Report February 2014

report

FEBRUARY 2014

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

Saving childhood A campaign calls for a rethink of early years education

A world of books Author Neil Gaiman on letting children read what they want

Making connections A look at how knowledge is shared around the profession through CPD

ADVICE Guidance on what to think about as you approach retirement

JOIN THE DEBATE ATL members who came to teaching after 50

V Certs - All the great beneďŹ ts of vocational study for your pupils plus performance table recognition for your school.

Talk to us 0191 239 8000 schools@ncfe.org.uk @NCFE ncfe.org.uk/vcerts

www.atl.org.uk

Contents 30

Welcome

Alison Sherratt, national president, ATL

I 18

FSTOP/ALAMY

10 Your ATL 04

08

News Including ATL’s response to Ofsted’s annual report, a call for better sex education, and proposed changes to criteria for being a governor

Features 10

A lifetime of learning Report looks at the state of CPD for education staff and how it could be changing

18

Focus on foundations Report meets Wendy Ellyatt of the Save Childhood Movement who is calling for a rethink of early learning

Noticeboard Information, events and opportunities to get involved

Help and advice 22

Continuous service Legal advice on pay issues when moving between maintained and academy schools

23

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

24

Retirement on the horizon Advice on what to think about as you approach retirement

Join the debate 14

Agenda General secretary Mary Bousted warns that prospective teachers will be put off the profession in the current climate

15

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

17

Letters ATL members on the stresses of supply, and focusing on the children

21

Late starters Report meets two ATL members who came to teaching late in life

30

Final Word Author Neil Gaiman on letting children choose which books to read

Resources 26

ATL resources Publications, factsheets and CPD, with a focus on union learning reps

28 29

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

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

t is impossible to believe that I am already in the sixth month of my presidential year.

I have been incredibly busy travelling the length and breadth of the country meeting ATL members in the workplace or in branches and hearing the concerns that affect their dayto-day professional lives. One of the major issues is the constant challenge to our professional integrity by all political parties whether in government or opposition.

As I listen to the news while writing this, it seems that the shadow secretary of state for education could continue this pressure on the profession by returning to the proposals for a teacher MOT if his party wins the next general election. It was interesting to hear him refer to good CPD as part of this licence to teach proposal and we will thoroughly engage with Labour to secure the best outcome for teachers.

ATL members do not need to have an MOT to prove that excellent CPD is key to enhancing teaching standards. The feature on page 10 demonstrates how important providing good CPD has become within the core work of ATL. The biggest privilege of my presidency has been to visit so many good schools and meet hard-working pupils, from sixth-formers preparing for their next adventure to the three- and four-year olds beginning their first steps towards their education. I use the term ‘first steps’ quite deliberately. I am a qualified early years teacher and have spoken on many occasions about the misconception that early years and childcare settings are there to provide formalised learning as a means of getting ready for school. See the same arguments being made by Wendy Ellyatt of the Save Childhood Movement on page 18.

And finally, as I was reading the ‘Final word’ article by Neil Gaiman on page 30, I started thinking about my favourite childhood stories and those of my own girls. I revisited the bookcases and have rediscovered treasures. I would recommend this as therapy and to confirm that there is nothing quite like a good read!

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.

4

your ATL / news

Pornography lessons The majority of ATL members believe pornography should be covered as part of relevant age-appropriate lessons, an ATL survey has found.

More than three quarters (76%) of members who took part in our survey said pornography should be discussed as part of sex and relationships education (SRE) or personal, social and health education (PSHE).

More than half (51%) reported an increase in the number of sexually explicit conversations among pupils in the past five years. Year 7 was the most common suggestion for when the topic should be introduced.

However, 12% felt it should not be taught, and a fifth of members (21%) said it is covered in these lessons or in a tutorial already. Of those who do already teach pupils about issues relating to pornography, just 18% said they have received specific training. Yet more than half of members (55%) say they would teach these issues themselves if they received relevant training.

ATL equalities officer Wanda Wyporska

said: “Our members are saying they are willing to teach young people about pornography, but they want CPD. We should congratulate them on wanting to tackle what can be a difficult issue. We know many young people want guidance and support around this area, which is why we repeatedly call for high quality SRE, taught by professionals, as part of the school timetable.

“Teachers should not be afraid of pupils not taking the lessons seriously. Most surveys show they do want a space in which they can discuss pornography and other matters.”

However, many members (63%) expressed fears about staff delivering lessons around sexually explicit content in the classroom, citing parental concerns and pupils not taking the subject seriously as their biggest worries.

More than a third of members (38%) are aware of young people in their schools viewing pornography. Almost three quarters of these members (74%) said that it is affecting these students’ behaviour. Just under three quarters

(74%) said it has resulted in the use of sexually explicit language, 62% said it makes students more likely to talk about pornography, 40% said it led to sexual promiscuity, a quarter said it led to the sexual touching of other pupils, and 29% said it caused pupils to dress provocatively.

More than four in 10 (43%) had noticed a rise in the distribution of sexually explicit content using mobile devices and the internet while an equal number had noticed no change; 40% felt young people are pressured into watching pornography.

The survey also revealed that more than a third (37%) of members are aware of pupils sexting, which is the sending of sexually explicit photos or messages via a mobile phone. A similar number said the dangers of sexting are already taught at their school.

A resolution at ATL’s 2013 Annual Conference expressed concern about the effect of pornography on children. ATL will be producing guidance for members on dealing with issues around pornography and sexting — keep an eye out in future issues of Report and at www.atl.org.uk.

Action leads to negotiations Industrial action in Northern Ireland over arrangements for end of key stage assessment has led to formal negotiations on the issue.

ATL balloted more than 30 schools in the autumn term, and more than 95% voted for industrial action through non-cooperation with the Department of Education’s key stage assessment arrangements.

The action has now escalated to all ATL members in Northern Ireland on the basis that these arrangements represent a contractual breach of teachers’ terms and conditions. Formal negotiations started on 24 January.

Mark Langhammer, director of ATL in Northern Ireland, said: “We have escalated industrial action on an issue of core professional concern for teachers. We www.atl.org.uk

have a strong mandate to take action on assessment arrangements that are unreasonable, unworkable and clearly not fit for purpose.”

He added: “The assessment process places an unreasonable workload on teachers. It encroaches significantly into the teaching and learning time of pupils and teachers, and distorts the curriculum

‘‘

We have a strong mandate to take action on assessment arrangements that are unreasonable, unworkable and clearly not fit for purpose

’’

and other more valuable learning priorities. It also lacks the confidence of teachers and parents. We remain concerned that standards in education will be negatively affected by these new arrangements.”

ATL’s advice in the event of principals or governors pressurising or harassing members, or taking punitive action, is to contact the Northern Ireland office on 028 9078 2020.

Following the publication of OECD Reviews of Evaluation and Assessment in Education: Northern Ireland, United Kingdom earlier this year, ATL and other education unions have adopted and tabled a paper Rising to the Challenge as their opening gambit to negotiations.

Please contact mlanghammer@ atl.org.uk for a copy.

February 2014

5

Honours for members

ATL member Janette Wood MBE

Two ATL members received MBEs for their services to education in the Queen’s New Years Honours list.

PE teacher and sports partnership manager Janette Wood, 59, who has worked at Freman College in Hertfordshire for 38 years, said: “I was amazed when I received the letter notifying me of the award out of the blue in mid-November. It was a total surprise. I am absolutely delighted and very excited.

“During my career as a teacher for 30 years, and more recently in the past eight years as the development manager of the North East Herts Sports Partnership based at Freman College, I have worked with some excellent and highly professional colleagues.

“It is a humbling thought that this work is to be celebrated and I would pay tribute to the many colleagues at Freman, past and

present, and within the 23 schools and community organisations in the local area with whom I have worked, as education is such a team effort. After all, an individual is only as good as the team around them.”

ATL member Margaret Houghton, head of French at Carmel College, St Helens, Merseyside, also received an MBE. She said: “I was delighted but very taken aback to get the award. I have done a job I love for over 40 years and have been at Carmel College since it opened in 1987.

“It has been overwhelming to receive so many messages of congratulation from exstudents and current and past colleagues, all of them saying ‘well deserved’. When we are working we just get on with the job and it is only when something like this happens that we realise how students have valued the help and guidance teachers have provided. It makes it all worthwhile.”

Parents vital for governing bodies Plans to make governing bodies more like corporate boards must not come at the expense of the parent representatives who have vital day-to-day knowledge of the school, ATL has warned.

The government is currently consulting on its proposals to change the requirements for maintained school governing bodies. It wants to bring in new skills-based eligibility criteria for governors in September this year, from which time newly appointed governors would need to have the skills required to “contribute to the effective governance and success of the school”.

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “School governing bodies have a vital role to play in ensuring high quality education for children and young people, so it is clearly sensible to identify and develop the skills governors need to carry out their functions.

“However, schools are not businesses. While business skills are important, and becoming increasingly so, given the growing complexity of the role of governors, governing bodies also need parent representatives who are in touch with what’s happening at the school and are able to offer support and challenge plans based on this experience, rather than purely on statistics.”

She added: “It would be detrimental to schools and children to lose the qualitative view parent governors are often able to supply.

All governing bodies need a good balance of skills and day-to-day knowledge about the school.”

February 2014

Have a say on performance pay ATL is backing independent research being carried out by the London School of Economics (LSE) on performance-related pay (PRP).

As part of a four-year study into the new pay system for teachers, researchers want to hear the views of both teachers and leaders.

The LSE team will be exploring the experiences of teachers on the implementation of PRP, particularly around performance reviews, motivation and attitudes, and the approaches used by different schools. It is also looking at the experiences of leaders in implementing PRP and understanding the approaches used by different schools.

To take part in the survey and make your voice heard go to https://lse.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_77csiS0hpCfEIAd or see www.atl.org.uk/paychanges.

Responses will be anonymous and confidential. For more information on the project and its key findings when they are published, see http://cep.lse.ac.uk/_new/research/teachers_performance_pay. www.atl.org.uk

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your ATL / news

7

No change Ofsted report falls short on sixth form VAT ATL has warned that the government’s recent refusal to allow sixth form colleges the same rights as schools to reclaim VAT is among the pressures causing them to reach crisis point.

Unlike schools and academies, sixth form colleges cannot reclaim their VAT payments. In December, during a debate

by MPs over their VAT status, Conservative Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said many providers of public services are expected to cover their VAT costs from their funding allocations, and that it could not fund sixth form colleges by an amount equivalent to their typical VAT costs in the current financial climate.

ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: “The government seems to be far more interested in changing the type of schools and colleges than raising education standards.

“Sixth form colleges outperform all other A-level providers, yet the government refuses to treat them equally with schools by allowing them to reclaim VAT payments, which are significant sums.

Sixth form colleges are already reaching crisis point because of such pressures.”

In its criticisms of teachers, leaders and schools, education watchdog Ofsted’s annual report fails to put into context education staff ’s hard work, says ATL. The chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said in December that overall schools and colleges were performing better than a year ago but that a number of factors are impeding progress, including “mediocre teaching” and “weak leadership”. He also cited regional variation in the quality of education and the significant underachievement of children from lowincome families, particularly white children.

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said: “We should celebrate the enormous

Sex education lottery Better sex and relationships education and training is needed in schools, ATL has warned.

A survey by the Sex Education Forum has shown that the quality of sex education young people receive is a lottery, and that almost one in three of those surveyed did not learn about consent at school.

Mary Bousted, ATL general secretary, said: “The survey reveals the dire need for all young people to have good sex and relationships education to keep them safe and allow them to make informed decisions.

It also highlights the need for education professionals to have high quality training,

Part-time progress While some schools and colleges are making great strides to support part-time staff, others need to adjust their policies and respect work-life balance, an ATL study has found.

When ATL surveyed more than 800 parttime teachers and lecturers, the vast majority said they enjoy working part time and feel valued in their jobs. However, it also found they are not always treated the same as their full-time colleagues.

More than 50% said their timetable was not taken into account when meetings are scheduled, and only 23% said they have the February 2014

hard work of teachers and lecturers in continually improving the education they provide for children and young people, under increasingly difficult circumstances.

“In detailing its criticisms of teachers, leaders and schools, Ofsted has failed to put this hard work in context. Many children and young people are now living with poverty, homelessness and hunger, which makes it harder for them to concentrate and learn. The government continually moves the goalposts, changing what is taught, what will be examined and what will count in terms of success, so often that it’s hard for teachers and lecturers to know what to focus on.”

same promotion chances, compared to 44% who did not receive equal opportunities.

ATL assistant general secretary Andy Peart said: “Where schools have taken a positive approach to part-time roles, they are reaping the benefit through staff satisfaction.

“However, some of our part-time members say they can be expected to attend parents’ evenings or team meetings on a non-work day. Schools need to recognise that there has been a shift in the needs of the workforce with more demand for part-time roles, and they must respect people’s life choices and work-life balance.”

and for sex and relationships teaching to be covered in a meaningful way and not sporadically on the timetable.”

As well as being a core member of the Sex Education Forum, ATL equalities officer Wanda Wyporska was recently elected onto its advisory group. ATL is also now part of the End Violence Against Women coalition’s Prevention Network, which is producing a resource pack for teachers on issues including sexting and personal, social and emotional development; see www.endviolenceagainstwomen.org.uk/ schools-safe-4-girls.

More than 90% of the members who took part said they enjoy working part time, and 65% feel valued. For more than 90% of members it was their decision to work part time.

Around two thirds (62.4%) said they have appropriate marking and preparation time, while 72% have the same access to CPD and INSET days as full-time colleagues, and 58% have their views taken into account on important matters.

ATL’s factsheet Working Part-time after Maternity is available at www.atl.org.uk/factsheets. An updated version of our guide Part-time Working will be available in the spring; see www.atl.org.uk/publications. www.atl.org.uk

8

your ATL / noticeboard, get involved

Noticeboard Executive elections

Rep roles

ATL’s Executive Committee is elected every two years to run ATL and to develop every aspect of its policy, work and services. The full Executive Committee meets seven times a year in London and there are also subcommittee meetings. Executive Committee members are automatically members of Conference and may also become lead members for parts of ATL’s work.

The two-year cycle for current Executive members comes to an end on 31 August this year, and on 3 March nominations will open to begin the election process. Candidates must be standard members and nominated by 10 others, all belonging to the relevant electoral division (for more on electoral divisions, see below). Nominators are required to clearly indicate who they are nominating, his or her name and ATL membership number, and candidates must accept the nomination by signing a statement to this effect. Nominations will close at 12 noon on Monday 31 March 2014.

If the nominations exceed the number of available seats a ballot will be held and within 10 working days of the close of nominations all candidates may submit an electoral address (no more than 300 words), a recent photograph and some biographical details. Canvassing is permitted only in accordance with a protocol approved by the Executive Committee; copies may be obtained from Pat Ware (pware@atl.org.uk).

This is a statutory election and is being run according to ATL’s by-laws, copies of which are available from Pat Ware. ATL has appointed an independent scrutineer who will also act as the returning officer: Popularis Limited, Nutsey Lane, Totton, Southampton SO40 3RL (tel 02380 867335; email annehock@popularis.org).

Retiring?

Executive Committee: 2014-16 cycle The Executive Committee recently endorsed proposals to reduce its size in accordance with the revised Rules and Constitution. There will now be a total of 53 seats, with Northern Ireland and Wales each retaining two seats and Scotland retaining one, leaving 39 seats to be split between the six English regions. Therefore the composition of the new Executive Committee will be as follows: National officers South west Eastern South east North west North east

6 seats 7 seats 7 seats 7 seats 6 seats 6 seats

Midlands Northern Ireland Scotland Wales AMiE

6 seats 2 seats 1 seat 2 seats 3 seats

A final decision on the make-up of the electoral constituencies for each region was due to be made by the Executive Committee at its meeting on 1 February, after which the details are to be circulated to members and posted on the ATL website prior to nominations opening.

www.atl.org.uk

If you’re a rep who’s retiring soon, it’s important to plan for your successor. Firstly, inform ATL of the date you retire by emailing membership@atl.org.uk.

You may already have a good idea about who can replace you, in which case confirm it with that person, then make sure members are informed. The steps for appointing or electing a new rep are set out on our website. Let ATL know his or her name via the email address above.

If you don’t know who your successor will be, you should: • notify your members via a noticeboard or an email that you are retiring and invite them to nominate a successor or self-nominate • make yourself available to discuss what the role entails informally with anyone who is interested, and signpost them to www.atl.org.uk/repzone for more details on ATL’s rep training, support and guidance • if more than one person expresses an interest, explore with them how they might undertake the role jointly • convene a member meeting to appoint or elect a successor.

For further guidance and support on identifying a successor, email organise@atl.org.uk.

Contacts If you’re a contact at a school with no rep, why not consider becoming one? For many of you, the additional duties will be a natural progression from your contact activities. As members’ eyes and ears, you will probably have raised their concerns informally with your headteacher or principal, who may already approach you to take ‘soundings’ from staff.

You will make even more of a difference and you will get lots of support from ATL. Reps are fully trained via our accredited training courses, delivered regionally every term.

Training If you’re a rep who has not yet taken part in ATL’s rep training, see www.atl.org.uk/repstraining.

Peter Smith scholarship The Peter Smith scholarship offers financial assistance for ATL members to return to full- or part-time study in areas that will help their professional and personal development.

For more details and to apply, see www.atl.org.uk/ scholarships. You can also contact Bernadette Babayigit at bbabayigit@atl.org.uk for an application form. The closing date for applications is Friday 25 April 2014.

February 2014

9

A staggering 24 million children with disabilities are being denied a basic primary education and this year pupils in the UK are being invited to speak out for the right of ALL children to go to school.

In 2000, world leaders promised to get all children a primary education by 2015. A lot has been achieved but there are still 57 million children without an education and more than one in three have a disability.

Ade Adepitan, broadcaster, Paralympic medallist and disability campaigner is supporting this year’s Send ALL My Friends to School campaign. Ade was born in Nigeria where he contracted polio. He came to England when he was three years old and credits his school in east London for giving him a great education and the opportunity to be anything he wanted.

Ade knows that if he’d stayed in Nigeria his life would have been very different. “If world leaders are serious about getting

Ade Adepi tan suppor ting the Send A LL My Frie nds to School campaign

GARRY CROM PTON

Send ALL My Friends to School

every child into education, they must prioritise the needs of children with disabilities now.”

Last year over half a million pupils from more than 5,000 schools took part in the Send My Friend to School campaign.

This year the campaign is asking pupils to get creative and help raise awareness of the need of every child everywhere, regardless of their disability, to get an education.

A free schools pack is now available at www.sendmyfriend.org.

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www.atl.org.uk

10

cover feature / professional development

A lifetime of learning Continuing professional development for those working in education is changing but it remains as vital as ever.

Words by Alex Tomlin

‘‘I

n the middle of a busy day you don’t really get the chance to stop and compare ideas, reflect on what you’re doing and if you can do it better,” says ATL member and former national president Julia Neal. “If you don’t have that, you get into a bit of a rut in teaching, where you’re just going home, marking and preparing, but you’re not getting the space to refresh yourself.”

CPD in its many guises is a way of avoiding or escaping this rut. “Members are professionals and professionals need support to develop their skills, and they also need space to think about their practice and how it can be improved,” says ATL’s national training manager Kate Quigley. “CPD is a really effective way, when done properly, of a member thinking about what they can do, what they want to do and finding a way to facilitate their development to reach a place they want to be.”

ATL has long seen learning as vital to members, and it is a key part of our Shaping Education campaign, where we call for the main political parties to commit to backing “a motivated, valued workforce supported with ongoing CPD”.

And of course, we provide national and local courses for teachers, lecturers, leaders and support staff: 15,000 members have engaged in learning with ATL in the past seven years.

Nevertheless, almost a third of respondents to ATL’s last professional development survey felt less able to request release from their employer for CPD and

www.atl.org.uk

more than a quarter felt their employer was less willing to release them. Kate is concerned performance-related pay may be making members less likely to ask their school or college about their training needs for fear it is viewed as an admission of failure or weakness. She speculates that this fear may be fuelling the recent growth in demand for ATL’s online courses, which are low cost, can be done in your own time and do not require permission from your school or college.

If Labour spokesman Tristram Hunt’s proposals for a licence to teach were to come to fruition, ATL would want that to be supported by strong CPD for teachers, as occurs in other professions where a licence system operates.

Some of the most popular courses among members are on achieving the Teachers’ Standards and demonstrating learning in 20 minutes in front of an Ofsted inspector. “It’s a shame really,” says Kate, “because it’s not necessarily about members developing their professional practice, it’s about them being scared about how they’re being measured.”

The focus on factors like Ofsted and league tables can push discussion about learning and development opportunities out of the picture. “If you’re never given the chance to sit and discuss things in an open and confident way, how are you going to get better at it?” asks Kate. “That’s where bullying cultures, Ofsted and teaching to the test stifle professional development, which in turn stifles children and young people’s learning and development.”

“I can see why a school would be keen for a member of staff to go on a course to help them pass an Ofsted inspection,” says ATL policy adviser Alison Ryan. “But it would be interesting to see six months or a year down the line how much it informs their practice; did it make a difference to children’s learning?” ATL’s survey reflects that concern as less than a quarter of members felt their development needs were fully met.

“CPD should be a mixture of external expertise, embedded in practice, supported by a school that’s prepared to take the risk of people trying things out,” Alison continues. “Learning is always about risk. Some of it will fail, and you build in safeguards to minimise the effect of that, but you have to take some risks. With Ofsted and league tables, schools are becoming more risk averse. Real CPD has to be about being open to trying new things.”

Of course, schools do provide INSET days, although for many members these may conjure up memories of struggling through a day of training on the latest government initiative, rather than an engaging and productive experience. In ATL’s survey, almost 90% of respondents said what happens at workplace training is decided by management.

Because INSET is usually a wholeschool experience, Kate says: “It is done with little or no differentiation, which is contradictory to how you would teach children. It’s ironic that professionals who February 2014

11 ATL members taking part in learning events as part of their CPD

understand learners have different needs are then treated all the same.”

“I’ve sat through too many days when it’s been very top-heavy, whole-school or about government initiatives, where you know the school has got to do it, but you would sometimes prefer to have time with colleagues,” says Julia Neal. “The best thing I’ve done recently is to visit another school in my area, part of the South West Academic Trust, which my school helped set up. It was history teachers exchanging ideas about what we did, and it really worked well: teachers doing it for other teachers.”

ATL is very much aware meeting and talking with peers from other workplaces can be as valuable as the expertise of the tutors who run our training courses. All ATL courses offer a range of learning methods where possible, whereby the tutor imparts their knowledge but also facilitates members bringing their own ideas through whole-group or small-group discussions.

“One of the best bits of feedback we ever had for a course was from someone who said the whole day was like the best lesson they could ever hope to deliver,” says Kate.

“We want the members on the courses to feel they’re treated like adults, that they’re engaged and active in the learning and so it has to be student-centred.”

Of course, it’s not all about what happens on the day. People who find themselves not February 2014

engaged with a course, or for whom any learning quickly disappears when they return to work, may not have known what they wanted to achieve in the first place.

Because education is complex and multi-layered, Kate suggests a discussion with a colleague is one way to pinpoint your specific learning need. “If you’re a classroom teacher and you’ve got a behaviour management issue, you want to have a discussion with someone about the particular thing you are finding hard. It might be that what you need are some practical strategies around managing low-level disruption.

“But when you look at that closely it might transpire that the reason you are struggling with low-level disruption is that you’re not confident in challenging students, so it might be about adding to your questioning skills, or it could be how you set up your lessons, how interesting they are and if they’re engaging students, so less challenging behaviour occurs. It’s complex.”

Alison adds: “The full value of courses won’t be realised unless the school has put the structures in place for the person to put the learning into practice, to try things out, to talk to colleagues about it, to pass the learning on.”

The benefits, or otherwise, of any CPD can be hard to measure in easily quantifiable terms, except in exam or test

results for pupils. However, ATL would prefer to give professional education staff the credit for being able to judge the effect of CPD on the children they work with.

CPD was high on the agenda at ATL’s 2013 Annual Conference, where two resolutions were passed on the subject.

One, proposed by Julia Neal, recognised that the model of INSET days was ineffective on its own and called for ATL to “research other models for career-long (45-year) professional development, and make proposals for including an element of sabbatical-based models of training linked to higher education for teachers for the 21st century”.

Given the changes to pensions and retirement ages, Julia and others put forward the idea of sabbaticals as a way of refreshing existing skills or learning new ones. Julia, who feels her teaching benefited hugely from a sabbatical during her year as ATL president, says: “It can be used to do some research, volunteering abroad, sharing experiences. If teachers are going to have to work longer and longer because of pensions I think it’s going to be even more important in the future, especially if you’ve gone in straight from university.

“It could be a year or six months, doing some research that you could then feed back into your school,” she suggests. While www.atl.org.uk

cover feature / professional development

ALL PHOTOS DUNCAN NICOL ROBERTSON

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acknowledging that in the current climate funding and cover issues make sabbaticals an unlikely option, she adds “If you want to invest in a decent teaching profession, then it should be worth it in an ideal world.”

Sabbatical-style breaks can have benefits.

ATL’s research into members who have done our Peter Smith and Walter Hines Page scholarships shows they do get a lot out of the experience.

While sabbaticals may be a step too far for many headteachers, it is worth noting that among the research gathered by ATL’s policy department are reports suggesting that despite demand from headteachers for one-off training that ‘ticks the box’ for a specific issue, more value can be gained from sustained development based on the clearly identified learning needs of the children and young people. All of which is made more effective by the involvement of the education staff themselves in the training.

Teaching and learning from others is the principle behind peer-to-peer learning exercises, such as the increasingly popular TeachMeets, which are informal meetings where teachers share ideas and good practice, and which have proved a hit with ATL Future, the steering group for our student and newly qualified members.

Convenor of ATL Future Kirstie McAlpine proposed a resolution at last year’s Conference on peer-to-peer learning, citing American psychiatrist William www.atl.org.uk

Glasser’s oft-quoted words: “We learn 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear, 30% of what we see, 50% of what we see and hear, 70% of what we discuss, 80% of what we experience and 95% of what we teach others.”

Kate Quigley is very aware of this dynamic. “One of the jobs of education unions is to create the opportunities to keep the knowledge moving. Teachers are often quite modest and won’t shout about the ideas or classroom techniques they use. But those ideas can be great Monday morning changes — small things you change on a Monday morning that make a huge difference,” she says.

ATL member Abbie Saxby agrees. “It can be something as tiny as everybody sharing a way of getting children settled for the register, but it can make a massive difference.”

Abbie, a former ATL Future member and now an adviser to the steering group,

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“The contacts you can make are amazing,” says Paul, “and the only negative comment we’ve had is that there’s never enough time for the Q&A at the end. It’s like a learning revolution; a cultural change giving control of professional learning to teachers. We talk about developing a commitment to lifelong learning in children but we need to do that for teachers too.”

Another kind of peer-to-peer learning can be arranged in your own workplace with colleagues observing each other and sharing good practice. “It has to be focused,” says Alison Ryan “There’s no point someone coming to your class and just saying what they think. What should they focus on?

“It has to be a relationship both are comfortable with and prepared for criticism, but removed from any performance management implications. And it needs to be sustained over a period of time. There will

The full value of courses won’t be realised unless the school has put the structures in place for the person to put the learning into practice

has helped organise and run TeachMeetstyle sessions through ATL, based on technology, and on supporting student and newly qualified teachers. “It’s very informal,” she explains. “Everyone can bring something to the discussion and everyone can take something away that’s really practical, which they can use straight away, that’s the best thing.”

Meetings can vary from between 10 and 100 participants but are generally quite short, around an hour, in contrast to allday training events. They also take place in teachers’ own time. And it’s not just for those new to teaching. “Anyone can do it,” says Abbie. “It’s nicer to have a range of experience because it adds to the variety of discussion.”

Also an adviser to the ATL Future group, Paul Campbell has been involved in large TeachMeet-style sessions in Scotland, where different perspectives on education have been provided from people coming in from fields such as social work, prison education, unions, the inspectorate and even Graham Donaldson, who led a major review of Scottish teacher education.

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be some elements where you need external expertise from a specialist. It can’t be done in an unstructured, haphazard way as training on the cheap.

“CPD isn’t one size fits all,” she concludes.

“All the different options can be very positive. But what is common to all successful methods is the school and the individual having the same goal and the school giving the individual space to apply the learning, and to share the learning in a collaborative environment. It can die a death if you don’t have that ability to apply it.”

As well as our own national and local training, ATL supports members’ CPD through union learning reps (ULRs) at both workplace and branch level. ULRs are members who work closely with other members and management to identify ways to improve access to and the quality of current provision, as well as being a source of new opportunities.

See page 26 to find out more about the role of ULRs. To find out more about ATL’s CPD programme, visit www.atl.org.uk/learningzone

February 2014

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14

join the debate / agenda

A clear warning Unfair pay restraint and vilification of the profession will lead to a disastrous shortage of teachers in the very near future, says ATL general secretary Mary Bousted

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am writing this article in the week before Christmas, when I hope all ATL members are enjoying a well-earned holiday. It is hard not to feel a little festive in ATL’s London office, situated as it is just off Trafalgar Square, where a massive Christmas tree dominates the statue of Nelson, high on his plinth, gazing down on the tourists and Christmas shoppers.

But, even at this time of year, there is serious work to be done. ATL has just submitted its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body, which will in due course make recommendations on pay to the Secretary of State.

In its evidence, ATL notes that this is the fourth consecutive year teachers’ pay has been subject to arbitrary limit: two years of a pay freeze followed by a further two years where a limit of one per cent has been applied to pay awards. Such caps are damaging teachers’ motivation and morale, causing a significant decline in their living standards and threatening recruitment and retention.

The effect of inflation has seriously undermined teachers’ pay. Indeed, if the pay award for 2014 to 2015 is limited to one per cent, as the government is dictating, and assuming a rate of inflation of three per cent, then teachers’ salary scales will be more than 15% behind where they would have been had they kept pace with inflation. And teachers, like all public sector workers, are losing out in comparison to their co-workers in the private sector, where there is a small rise in average earnings.

The independent and highly respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has commented that if projections from the Office for Budget Responsibility are correct, public sector pay could fall to the level of the early 2000s, when the IFS notes, “parts of the public sector had difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff ”. The IFS advises public sector pay review bodies to “pay great attention to indicators of

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whether the public sector is facing any school places by 2017. The Local difficulties in recruiting and retaining Government Association (LGA), the body high-quality staff, and decide on representing local authorities, has reported settlements in light of any such evidence”. that local councils have provided more This challenge is particularly pertinent than 81,000 extra school places between when it comes to the teaching workforce.

2010 and 2012. As many ATL members I remember very well the teacher shortages will know to their cost, schools have been of the 1990s and the increasingly desperate forced to add on extra classrooms or give up efforts of the teacher training agency to valued space — losing libraries and music recruit graduates in sufficient numbers rooms. For 2014, the LGA predicts a further to teach the nation’s children. Teacher 256,000 school places will be needed along shortages happen very quickly and are very with 8,500 more primary teachers. difficult to turn around. There are more Given the scale of the challenge, than half a million teachers in England and the coalition government’s response is Wales. More than 30,000 new entrants are astounding both in its incompetence and needed in the profession just to replace incoherence. Teacher recruitment and those teachers who are retiring or leaving retention is, every day, being damaged by mid-career. the unrelenting attacks on the profession But the effect of student loans means by the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, many trainee teachers are starting their and his loyal henchman the Chief Inspector training courses with debts of over of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw. Why, £35,000. This figure is then compounded when other choices become increasingly by the loans taken out by the majority to available, would bright young graduates train to be a teacher. enter a profession that is ATL has provided renowned for being Why would bright evidence that the overworked, underpaid overwhelming majority young graduates enter a and subject to constant, of teachers will not pay profession renowned for and unjust, vilification? off their loans as they being overworked, I give this coalition will not, throughout government clear underpaid and subject their career, earn warning. Unless it enough to do so. ATL’s to constant, and unjust, moves quickly to vilification? conclusions were make teaching a more recently supported by attractive and rewarding the independent National Audit Office. profession it will be faced with a teacher The prospect of a working life dominated shortage crisis. Teachers need to be fairly by long hours (teachers work the most treated, both in pay and in the portrayal overtime of any profession), constant by the press, and also by government, pressure and never-ending debt does not, because of the professional skills and the strangely, seem to be attractive to many qualities of dedication and commitment young graduates. they demonstrate every day of their And now, in 2014, the pressure on working lives. teacher recruitment is even greater because of the rise in the birth rate. The expected You can add your voice to ATL’s Shaping Education campaign by writing to Report increase in pupil numbers is well using the details on page 17 or at documented. The Department for www.facebook.com/atlunion or www.twitter.com/atlunion Education’s own projections show a seven #ShapeEducation per cent increase in the need for primary

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February 2014

join the debate / Wales, Northern Ireland

Wales Dr Philip Dixon

15

Northern Ireland Mark Langhammer

CPD is firmly on the map in Wales and we will help work to improve it

The OECD report has put the contractual right of teachers to CPD centre stage

Every a professional’s career. Those profession at either end of their career needs have always been fairly well continuous catered for. Even if far from development, perfect, initial teacher training and education and early professional is no development at the start of exception. Indeed those a teacher’s career, and the engaged in education should national qualification for be beacons of good practice to headship, have stressed the other professions and be taking importance of CPD. a lead in creating the lifelong The new Masters in learning culture that is needed Educational Practice is another in the 21st step in the right century. direction. But it’s We will be Talking to working with the the ‘middle years’ members up that have always Welsh Government been neglected. and down to help it improve There are signs Wales, I realise they the CPD on offer to this is about to are keen to change. Members education staff do this, but as have reported ever the support mixed experiences they require from government of professional learning — either in its local or national communities, but again at form — has not always been as least these have put CPD good or as forthcoming as it firmly on the map. should be.

We will be working with the One good consequence that Welsh Government to help it may come out of the dreadful improve the CPD on offer to PISA results last term is a education staff. ATL Cymru profound realisation on the will also be building on its own part of the Welsh Government success story in offering worldof the need for CPD throughout class CPD.

December’s OECD report suggested 15 actions for Northern Ireland’s education system. At 201 pages, the report is hardly bedtime reading, but the findings will be seriously regarded by the Department of Education.

While press headlines focused on equity issues in education, the effect of social segregation and ongoing concern around unofficial pre-transfer test cramming undermining the curriculum, there are plenty of positives in the report. In particular, it put teacher professionalism at the heart of future policy.

The recommendations address the primacy of the educator in assessment, the need to review the teacher competence model as the basis for a career structure, the need to ensure teacher appraisal is followed up with adequate professional learning opportunities, and the need to bolster the role of the General Teaching Council as the

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We’ve come this far with

YOU February 2014

Now let us take

YOU FURTHER...

professional voice of teachers.

In parallel to the OECD report, the Strategic Education Forum, a ‘social partnership’ policy forum promoted by ATL and adopted by government, is now considering two serious papers — one on the professional development needs of school leaders and a second on the school workforce review.

Both these initiatives are likely to be progressed by the new regional school support service.

ATL, with other education unions, is concerned the draft Education Bill will increase the autonomy of schools and promote a ‘schools as islands’ philosophy that will act as a brake on teachers sharing good practice.

The ideology of maximised autonomy can only promote competition and, ultimately, the marketisation of education.

It will certainly blunt efforts to allow teachers to undertake exchanges, secondments, or work-shadowing in other schools and sectors. ATL’s demand is for a contractual right to CPD, such as exists in many Scottish local authorities.

Are you an ATL member in a leadership role in a school or college?

If you haven’t moved into AMiE membership, you could be missing out. AMiE is ATL’s section for leaders in education. On top of the benefits of ATL, AMiE provides specialist advice, bespoke guidance and support for you in your role as both an employee and leader.

To move into AMiE membership call 020 7782 1602 or email membership@atl.org.uk

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join the debate / letters

17

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.

facebook.com/ATLUnion

STAR LETTER Surviving the slurs

I am 65 and have plenty of fulfilling educational work as a volunteer, but I urgently need some kind of paid parttime work to supplement my income.

However, experienced, competent teachers who have reached retirement age but who want to continue working in the profession are being denied the opportunity supply teaching used to provide because cover for absent staff in schools is different now.

I am increasingly desperate for money as my teachers’ pension and DWP pension are insufficient to cover my living costs, and I am being hounded by creditors, which, despite assistance I am being hounded by from Citizens’ Advice, is terrifying. creditors, which is terrifying I am seeking invigilation work in local schools, and contacting the exam board to see if there is any additional marking available. When I did invigilation at the FE college 20 miles away, I was out of pocket because invigilators were paid only for the hours and minutes in the exam room. Invigilating just one exam per day, lasting an hour and a half, would yield so little that the money earned was spent in travel costs.

I intend to return to a part of the country where there are better employment opportunities for some kind of basic work, but I have no means to fund the move and so I am trapped in rented property that is no longer affordable. I am not eligible for housing or council tax assistance. My savings have gone.

When I was in full-time teaching, retired, experienced and competent teachers could usually find some supply work through the local education office and often via contact with schools where they had previously taught. There appears little opportunity now.

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Name supplied

WIN

This letter 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 letters to the address above, including your phone number. One star letter will be chosen every issue to win the book tokens.

Media madness As I was decorating my hall recently, an item came on the television, which as a teacher, for now anyway, was of particular interest to me.

As the television was in another room I only really heard the words ‘teachers’, ‘licences’, ‘incompetent’, ‘sack’ and ‘17’.

The words ‘incompetent’, ‘sack’ and ‘17’ were repeated most.

Initially I assumed this meant that there were only 17 competent teachers in the country and the rest should be sacked. Clearly this is not the case.

However, it is quite likely, that, like other professions, there are those who are not, February 2014

for whatever reason, up to their job.

It is probable that there are more than 17 such teachers, but it is doubtful there are as many as the politicians and the media would have us believe.

It is extremely likely that some people have realised teaching is not for them and have left, while others have been advised or even asked to leave.

Whatever the number of ‘incompetent’ teachers is, there are far, far more good, and outstanding ones who work hard, take pride in what they do and above all have their pupils' best interests at heart.

Name supplied

LASSE KRISTENSEN/ALAMY

Supply stresses

Reading comments from the ‘great and the good’ of the education world, Messrs Gove, Wilshaw, Laws, Hunt, etc, I find a line from The Simpsons ringing in my ears, where one hysterical mother runs around screaming “Won’t somebody please think of the children?”

At the risk of sounding like a hysterical mother myself I am tempted to repeat this cry. Although there is usually some talk about the children in grand speeches, I generally feel it is little more than lip service, a necessary platitude before extolling the virtues of academies or free schools, or lambasting a previous government for ‘the mess they left’, or the current government for the mess they’re making.

Or most frequently smearing the reputation of teachers as work-shy enemies of promise who must be constantly monitored while at work before they stroll out the door at three o’clock to go home and plan their extensive holidays, not caring a jot for the children. Yet still, somehow at the same time we are the best generation of teachers ever.

It is all about political posturing and point-scoring, headline-grabbing soundbites lacking anything of substance.

Meanwhile the children have to live with the consequences of policy that is less about their welfare than about the political whim of the under-qualified individual who has been placed in charge of whatever incarnation of the education department happens to be in vogue at the time. The consequences not only affect their education now, but the after-effects will also stay with them long after they leave school.

That is why it was a blessed relief to read Mary Bousted reminding us in her Agenda article in January 2014 that it is for the benefit of the children that we withstand the slings and arrows of outrageous education policy and comment, and carry on doing the jobs that I, for one, still love.

S Warren, Hampshire

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profile / Wendy Ellyatt

Focus on foundations It’s time to rethink early learning, according to educationist and campaigner Wendy Ellyatt. Words by Charlotte Tamvakis

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ate last year, plans to lower the school starting age from seven to six in Poland resulted in a million parents coming out in protest. “There is a long tradition of highly creative, immersive pre-school environments in Poland,” Wendy Ellyatt, co-founder and CEO of the UK’s Save Childhood Movement, explains. “They didn’t believe the change would benefit children and this issue nearly took the government down.”

In England, Wales and Scotland children start formal schooling in the academic year they turn five; in Northern Ireland the statutory starting age is four. The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) covers the welfare and development of children up to five in England, and it includes an extensive set of learning and development goals childcare providers must adhere to.

These goals, along with “an assumption by the last two governments that the purpose of early years is getting children ready for school”, are the focus of the Save Childhood Movement’s ‘Too much, too soon’ campaign, which is calling for an end to the early introduction to formal learning as part of a play-focused and developmentally appropriate foundation stage.

Wendy says: “Early childhood needs to be seen as a unique stage in its own right, rather than preparation for school. The single most vibrant and dynamic phase of life is the period

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from birth to seven. How dare we undermine this by saying the learning process is only valued when it goes into formal, measurable attainment?

“We are looking at childhood well-being, at the vital importance of the early years, at children’s rights and freedoms, and at what compromises children’s natural creativity and self-expression. In 90% of countries, the school starting age is six or seven, and there is no evidence to show that starting formal learning early produces better long-term results — in fact the reverse is the case.”

After an initial career as a strategic management consultant, Wendy had her daughter 25 years ago and became fascinated with early learning, first training as a Montessori teacher and going on to study early years approaches across the world.

She went on to help set up a day-care centre where she witnessed for herself the impact of formalised learning on four-year-olds. “I started to see that something was going on with the children who were going into reception class, in the way they reacted with the environment,” she says.

During a Masters in Early Years and Primary Studies at the University of Roehampton, Wendy researched children’s understanding of work and play. Within six months of starting reception class, she found children’s perception of work and play changed dramatically. “Prior to reception, when you asked what’s work and what’s play, they would say ‘Daddy goes to work at the office and I go to work at school’, and everything they did they saw as work, and there wasn’t any separation between the two in their minds,” she says.

“When the same questions were asked of children in reception classes, we found they saw work as something to do, it was penciland-paper-related, and play was something that had less value and that you did when you’d finished your work: your work was acceptable, so you were allowed to play.

“I found that deeply shocking. That’s when I

really started to look at creativity and the processes of learning and what could compromise that. Children should be immersed in the most creative, expressive environment possible. In England, the word ‘play’ is not conveying to people the extraordinary levels of learning that go on in enriched learning environments with our youngest children.”

She adds: “Human playfulness supports healthy brain development and key developmental understanding and abilities. It is also the process that has underpinned the highest scientific and cultural achievements.”

After returning to consultancy, specialising in creativity and the early years, and also writing on the subject, Wendy started campaigning on early years issues, initially becoming a core member of OpenEYE, a campaign for open early years education; in 2010 she established www.uniquechildnetwork.com.

The Save Childhood Movement was launched in the spring of 2013, and in September, marking the launch of its ‘Too much, too soon’ campaign, 127 influential voices in education, including ATL general secretary Mary Bousted, added their names to a letter from the movement published in The Telegraph, calling for a reassessment of early years education. Despite the influential list of signatories, the Secretary of State for Education dismissed its demands as “bogus pop-psychology” and “an excuse for not teaching poor children how to add up”.

Wendy believes many developments in early years can be traced back to the Education Reform Act. She believes the previous Labour administration’s focus on early years was a double-edged sword and, despite initial optimism about the coalition, feels negative change has accelerated under the current government. “There was some fantastic investment in early years under Labour, which has raised quality but has come at the significant cost of extremely bureaucratic measurability and accountability systems,” she says.

She describes how, since 2010, the coalition government has shifted education priorities from February 2014

19

more effective workforce out the other. There is an of things like baseline testing is economic argument, but it’s not the only argument.” you’re starting to label children She warns: “We can’t replicate the systems that at very early stages. Children are very sensitive to both verbal and are happening in other countries without looking very carefully at their cultural systems and the kind non-verbal messages and will of society we have here at the moment. We need to pick up that they’re somehow look at scientific understanding and global failing. What we need is more evidence, but we also need to look at the values monitoring, support and and principles that underpin best practice.” guidance, and less measuring.”

Does the campaign want a change in the school The obsession with starting age to six, bringing it in line with the measurable results and majority of European countries? “What we would accountability also means really like to see is the principles of the EYFS developmentally unsuitable carried forward to key stage 1, because the problem learning is forced on young would then self-adjust. The most disadvantaged children at the expense of the Wendy Ellyatt of and youngest children would have more time to “wonderful learning processes” the Save Childhood develop, to mature their biology and neurology, in around play, she says.

“You can Movement order to be ready for higher-level learning. Our force children to learn things argument isn’t about school, it’s about providing well-being to achievement: the Department for before they are developmentally ready, but it’s developmentally appropriate environments.”

Children, Schools and Families became the often at the expense of the disposition to want However, Wendy does include the caveat that Department for Education; the outcomes to do it. You can have them learning at four and there is a danger children are put into a reception outlined in Every Child Matters were replaced five to read, but when they’re 11 and 12 they class environment where stressed teachers feel with ‘help children achieve more’. don’t want to read, because the joy of the the downward pressure of the schooling system “We’re creating systems that are measurable process has been interfered with. to achieve results, or schools simply may not have rather than measuring what matters. You do “Child psychologists are worried because physical space for so many children. The impact need to justify investment, but the layers of we’re measuring children too early, defining on young children going from small-scale home, bureaucracy that have been introduced in early them as failing, and on top of this we’re childminder or nursery environments to larger years are astounding. Early years are far too running the risk of misdiagnosing children as schools where there could be 600 children also important to be at the mercy of some kind of special educational needs, which is carried political agenda rather than being underpinned through life,” she adds. “We need far more needs consideration. by global evidence.”

“Children naturally want to learn. There is no research on this. This is an appalling risk to She continues: “Now Ofsted is starting to more important period than take with our become involved, and the best interests of the the early years in terms of youngest children.”

The danger of things child seem to have been marginalised. Why is While there are to develop happy, like baseline testing is you’re helping Michael Wilshaw making statements on what similar concerns confident, healthy people. starting to label children at We need to look at how we should happen in the education system?” about early years The impact of testing and inspections on in the US, Wendy maximise this,” she says. very early stages early years needs more research, she says. says many other “Education should really “The moment you give the adult an external countries follow a different model. In Iceland, be apolitical with governments guided by objective [such as fulfilling EYFS] the dynamic where children start school at six, Wendy is expert advice. of the interaction with the child will change. impressed by the “level of learning that’s going “We’re not saying that we have all the answers, The adult is no longer going to empathise with on in those high quality and play-based prewe’re saying that we cannot afford to get this wrong the child and go with the flow; the adult needs school environments”. and that we as a country need to know the to manipulate that situation to achieve a result.

She adds: “While other people in the world government is making decisions based on the best “The child will pick that up; you’ve changed are cultivating human beings who are very available evidence. We have some of this evidence the environment for both the adult and the confident and erudite, who are invited to think but we need more, especially balancing the child from an open-ended, flowing immersive outside of the box, here we’re cultivating more neurological and psycho-social aspects of child environment to one where there’s a specific of the same, we are maintaining a culture where development and well-being with later outcomes. objective sought. The stress the adult is under to the danger is we’re made to feel foolish or stupid Give us the evidence that backs up your arguments achieve their targets will also have an impact.” when we go beyond the known, and that’s a and let’s go into dialogue that has the best interests The campaign wants the government to scrap dangerous place for us as a society.” of the child at heart.” its plans for reception-year baseline testing.

Why does the government champion “You’ve got children at such vastly varying early these development goals, testing policies and What do you think? You can share your views experiences and ages. You can have a child inspections? “I think we have governments via the contact details on page 17 and join the that’s 20% older than another child, how can treating children almost like commodities now. conversation at www.twitter.com/atlreport and that possibly be statistically valid? The danger Put money in this end and we’re going to get a via facebook.com/atlunion.

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February 2014

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join the debate / changing career

21

A late start With more people choosing teaching as a second career, Charlotte Tamvakis speaks to two members about their experience of entering the profession over 50

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hen her children were young, Mary Ann McGuigan took a job as a dinner lady at their primary school and went on to work as a teaching assistant (TA) there for 10 years.

At 47, she decided to study for a BEd in primary education at Goldsmiths College in south east London.

“I’d had an inkling about teaching years ago, but financially there was no way I could do it,” she says.

“I took it a step at a Mary Ann time. Could I get McGuigan through the teaching bit? Could I get a degree? Could I get a job out of it? I turned 50 in the March and I qualified in June the same year. I’d made this choice at such an age that I was in 100% to learn as much as I could.” Now 57, Mary Ann works as a primary supply teacher in the London borough of Croydon.

ATL member Dave Blake, 53, came to teaching after 20 years in pharmaceutical sales. He trained on the job as a maths teacher through the graduate teacher programme and finished his NQ year at a secondary grammar school in Shropshire last July.

“I got made redundant in 2009. I did some short-term admin jobs in schools and ended up doing some cover supervision.

That got me into a Dave Blake classroom and mixing with pupils, which I loved,” he explains.

“In many ways, sales and teaching are similar, certainly in terms of talking to groups of people.”

Is teaching what they expected? “The behaviour side has not quite measured up, February 2014

but maybe that’s me being inexperienced,” says Dave. “It was covered very well in teacher training; it’s just a question of me carving out my own style and setting out my benchmark, my level, and what I’m going to do about people who don’t measure up to that.”

He added: “I’ve spoken to colleagues who’ve said behaviour management doesn’t happen overnight, you might be talking three or four years to get it to a level you’re happy with. I’ve been comparing myself to them, but it’s going to take time. I’d say it’s a harder job than pharmaceuticals. I feel more stressed now, but this may change as I get more experienced. The work-life balance everybody talks about is difficult in term time.”

Mary Ann believes Goldsmiths gave her realistic expectations: “There was no doubt about the kind of work we’d have to put in,” she says. What does she think of the portrayal of teaching having short days and long holidays? “Has any of the media actually been into schools? Seen a teacher come home with their paperwork? There are assessments, marking, planning to do, resources to make. They have no idea.”

Dave believes mature students can set too high standards for themselves too early, but that most of the issues they face are the same as for any new teacher: “Getting used to teaching, and to a particular school and how it ticks, and all those other things outside the classroom you’re responsible for as well.”

Mary Ann says: “I worried on the course they’d think because I’m older, I couldn’t be taught anything. Also, because I’d been a TA that I thought I knew it all.” Yet experiencing life as a TA and as a teacher has given her a rare understanding of both roles. “I appreciate every TA. Over the last 10 to 15 years, with how the curriculum has gone, the expectation in schools is that if you’ve got good support, your life is

made easier. If you don’t work as a team the whole school falls apart.”

Both entered teaching at a time of change, from the curriculum and accountability to pay. “I listen to the news but try not to get too involved in proposals; let’s wait until they’re concrete, something I have to do something about,” says Dave. “In terms of pay, I came to the profession thinking ‘I’ll be on the main scale and then there’ll be increments’, but the whole pay structure isn’t as clear as it used to be.

“Having been in sales, where pay rises were dependent on performance, I think I’m less fazed [by performance pay], but I don’t think you can move it across directly and say ‘right, the performance of your pupils determines your pay’. You’re dependent on a group of pupils who, for a variety of factors, may perform differently.”

Mary Ann says: “I would like the government to sit down and see what a teacher has to do. The pressure on schools is tremendous. It’s coming from the top: Ofsted, councils, headteachers, governors.

It just trickles all the way down and the teacher at the coalface is suffering the most. There is no let up, yet teachers don’t let their teaching slip. Even in the time I’ve been qualified, paperwork has increased exponentially.

“Would I recommend teaching? You have got to be able to look after yourself mentally and physically. And you’ve got to go with an open mind,” she adds.

Dave concludes: “Certain individuals, certain classes I find hard work, but that’s I think just being an NQ and getting to grips with it. It’s a great career and it’s been a positive experience for me.” www.atl.org.uk

22

help and advice / legal

Continuous service and academies When moving between maintained and academy schools it is worth investigating the rules on continuous service and employment rights, says ATL solicitor Elizabeth Doherty

C

ontinuity of service refers to the amount of time an employee has worked for the same employer without a break. It is important because to qualify for certain statutory employment rights an employee will usually need to have fulfilled a minimum period of continuous service with the same employer. For example, an employee will only become entitled to a statutory redundancy payment once they have accrued two full years’ continuous service. It is also common for continuity of service to have a bearing on state and occupational benefits such as maternity and sick pay.

In 2010 the government introduced legislation that increased the number of schools becoming academies. As a result many individuals may now find themselves undertaking posts in both maintained schools and academies throughout their careers. With moves between schools and academies becoming more common it is important to understand the rules governing continuity of service and what effect these can have on one’s employment rights.

The first thing to note is that the position will differ depending on whether an employee’s school converts to an academy or if the employee chooses to leave their current school and take up a post in an academy voluntarily. For those employees whose employment transferred to an academy, their

www.atl.org.uk

terms and conditions are protected by In terms of calculating continuity of virtue of the TUPE Regulations, as is their service for the purpose of a redundancy continuity of service, and so there will be no payment, the Employment Rights Act 1996 requirement to work a further minimum states that continuity of service is preserved period to gain entitlement to statutory and if an employee changes jobs and goes to contractual rights. work for an ‘associated employer’ within However, for employees who voluntarily a statutory week (Sunday to midnight on take up or leave a post in an academy the Saturday). Although technically local situation can be very different. This is authorities are not considered associated because academies are independent employers within the definition of the Act, employers and are not obliged to recognise the Redundancy Payments (Continuity of any previous service gained with a Employment in Local Government, etc) maintained school or another academy.

(Modification) Order 1999 has the effect of Therefore any employee making local government Academies are who goes to work in an bodies, including schools academy voluntarily or not obliged to recognise and academies, associated wishes to move between any previous service employers for the academies will have to purposes of a redundancy satisfy any service requirements set by the payment. On this basis, an employee is free academy before they are entitled to receive to move between maintained schools and any statutory or occupational rights. academies and, provided there is no break in For those employees who wish to return their service, will preserve their continuity of to work in the maintained sector following a service for the purposes of calculating a period of employment with an academy, the redundancy payment. situation can be equally tricky. Although The final point to note is continuous some local authorities have indicated they service for the purpose of claiming unfair will recognise service gained with an dismissal. With the exception of those academy within its local authority, there whose employer has changed as a result of is no legal obligation upon them to do so. a TUPE transfer, all employees will generally Therefore employees seeking to return to the need two years’ service with a new employer maintained sector may find themselves in a before they are eligible to claim unfair position where they need to acquire a new dismissal. period of continuous service before The rules governing continuous service becoming entitled to certain occupational can be complex and vary depending on benefits such as maternity, paternity or the situation. If you decide to apply for a adoption pay, all of which are based on vacancy in an academy or wish to return to continuous service. working in the maintained sector then ATL As sickness entitlement in the maintained would advise you check with that particular sector is based on aggregated service within employer to determine what occupational maintained schools across local authorities, benefits are available and how you qualify a teacher who has accrued four years’ for them. aggregate service, whether or not this is ATL’s factsheet Leaving an Academy and continuous, will be entitled to 100 working Continuous Service is available at: days of sick leave on full pay and 100 www.atl.org.uk/factsheets For more about pay when moving between working days of sick leave on half pay. schools, see the legal article in the Support staff will be entitled to six months’ November/December 2013 issue at www.atl.org.uk/report. See overleaf for the full pay and six months’ half pay after five contact details of ATL’s legal advisers. years of service.

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’’

February 2014

help and advice / contact

23

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: 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.

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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February 2014

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24

help and advice / guide

Retirement on the horizon ATL trainer John Whitehall offers some tips for members who are approaching the end of their careers in education

R

etirement is a time of change, freedom and choice. It is an inevitable event affecting all those around you, family and friends, in different ways. During a career in education, as with any job, there are rules and routines to follow.

To an extent your job dictated what you did, and when, where and how you did it, but it also provided purpose and motivation.

You developed and used your skills and experience; it provided enjoyment, challenges, companionship and, of course, money.

The pattern of your day-to-day life emerged from the needs of work. But, on the day you retire, this changes: you are now in charge. While there may be constraints, perhaps your health, money issues or possibly family obligations, the responsibility for, and eventually the success of, retirement is up to you.

How should I feel?

People approach retirement differently. Some cannot wait, and they have a full programme of activities ready to go. Others don’t: at worst, they fear the isolation and lack of stimulation after leaving the world of education.

For all, a mind going at full speed can find a slower pace frustrating to start with. The potential loss of the ‘buzz’ of the job, the continual challenges, and the interaction with colleagues and students can be difficult to accept. Wherever you are on this spectrum, there is always some apprehension.

What comes first?

The first priority is to unwind. After some decades of work it takes time to settle in to a new lifestyle. There is absolutely no rush to become a fully formed retiree. While it is an enviable status to have, it needs a bit of learning. Wait before making important longterm decisions, as those made during the early uncertain period are not necessarily the right ones. Re-appraise the daily routines and habits that fitted your working day and realise the goalposts have now shifted and you can change if you want to — you no longer have to do your supermarket shopping on a Friday night. www.atl.org.uk

How will I live on a reduced income?

Review your will or have a new one written, as your own or your family’s circumstances could be different now, or Retiring on 30% of your salary does not the law or your wishes may have changed mean your income drops by 70%, so first (compiling an ‘asset register’ helps clarify work out your actual net income. The what needs to be in the will). Consider giving proportion of tax on your pension is less, power of attorney to someone you trust, no pension or National Insurance against a time in the distant contributions are There is absolutely future when you may be less payable, and travel no rush to become a able to cope. See and work costs www.ageuk.org.uk/ disappear. You may fully formed retiree publications for more advice. find that some things you used to spend money on are not as important as you thought they were.

What comes next?

At some time the state pension will be A new life: just sit back for a moment, close payable — get a pension statement to check your eyes and dream. Ideally, what would what is due to you and when (see you like to see, do and experience? What www.gov.uk/calculate-state-pension). And, would you like to know more about, learn of course, the usual mantra of ‘shop around’ to do or take part in? How often have you applies; it really can make a significant thought ‘that looks interesting’ and promptly difference to the cost of goods and services forgotten it, or you probably didn’t have time (and as an aside, save the savings — you will to do it anyway? Now you have time, and be surprised how they accumulate). within reason, you can do it.

So, from today, every time you think ‘that’s What practicalities need interesting’, write it down, keep it, and don’t lose the idea. Collect references that catch to be thought about?

Obviously, look at all the household tasks: your eye, cut out articles, put ideas in your repairs, rebuilding work and renovations; diary. This data bank will soon grow and as have a good clear-out and do those little jobs you engage in things at one end, new ideas you have put off for years. will be added at the other. Putting this into On a more serious note, check your practice will make that old adage ‘how did I investments to ensure they will meet your ever find time to work?’ apply to you. Have a needs from now onwards. Clear out old work long, happy and fulfilling retirement! papers and files; check your personal papers For more information on moving into retired ATL membership, see and records; clear computer ‘clutter’ and www.atl.org.uk/retiring review online passwords.

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’’

February 2014

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26

resources / training

ATL resources and training for free from ATL Despatch (see below) quoting code PE28, or it can be downloaded free from www.atl.org.uk/publications under ‘legal and employment advice’.

Factsheets ATL has produced two new factsheets dealing with observation. Classroom Observations: Support Staff offers advice on observation by colleagues and others of support staff in schools, including who may observe and be observed, what observations should and should not cover, and how frequently they should take place.

Similarly, for FE members we have

ATL’s practical, easy-to-use guide Violence, Threatening Behaviour and Abuse has been fully updated for 2014. It gives all the advice you need on dealing with violence, threatening behaviour and abuse in an education setting. It covers prevention, training, policies and procedures, gives checklists of immediate action that should be taken in the event of an incident, and explains the legal situation as well as your entitlements if you suffer an injury. It also includes ATL’s model policy on violence, threatening behaviour and abuse.

Members can order hard copies

observation for inspection purposes as well as on drop-ins and other observations.

Both factsheets are available free from www.atl.org.uk/factsheets as downloadable PDFs.

Your CPD with ATL Securing the right job (NQTs only) 25 February, Leeds; 26 February, Birmingham; 27 February, Manchester; 9 April, London; 10 April, Exeter; 15 April, Cambridge Effective classrooms teamwork, communication and assertiveness 1 March, York; 3 June, London

Violence guidance

Three ways to order

published Lesson Observations in Further Education Colleges, which lays out a good practice model for lesson observations, a good practice framework for a teaching and learning observation system, comments on

Level 2 safeguarding online for colleges 24 March, online Leading behaviour: improvement to outstanding 22 April, London

Taking care of behaviour 4 March, online; 14 May Liverpool; 19 May, online

Practical solutions for dyslexia and dyscalculia 24 April, York; 18 June, Milton Keynes

Managing extreme behaviour 20 March, London; 28 April, online; 11 June, Manchester

Level 2 safeguarding online for schools 5 May, online

There is a nominal charge for courses to minimise the number of members not turning up: £40 for all standard members, £20 for standard support members and NQTs. It is our expectation that employers should cover the cost of attending.

www.atl.org.uk

Publications & resources section

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

0845 4500 009

Quote product code where possible

Champions of learning ATL’s network of union learning reps (ULRs) are instrumental in championing the importance of training and development as well as offering the chance for members to get involved with the union and help their colleagues and themselves.

ULRs work closely with members and management to identify ways to improve access and quality of current provision, as well as sources of new opportunities.

ATL has two main types of ULR: branch and workplace. Workplace ULRs are based in either a school or college and work with all staff members in partnership with the institution’s CPD coordinator or committee.

Branch-based ULRs concentrate on branch union learning events, working with the local authority and recruiting and supporting school- and college-based ULRs. ULR Maxine Bradshaw explains what she has achieved in her role and its rewards. www.atl.org.uk

“We’ve put on several behaviour management courses, some in connection with Edge Hill University, and we’ve arranged courses on boys’ underachievement, assessment for learning and cyberbullying.

The very first behaviour management course was oversubscribed within two hours. We’ve had people from primary, support staff, secondary, FE and independent. And all on a Saturday, in members’ own time.

“It’s this kind of thing that makes me think yes, we’re doing something worthwhile, as it’s training that people can’t access because of the simple fact that budgets are the way they are and schools can’t afford to let people out because of the supply cover costs. That’s why what we do as ULRs is invaluable, it’s something we offer that members might not ordinarily be able to access.

“What made me want to be a ULR more than anything was that I’d received such

fantastic training with the union. It was about giving other people those opportunities.”

All ULRs are given the opportunity to attend an introductory training course to help develop the skills, knowledge and confidence needed to perform this essential role. It is a one-day course held in two regions. Local one-to-one training is also available on request. Attendees learn how to: • raise awareness and promote the value of learning • provide information and guidance on learning opportunities • identify learning needs • work with employers and partners to improve access to learning • monitor quality of provision, and support equal opportunities in learning.

For more information about being a ULR, see www.atl.org.uk/ulr.

February 2014

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resources / classified To advertise here please contact Lisa on 01603 772521, or email lisa.marrison@archantdialogue.co.uk Isle of Wight

Recruitment Teachers required to host and teach adults and/or teenagers from Europe, Russia and Japan in their home on total-immersion English language courses or GCSE/A-Level revision courses in Maths, Science and Business / Economics.

A professional qualification is required, comfortable home and enthusiasm for sharing your language, culture and location. Short summer placements of 2-3 weeks are available and also year-round placement of 1-4 weeks.

Good rates. Tel: 0117 9269400 or Email: info@livingenglish.com

Resources

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Live Free in SW France and Experience the French Lifestyle This is an unsalaried role 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.

We would like a minimum commitment of 12 months.

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Feburary 2014

29 1

Prize crossword

Across 1 Dim master confused equally between banks (9) 6 Stick with school employees? (5) 9 Doctor and a graduate involved in theatre studies course… (5) 10 … where a great din is made by Hamlet actor? (9) 11 Appearance of new workload has no draw! (4) 12 Quick to use piano in attack … (5) 13 …piano therefore extremely flat (4) 16 In short, ‘cheese insect’ (7) 17 Wilder actor with twitch — it’s all to do with heredity (7) 19 Happy with what’s included? (7) 21 Clever Dick to arrange endless long walk (4-3) 22 Creative subjects promoted by heads of any really top school (4) 24 One who quarrels with a member of the boat race team? (5) 25 Insane to put Ecstasy in drink! (4) 29 Strangely, I lied to a religious leader in a leader! (9) 30 Expressed an opinion publicly that international assistance must include religious education (5) 31 There’s sense in putting Last of the Mohicans in art gallery (5) 32 Honestly, lyrics need no end of revision (9)

Down 1 Award for dessert topping during dinner, perhaps (5) 2 Iron and carbon, a new combination that’s excessively harsh (9) 3 What changes when snow melts (4) 4 Say ‘true’, perhaps, in Essex English? (7) 5 Definition of ‘new inn game’ (7) 6 Discard some English education (4) 7 French friend to leave with Spanish friend (5) 8 Being excessively zealous, can’t fail a translation (9) 14 Frequently head leaves to make something more 13 (5) 15 OU in North forms student body (5) 16 Maybe teach us R & B in European capital (9) 18 University studies lead here, to some extent (2,1,6) 20 New tripos includes end of zodiac, between Cancer and Capricorn? (7) 21 US band in unusual link with Moscow government (7) 23 Formal evening suit not worn by heads? (5) 26 Father becomes Doctor of Divinity within 24 hours (5) 27 Sleep lightly to 12, almost (4) 28 She ran an old school for 25 mixed (4)

The winner of the February crossword competition will be announced in the April issue.

Congratulations to M Burt, the winner of the November/December crossword competition.

February 2014

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WIN!

One lucky reader will win £50 worth of Marks & Spencer vouchers. Simply send your completed crossword, with your contact details, to: ATL February Crossword Competition, Archant Dialogue, Prospect House, Rouen Road, Norwich, Norfolk NR1 1RE. Closing date: 7 March 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 7 March 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.

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WIN £50& of Markser Spenc s voucher

Last month’s solution - January 2014 Across: 9 Emphasise 10 Pause 11 Darling 12 Astride 13 Rein 14 Altogether 17 Partner 18 Shirker 20 Department 23 Mill 25 Grammar 26 Worship 28 Mason 29 Excellent Down: 1 Heed 2 Sportier 3 Latin 4 Singular 5 Legato 6 Apathetic 7 Punish 8 Pele 13 Rapid 15 Rural 16 Increment 18 Sandwich 19 Knighted 21 Praise 22 Marked 24 Drill 25 Game 27 Path

www.atl.org.uk

30

join the debate / final word

A world of books

ILLUSTRATION: PHIL WRIGGLESWORTH

Give children the choice of books to read and somewhere to read them, says author Neil Gaiman

T Neil Gaiman Neil Gaiman is an award-winning author, whose works include comic books, audio theatre and films

www.atl.org.uk

he simplest way to make sure that we raise literate children is to teach them to read, and to show them that reading is a pleasurable activity. And that means, at its simplest, finding books that they enjoy, giving them access to those books and letting them read them.

I don’t think there is such a thing as a bad book for children. Every now and again it becomes fashionable among some adults to point at a subset of children’s books, a genre, perhaps, or an author, and to declare them bad books, books that children should be stopped from reading.

I’ve seen it happen over and over; Enid Blyton was declared a bad author, so was R L Stine, so were dozens of others.

Comics have been decried as fostering illiteracy. It’s tosh.

It’s snobbery and it’s foolishness.

There are no bad authors for children because every child is different. They can find the stories they need to, and they bring themselves to stories. A hackneyed, worn-out idea isn’t hackneyed and worn out to them. This is the first time the child has encountered it. Do not discourage children from reading because you feel they are reading the wrong thing.

Fiction you do not like is the gateway to other books you may prefer. And not everyone has the same taste as you.

Well-meaning adults can easily destroy children’s love of reading: they can stop them reading what they enjoy, or give them worthy-but-dull books that the adults like, the 21stcentury equivalents of Victorian ‘improving’ literature.

You’ll wind up with a generation convinced that reading is uncool, and worse, unpleasant. We need our children to get onto the reading ladder: anything they enjoy reading will move them up, rung by rung, into literacy.

Another way to destroy a child’s love of reading, of course, is to make sure there are no books of any kind around.

And to give them nowhere to read those books. We need libraries. We need books. We need literate citizens.

I think we have responsibilities to the future. Responsibilities and obligations to children, to the adults those children will become, to the world they will find themselves inhabiting.

All of us — as readers, as writers, as citizens: we have obligations. I believe we have an obligation to read for pleasure, in private and in public places. If we read for pleasure, if others see us reading, then we learn, we exercise our imaginations. We show others that reading is a good thing.

We have an obligation to read aloud to our children.

To read them things they enjoy. To read to them stories we are already tired of. To do the voices, to make it interesting, and not to stop reading to them just because they learn to read to themselves. Use reading aloud time as bonding time, as time when no phones are being checked, when the distractions of the world are put aside.

Albert Einstein was asked once how we could make our children intelligent. His reply was both simple and wise. “If you want your children to be intelligent,” he said, “read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”

He understood the value of reading, and of imagining.

I hope we can give our children a world in which they will read, and be read to, and imagine, and understand.

On 14 October 2013 Neil Gaiman gave The Reading Agency’s second annual lecture at the Barbican Centre, London. The Reading Agency is a charity whose mission is to give everyone an equal chance in life by helping people become confident and enthusiastic readers. The above is an edited extract from the lecture; to read it in full, visit www.readingagency.org.uk/news.

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