Report June 2016

THE MAGAZINE FROM ATL, THE EDUCATION UNION

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

JUNE 2016 £2.50

INSIDE!

Turn to the centre of this issue to read ATL’s Trainee & NQ Report

Marking overload It doesn’t have to be like this

GUIDE

MARY BOUSTE D

GIRL BULLYING

DANGER AHEAD

Helping both victims and perpetrators

Don’t miss the hidden pitfalls in the white paper

J O I N T H E D E B AT E

LILY COLE

The ways in which simple literacy saves lives and opens doors

Contents UPFRONT

Y O U R AT L

UPDATE

USEFUL CONTACTS

4

Baseline assessment scrapped, and ATL members lobby Nicky Morgan

9 AGENDA

Forced academies are not the only serious danger in the white paper

11 WALES AND

20

How to get in touch with ATL

21 GAP YEARS

An ATL member on the opportunity a year away can offer students

23

LEGAL ADVICE

NORTHERN IRELAND

Our legal team on driving vehicles as part of school or college work

F E AT U R E S

24 YOUR VIEWS

Pupil deprivation support in Wales and migrant children in Northern Ireland

12

ATL members make one change to improve work-life balance

25

MARKING WORKLOAD

Ways of reducing the marking burden

16 PROFILE

Three award-winning ATL workplace reps on working in academies

19

GIRL BULLYING

Preventing and tackling the issue

30

FINAL WORD

PRIZE CROSSWORD Win a £50 M&S voucher

27

NOTICEBOARD Information and events

29 RESOURCES

Newsletters for students and newly qualified members, and for those in the independent sector. Plus, what it takes to be a rep

Lily Cole on the simple power of literacy Report is the magazine from ATL, 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD Tel 020 7930 6441 Fax 020 7930 1359 Email report@atl.org.uk or membership@atl.org.uk Website www.atl.org.uk Editor Alex Tomlin News editor Edie Mullen Report is produced and designed for ATL by Think Publishing, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH Tel 020 3771 7200 Email info@thinkpublishing.co.uk Sub editor Mike Hine Art editor Clair Williams Designer Alix Thomazi Advertising sales Michael Coulsey or Anthony Bennett 020 3771 7200 Account manager Kieran Paul Managing director Polly Arnold

ATL accepts no liability for any insert, display or classified advertisement included in this publication.

While every reasonable care is taken to ensure that all advertisers are reliable and reputable, ATL can give no assurance that they will fulfil their obligation under all circumstances.

The views expressed in articles in Report are the contributors’ own and do not necessarily reflect ATL policy. Official policy

statements issued on behalf of ATL are indicated as such. All rights reserved.

Material contained in this publication may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior permission of ATL.

Welcome KIM KNAPPETT, ATL NATIONAL PRESIDENT

One thing that I often say about life in education circles is that, if you saw it on a TV soap, you wouldn’t believe it.

This has certainly been true over recent weeks. My last column started with the #TellNickyNo campaign following the publication of the white paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere.

This campaign, in which ATL played its part, has resulted in the welcome climbdown from Nicky Morgan on forced academies, after opposition across the political spectrum. Read more about our response to this on page 4.

Over the Easter weekend, the reports from the three Workload Review Groups were published.

These contain some sensible advice, but their impact will be minimal unless education professionals take note and make changes. Make sure your SLT is aware of the reports and that you work together with colleagues to make a real difference to working practices. Please do also read our feature on page 12 on marking and workload.

In other developments, we have had both the baseline assessment and SPaG test fiascos, two more examples of the Government trying to make changes too quickly and then falling at the first hurdle. It proves once again that they need to trust education professionals and genuinely consult with us, and that we need time to implement changes if they are going to work.

Cover illustration: Paul Thurlby

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U P D AT E

Baseline campaign success After several months of campaigning by ATL, working alongside the NUT, the DfE has announced that it will not be able to use baseline assessment to measure progress, after a study found that the three measures set to record school performance were ‘incomparable’ Save Childhood Movement, the National Association for Primary Education and the NUT. Members of both unions have promoted a petition to education secretary Nicky Morgan that received more than 6,000 signatures.

Ellis said: “This is a real success for ATL members, working alongside the NUT. From making comments on the original proposals for baseline, to providing information and stories about how baseline impacted on children and teachers, members kept up the pressure on Government. We must not be complacent though: if large numbers of schools continue to use the baseline schemes, then the DfE may assume that they are useful and could build a new system around them.

“ATL believes the reception baseline assessment is a waste of money and time, and tells reception teachers nothing useful about the children in their class.

And as the outcomes cannot be used for accountability, we see no reason why schools would choose to undertake baseline assessment in September. We look forward to being properly consulted as the Government considers future options.”

SPaG: FURTHER BLOW FOR DfE Shortly after we heard that baseline assessments had been abandoned, the Government announced that it was cancelling May’s SPaG tests after it accidentally released the exam paper before the tests. Mary Bousted said: “This is farcical. Time and time again, the concerns of experienced and knowledgeable education professionals have been sidelined in the pursuit of introducing reforms before they are ready. It is time for the DfE to scrap these reforms and work with the profession to design an assessment system that we all can have confidence and pride in.”

4 REPORT | JUNE 2016

Only

6.7%

of respondents agree that baseline is ‘a good way to assess how primary schools perform’

Fewer than

1 in 10

respondents found that it is an ‘accurate and fair way to assess children’

Source: Autumn 2015 survey of 1,131 ATL and NUT members

Nansi Ellis, ATL’s assistant general secretary for policy, said: “Given that fewer than one in 10 respondents found that the reception baseline assessment was an ‘accurate and fair way to assess children’, it is not surprising that ATL members at our Annual Conference voted overwhelmingly for the reception baseline assessment to be scrapped.”

The findings of the Reception Baseline Comparability Study, released in March by the Department for Education (DfE), echo research commissioned by ATL and the NUT. Five schools were observed as reception year children were tested by one of the three Government-recommended commercial providers. In addition, more than a thousand teachers responded to a survey. The results showed a significant impact on teachers’ workloads – and distress in some children during the testing process. Only 6.7% of respondents agreed that baseline is ‘a good way to assess how primary schools perform’.

ATL has been working in close partnership with a wide spectrum of organisations on the Better Without Baseline campaign, including the

White paper victory for ATL

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As we went to press, Nicky Morgan announced that the DfE will be dropping plans for forced academisation for every school in the recent white paper.

This U-turn marks success for ATL, especially members who campaigned against the proposals and lobbied their MPs. Despite the climb-down, there are concerns the forthcoming bill will require those local authorities deemed to be failing and those who decide they can no longer support schools to force their schools to academise.

Mary Bousted said: “It has taken the efforts of parents, teachers, school leaders,

governors, councillors and MPs to get the Government to back away from a policy which had no rationale and no merit.

“However, although the immediate threat of forced academisation has been lifted, there is much in the white paper that should cause concern.

“ATL will continue to expose the shortcomings and ideological agenda of this Government.”

ATL is urging members to continue engaging with their MPs on loss of QTS, reduction in school funding and lack of school places.

Visit www.atl.org.uk/ whitepaper to find out how.

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

UPDATE

“WHEN NICKY MORGAN DOES MY JOB FOR JUST ONE DAY, I WILL MAYBE GIVE HER SOME CREDIT FOR UNDERSTANDING HOW DIFFICULT IT IS TO MEET STANDARDS”

ASSESSMENT REFORM: A LETTER A DAY ATL members are keeping the pressure on the DfE For some time, members have been getting in touch to express their confusion and worry about the assessment reform package for KS1 and KS2.

That’s why we’ve been forwarding one of these letters every day to education secretary Nicky Morgan, in the hope that she will finally listen to teachers. Here are just a few extracts: “The vocabulary alone that is expected is beyond belief. Many GCSE students would not use this language, let alone 10- and 11-year-olds.”

“I feel that my Year 6 children are guinea pigs.”

“When Nicky Morgan does my job for just one day, I will maybe give her some credit for understanding how difficult it is to meet expected standards.”

ATL education policy adviser Anne Heavey said: “Scrapping the baseline and cancelling the KS1 SPaG test are steps in the right direction for primary assessment; however, there is still a very long way to go. Members sharing their experiences and concerns about primary assessment with ATL have really helped us to put pressure on the Government. We have now seen that they are prepared to back down, so should be confident that we can influence more positive changes.

We believe it is time for the DfE to go back to the drawing board and work with ATL. Hopefully Nicky Morgan will get the message!”

We have time to improve things for next year.

Write to your MP, to us or directly to Morgan – and ask colleagues to do the same.

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

One of the letters sent by ATL to Nicky Morgan

Sexual harassment inquiry At the end of March, ATL general secretary and former teacher Mary Bousted was the subject of extensive media coverage after she shared her observations regarding classroom bullying of academically gifted girls. ATL member Helen Porter (pictured) followed up with a motion about sexist bullying at this spring’s Annual Conference.

Now, after a Commons Women and Equalities Committee report has revealed evidence of unchecked sexual bullying and harassment in schools, MPs have announced an inquiry.

Committee chair Maria Miller MP commented as she launched the inquiry: “It’s clear from the young people we’ve heard from that this is having a profound impact on their day-to-day lives.”

The report, commissioned from the youth charity Fixers, followed a workshop in which 300 young people described incidents not

being dealt with appropriately by teachers, and pupils’ reluctance to report incidents for fear of punishment themselves.

Wanda Wyporska, ATL’s lead equalities officer, said: “We need to have sex and relationships education for every child so they can learn about consent, healthy relationships and what’s right and wrong. What we want to see is teachers trained in PSHE, and sex and relationships education as a properly timetabled subject. It’s about teaching people how to be safe – and we think that this is one of the most important subjects.”

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 5

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UPDATE

IN BRIEF

of ATL members say heavy workload has caused them to consider leaving the profession

#WORKLOAD DOWN UNDER Australia’s Independent Education Union (IEU) has contacted ATL to offer support for our workload campaign. The IEU reports a similar proportion of members as ATL (81%) saying heavy workload has caused them to consider leaving the profession.

ATL has shared the ideas behind #make1change, which the IEU is now using to help members find answers to their workload issues.

BACC FOR THE FUTURE ATL supports the Bacc for the Future campaign, which has been encouraging supporters to sign a petition calling for expressive arts to have greater recognition in accountability measures. The petition has now reached more than 100,000 signatures, triggering a Parliamentary debate, which will be held on 4 July.

Ask your local MP to attend and contribute to the debate.

Go to www. baccforthefuture. com for more details.

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

LIBRARIES: STAFF HAVE THEIR SAY

ATL member Andrew Bradley

Survey reveals a critical disparity in facilities for pupils At ATL’s Annual Conference this April, one of the speakers delivered a powerful message on behalf of a school librarian in east Derbyshire, as she couldn’t attend the event because her position was made redundant. Andrew Bradley passed on her worries about pupils’ ‘information literacy’ – their ability to research and process information as part of lifelong learning and development.

ATL asked members across the UK about their schools’ libraries – and some of the answers gave real cause for concern. While 94% of the 485 school staff who responded said school libraries have a positive impact on teaching and learning, other responses were less rosy.

Forty per cent said their library does not have enough space for the number of students who want to use it and 19% said library staff hours have been cut since 2010.

Eleven per cent said library staff

have been made redundant and 22% said their school library budget has been cut by at least 40% since 2010. A teacher in a primary school in Cornwall said: “Our library has become a wall of shelves in a corridor with two chairs – we used to have a designated room where children could sit and read or research. We needed the space for another classroom.”

However, some responses demonstrated that a properly resourced and supported library is entirely possible for schools.

Twenty-two per cent of staff said their libraries have become bigger since 2010; 86% said their school libraries encourage reading for pleasure and 75% said their library supports the curriculum.

A staff member at a secondary school in Lancashire said: “We have a fantastic learning resource centre with two members of staff.

Our head recognises the value

Trade Union Bill Lords progress ATL, working alongside the TUC and other unions, is starting to see its lobbying take effect as the Government’s Trade Union Bill moves through Parliament. Among other measures, we welcome the removal of the extreme measures to restrict rights to protest and the scaling back of a double threshold for strike ballots in ‘important public services’ as the bill passed through the House of Lords. Thank you to those of you who have got in touch with your MP on this issue – we have to keep tackling more aspects of this harmful and restrictive bill, so please keep in touch with them as matters progress. You can keep up to date at www.atl.org.uk/tubill.

of reading as a tool for improving our students’ ability and general knowledge, and as an integral part of our curriculum. Our head librarian goes out of her way to provide extra-curricular activities, such as authors’ visits, themed days and quizzes.”

ATL general secretary Mary Bousted said of the results: “We are hearing really mixed stories about the state of school libraries. Some schools have fantastic libraries that encourage children to develop a lifelong passion for reading, as well as providing resources to support the curriculum, and access to computers.

“But we are also hearing alarming stories of schools cutting library hours and staff, or turning their libraries into classrooms and binning their books. We would like school inspections to include comments on the quality of library services and access to them.”

Social mobility inquiry ATL has welcomed a report from the House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility that draws substantially upon evidence that we provided to the inquiry. We called for greater support for young people following a non-academic path into the workplace, and are pleased to have seen this reflected in the committee’s recommendations.

ATL’s Janet Clark said, “I am delighted that the House of Lords has recognised ATL’s warnings that the education system is failing a generation.

The inequality of regard and funding for vocational learning, compared to academic education, is damaging the life chances of a significant proportion of young people.”

You can read our submission to the committee by visiting www.atl.org.uk/socialmobilityresponse.

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 7

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AG E N DA

ATL MEMBERS WOULD have to have been lying in a darkened room for the past month to be unaware that Nicky Morgan and Nick Gibb are in a bit of a bother.

The white paper, Educational Excellence Everywhere, has shone a searchlight on the academies programme and informed the press and public about the dangers and democratic deficit inherent in any law stating schools have no choice but to become academies.

Morgan has been forced to climb down on forcing schools to become academies, a consequence of her significant failure to consult back-bench Conservative MPs, the Conservative-led Local Government Association and other key stakeholders about what her press office has called the ‘turbocharged’ academies policy. Perhaps, in light of the U-turn, the press office will employ a more appropriate adjective – perhaps ‘broken-down’?

While it is satisfying to see unbridled hubris being brought to heel, it is important to understand that the white paper contains a whole raft of other proposals which would have hugely detrimental effects on the teaching profession.

These have been overshadowed by the forced academies row, but they have not gone away, and the danger is that they will get overlooked.

One is the abolition of qualified teacher status. The white paper proposes to replace the qualification with an accreditation process. It would work like this: beginning teachers would work towards ‘accreditation’, which would, says the white paper, “be achieved after teachers have demonstrated their proficiency – including the strength of their subject knowledge. When schools judge that a teacher has reached the required level for accreditation, informed by the Teachers’ Standards, they will make a recommendation which will be ratified by a high-performing WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

Danger ahead Look for hidden pitfalls in the white paper, says ATL general secretary Mary Bousted school (such as a teaching school or accredited SCITT) to ensure that the process is objective, transparent and consistent.”

One must applaud the Government’s objectives to have a transparent and consistent process of teacher accreditation, but there is no guarantee that this will be achieved in reality. If school leaders are put in charge of certifying new entrants to the profession, the door is open for the recruitment of non-graduates into teaching. The white paper does more than hint at this possibility: it talks about “experts from other fields – for example, a talented musician or a coder” being put on a pathway to full accreditation. Well, making teaching a non-graduate profession is one way to solve the teacher recruitment crisis.

And if the award of accredited teacher status is made by a headteacher struggling to cope with a real-terms fall of eight per cent in their budget, then the temptation might be to delay accreditation, to tell the new teacher: ‘You may have a full

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timetable and be working all the hours God sends, but you are not quite there yet; perhaps another six months before you meet the standard.’ In that time the new teacher is stuck, unable to move schools, unable to mount much of a challenge to this potential abuse of power, because they don’t have the authority to do so.

Another danger to be aware of is one on which the white paper is very clear: if all schools become academies, as is still Nicky Morgan’s intention, teachers’ careers and prospects are completely under the control of their school leadership. It states: “The management, training, retention, development and pay of existing teachers are now rightly the responsibility of headteachers, free from unnecessary bureaucratic interference and central prescription.”

The implications of this sentence are extremely serious for the teaching profession.

They raise some fundamental questions, among which are: if every school can set its own pay scales, why would the Government maintain the School Teachers’ Review Body?

Why have a national pay scale when school leaders can pay teachers what they judge them to be worth? There would be no need for a main scale, upper pay scale or leadership group; no need for national negotiation of teachers’ terms and conditions.

Like support staff, teachers would have to go it alone, fighting school by school or academy trust by academy trust for decent terms and conditions.

What the white paper calls “bureaucratic interference and central prescription” I would describe as safeguards to ensure fair and equal treatment of all teachers.

I have written to Nicky Morgan to ask her intentions for the STRB. I have not yet had a reply. When it arrives, it will be put on the ATL website so teacher and school leader-members can judge for themselves what the potential future is for their review body.

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 9

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Monitoring pupil progress with NFER Tests Suite 2 As a result of extensive trialling, NFER Tests are now on a single scale allowing pupil progress to be measured.

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THE VIEW FROM… WALES / NORTHERN IRELAND

Wales

Northern Ireland

MAXINE BRADSHAW

MARK LANGHAMMER

Vital questions about PDG funding

Tackling migrant myths

AS I WRITE THIS, many schools will have just found out their budgets for the next financial year – including their pupil deprivation grant (PDG) allocation. This funding has been increased by £100 per child this year, which is welcome news.

At ATL’s Annual Conference in Liverpool, I proposed a motion to press for schools to be able to make professional decisions around how the PDG funding should be spent

“SCHOOLS SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE DECISIONS AROUND FUNDING”

and reduce the unnecessary paperwork involved.

It is a national priority for Wales to narrow the achievement gap, and the pupil premium and PDG funding are entirely laudable. However, in Wales, pupils fall in and out of eligibility for free school meals on a yearly basis, making funding stability a real issue.

It also worries me that it is dependent upon parents filling in a form to state their child is eligible. Surely, if the Department for Work and Pensions knows which families are in receipt of certain benefits, the form is superfluous! The funding could be automatically allocated to the school.

And what of the many families who are just below that threshold, the working poor, who just don’t qualify?

The PDG funding is essential, but the conditions under which schools are granted it add yet another bureaucratic layer. It is high time to allow schools to make the professional decisions for their pupils as they see fit, without the endless jumping through hoops.

THE ACADEMIC REPORT Challenging Racism: Ending Hate makes interesting reading for our education system. Published for the Unite Against Hate campaign, it tackles prevalent myths about migrants that are damaging, unjust or false, such as: ‘they’re taking our jobs/ houses/benefits’, ‘they’re taking places in our schools’, etc. This report unpacks the myths.

Far from holding back local pupils, the report has found that the presence of migrant (or newcomer) children has had myriad positive effects. Some 5.5% of nursery pupils are newcomers, three per cent in primary schools and two per cent of post-primary children. Density can be high, such as in Presentation Primary School, Craigavon (69%) and others.

Among the positive effects are: • Children from other countries bolster enrolment in otherwise unsustainable schools.

• The desire to learn English is high among newcomer

One change can make a difference ATL’s work-life campaign is already having a positive impact in improving workload in schools and colleges. n Share

using #make1change the one thing you would change to improve your work-life balance

n Use

our work-life tracker to track your working hours and analyse what drives your workload

n Check

Time to tackle workload

out our help and advice on managing your workload better

www.atl.org.uk/abouttime #make1change

pupils, who aid social integration of their wider families in the community.

• Migrants enhance the learning experience for all children as they make schools more diverse and culturally rich.

• The skills base of teachers and classroom assistants has developed as they respond to a richer teaching and learning environment based upon welcoming and settling newcomer children.

• Employment is created for local educators and translators.

Perhaps Northern Ireland, traditional and socially conservative, can offer a warm embrace after all?

it’s about time...

make 1 change ATL’S WORK-LIFE CAMPAIGN

Government and Ofsted have a role in reducing marking workload, but there are actions schools can take too

Marking time WORDS BY ALEX TOMLIN ILLUSTRATION BY PAUL THURLBY

THERE ARE THOSE who feel it is a badge of honour to mark relentlessly and thoroughly, irrespective of whether any student ever reads or acts upon their comments.

Does this strike a chord with you? This, and similar sentiments, have been expressed by many ATL members, including the idea that marking is such an integral part of the job that to reduce how much you do would make you less of a teacher.

There is no doubt that marking is a major contributor to the workload of teachers in schools and colleges in England, consistently appearing in our workload tracker as one of the top three tasks that ATL members tell us they spend most of their time on, as well as featuring prominently in our November 2015 workload survey, in which one member summed up the thoughts of many: “The sheer amount of hours required to stay on top of marking and paperwork is almost impossible to manage and is not compatible with maintaining a work-life balance.”

The Department for Education (DfE) has made marking the focus of one of the workload groups, the reports from which were published in March.

Announcing the reports, education secretary Nicky Morgan said: “I am going further to support the profession to tackle unnecessary workload, because nothing is more damaging to the profession than wasting the passion and expertise of teachers and school leaders on unnecessary tasks.”

12 REPORT | JUNE 2016

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

SPOTLIGHT ON… MARKING WORKLOAD

“OFSTED MUST WORK MUCH HARDER TO CONVINCE HEADTEACHERS THAT IT DOES NOT ADVOCATE OR REWARD PARTICULAR MARKING STYLES”

The reports are the result of six months’ work by three workload groups, featuring Government officials, education professionals, Ofsted representatives and unions, including ATL. In her introduction to the marking report, chair of the group Dawn Copping said: “One message is very clear: marking practice that does not have the desired impact on pupil outcomes is a time-wasting burden for teachers that has to stop. My hope is that school leaders take this report and consider what they are expecting of the staff in their schools.”

The report, Eliminating Unnecessary Workload Around Marking, makes the following conclusions: R Effective marking is an essential part of the education process, but can often encourage pupil progress without extensive written dialogue or comments.

R Marking has become disproportionately valued by schools thanks to the impact of Government policy, Ofsted and decisions taken by school leaders and teachers.

R The quantity of feedback should not be confused with the quality.

R There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach. A balance needs to be struck between a core and consistent approach and trusting teachers to focus on what is best for their pupils and circumstances.

R All marking should be meaningful, manageable and motivating.

“We like the three Ms: motivating, meaningful and manageable,” says ATL policy adviser Anne Heavey in response to the report. She also welcomes the examination of deep marking, which she believes is not as effective as it has been presented as being and should be done very rarely.

ATL also says the DfE must guard against any attempts to promote marking above other forms of feedback and assessment: teachers should determine the most effective form of feedback for the circumstances.

Alternative forms of feedback must also be properly considered to ensure that the undesirable practice of deep/dialogic marking is not replaced by

a time-consuming but ineffective new fad.

Heavey also says Ofsted must work much harder to convince headteachers that it does not advocate or reward particular marking styles. A mythbuster document alone will not suffice.

“I was working in school when the original Ofsted mythbuster came out,” Heavey recalls, “and the leadership ignored it; nothing changed. I’ve also seen some primary school inspection reports that suggest Ofsted sometimes contradicts its mythbuster, including under the new inspection framework. Without a very strong commitment from Ofsted that it is right behind teachers and will do something about the misuse of Ofsted’s name, teachers and heads won’t have the confidence to listen because their jobs are on the line.”

ATL members can help reinforce this message by letting us know if you’ve had an Ofsted inspection and your report talks about marking in a way that is likely to increase workload.

In many schools, another issue is the frequency of data drops, whereby summative assessment occurs so often that there is little time for the more valuable formative assessment that helps pupils and students learn, but should not need recording.

This demonstrates another flaw in the workload reports: that they look at the three areas of lesson planning, marking and data in isolation when they are inextricably linked as part of the teaching and learning process.

“Senior and middle leaders will need time to consider the reports and how they could implement the recommendations,” Heavey says. “With so many other qualification and assessment changes taking place at the moment, how many classroom teachers will have the time to read these reports, or will even know that they exist? It would be great if senior leaders devoted some INSET or meeting time to discussing these reports and to work with union reps to implement positive changes.”

Positive changes are the theme of the latest phase 3 of ATL’s ‘It’s about time...’ workload campaign.

3

FEEDBACK: IMMEDIATE AND MEANINGFUL “The feedback that is most effective is done in the moment,” says Verity Watts, executive vice principal of Springwell Learning Community, which teaches children from five to 16 across Barnsley.

“Once a child has done a piece of work in one lesson, but doesn’t receive feedback on it until the next, it is like serving them a cold meal after they have already eaten,” she says. Not only is feedback in the moment more effective for the child, Watts says,

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

it also means there is no need to mark for hours afterwards.

“Effective feedback is when the children are able to tell you what they’ve understood,” she continues. Springwell personalises feedback for each child, with peer teaching and peer assessment for some, who find direct sharing of work with an adult difficult. Watts believes that peer feedback is something pupils need to be trained to do, as it requires skills that not all pupils have developed.

Springwell has found some pupils respond better to feedback recorded on an iPad rather than written on their work, which can be seen as akin to spoiling their work. It is also made clear that mistakes or failure are part of the learning process.

“As senior leaders we affect what our teachers believe they need to do,” Watts concludes. “Feedback always has to be relevant and right for the child. It’s not for our benefit to prove how hard the teachers are working or anything like that.”

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 13

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Running in: 1 Day CPD sessions are £195 for members and £250 for non-members. To book your place or to find out more information log onto www.data.org.uk under Training & Events, email events@data.org.uk or call us on 01789 470007

– Merseyside: 3rd October 2016 – West Midlands: 21st November 2016 – London: 23rd November 2016 – Devon: 9th December 2016

“How to be a Brilliant Primary D&T Subject Leader” running in West Yorkshire

– 16th June 2016

Nottinghamshire – 22nd September 2016 Lancashire

– 6th October 2016

West Midlands

– 18th November 2016

Are you ready to teach the new GCSE in D&T? Understand Awarding Organisation’s D&T GCSE specifications and prepare and plan to deliver the changes with confidence by attending our 1 day CPD sessions running across the country – “Planning to Teach the New GCSE in D&T” running in: • • • • • •

London – 11th October 2016 West Midlands – 14th October 2016 Suffolk – 20th October 2016 Merseyside – 10th November 2016 Nottinghamshire – 16th November 2016 Bristol – 17th November 2016

First teaching of the new D&T GCSE is September 2017 – Make sure your D&T team is prepared!

Visit www.data.org.uk, call 01789 470007 or email info@data.org.uk and book your place

SPOTLIGHT ON… MARKING WORKLOAD

Featuring the Twitter hashtag #make1change, we are asking members and non-members to offer ideas of one thing you could change that would improve your work-life balance.

One member who has already instigated change around marking in his workplace is Simon Rigby, ATL rep at Fred Longworth High School in Greater Manchester since September.

Rigby used ATL’s workload campaign as the focus of the first meeting of members, where it became clear that marking was a particular problem.

“We realised there wasn’t a lot of cross-dialogue going on,” Rigby explains. “People get caught up in their own struggle with marking. I’ve got members marking from the moment they get up on a Sunday to when they go to bed and that’s not right.”

This issue was presented to the senior leadership team (SLT), which has decided to look at making the marking policy less onerous.

“Having the campaign to base this around has helped,” says Rigby. “It’s created that dialogue and showed everyone that they are not alone in this.”

Another member who had been struggling under the weight of marking expected by her SLT was Hannah Gyngell, an NQ at a secondary school. As ATL Future members pointed out at ATL’s Conference in April, trainee and newly qualified teachers are disproportionately affected by workload, because their inexperience means it takes them longer to do tasks.

However, Gyngell explains, her SLT is good at looking at what causes workload. “We’re quite lucky because they’re really approachable,” she says.

One change the school has introduced is many students doing work on computers, with software that marks it for them. “That will reduce our marking considerably and will work better than five year groups doing tests and us marking them all,” says Gyngell. “It will show the students how they have progressed and identify the skills they are good at and those they need to focus on.”

She adds that marking is more crucial at some stages. “For Years 10 and 11, marking is integral, because they need to understand what the examiner is looking for. For Years 7, 8 and 9, it’s about them developing the skills for Years 10 and 11, so verbal feedback in the lesson is better. Unfortunately, there’s then no record for Ofsted. It should be assumed that teachers are giving verbal feedback.”

ATL assistant general secretary for policy Nansi Ellis believes this is a critical point: “It’s a big question for leadership. What do you actually need to make sure your children are making progress?

“We’ve been grappling with that in the working groups,” she goes on. “We’re talking about reducing the stupid work you do, the writing everything down and producing evidence. Really, what you should be doing is having professional conversations about how you’re going to do it, planning together, marking when you need to, giving good feedback and knowing that children are accepting and understanding that feedback and that it doesn’t have to be written down.

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“School leaders feel they need to protect themselves so they’ve got to be able to show evidence that it’s happening to anyone who comes in. They should be able to say they know it’s happening because they have conversations with their heads of department and with their teams.”

One method of showing evidence without excessive workload is to have a single designated piece of work per term, which is marked and demonstrates progress. All work around that is about learning and is assessed formatively.

Ellis stresses that different approaches work for different teachers and subjects, and that the headteacher should have a basic understanding of how and why each one works.

“A maths teacher who becomes a head may have no clue how you assess music, history or English,” she says. “School leaders need an overview, not the detail, of how different subjects work.”

Parents, used to seeing their children’s work marked, will need to be considered in any decisions about marking policy at school level. “Parents will look at their children’s books and wonder why they haven’t been marked,” says Ellis. “If you haven’t addressed that, you will get a lot of questions.”

Heavey believes marking needs to be taken more seriously at the very outset of a teacher’s career and throughout. “It needs to go back to initial teacher training, and there needs to be ongoing CPD on how to give feedback and reassurance that your sense of vocation doesn’t mean you have to mark all night.

This is habit. Teachers have always spent hours marking. It will take much more than a report to get this across. The Government needs to keep focusing on tackling workload.”

To read all the reports and ATL’s full response, go to www.atl.org.uk/workloadresponse. You can find details of ATL’s workload campaign at www.atl.org. uk/abouttime, and you can tweet suggestions on reducing workload using #make1change. n

MARKING SOLUTIONS At Southend High School for Boys, headteacher Robin Bevan and his team have taken the long view in a bid to cut workload, drawing up a calendar of the regular fixtures of school life to create a clear schedule. This not only helps staff to plan their workloads better, but also enables them to identify where workload peaks, and, if possible, to adjust the calendar to alleviate that.

Looking at marking has been key to the process. “We saw that colleagues would be setting work in the middle of busy periods that they knew they would never be able to mark or use,” Bevan explains.

“It’s an unusual step, but we would say not to set homework for that period,” he says. “We also think it’s great for Years 7 and 8 to not always have the relentless pressure of homework. They’re still going to learn just as much; there’s no sacrifice there.

“We have also looked at when a teacher should mark a piece of work.

A lot of times, a teacher is marking things that the pupils themselves know are wrong or could be improved.”

Pupils know they cannot hand work in until it meets basic criteria.

“The teachers’ job is to diagnose common mistakes, not to go through endlessly checking right and wrong,” says Bevan. “Any marking process that leads to a teacher marking 30 exercise books with 40 questions – 1,200 items – just makes no sense.”

Providing the answers to an exercise and letting the class check them identifies common errors and the teacher can then explain how to make it right. “It’s about the teacher engaging with the marking at the right point,” Bevan says. “It doesn’t sound very complicated, and I don’t think it is.”

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 15

Making a difference

Three of ATL’s rep award winners, all working in academies, tell Alex Tomlin why their roles are so important in today’s education landscape

TINA LAUDER

“TINA HAS THROWN ALL HER ENTHUSIASM INTO BEING A REP” Nominator, Katherine Fry

Cover supervisor Tina has taken on numerous roles, including as lead rep for an academy chain covering almost 50 schools “There’s nothing better than someone ringing you for help and you being able to give advice that helps them sort their problem,” says Tina Lauder, cover supervisor, lead rep for academy chain School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA), district secretary for Doncaster and holder of numerous other roles.

Having realised there was no ATL rep or contact in her school, Tina initially volunteered for the contact role, which involves making members aware of ATL information and publications. However, she gradually took on more responsibilities, particularly when her HLTA role was made redundant and she became a cover supervisor and found she had more time.

“Before I got involved, we didn’t know what was going on. I just felt we needed a voice,” she recalls.

“Now, I regularly have meetings with the principal and the NUT, and we get stuff done. That’s what hooked me, that I feel like I make a difference.”

As the lead rep for SPTA, Tina now meets with senior management and other unions, discussing issues across the trust’s schools.

While SPTA has proved itself open to union involvement, after agreeing recognition with ATL, Tina believes the increase in the numbers of academies means “reps are needed more than ever to defend workers.

Even if it’s just a contact to give the number of the London office, we need a voice in a school.

“SPTA is a charity, but it’s run like a business. The parent company, if you like, makes decisions, and the schools have to act on them.

There’s been restructuring, which the local authority wouldn’t have done.”

Tina has also got involved as the union learning rep for Doncaster, arranging CPD for her branch, and is currently doing ATL’s health and safety rep course to support her role on a committee for health and safety.

“I couldn’t be on a committee without knowing something about it,” she explains. “I’ve done the equalities training as well. I’ve done all the training I can get, just because I feel that, even if you don’t know everything, you need to know the background.

“You learn loads as a rep,” Tina concludes, highlighting the flexibility and support. “You just take on the role you want to do. There are loads of members and staff you can turn to.”

SHERYL FULLER

“SHERYL HAS MADE AN OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO THE MEMBERS, ESPECIALLY SUPPORT STAFF MEMBERS” Nominator, Helen Ball

HLTA Sheryl supported ATL members in reapplying for their jobs despite knowing she would be losing her own

Could you make a difference?

To find out more about being an ATL rep or contact, email organise@atl. org.uk or visit www.atl.org. uk/repzone.

Sheryl Fuller, from West Sussex, initially joined ATL after feeling unsupported by a previous school.

“I looked at all the unions and I chose ATL because I believe in the principles of the union,” she says, “but I also wanted to join a union that was teaching-based and would understand the issues we, as support staff, might face.”

Her choice paid off, as her local branch secretary supported her through a subsequent workplace issue. This inspired Sheryl to take on the rep role. “I wanted to be able to support my colleagues in the same way, as somebody on the ground.”

Initially anxious about it, particularly senior leadership’s potential attitude to her as a member of support staff, she found the support from ATL quickly reassured her. “It’s huge having that,” she says. “I was really nervous about being the ATL rep. What if I got something wrong? Knowing I could go to the branch secretary or regional official at any time made it a lot less scary.”

16 REPORT | JUNE 2016 WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

IN PROFILE… REP AWARD WINNERS

After starting as rep, Sheryl began speaking to her fellow support staff about the importance of joining a union. “I made a point of talking to them all face to face as soon as I became the rep, and I explained to them the benefits of joining.

“Many said ‘But I’ve got no problems’, so it was about explaining that if you have a problem it’s too late. You have to join first, and then ATL is there when you need it. If you wait till you have an issue, then it’s not able to help.”

She adopts a low-pressure recruitment technique. “I give the information; Report magazine and the newsletters go into the staffroom. I tell them my experiences and make myself available to talk to,” she explains.

“The hard sell is not the way I like to go, and I don’t think that’s ATL’s way.”

Many support staff found themselves in need of Sheryl’s help, as a major restructure of support staff was announced by the newly formed academy. The list of available jobs in the new structure included significant cuts in hours and pay, and Sheryl’s HLTA role disappeared entirely. “Even aside from that, I still supported all the support staff through the process,” she says. “The support staff in school felt they could come to me with a question and I could get the answer from [ATL regional official] Helen Ball or Anne Barker, my branch secretary.

“The advice from ATL was brilliant and told me what to do every step of the way to support members, while looking for a job myself. I was there supporting them until the day I left.

It was such a difficult time. Everyone was so scared.”

WHY BECOME A REP? Our workplace rep award winners explain the reasons why you should consider becoming a rep TINA LAUDER “Most people join a union for protection, and that’s fine, but we do need more reps, because we need a voice. If you’ve got no rep, you’ve got no one to turn to. A headteacher and a union rep working together get so much more done, without any arguments or issues; you

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

JOHN ROCHE

“JOHN IS AN EXEMPLARY REP, CARING AND BRAVE” Nominator, Jean Roberts

A Year 5 teacher at a primary school in north London, John led a campaign against academy conversion, garnering support from colleagues, parents and other unions When his school was placed into special measures and decided to become an academy, John Roche felt that the special measures judgement was unfair and that parents had not been consulted on the academy decision. Thus began a campaign that included petitions, complaints to Ofsted, industrial action and even a visit to Nicky Morgan.

Despite the overwhelming opposition, the school became an academy last year and almost immediately announced a restructure, whereby support staff had to reapply for their jobs, just three months after being told this would not happen. Many of them

can solve things before they even become a problem.”

SHERYL FULLER “It’s good to have somebody in as many schools as possible, ideally in every school, so that people have got someone to go to at lunchtime or after school to speak to about issues while they’re fresh in their minds. Things can escalate when they don’t need to if they’re not addressed quickly.

had already joined ATL after John had told them the importance of all standing together.

“It’s definitely important to have closer working relationships between different unions,” he believes. “I came from Ireland, where there was one union for primary and one for secondary, both negotiating using one strategy, rather than divide and conquer, which I felt was happening in England for a long time. It is better to have one large group of people putting one point forward. The reps at my school were able to work together.”

As a delegate at ATL’s Annual Conference, John was interested in the proposed strategy for moving towards a new union. “I think it’s about time,” he says. “It works perfectly well. It’s like any family; we’re going to have differences.

Different people want to do things differently, but you still have the interests of the family at heart.”

The work-life campaign is a case in point. John has told NUT colleagues about ATL’s workload tracker. “We keep a record of our working hours, and try to arrange social events sometimes, one day when we’re out the door at 4.30.

We need to get out occasionally.

Teaching is our vocation, it is not our life. We need to have a life outside.”

Despite ongoing instability at his school, John would recommend anyone to try being a rep. He believes ATL has the approach of “going with solutions rather than problems” and advises that one crucial quality is the ability to listen.

“You also need to not think you have all the answers,” he says.

“You’re part of an organisation that you can fall back on for support.”

The training is brilliant – the induction course gives you an overview of everything you are required to do and how you can go about it. I’m still halfway through my training but I already feel confident that, if someone asks a question, I would know the answer or where to go.”

JOHN ROCHE “I would recommend anyone to try being a rep sometime. We need those fresh voices. I feel proud that people see me as approachable and trust me with their private information.”

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 17

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16/05/2016 12:13

GUIDE

Girl bullying Child psychologist and former teacher, Dr Sam, offers advice on helping the victims and perpetrators of girl bullying BULLYING IS A PROBLEM across the gender divide, but while there are girls who bully physically, it is the way in which girl bullies scan for weakness in social status, and thus vulnerability to manipulation, that can prove particularly problematic to deal with. Because of a perceived lack of evidence, it can be denied by perpetrators; supported by a lack of witnesses willing to stand up; or dismissed as false allegations, a victim mentality or a friendship issue.

First, let’s think about what is not bullying behaviour. It isn’t jostling for social hierarchy, teasing or two friends falling out. Girl bullying involves an imbalance of power being used antisocially by the bully, who has a need for recognition as the head of the social hierarchy. The girl bully possesses empathetic skills, social awareness and delegation skills, and often secures her own position through creating a pack based on conditional friendships.

She is using power to make herself feel safe. Girl bullying is indirect, non-physical aggression that has a psychological impact.

So what can we do to reduce this? While sanctions are necessary, a sharp chat in the deputy head’s office can increase social power. Girl bullying isn’t something that can be solved quickly or easily; it takes time and proactive social interventions.

Understanding and managing it prepares students for the future. Empowering them with pro-social skills could contribute to their engagement in healthier relationships as adults. Here are some reactive intervention strategies.

R With the perpetrator, use a timeline to track when the bullying behaviour happens. List the rewards she feels she gains when she uses power over someone and find a way to achieve them in a pro-social way instead.

Indirect, psychological bullying is about redressing gains and rewards.

R Discuss with her the idea of power, gain and control. Work with her to focus on the impact of her behaviour on others.

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You could use familiar soap-opera scenarios as examples of bullying behaviour and behaviour change.

R Spend a few weeks keeping the pack and perpetrator busy during free time.

Engage them in social roles at school, but as individuals rather than as a group: the girls learn that there is a different way to build an identity and gain respect.

R Staff members can support the victim by noting down any incidents, but don’t encourage the student to keep a record herself, or she could keep going over incidents again and again. A staff member can look after the record and talk incidents through with her.

R Ask the victim to draw around her hand and write the name of a supportive member of staff on each finger. This shows that there is a team willing to help her. This intervention can also be used for the perpetrator, who needs a support team to help her change her behaviour.

R Help the victim to regain confidence within another friendship group.

Also help to give her a focus at school, especially in free time.

R Encourage all bystanders to take the

responsibility to integrate an isolated student. They should involve her in their social activities and play an active role in reducing indirect bullying.

Be sure all teachers are aware of strategies and support their use throughout the school at all times of the day. Students, staff, parents and governors should work together to define what bullying is, what it isn’t, how to recognise it, what to report and when.

Help students learn about healthy and unhealthy relationships, but allow them to generate the definitions. This can empower them to make better choices in their friendships. Children learn to bully.

Bystanders learn to stand by. They can also learn that bullying is normal behaviour if there is no intervention. No one person can socially isolate another; it takes a whole playground to join in and adults to turn a blind eye. It’s everybody’s responsibility to prevent this.

Dr Sam is the author of Girl Bullying: Do I Look Bothered?

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 19

YOUR ATL… CONTENTS AND CONTACTS

Your ATL

REMEMBER TO PASS YOUR COPY OF REPORT TO COLLEAGUES WHO MAY BE INTERESTED IN IT

EXPERT ADVICE, TEACHING TOOLS, MEMBER BENEFITS – AND YOUR RIGHT TO REPLY IN THIS SECTION

21

25

GAP YEARS

CROSSWORD

An ATL member on reasons to recommend a gap year to students and what you need to think about

Your chance to win a £50 M&S voucher with our cryptic crossword

23 LEGAL ADVICE ATL solicitor Kehinde Adeogun explains your rights and responsibilities when driving vehicles for school or college work

24 YOUR VIEWS Members let us know their #make1change workload solutions

27 NOTICEBOARD Help shape ATL policy for support staff, the independent sector and FE; free chess courses; and join the celebrations at the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival

29 RESOURCES Special supplement for trainee and newly qualified members, plus the independent schools newsletter

29

The reasons why we need reps and why you should give it a go

USEFUL CONTACTS 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 info@atl.org.uk BELFAST: 028 9078 2020 ni@atl.org.uk CARDIFF: 029 2046 5000 cymru@atl.org.uk AMiE MEMBERS: Call the employment helpline on 01858 464171 helpline@amie.atl.org.uk

Membership enquiries: membership@atl.org.uk Pension enquiries: 020 7782 1600 Out-of-hours helpline: 020 7782 1612 ATL’s regional officials are available to speak to you about work problems Monday to Friday from 5pm to 7.30pm during term time.

BEING A REP

If you are not a member of ATL and would like to join, please contact us on

0845 057 7000 (lo-call)

Personal injury claims:

033 3344 9616 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.

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.

20 REPORT | JUNE 2016 WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

YOUR ATL...

GAP YEARS

The gap option Helping students find their way through the maze of often heavily marketed gap-year schemes can be daunting for busy teachers. ATL member Lawrence Lockhart, founder of the voluntary organisation Gap Year Fairs, is here to help IN RECENT YEARS, I have stood many times in front of groups of post-16 students and asked them what they expect to do next.

Their first option is to get a job or an apprenticeship: one or two hands go up. Then, there’s going straight to university. Most raise their hands. I ask them, do you feel ready to decide what to study? Do you have a career in mind?

There are some uncomfortable looks.

Then there’s the most fun option – to go travelling. Adults have so far directed their lives, but now is their chance to break free, see the world and have fun.

Some broad grins break out. Option four is to seek career experience. This hasn’t been considered by many young people, but with so many peers chasing graduate jobs, might this strengthen long-term employment prospects?

The last option is to go out and volunteer; a few hands go up. I ask the students, as UK citizens, to consider how privileged we are compared to the great majority of the world. Might they consider contributing to others’ welfare through volunteering?

I was a sixth form teacher and careers adviser, with 10 years’ experience of educational development programmes in Africa. On retirement, I set up Gap Year Fairs, an unfunded organisation

Teaching, community work and childcare are ideal volunteering projects for those undertaking a gap year

of volunteers offering free, impartial information and guidance on taking a gap year or shorter break from formal education.

We have several messages. First, a gap year or extended summer break is an opportunity to travel independently, mature, develop life skills and have fun with new friends.

However, on its own, travel does not earn much credit with universities or employers. We urge students to include a working project as part of their gap year, preferably for at least two or three months, and then to travel more safely, cheaply and purposefully.

Second, there is a huge market for gap years. There is a core of reputable organisations, many of them longestablished charities and smaller, dedicated enterprises. You can find hundreds more gap-year providers of varying quality and integrity on the internet. Be wary of organisations that do not have registered UK offices, and be suspicious of websites offering fantastic projects in exotic locations; in reality, they may have no projects, but will send your details to other organisations that may or may not be reputable and reliable. Avoid ‘voluntourism’ – group travel with options to ‘tick the volunteering box’ by spending a week

or two at an orphanage, where the ‘orphans’ may have been hired out by their parents.

What options are available for a working project?

We suggest: R teaching and community work overseas R orphanages, childcare and children’s camps R conservation, community projects and expeditions R paid or unpaid placements in engineering, finance and business management R other career experience: medical, veterinary, law, journalism, tourism, etc R sports coaching, ski/snowboard courses or other outdoor pursuits.

How is it funded?

The prospect of having to raise fees deters many, but we won’t recommend any organisations we suspect of overcharging. Some programmes do offer paid work. However, the costs for overseas careers experience and volunteering mostly range between £2,000 and £5,000 – including air fares and travel.

And gap years are not just for those whose parents can afford to pay. Our proudest achievement has been seeing the numerous school leavers who work their socks off to raise the money they need to travel. The best organisations provide support for fundraising activity too.

The potential benefits of a structured gap year with a working project include confidence and self-esteem; skills and experiences that universities and employers value; the opportunity to reassess higher education and career choices in the light of new experiences; and a wider perspective on life as citizens of the world.

Gap Year Fairs offers free information (including a database of recommended gap-year organisations) and impartial guidance by email. The service is available to individual post-16 students, their advisers and parents. Contact us at gapyearfairs.lockhart@lawrencelockhart.org.

Another useful resource is www. disabledgapyears.org. Though this website encourages and enables young people with disabilities in their gap-year plans, the information and advice is relevant for all young people.

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 21

a n e e b e v a h l a u o c i y d If e m f o m i u o y vict , e c n e g i l g e e k n a m o t need before im a l c ‌ 6 a 1 0 2 r e b o t c O

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YOUR ATL… LEGAL GUIDE

Ensure you have businessuse insurance cover if you plan to use your own vehicle on work-related trips

YOUR EMPLOYER HAS a responsibility under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare of staff and pupils. This duty extends to the use of vehicles for school or college use.

If you are involved in driving a vehicle on an educational trip, then you should be aware of the steps to be taken and the requirements to be met both before and during the trip.

Before the trip Planning must include a risk assessment that looks at things such as: R passenger safety R competence level and training of driver R capacity and experience of driver R whether more than one driver is needed R type of journey – local or longdistance trip R contingency funds regarding possible breakdown R insurance cover R stopping points on a long journey R traffic conditions R the weather R supervision of pupils during the trip – ie not by driver.

If you are required to drive a minibus, your school or college must ensure you are competent and have had sufficient training. ATL suggests those who are required to drive a minibus for school or college should hold a D1 PCV (passenger carry vehicle) licence.

The law does enable some drivers who hold a category B licence granted prior to 1 January 1997 to drive a minibus as a volunteer without having a D1 PVC licence.

Some exceptions also apply to those who hold a category B licence issued on or after 1 January 1997 and who are over 21.

Your local authority may run free driver refresher or minibus courses; check with the person responsible for visits. If you are required to attend one, you should not have to pay for the course or attend it outside of working hours.

Should I use my own vehicle?

ATL believes it is inadvisable for members to use their own vehicles to transport pupils on educational visits.

If you do use your own vehicle, then you need to ensure your insurance policy covers business use. If you are transporting pupils, you must have

Rules of the roads

ATL solicitor Kehinde Adeogun explains legal liability when using vehicles for school and college purposes WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

business-use insurance cover, even if you cannot claim a mileage allowance.

Your employer is entitled to take a copy and keep a record of your insurance details. You also need to know before the trip that parents/guardians have provided written consent for the use of your vehicle.

You must be able to show that your vehicle is roadworthy.

Teachers cannot be directed to transport pupils in their own vehicles, even if they have business-use insurance cover.

Whether you use the school /college vehicle or your own, you must ensure that your eyesight complies with DVLA regulations. Driving with uncorrected vision is an offence that could lead to a fine and penalty points. Before you agree to drive pupils, make sure you can read a number plate at a distance of 20.5 metres.

If you have a type of cataract or glaucoma, you must report it to the DVLA and inform your school or college if you are asked to drive.

If you are to drive a vehicle, you will be responsible for carrying out maintenance checks to assess its condition, including checking first aid kit, fire extinguishers, seat belts and child restraints.

During the trip As a driver of a vehicle, you are responsible for ensuring that appropriate child restraints and seat belts are worn.

Specific statutory guidance on the type of restraint can be found on the Department for Transport website.

When driving, you should not make or receive calls from your mobile phone, even hands-free. Driving without due care and attention due to the use of a hands-free phone is an offence that can lead to a fine and penalty points.

Follow the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents’ publication Minibus Safety: A Code of Practice.

Even if you are not using your personal vehicle to transport pupils, you may still need to have business-use insurance cover for your vehicle if you have to: R drive to a place other than school or college for an INSET day R drive between sites at a multi-site school R drive to a work-related meeting at another school.

ATL suggests that all schools and colleges have comprehensive policies for the use of any vehicle for work purposes.

For detailed information on use of vehicles, download Taking Students Off Site from www.atl.org.uk/studentsoffsite.

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 23

YOUR ATL… YOUR VIEWS

Your views

JOIN THE DEBATE… report@atl.org.uk

@ATLReport

facebook.com/ ATLUnion

Report, ATL, 7 Northumberland Street, London WC2N 5RD

ATL IS ASKING members (and non-members) to take part in our work-life campaign by telling us what one change you can make to improve your work-life balance or reduce your workload. All these people have set great examples with their tweets @ATLunion under the #make1change hashtag.

You can also send us your #make1change messages via www.atl.org.uk/abouttime, or through our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/atlunion.

If you can, please do include a photo or a short video clip to demonstrate what you’re doing.

YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT OUR CAMPAIGN AND #MAKE1CHANGE AT WWW.ATL.ORG.UK/ABOUTTIME. 24 REPORT | JUNE 2016 WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

YOUR ATL… PRIZE CROSSWORD

WIN!

Prize crossword ACROSS 7 Did see boy in distress, but didn’t follow orders (9) 8 Some waste education with a horse (5) 10 & 11 Riot officer has put together film of graduates racing round Cambridge quad! (8,2,4) 12 List of dishes for fellows put before University (4) 13 Salesman drove badly – reprimanded (8) 15 Cleverer than new master, right? (7) 17 Disorganised rush led to track event (7) 20 Sid goes back to college porters’ room to remove something (8) 22 Facts and statistics kept in mind at all academies (4) 25 More suited to working as a gas installer, perhaps? (6) 26 Part of school year in a lab initially with computer device (8) 27 Does he deliver some impromptu Tory teaching? (5) 28 More blame distributed – it’s difficult to forget (9)

A £50 Marks & Spencer voucher

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HOW TO ENTER

Send your completed crossword with your contact details to: ATL June crossword competition, Think Publishing, Capital House, 25 Chapel Street, London NW1 5DH. The closing date is 28 June 2016. If you have an ATL membership number, please include this here: The winner of the June competition will be announced in the September issue of Report.

LAST ISSUE’S SOLUTION ACROSS: 1 Elaborate 8 Merton 9 Campus 12 Hail 13 Minus 14 Miss 17 Casting 18 Teacher 19 Lenient 22 Glisten 24 Type 25 Tempo 26 Guru 29 Period 30 Extent 31 Baby grand DOWN: 2 Lute 3 Banking 4 Recount 5 Tome 6 Genius 7 Punish 10 Chocolate 11 Astronaut 15 Cider 16 David 20 Nephew 21 Tuesday 22 Gap year 23 Truant 27 Diva 28 Eton CONGRATULATIONS TO MARCH’S WINNER – J R WOHLERS, SOUTHPORT

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First decision – talk to us. An ATL Plus partner, we offer practical, affordable advice specifically for education professionals about accessing additional pensions.

Book a complimentary, no obligation appointment now.

Call 08000 85 85 90.

Email appointments@lighthousefa.co.uk.

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Courses and resources on: Maths and English Leadership Vocational Education and Training

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DOWN 1 Rowing crew reduce heaviness, going topless! (5) 2 Where golfers drive for a series of lectures? (6) 3 Determined – or lets EU disintegrate? (8) 4 Lie around – certainly, when I’m not working (7) 5 County city takes all the school’s teachers or head of department (8) 6 River deep and rough, so let off (9) 9 Can Open University prevent beginnings of military take-over? (4) 14 BA is out – I’m unusually determined to do even better! (9) 16 I learn to change family member (8) 18 Weak, put-upon type might be grounded (8) 19 Those with socialist leanings feel it’s wrong (7) 21 In short, where pupils are found in bed or mucking about! (4) 23 I want a new place in east Asia (6) 24 College residential building has space finally for orchestra (5)

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YOUR ATL… NOTICEBOARD

NOTICE BOARD COMMITTEE ELECTIONS Nominations are open for election onto ATL’s advisory groups: the Independent and Private Sector Advisory Group (IPSAG), the Further and Higher Education Sector Advisory Group (FHESAG) and the Support Staff Members Advisory Group. If you are interested in standing for one of the advisory groups, send an email to Heather Ralston at hralston@atl.org.uk with a supporting statement of up to 200 words. FHESAG and IPSAG candidates should also supply a supporting nomination from their branch, or the nominating signatures of five ordinary members. Applications close at 10am on Friday 17 June.

TOLPUDDLE 2016 ATL invites you to join us in Dorset for a celebration of trade unionism at the annual Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival this July. The festival remembers workers from the village of Tolpuddle, who were arrested in 1834 after forming a trade union and sentenced to seven years’ transportation to Australia. The

2 ATL has teamed up with Rescuemycar.com to offer breakdown cover to members

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

sentences led to the first great mass trade union protest, which won them free pardons and a return home. This year’s festival takes place in the village from 15–17 July; ATL will take part in the procession starting at 2pm on the Sunday. Entry to the site is free that day and there will be events and music all day; children are welcome. For details, email organise@atl.org.uk or visit www.atl.org.uk/tolpuddle.

NORTHERN NEW TEACHER CONFERENCE ATL and Northumbria University are offering a day of CPD and networking, exclusively for trainees and NQTs in the northern region. It’s free to attend and will take place on 15 June at the university. More details are available at www.atl.org.uk/learning-zone/regionallearning/northern.asp.

CHESS IN SCHOOLS OFFER Ever thought about learning how to teach chess in your school? The charity Chess in Schools and Communities is offering free places on its one-day tutor training courses to all ATL members: London in May and Middlesbrough in June (check the website for later dates across the UK).

The charity is also offering a free term of weekly class-time lessons from a trained tutor, or via its pilot distance-learning programme, to schools that join the scheme. For more information visit www.chessinschools.co.uk.

Join ATL in a celebration of trade unionism at the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival in July

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Rescuemycar.com is one of the UK’s leading motoring organisations, with more than 4,000 independent breakdown recovery experts operating nationwide.

Breakdown cover is available to all ATL members and their families, taking into account individual circumstances for your cars, motorcycles and vans.

Call 01423 535 795 or visit www.atl.org.uk/plus.

Did you know ATL members have access to independent mortgage advice from Lighthouse Group, at preferential rates? Its job, through ATL Plus, is to find you the right mortgage, whatever your situation.

With lenders applying different assessment procedures, combined with the plethora of mortgages available, it can be difficult to work out which to choose. Getting the right deal could save you hundreds if not thousands of pounds over the term of your mortgage.

Call 0800 085 8590 or visit www.atl.org.uk/plus.

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 27

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YOUR ATL… RESOURCES

ATL RESOURCES Trainee and Newly Qualified Report ATL’s trainee and newly qualified members should find, nestling within the pages of this magazine, the latest issue of Trainee and Newly Qualified Report, which focuses on behaviour, offering advice to new teachers on how to take control of a noisy class, while there is also an opportunity to win a book on behaviour management.

Elsewhere, there are tips on effective marking, preparing for parents’ evenings and taking on more responsibility.

Independent Schools The summer term issue of Independent Schools newsletter has been sent to all members working in the independent sector, and contains coverage of independent sector goings-on at ATL’s Annual Conference in Liverpool.

There are also details of a significant victory for ATL members working at a school where part-time workers were treated unfavourably, and your chance to set the policy direction for ATL in the independent sector.

MAKE A DIFFERENCE: BECOME A REP Why are ATL workplace reps important? What does the role involve?

An ATL representative in every school and college is vital to ensure that ATL remains a strong, vibrant union, responsive to the needs of its members. ATL reps act as the first point of contact for members in the workplace: distributing information, offering support, representing members and recruiting colleagues into ATL. They play a key role in highlighting ATL’s campaigns, such as the current work-life campaign, by signposting members to ATL resources and tools and bringing members in the workplace together to tackle issues collectively.

“In our school, we’ve gone from three members to 40-plus in the past two years.

As the rep I wanted to make sure all staff, including non-teaching staff, had access to the information and support ATL offers. It can be as simple as starting conversations with colleagues and finding out what their issues are.” Local ATL workplace rep.

WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

Being a workplace rep is a great chance to develop new skills, meet new people, learn new things and develop confidence.

As an ATL rep you won’t be alone! There is lots of support available from ATL staff.

You could even arrange for two of you in your school/college to be ATL workplace reps so you can work together and support each other. You will be able to come on the reps’ induction one-day course to find out what the role involves and meet with other new reps, after which there is further reps’ training consisting of three stages.

Stage 1 concentrates on building the union team, identifying a workplace rep’s legal rights and using a systematic way of dealing with issues in the workplace.

Stage 2 focuses on interviewing members and becoming familiar with workplace grievance and disciplinary procedures. Stage 3 covers negotiating, including preparing for a negotiating meeting with management.

All reps’ training is free and takes place in a friendly and supportive environment, with opportunities for working cooperatively.

Want to find out more? Please contact learning@atl.org.uk.

JUNE 2016 | REPORT 29

FINAL WORD… LILY COLE

The keys to the

kingdom

ILLUSTRATION: PHIL WRIGGLESWORTH

Literacy empowers children to navigate the world in all sorts of ways, says actor and businesswoman Lily Cole

I HAVE A BABY who has recently started saying ‘A’s, the occasional ‘M’ and sometimes even a ‘dah’.

The concept of her learning the full alphabet, then how to read and write, seems as inevitable as her growing teeth. The importance of her being literate is not intellectual snobbery on my part; it’s not about her becoming an academic or even writing a CV. I’ll be quite happy if she wants to become a baker or a dancer. Her literacy is important because I want her to be equipped with the necessary skills to navigate this planet in empowered and simple ways: to be able to read a food packet or train sign, or respond to a legal contract.

Earlier this year, I worked alongside Project Literacy – a global coalition of NGOs and organisations – to launch the Alphabet of Illiteracy, 26 global challenges that have illiteracy at their root cause. In this alphabet, ‘A’ is for AIDS, because if you can’t

read or write you are five times less likely to understand how to protect yourself from contracting HIV. ‘B’ is for bloodshed, because the rate of violent crimes such as homicide and sexual assaults is almost double among the illiterate population. ‘C’ is for child brides, because if all women had a primary education child marriages would be reduced by a sixth, according to UNESCO. Thus, writing and reading seem to me to be part of the basic skillset we need as human beings to participate as equals in contemporary society.

I think teachers are some of society’s greatest heroes. The impact that certain teachers had on me was truly profound and has defined the person I am today.

I have also seen first hand the pressure that teachers are under, with my sister working as a Lily Cole is an primary school and special needs ambassador teacher. We are very fortunate to for Project Literacy have a system of free nationwide and founded www.impossible.com. education, and yet, in spite of the @lilycole incredible work that teachers do,

one in five children in the UK is leaving primary school unable to properly read or write.

How can this be? If a nationwide free education system doesn’t guarantee literacy, what are the deeper social and cultural issues we need to address to help solve illiteracy? What else can we, both as a society and as individuals, do to create a culture of aspiration and self-belief that nurtures a love of reading and writing in children?

The support of the family is so important, which is why some of the organisations behind Project Literacy, from the National Literacy Trust and Achievement for All in the UK to Reading Partners in the US, are working to support parents to help their children.

The challenge will be even greater for some children and families – for example, those with English as an additional language or special educational needs – but we must recognise the duty we have to help every child achieve their full potential and play their part in society.

In short, we need to go beyond the classroom; we need to inform and inspire society to take the reins and ensure our children are equipped and inspired to take their first steps towards literacy, giving them the opportunity from the earliest age possible to lead healthy and fulfilling lives. So goes the old proverb: give a man a fish and he will eat for the day; teach him to fish and he will eat for life.

Well, literacy feels a little to me like fishing.

Find out more at www.projectliteracy.com.

30 REPORT | JUNE 2016 WWW.ATL.ORG.UK

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