls into this political gap,” she continues. “A lot of people will never have heard of Matthew Hancock [Minister of State for Skills and Enterprise since October 2013], and it’s not a priority for Vince Cable or David Willetts. Matthew Hancock is a junior minister. It’s problematic to have a junior minister for the part of the education sector that’s most responsible for encouraging economic recovery and getting young people out of unemployment.”

It’s clear the sector has played a major role in her life. “FE is the reason my parents are who they are,” she explains. “My mum went back to study after having four children, and became a management accountant, doing the thing she’s always wanted to do after being told when she left school that she should be a secretary because that’s what women did. FE gave her an opportunity and that’s incredible.”

So, what makes a good FE lecturer in her view? “There are things that go without saying, like being empathetic and understanding, giving proper feedback, and supporting students to improve and challenge you,” she believes. “A lecturer should be able to see their role isn’t just about getting students to pass exams; it’s March 2014

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about developing them as individuals and understanding their place in the world.

One of the most important things my time at college did for me was to introduce me to feminism and that came from my English literature teacher.”

Gender equality is one of her personal passions; she points out she is only the eighth woman president of NUS in 92 years, and this is reflected in other areas too, such as FE, where, although the proportion of women principals has risen from 36% to 42%, the overall proportion of women working in the sector is 64%.

She highlights the gender pay gap of 20% in vocational apprenticeships,which she puts down to the gendering of subjects such as construction, plumbing and engineering for men, versus hairdressing, health and beauty, and social care for women, something she feels is not a natural split.

“We have to look at the barriers women are facing in student unions, education and society,” Toni says, pointing out that there are four women among 20 people in the Cabinet.

“Generally the people who have power in the UK are the ones who have taken a really traditional journey through education, gone straight from school to university probably without even being aware there was another March 2014

‘‘

option,” she says. “They’re the people who make laws and run the justice system, media, big business.

“This is not about inverse intellectual snobbery; it’s not about dismissing intelligence. There are different kinds of intelligence involved in bringing up a family and running your own business. It’s about understanding people’s lives.

But if you’re only surrounded by people who have the same experiences as you, you won’t be able to do that.”

Toni believes young people do not feel their lives are understood at a government level. “Young people might try to express what they feel but they don’t feel listened to. There’s a really stark comparison

without which she believes she would still be a waitress in Cornwall, after spending the whole of her first year of A-levels in and out of hospital. She applied for extenuating circumstances and got 25 minutes extra in the exam. “What I really needed was to be able to resit them. In the end [after redoing a year] I got a set of A-levels I was really pleased with. That I failed them in the first year wasn’t indicative of the fact I couldn’t do them, it was just that I couldn’t do them on that day.

“You can retake your driving test as many times as you like, and doing that you have people’s lives in your hands. Exams should be about showing what you’re capable of doing. There’s a broader question about how fit for purpose exams are, do we test people too much, or in particular ways too much?

But people should have the opportunity to go back and try again; that should be one of the values of our education system.

Particularly in FE.” Toni describes herself as a “not very active member of the Labour party” and struggles

A lecturer should be able to see their role isn’t just about getting students to pass exams; it’s about developing them as individuals

’’

between those aged 60 and over who vote and those aged 24 and under. The impact is seen in public policy and whom it’s aimed at.

There is a generational divide here and I don’t want to see that continue. In 20 years’ time we could have middle-aged people who haven’t voted.” Increasing voter registration among young people is one of NUS’s priorities ahead of the general election.

“This isn’t about us saying we want you to cut people’s pensions to pay for our free transport,” she explains. “You can’t divide us by our ages. We’re working with the National Pensioners’ Convention on how to jointly campaign on issues like the national retirement age, which affects all of us.”

One person in government who does not appear to be listening is Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove, to whom Toni has sent several letters but from whom she is yet to receive a reply. “I don’t think Michael Gove is very interested in vocational education,” is her judgement.

One particular policy of Mr Gove’s that Toni objects to is the removal of resits,

to pin down their policies on education or FE, although she does welcome the announcement that they would reintroduce a system along the lines of the education maintenance allowance (EMA). “Scrapping it was one of the worst policy decisions the coalition made — all of the evidence pointed to EMA being a really good value-for-money initiative and having a positive impact, supporting people to stay in education,” she says.

“It costs money to live and if you’re in full-time education you can’t be working full time as well. And you don’t have access to the benefits system. Somewhere in that mix you have to provide enough money for people to live.”

Despite clearly having strong views about political issues, don’t expect to see Toni making any bids to forge a career in Parliament. “I don’t think politics is what I want to do,” she explains. “I want to work in the public sector; in education or health, because they make the biggest difference to people’s lives.” www.atl.org.uk

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Governing roles Report looks at plans to make governing bodies more like corporate boards and what the proposals mean for schools and communities. Words by Charlotte Tamvakis

I

n January, the government announced proposals to make school governing bodies more like corporate boards so only those people who have the “skills and experience to drive school improvement” can be appointed as governors in local-authority-run schools. The consultation on this new guidance, which has the backing of the National Governors’ Association (NGA), is due to close in March.

ATL assistant general secretary for policy Nansi Ellis says: “Governing bodies have an important role to play in holding schools to account, and they should be about doing so locally, to the community and the parents they serve.

“Schools are not businesses. Governing bodies should represent the community and all governing bodies need a good balance of skills and day-to-day knowledge about the school. Part of the role of the governing body is understanding what parents need, what the community needs, and what the school can offer.”

And while business skills are becoming increasingly important given the growing complexity of the governor role, governing bodies need parent representatives who are in touch with what’s happening at the school and who are able to offer support for, or challenge, plans based on this experience rather than purely on statistics. “It would be detrimental to schools and children to lose the qualitative view parent-governors are often able to supply,” says Nansi.

As ATL set out in its response to an Education Select Committee inquiry in 2012, school governing bodies should offer critical friendship, strategic vision and quality assurance to school staff at a time when major policy changes such as changes of school status and devolving decisions on teachers’ pay to school level place a greater onus on school governing bodies, which in turn has increased difficulties recruiting and retaining school governors.

“There are already issues with governance,” Nansi says. “Too few people apply, they’re not

March 2014

representative of the local community, boards can be too close to the school and don’t ask difficult questions of the leadership, or are perhaps too dependent on the school leader for information.”

Adding a skills requirement could only add to these problems. Nansi says: “This change implies parents don’t have the skills needed, and could put off potential parent-governors who may feel, wrongly, they have no skills to offer. If you’re a parent, particularly a nonworking parent, why would you think you could sit on a corporate board, or even want to?”

ATL believes action is needed to improve diversity among school governors, with many people lacking the confidence to put themselves forward for the role, either because English is not their first language or because they have a particular image of governors that does not reflect their own background. Skills-based criteria could make applying even more daunting.

ATL is already concerned about how much the governing bodies of academies are accountable to their communities, and this change means local-authority-run schools could also lose governors who have direct, local knowledge of the community.

Mark Wright, assistant director of AMiE, ATL’s leadership section, says, “We also need to keep a strong focus on consideration the Department for Education is giving to allowing multi-academy trusts to have yet more flexibility over governance arrangements. This includes scrapping the need for an academy to have an advisory body where it doesn’t have a local governing board. This would be replaced by more general guidance for academies to be

‘informed by local intelligence’.”

Although the governance changes would be labelled as guidance, Nansi warns: “If a school receives a report from Ofsted saying it requires improvement because the governing body is not up to scratch, wouldn’t the school feel pressure to follow that guidance?

“Already governing boards are starting to carry out skills audits of the people they currently have, and the next time there is a parent-governor election, they will say ‘these are the skills we’re looking for’. Skills audits can be very useful if there’s training available for governors to improve those skills. But if you’re talking in these corporate terms, you’re already talking in a language that is not about the public sector. We should instead be talking about what models of governance we have in the public sector we can follow.”

Mark says: “The government claims it is easing the business burden on governors in multi-academy trusts by having the main sponsor academy trustees oversee the finance and HR issues within the chain, leaving local governing boards free to focus their attention on improving teaching and learning. The jury is out as to whether this will attract new governors or not.”

You can read ATL’s response to the Education Select Committee at www.atl.org.uk/responses.

Emma Knights from the NGA is appearing at AMiE’s leadership seminar on 28 March, which is focusing on governance and inspection issues. See www.amie.atl.org.uk for details.

What do you think about these changes? You can write to Report using the details on page 23, and join the debate at www.twitter.com/atlunion and www.facebook.com/atlunion. www.atl.org.uk

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Whistleblowing An employee looking to report suspected wrongdoing should follow certain procedures to be protected under whistleblowing laws, explains ATL solicitor Sharon Liburd

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histleblowing is the reporting of suspected wrongdoing (known as a ‘qualifying disclosure’) at work, which a worker reasonably believes to be in the ‘public interest’. There is no legal definition of public interest. All workers, including those engaged through an agency and those who are self-employed (if supervised) can ‘blow the whistle’.

The worker must have a reasonable belief the information is substantially true. It must also be reasonable for the worker to make the disclosure in all the circumstances of the case.

The Public Interest Disclosure Act (PIDA) 1998 gives protection to workers who make qualifying disclosures to the correct person, in the correct way. A qualifying disclosure is any disclosure of information that, in the reasonable belief of the worker, is made in the public interest and tends to show that one or more of the following has occurred, is occurring or is likely to occur: • a criminal offence by the employer (eg fraud) • failure to comply with any legal obligation (eg failure to carry out Disclosure and Barring Service enhanced checks) • miscarriage of justice • danger to the health and safety of any individual • damage to the environment • the covering up of any of the above.

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67PHOTO/ALAMY

www.atl.org.uk

Workers cannot whistleblow about breaches Under section 103A of the Employment of their own contracts — instead, they should Rights Act 1996, the dismissal (including seek advice from their unions and consider constructive dismissal) of an employee will using their employer’s grievance procedure. normally be automatically unfair if the As a general rule, whistleblowers should reason or principal reason is that he or she first seek to resolve matters privately within made a protected disclosure. There is no their employer’s organisation, eg by making qualifying minimum period of service a disclosure to a manager about malpractice. and no upper limit on the amount of If your employer has a whistleblowing policy, compensation awarded in successful it is advisable to follow it. A qualifying claims, which can include injury to feelings. disclosure to your employer is a protected It is unlawful for an employer to subject disclosure under PIDA. a worker to detriment for whistleblowing, A worker can make the disclosure to one which includes threats, disciplinary action, of the bodies or people listed in section 1 of loss of work/pay, or damage to career PIDA, which includes the Health and Safety prospects. Whistleblowers are also Executive, the Charity Commissioner, HM protected from such treatment from Revenue and Customs, and the Information colleagues as a result of a protected Commissioner. The disclosure can be made disclosure. An employer is legally liable to these prescribed bodies/people without for these actions, even if the behaviour of raising it internally first. The whistleblower colleagues occurred without the knowledge must reasonably believe the subject matter or approval of the employer. To avoid falls within the remit of the body/person to liability, the employer will have to show whom the disclosure is made. it took all reasonable steps to prevent the Disclosure can be also be made to a legal colleague(s) victimising the whistleblower. adviser in the course of obtaining legal It is therefore advisable for whistleblowing advice (eg to a trade union) and to a policies to confirm how disclosures will be government minister, without disclosing it treated and that bullying and harassment internally first. of whistleblowers is It is possible to make unacceptable and Whistleblowers the disclosure to others lead to personal should first seek to resolve can in a wider forum, eg the liability. matters privately media, in limited Whistleblowers circumstances, with are often rigorously account being taken of the seriousness of the cross-examined as to their motives during matter, the likelihood of recurrence and the employment/industrial tribunals. Where reaction of the employer where matters have a claim for unfair dismissal or detriment is previously been raised internally. In addition, successful, compensation can be reduced the whistleblower must reasonably believe that: by up to 25% if the tribunal concludes the • he or she will be victimised if he or she tells whistleblower’s disclosure was not made in the employer or prescribed person/body; or good faith; the burden is on the employer • the evidence will be destroyed or concealed to prove this. if he or she tells the employer, where there Legal proceedings for whistleblowing is no prescribed person/body; and must be started in the employment • the information and any allegation in it are tribunal within three months of the act true; and (or failure to act) complained of.

• it is just to make the disclosure, having ATL members who have concerns about regard to all the circumstances of the whistleblowing should contact ATL’s case; and member advisers using the details on • it is not being made for personal gain. page 23.

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March 2014

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Help and advice If you need help with matters related to your employment, your first point of contact should be your school or college ATL rep, or your AMiE regional officer if you are a leadership member. You can also contact your local ATL branch for advice and support. If they are unable to help, contact ATL using these details:

General enquiries 020 7930 6441 Email: info@atl.org.uk Website: www.atl.org.uk London: 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD. Belfast: 16 West Bank Drive, Belfast BT3 9LA. Tel: 028 9078 2020. Email: ni@atl.org.uk Cardiff: 9 Columbus Walk, Brigantine Place, Cardiff CF10 4BY. Tel: 029 2046 5000.

Email: cymru@atl.org.uk AMiE members: 35 The Point, Market Harborough, Leicestershire LE16 7QU. Contact your AMiE regional officer (contact details at www.amie.atl.org.uk) or call the employment helpline 01858 464171.

Email: helpline@amie.atl.org.uk

Membership enquiries 020 7782 1602 Email: membership@atl.org.uk

Pension enquiries 020 7782 1600 Out-of-office-hours helpline 020 7782 1612 Monday to Friday, 5-7.30pm during term time.

ATL’s regional officials are available to speak to you about work problems.

Personal injury claims 0800 083 7285 Call Morrish Solicitors LLP, ATL’s appointed solicitors, or go to www.atlinjuryclaims.org.uk. This service is open to members and their families, subject to the rules of the scheme.

ATL should be your first port of call in the event of work-related issues. If you feel you need emotional support, Teacher Support Network is a group of independent charities and a social enterprise that provides emotional support to staff in the education sector and their families. Their support lines are available 24 hours a day:

UK: 08000 562 561 Wales: 08000 855 088 Email: support@teachersupport.info Text (call back service): 07909 341229

Terms of ATL’s support are outlined in our members’ charter, available via www.atl.org.uk. When emailing ATL from home, please include either your membership number or home postcode to help us deal with your enquiry more efficiently.

March 2014

If you are not a member of ATL and would like to join, please contact us on 0845 057 7000 (lo-call) Remember to pass your copy of Report to colleagues who may be interested in it!

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help and advice / guide

Building a team Creating a successful team requires time and proper process, explains ATL trainer Caroline Holmes, who runs ATL’s course on effective classroom teamwork

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hen people come on ATL’s course ‘Effective classroom teamwork: communication and assertiveness skills’, they think they work in a team, but when we look at it more closely they realise they’re actually working in a group.

The difference is key. In a team people work together and have a goal, then they agree a way of achieving it. Teams are about developing relationships and communication, understanding roles and responsibilities, compromising, and being flexible. In groups, everyone has their own agenda; it’s about getting to the end goal and if that means you’re not all friends at the end then so be it. Performance-related pay could potentially exacerbate this kind of culture.

If you are in a group that you want to become a team, the first thing you need to do is start to understand what behaviour you’d expect to see in a team, how you put a team together, and the nature of team-working. It is not an overnight process; it takes time.

I advise a process similar to Tuckman’s model. Bruce Tuckman talked about the necessity of having a number of stages in order to be able to have a high-performing, effective team.

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Stage 1: Chaos. The chaos stage is where everybody can air their grievances. There will be a lot of squabbling, people saying they want to do this and they’re not happy about that. People will always have moans and groans that they need to be able to let out, or they will emerge later in other ways, perhaps in cliques forming and undermining the interests of the team.

This can be quite a dangerous stage and has to be handled carefully, which is where good leadership comes in. Part of being a good leader of a team is understanding how to manage the process of developing a highperforming team.

Once all the grievances are out, you can work out a way of dealing with them. One thing I hear a lot on the course is that teachers and support staff enjoy the opportunity it gives them to be able to talk to each other in an open, unthreatening environment, something that is hard to achieve in a time-pressured school environment.

Stage 2: Ground rules. After the chaos stage people need to get together and say, we’re going to have to work together over a long period of time, how are we going to do it? How are we going to cope when we have disagreements? You need a set of ground rules as a starting point that can be reviewed and revised over the life of the team. At this stage there is reliance on the leader being quite directional.

Part of this stage is getting the team to understand what is expected of each of them as a team member. It’s about recognising that individuals have rights, but you also need to recognise the rights of the team, which has certain things to achieve, and which may involve individuals compromising and putting their own needs aside for the needs of the

team. You might have five people who are all ‘ideas’ people, but someone needs to put the ideas into action.

Stage 3: Developing relationships.

When people have an idea of their roles and responsibilities, the team is much more able to develop relationships, part of which is about individuals valuing each other and everyone’s skills and experiences, and recognising who is good at certain things.

At this point the team knows what is expected of it and is more self-managing so there is less reliance on the leader at this stage. He or she can take a more coordinating role where he or she is overseeing, answering questions, giving clarity to what’s going on.

Stage 4: Performing. The last stage is about the team getting on with it. The leader is still around doing appraisals, team briefings and regular team meetings, to ensure things are going fine and dealing with issues as they arise. He or she is reviewing and monitoring what’s going on and changing things if they’re not working.

That is particularly relevant when someone leaves or joins the team. If you have developed as an effective team there will be a high degree of interdependency, which becomes more obvious when one member of the team leaves, creating a gap that means the team cannot function as it did before.

A new person will come in with their own skills and ideas about how things should be done. Sometimes the team may have to go back to the first stage again and think about people doing different roles and responsibilities. That can be a challenge because people don’t like change. Once again there’s a huge requirement on the leader to be able to manage that process.

ATL’s course ‘Effective classroom teamwork: communication and assertiveness skills’ takes place on 3 June in London, and is suitable for teachers, support staff and leaders. For more information about this and all of ATL’s training courses, see www.atl.org.uk/learningzone.

March 2014

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resources / training

ATL resources and training proposed fair funding formula.

Elsewhere it invites members to its annual leadership seminar on 28 March, relates the ways in which AMiE has helped members who have encountered difficulties at work, and looks at ways of connecting teachers and parents.

ELM can also be downloaded as a PDF from www.amie.atl.org.uk.

Newsletters ATL Support has been sent to all support staff members with this issue of Report and leads with an account of the ATL support staff conference.

The inaugural event combined talks on policy, CPD and opportunities to meet peers from other workplaces, and was a roaring success.

Also included in the newsletter is information about how you can help shape ATL policy by nominating yourself for the support staff members’ policy group; an invite to ATL’s 2014 Annual Conference in April; a heartfelt ode to the work of teaching assistants; and a guide to your rights on classroom observations of support staff.

Post-16 News has been sent to all ATL members working in the post16 sector and leads with pay updates

Three ways to order

in FE, sixth form and HE. Also covered is a detailed dissection of Minister for Education and Childcare Liz Truss’s claim that the government is on the right track on social mobility, education and educational reform.

Elsewhere in the newsletter there are invites to both ATL’s 2014 Annual Conference and to ATL’s first-ever post-16 conference, as well an opportunity to get involved in the union’s Shape Education campaign.

Both newsletters are available to download free from www.atl.org.uk/publications.

Education Leader and Manager The February issue of Education Leader and Manager (ELM) has been sent to members of AMiE, ATL’s leadership section. It leads with a look at the

www.atl.org.uk

Publications & resources section

are transferred to a new employer, such as when a school is converted to an academy.

The factsheet covers dismissals, conditions of service, collective agreements, trade union recognition, collective consultation, provision of information and pension rights.

Whistleblowing (ADV68) explains an individual employee’s rights when it comes to reporting a suspected wrongdoing at work. It includes a definition of what is covered under whistleblowing legislation, how one can do it and in what circumstances, and what legal protection exists for whistleblowers.

You can read more about whistleblowing on page 22 of this issue of Report.

Both factsheets are available, along with all ATL’s help and advice factsheets at www.atl.org.uk/factsheets.

Factsheets ATL has produced two new advice factsheets on employment issues.

Transfer of Undertakings: an introduction (ADV67) offers a simple guide to the main rights contained within the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations, which apply when you

despatch@atl.org.uk Quote product code where possible

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Your CPD with ATL Preparing for retirement: 29 March, Newcastle Leading behaviour: improvement to outstanding: 22 April, London This course aims to examine the cultural changes required to dramatically improve behaviour. Delegates will learn how to lead departments, faculties and whole institutions in behaviour change and understand how to create seismic shifts in behaviour in staff and students through simple, low-cost strategies.

Practical solutions for dyslexia and dyscalculia: 24 April, York; 18 June, Milton Keynes Managing extreme behaviour: 28 April, online; 11 June, Manchester Level 2 safeguarding online for schools: 5 May, online Taking care of behaviour: 14 May, Liverpool; 19 May, online Preparing for retirement: 17 May, Exeter There is a nominal charge for courses to minimise the number of members not turning up: £45 for all standard members, £25 for standard support members and NQTs. It is our expectation that employers should cover the cost of attending.

www.atl.org.uk

Effective classrooms: teamwork, communication and assertiveness: 3 June, London Creativity and the curriculum: 25 June, Leicester

March 2014

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Are you a retired French teacher or a couple with French language skills? Are you considering retirement in France or want to experience the French lifestyle? Then maybe we could help achieve your dream. We require a caretaker for our petite chateau near Montauban, SW France. The role would suit those with a practical approach to basic DIY (understanding of plumbing and electric skills desirable), a love of gardening, an eye for what needs doing and essentially, enjoyment of using their French language skills and the French way of life. The elements of the job are: gardening (small formal areas and grass cutting with tractor mower), all aspects of swimming pool upkeep, meeting and greeting guests staying in our holiday flat, caretaking the house, managing our cleaning lady, managing projects (as and when) and liaising with local trades persons and suppliers. There are no heavy manual jobs. The successful applicant(s) will be required to spend approximately 20 hrs a week on average (less in winter) maintaining all aspects of the garden and garden equipment, cleaning and maintaining the pool and pool-house area and ensuring that the chateau is kept in good running order. To achieve the above, fluency in French is essential. We offer the successful applicant(s) free accommodation (including bills) in a large 2 bed, 2 bath, basement apartment along with agreed use of swimming pool.

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March 2014

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29 1

Prize crossword

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Down 1 Computer programs, etc, broken up for waste (8) 2 and 14 down Film actor gets vehicle at end of play and money to go to university (4,5) 3 Very cold beer… (6) 4 …to upset upon greeting Shakespearian character (7) 5 Teacher’s follower puts record on wobbly pile (8) 6 Biblical character in the sauna (4) 7 Official count sounds like sense to you and me (6) 14 See 2 down 16 Reveal information about the French not returning (3,2) 18 Poor Lister’s Head of English – indefatigable! (8) 20 OK, Sir – ten are upset and taking industrial action (2,6) 21 Perhaps leave before half-term, to rise to a higher position (7) 23 A graduate faces cuts, losing last of grant and ancient calculator (6) 24 and 28 down OK, they came to make a group of 11 players with sticks (6,4) 26 Low platform leads to disaster area in school (4) 28 See 24 down

The winner of the March crossword competition will be announced in the May issue of Report.

Congratulations to E Wilson, the winner of the January 2014 crossword competition.

March 2014

4

5

8

6

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9

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Across 8 Boat isn’t designed for one studying plants (8) 9 Published – and is taken to court?

(6) 10,11 and 12 Teach your sets badly, but stick with it to the end (4,3,6) 13 Where aircraft are kept in Afghan garrison (6) 15 Gill’s so awkward without piano and shiny cosmetic! (8) 17 Great at organising water sports?

(7) 19 Heads of Education Department and Science – Tory shake-up leads to ruin (7) 22 Beyond spoken exam on Beethoven symphony (8) 24 Son, the form is to be truthful (6) 25 Eighteenth-century composer in the Shostakovich and Elgar tradition (6) 27 A bit of privacy in short break between terms (3) 28 Change position of performance?

(4) 29 Endlessly studied new obligations (6) 30 College grounds beside the Cam might be sketchable (except last two) (3,5)

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WIN!

One lucky reader will win £50 of Marks & Spencer vouchers. Simply send your completed crossword, with your contact details, to: ATL March Crossword Competition, Archant Dialogue, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1RE. Closing date: 11 April 2014.

If you have an ATL membership number, please include this _________________________________________________________________

Terms & conditions: Please include your full name, address and telephone number. The winner will be picked at random from the correct entries on 11 April 2014. The editor’s decision is final. No purchase is necessary.

The prize is non-transferable. Employees of ATL and Archant are not eligible for the prize draw.

✁

WIN £50& of Markser Spenc s voucher

Last month’s solution — February 2014 Across 1 Midstream 6 Staff 9 Drama 10 Tragedian 11 Look 12 Rapid 13 Soft 16 Briefly 17 Genetic 19 Content 21 Know-all 22 Arts 24 Rower 25 Mead 29 Editorial 30 Aired 31 Taste 32 Sincerely Down 1 Medal 2 Draconian 3 Thaw 4 Estuary 5 Meaning 6 Shed 7 Amigo 8 Fanatical 14 Often 15 Union 16 Bucharest 18 To a degree 20 Tropics 21 Kremlin 23 Tails 26 Daddy 27 Doze 28 Dame

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join the debate / final word

A sporting chance

A Ade Adepitan Ade Adepitan MBE is a Paralympic medallist, campaigner and TV presenter

www.atl.org.uk

s a Paralympian and sports presenter, I’m passionate about the difference sport and physical activity can make to young people’s lives. Sport unites communities, raises self-esteem and improves health and well-being. As a society, I believe we have a responsibility to ensure all children have access to a high-quality physical education.

One of the things I love most about Sport Relief, which I’ll be supporting again this March, is watching children of all different ages and abilities come together to get active for a great cause. Remarkable as celebrities’ headline-grabbing feats may be, the best stories for me are those of youngsters who, against all the odds, have been inspired to take action.

As I know from my own experience, being a disabled child who wants to play sport isn’t always easy. Having lost the use of my legs after contracting polio as a baby, I spent my early years dreaming of playing football for England while struggling to walk using iron callipers. At my mainstream primary school, where I was the only child with disabilities,

ILLUSTRATION: PHIL WRIGGLESWORTH

Sport Relief is an opportunity to get all your pupils active and having fun, says Paralympic medallist and TV presenter Ade Adepitan I loved being physically active and wanted to have a go at everything. Teachers and friends were supportive, trying to make adaptations so I could join in with PE lessons, but at times just getting around school was exhausting.

By the time I was 12, my favoured mode of transport was a Tesco shopping trolley and it was while haring around the streets of east London in my trolley that I was spotted by two physiotherapists. Their philosophy was to teach young disabled people in the area independence through sport, and they introduced me to wheelchair basketball.

In the short term, playing sport raised my self-esteem, won me the respect of my peers and helped me to accept my disability. I became fit and strong, and knew I wouldn’t have to rely on anyone. I began to see my wheelchair as liberating rather than an embarrassment. In the long term, after years of hard work and dedication, I achieved my dream of winning a medal at the 2004 Paralympics. If I hadn’t discovered disability sport, I would be living five per cent of the life I have today as a human and disability rights campaigner and TV presenter.

There’s no doubt things have changed since the 1980s when I was growing up. Funding has increased for disability sport and events like the London 2012 Paralympic Games have made a difference to the way people view impairment. Yet disabled people are still less likely to take part in sport: according to Sport England, only one in six plays sport regularly, compared to one in three of non-disabled people.

Sport Relief isn’t about sporting excellence — it’s about everyone enjoying themselves, getting active and doing something worthwhile. It’s the perfect opportunity to raise the profile of PE and sport for all in a positive, fun context.

Tap into what interests your pupils and tailor activities to meet their needs. Rather than focusing on the most able and enthusiastic, use those who are least likely to get involved as the inspiration for your plans. Perhaps your pupils would enjoy dancing, playing table tennis or simply going for a walk in the countryside. The Sport Relief Mile is a great way to raise money — but why run it? You could get your pupils cycling, swimming, scooting, roller-skating… You could even borrow some shopping trolleys from a local supermarket and try my teenage mode of transport! Or why not give wheelchair basketball a go?

Whatever their abilities and interests, make sure all of your pupils get involved in Sport Relief on Friday 21 March. It’s a great chance to get young people active, having fun and believing they can influence what happens in the world. Who knows, you might even light the spark for a future sporting champion.

Sport Relief is on Friday 21 March. Order a free schools fundraising pack and download resources at www.sportrelief.com/report.

March 2014

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EVENT DETAILS

Square is excited to invite you to experience how iPad can transform both teaching and learning in the classroom in a way that improves student engagement and results.

Where

These events are designed for schools that have already been working with small numbers of iPads and would like to know more about expanding their scheme either to a year group or whole school.

Featuring a hands-on session, a guide to Mobile Device Management, Wi-Fi and Finance schemes to help you realise your school’s vision.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN Next steps to expand your programme iPad 1:1 in action case studies Interactive classroom experience Meet our partners

Langley Grammar School, Slough

Date

Wednesday 5th March

Time

9.30am - 3.00pm

Where

Roundhouse, Derby

Date

Tuesday 11th March

Time

9.30am - 3.00pm

Where

Design Museum, London

Date

Wednesday 19th March

Time

9.30am - 3.00pm

WHO SHOULD ATTEND Curriculum Decision Makers Head / DPT Head Head Of IT Learning Development Managers

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REGISTER Please sign up online: www.squaregroup.co.uk/events

07/02/2014 11:44