Leadership Focus April 2022 (issue 92)

Issue 92 / April 2022 / £5

THE MAGAZINE FOR NAHT MEMBERS

FOCUS It’s payback time What needs to be done about remuneration

The gender agenda Why is the pay gap so stark?

All being well…

We put the mental health of school leaders under the microscope

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

OPINION

PAUL WHITEMAN: NAHT general secretary

Covid-19 challenges continue sincerely hope that one day I’ll be able to write an update without mentioning covid-19. Sadly, that day is not today.

It would be remiss not to acknowledge the exceptionally difficult time many of you have had over the winter. I’ve heard it described as the worst period of the entire pandemic.

The figures for the number of children who have had covid-19 over the last few months are extraordinary. And staff members’ absence has been an enormous challenge. You’ve constantly been juggling, covering for lessons, break times and lunchtimes, filling in and organising for everything that could be missed. As ever, the incredible resilience and dedication you show is an inspiration.

We’ve spoken loudly and publicly about the reality of schools’ experiences this year, even as the government attempts to paint a picture that ‘covid-19 is over’. That is very different to our members’ experiences on the ground, and we’ve not shied away from saying so.

It’s impossible for what has happened over the last couple of years not to have impacted our members’ well-being. You gave us valuable feedback in our latest pay, workload and well-being survey, which we took directly to Westminster for a face-to-face briefing with MPs. There, Diana Ohene-Darko, NAHT national executive member for London, powerfully represented just how difficult the job of school leader can sometimes be. More desperately needs to be done to alleviate the workload and stress of the job; otherwise, the supply of teachers willing to step up to leadership will dry up completely.

We followed this work with a strong submission to the School Teachers’ Review Body and joint action with other unions on school leaders’ pay. This year,

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the Department for Education is proposing more real-term cuts and differential pay awards, further eroding school leaders’ pay. We’re working hard to put forward the case for a full restoration of school leaders’ salaries, repairing the damage done over the last decade.

Looking forward in the year, there are a few key moments we’re already preparing for. By the time you read this, the government will likely have published its highly anticipated White Paper. My fear at the time of writing, preannouncement, is that this White Paper will end up being a missed opportunity. Fundamental reform is needed to ensure schools are properly funded and supported.

The government must ensure that workload and accountability are proportionate and the profession is strengthened. The government will have failed if the proposals amount to nothing more than headline-grabbing ideas with limited depth. If that happens, you will be rightly frustrated that reform will be a discouraging distraction rather than an exciting opportunity to improve the system as we continue to contend with the effects of the pandemic. Structural reform and Whitehall policy must not hinder the ability of schools to make the choices that are right for them and maintain the independence and agency that professional school leaders need to be successful.

Above: Paul Whiteman

I am beyond grateful to live in a society led by professionals like you. Even during the hardest times, I am inspired and amazed by you – and that is what drives everyone at NAHT.

Some pressing concerns I’m hearing are on exams and assessments next term. We’ve successfully pushed the government to make some allowances for GCSEs and A levels this year. Whether that goes far enough to mitigate against the different levels of lost learning experienced by students remains to be seen.

No such allowances have been made for SATs, but we have been told that there is some understanding that this year’s test results will not be used to judge school performance. Indeed, they couldn’t possibly be used in that way – the different experiences of schools and learners throughout the pandemic makes comparison absolutely void. We’re doing our best to communicate this to the government and parents alike.

This year’s SAT results may be an interesting national reflection of the impact of covid-19, but they won’t be comparable with previous years or between schools.

All-in-all, we continue to live in interesting times. But I am beyond grateful to live in a society led by professionals like you. Even during the hardest times, I am inspired and amazed by you – and that is what drives everyone at NAHT, as we work hard to do everything we can to support you when you need it.

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CONTENTS

ASSOCIATION AND EDITORIAL ENQUIRIES NAHT 15.11-15.12 Millbank Tower 21-24 Millbank London SW1P 4QP www.naht.org.uk Tel: 0300 30 30 333 Editorial strategy board: Stuart Beck, James Bowen, Tim Bowen, Nick Brook, Mark Cornell, Iman Cornwall, Ruth Davies, Laura Doel, Guy Dudley, David Gilmore (chair), Magnus Gorham, Clare Fisher, Steve Iredale, Helena Macormac, Judy Shaw and Paul Whiteman. @nahtnews

7 EDITORIAL TEAM Editor: Nic Paton.

Publisher: David Gale.

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SALES DIRECTOR Ian Carter.

Tel: 0207 183 1815 Leadership Focus is published on behalf of NAHT by Headlines Partnership Publishing, 51/52 Triangle Building, Wolverton Park Road, Milton Keynes, MK12 5FJ www.headlines.uk.com Tel: 01908 393303 Email: david.gale@headlines.uk.com ISSN: 1472-6181 © Copyright 2022 NAHT All rights reserved: no part of this publication may be copied or reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. While every care has been taken in the compilation of this publication, neither the publisher nor NAHT can accept responsibility for any inaccuracies or changes since compilation, or for consequential loss arising from such changes or inaccuracies, or for any other loss, direct or consequential, arising in connection with information in this publication.

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The views herein are not necessarily those of the publisher, the editor or NAHT.

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“Members have abused their health both mentally and physically - to keep the show on the road,” writes NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Contents 7

‘Fixing’ school leaders’ pay We look at the corrosive impact the current pay situation has on the profession.

14 How are your health and well-being?

Just how ‘sick’ is school leadership becoming, and what, if anything, can be done about it?

24 Mind the gap: tackling gender pay inequalities

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We explore what needs to happen – at ndividual school, national and governmental in le evel – to narrow the gender pay divide.

“We’ve seen school leadership pay erode over the last decade, and for our female school leaders, there can be almost a ‘double’ hit,” Paul adds.

23 Is vullnerability the key to better leadership?

Sinéad Mc Brearty, chief executive at Education Support, provides hints and tips on showing vulnerability as a leader and how it can help build a stronger team.

31 Spotlight on the public sector equality duty

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NAHT senior equalities officer Natalie Arnett examines the public sector equality duty and what your school must do to comply.

32 Special partners’ offers

Whether you’re looking to make the most of your membership or help your school access preferential rates on critical resources, you’ve come to the right place.

40 Northern Ireland policy corner

Graham Gault, NAHT(NI) interim director, shares an update on the key issues affecting our members in Northern Ireland.

41 Wales policy corner Laura Doel, NAHT Cymru director, provides an update on the funded newly qualified teacher scheme, reform to the school day and year, and much more.

42 Tim Bowen

A word from our president.

43 References on leaving employment – the law explained NAHT solicitor Richard Winterbottom looks at your duties as an employer and rights as an employee in terms of work references.

44 The Teachers’ Pension Scheme: the ongoing journey to remove discrimination NAHT head of advice Kate Atkinson examines the impact of two judgments, steps taken by the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to remedy the discrimination and what it means for you.

47 Operation Encompass: concerned about a child in your school experiencing domestic abuse?

Elisabeth Carney-Haworth OBE, NAHT life member and co-creator of Operation Encompass, talks about the scheme’s national helpline to safeguard and support schools with pupils experiencing domestic abuse.

54 The final word Journalist Susan Young speaks to a teacher whose undeniably hilarious anecdotes about his pupils have taken Twitter by storm.

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LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

‘Fixing’

ay p ’ s r e d a le l o o h sc

Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton looks at the corrosive impact the current pay situation is having on the profession. his year, buried within NAHT’s evidence on pay to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) are statistics that should ring alarm bells for all head teachers and school leaders concerned about the future, and future health, of school leadership.

The report, published and submitted to the STRB last month (March), has set out detailed arguments as to why, this year, things desperately need to change when it comes to head teachers’ and school leaders’ pay. Why, after years of stagnation and erosion, there needs to be a reset of – in effect, a new settlement around – school leaders’ pay. And we will come to what NAHT is calling for this year in more detail shortly.

The corrosive impact the current pay situation is having on the ground in terms of school leaders voting with their feet, deciding enough is enough and leaving the profession – so-called ‘wastage rates’ – is now alarming many in the profession.

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NAHT secured evidence through a freedom of information request, which shows that wastage rates have increased in every school leadership category when comparing 2011/15 to 2015/20 data.

To give a flavour, the percentage of primary head teachers appointed to post in 2011 who then left within five years was 22%. But for those appointed in 2015, it was 25%. For secondary head teachers, it was 35% in 2011 and 37% in 2015.

These figures may seem relatively small in themselves, but as the evidence also suggests, they may simply be the calm before the storm of a much larger pandemic-related exodus.

As the report states: “It’s also worth noting that the impact of the pandemic interrupted the 2020 and 2021 recruitment rounds; evidence suggests that many experienced teachers and leaders have delayed career decisions, which may have artificially improved the five-year retention rate for the period 2015/20.”

These fears for the future were starkly laid out in NAHT’s recent report, ‘Fixing the leadership crisis: time for change’.

The report, the result of a survey of more than 2,000 NAHT members, concluded that dissatisfaction is rising steeply within the profession, with fewer than a third (30%) of school leaders now saying they’d

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recommend school leadership as a career goal (a fall of 36% in a single year).

More than half of assistant and deputy head teachers (53%) now say they don’t aspire to headship, with more than a fifth (23%) remaining undecided. A lack of professional recognition and trust, unsustainable workload and high-stakes inspection were all driving attrition and undermining aspiration to lead (see the panel at the end for more on the report’s findings).

PERCENTAGE OF RESPONDENTS WHO WOULD BE LIKELY TO RECOMMEND SCHOOL LEADERSHIP AS A CAREER GOAL.

47%

2020

32%

30%

2021 2

0%

20%

21%

47%

40%

likely/very likely

23%

60%

80%

unlikely/very unlikely

100%

neutral

PAY ROUNDTABLE

These were fears that also ran through an NAHT virtual panel discussion held in February precisely to discuss ways we may be able to ‘fix’ school leaders’ pay.

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STUART SMITH, HEAD TEACHER AT ST MARY’S PRIMARY SCHOOL

IAN HARTWRIGHT, NAHT SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR

As Stuart Smith – head teacher at St Mary’s Primary School, a two-form entry primary school in Birmingham, and one of the panellists – put it: “We could be looking at a quite significant exodus over the next two to three years of highly experienced head teachers, with fewer people coming up behind them because the financial incentives aren’t there. I’m very worried about the future and how pay fits into that.”

Superficially, of course, chancellor Rishi Sunak’s pledge in the autumn to end the schoolteachers’ pay freeze was notionally good news for the sector. However, it simply masks – indeed could exacerbate – longstanding problems around school leaders’ and head teachers’ pay.

First, against a backdrop of rising inflation and the burgeoning cost-ofliving crisis, it remains moot whether teachers will receive anything close to a rise that can mitigate fast-growing prices, let alone restore teachers’ pay after years of stagnation.

Second, this is even more the case for school leaders and head teachers, who have seen their pay fall in real terms over the past decade. Indeed, this year’s evidence makes the point that, since 2010, the salary of a school leader in percentage terms has declined by 15% against consumer prices index (CPI) inflation and a massive 27% against retail prices index (RPI) inflation.

To restore school leaders’ pay while at the same time meetiing the governmentt’s ambition of lifting ne ewly qualified teachers’ (NQTs’) starting salaries to £30,000 by (probably) 2024 will require a succession of inflation-busting pay rises for those further up the scale, as NAHT senior policy advisor Ian Hartwright makes clear to Leadership Focus.

“In practice, this will mean an 8% salary rise this year and a fu urther 8% the next, and fully funded to ensure this extra money is not eked out of already stretched school budgets. I acc cept we run the risk of being pilloried in the e likes of the Daily Mail by asking for 16% across two years. But this is wha at’s needed to even get you back to o salaries of 2010 levels. Asking fo or less just seems to be an unsustainable thing to do,” he says.

PAUL WHITEMAN, NAHT GENERAL SECRETARY In realpolitik terms, the likeliho ood of this sort of financial large esse being g waved through the Treasury y is unlike ely. However, the consequences off not sign nificantly

loosening the purse strings could be severe, as NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman emphasises.

“The only way to position it, to talk to the government about it, is that first of all, the government should be absolutely ashamed of its record on pay in the education sector. The government can’t blame it on anybody else; it has had its hands on this for over a decade now,” he says.

“We’ve seen pay rates erode. We are now in the middle of a recruitment and retention crisis; this isn’t on the horizon anymore: we are there. Part of that is selfcreated because the government hasn’t dealt with pay.

“Everybody has warned the government that this is coming. The STRB has told the government too, and it has ignored the STRB and ignored some of the recommendations that have come from it.

“What we’re saying is that the government has to make a significant step now so that it can begin to put the brakes on the retention and recruitment crisis.

Then it needs to work with us to build a proposition over the next few years that takes us back to a more solid footing for pay and reward in education.

“We know the issue of pay can’t be repaired overnight, but let’s have at least a big sttep in the riight directtion – one thatt gives a strong signa al of intent – which we can then build on over the next two to three years,” Paul ad dds.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

What, then, is NAHT calling for? The evidence to the STRB is, of course, a weighty document (more than 18,000 words long), but in essence, it boils down to

10 core priorities

HILARY GOLDSMITH, SCHOOL BUSINESS LEADER AT THE JUDD SCHOOL A reformed national pay structure with mandatory minimum pay points, and pay portability.

1 The restoration of teachers’ and school leaders’ real pay to 2010 levels and reinstatement of the pay differential for leadership.

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A comprehensive review of the factors that determine leadership pay.

2

Codification of executive leadership roles within a revised School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), and inclusion or alignment of school business leader roles with the leadership pay range.

3

A professional pay continuum that supports new career pathways and delivers pay progression for teachers and school leaders.

7

Comprehensive analysis of the gender pay gap and action to eliminate pay gaps for all protected characteristics to ensure pay equality and equity.

8 Establishment of a range of ‘key worker’ packages, differentiated to meet local or regional circumstances and need.

A system that delivers timely pay uplifts.

5

Protected leadership time for assistant and deputy head teachers.

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Alo ongside this, NAHT is making a firm case for school bussiness leaders to get a better deal. The evidence has called for ‘a thorough review’ of the leadership pay structure for sch hool business leaders, adding: “NAHT believes that the pay and d conditions of school business leaders should be aligned witth a revised leadership pay range.”

A complementary NAHT report, ‘School business leadership in crisis? Making school business leadership sustainable’, in nuary echoed the concerns of the ‘Fixing the leadership Jan crissis’ report. It found the number of school business leaders who would recommend school leadership had fallen by 10% between 2020 and 2021, from 48% to 43%.

Commitment to the full funding of future pay uplifts.

✘

According to Hilary Goldsmith, school business leader with The Judd School in Tonbridge, Kent and a member of NAHT’s school business leaders’ sector council, the pressures and pinch-points faced by school business leaders are similar, and similarly corrosive, to those experienced by head teachers and other school leaders.

“From the school business leaders’ (SBLs’) side, we need to have an alignment with leadership salaries. This is, first, to attract and, second, to retain school business leaders as part of the senior leadership team. The media and the Department for Education’s communications are all about ‘schools’ and ‘teachers’; they don’t often talk about school leadership. So, school leadership as a ‘thing’, as a concept, has become very blurry,” she told NAHT’s February virtual panel.

“From the school business leaders’ (SBLs’) side, we need to have an alignment with leadership salaries.”

As with other school leaders, pay progression was also an issue for SBLs, Hilary pointed out. “The responsibilities that come with school leadership have grown so hugely over the last few years. The gap between an administrator and finance manager, stepping into a truly strategic role and the responsibilities that come with that, is massive but with very little additional recognition,” Hilary added.

The erosion and stagnation of school leaders’ pay is not just fuelling an exodus at the top; it is becoming a key factor in deterring middle or senior leaders from stepping up to headship or more senior roles, as the ‘Fixing the leadership crisis’ report made clear. Essentially, the intense accountability and workload pressures that come with headship are becoming increasingly unattractive when combined with the fact there is so little extra reward to compensate.

As Stuart Smith, again, highlighted in our panel discussion: “It’s the recruitment of future leaders that, I think, is critical for the sector. When I talk

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PAY ROUNDTABLE

to younger colleagues, I see and hear people who had – and I’m going to use the past tense – aspirations to become head teachers in the future.

“We have potential leaders of the future looking at the sheer range of responsibilities that head teachers have, the accountability that goes with that and the lack of financial incentives. And they don’t see any reason, at this moment in time, to take that final step,” he added.

CLAIRE EVANS, HEAD TEACHER AT ETON VALLEY PRIMARY SCHOOL

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The need for a reformed national pay structure (with mandatory minimum pay points) and pay portability is critical because the narrowing of pay differentials is an important factor in this reluctance to move up. The aspiration for NQTs to have a starting salary of £30,000 simply serves to add insult to the lack of financial progression for people moving into more senior roles.

The impact of a lack of a proper pay continuum or progression was brought into sharp focus in the discussion by Claire Evans, who took on the head teacher role at Eaton Valley Primary School, a two-form entry school in West Bromwich, last September.

“When I was looking for a headship position, it was hard to find something equal to what I was being paid as a deputy.”

“I went from a deputy head in a larger school in Birmingham to Eaton Valley,” she said. “When I was looking for a headship position, it was hard to find something equal to what I was being paid as a deputy.

A lot of the two-form entry headships I was looking at would have meant a drop in salary,” she said.

“When I was offered the job here and the grade was lower than what I was on as a deputy, I asked whether they would just match it, and that felt uncomfortable.

That leap from deputy to head teacher sometimes is negligible in terms of the pay – none of us does it for the pay, but it would be nice to be rewarded for it,” Claire added.

Clearly, there is a compelling argument – and appetite – for change within the profession. But is the government

CHRIS KIRKHAM-KNOWLES, PRIMARY EXECUTIVE LEADER AT COAST AND VALE LEARNING TRUST The need for greater codification and definition of executive leadership roles, especially against the backdrop of the academisation and federalisation of the school system, was highlighted by Chris Kirkham-Knowles, the primary executive leader at Coast and Vale Learning Trust in North Yorkshire and chair of NAHT’s professional committee.

“I think heads or senior leaders in small schools face a specific challenge around their pay and remuneration, particularly with the trend towards federation and working across a number of schools. The STPCD isn’t clear about how those people should be remunerated,” he told the panel discussion.

For example, as the head teacher of a small school, you may have a relatively low number of pupils, yet still as much – if not more – responsibility as a head of a larger school, he pointed out. The rollout of multi-academy trusts (MATs), perhaps spread across a number of very different small schools and/or across a wide geographical or rural area (such as, in his area, North Yorkshire), simply amplified the problem.

“It is a very specialised job when it comes to meeting the needs of communities that can differ from one Dale to the next, despite their schools being on each other’s doorsteps. I think there is a particular challenge there in terms of getting it right for school leaders and making sure that people see those roles as attractive ones,” Chris said.

“The clarity of progression is another challenge. The STPCD and the terms and conditions haven’t kept pace with the changes that academisation, federation and other structures have introduced. My job, for example, is one of them. My job isn’t covered by any national negotiation; it has almost been invented as a pay scale. I have no idea where I’d go next if I were looking for career progression. There has been no move towards clarifying any sort of progression,” Chris continued.

prepared to listen and what happens next, especially if it’s not?

Of course, whether the government is prepared to listen is a question that only the government ultimately can answer.

Paul Whiteman, however, emphasises that it is beholden on NAHT and the other teaching unions to at least try to get ministers to hear.

“Our first step has to be reasoned argument with the government. The government has allowed it to get like this; it has to step up now. We have to try to persuade the government that this will be a popular thing to do. Yes, we will get our detractors – but saving education when you, the government, have placed education, correctly, in the centre of the country’s recovery involves making sure you look after those leading it,” he tells Leadership Focus.

“We also have to persuade the STRB to have the confidence of its mission and to stand up and say what’s in front of its face. Don’t, for example, be guided by the government to say, ‘within the bounds of affordability’. Simply state (based on the evidence it receives) what the pay rate should be.

“I think, within this, we need to be having quite an in-depth conversation with the STRB and the government about pay system reform within education.

It is a frightening prospect for some, I recognise; the idea of having a conversation around national pay scales, local pay systems, pay freedoms and all the rest of it,” Paul continues.

As to the second ‘what happens next?’ question, there are two strands: the technical, practical process and then a wider, more existential conversation.

The technical, practical process is straightforward enough. The report has now gone to the STRB. There follows a period to submit supplementary evidence.

After which, NAHT will give oral evidence to the STRB, which then submits its recommendations to the secretary of state, who is the decision-maker.

Once again, the timeframe is running seriously behind this year, so the deadlines are extremely tight. Theoretically, an announcement on pay should be made before September, but this is likely to run late again – perhaps even into December, says Ian Hartwright.

As to the second strand – what NAHT and the profession can or should do in response to an intransigent or simply belligerent government – that is, naturally, more challenging. Are we hurtling, irrevocably, towards a fracturing of relations and, even, the prospect of industrial action if things don’t improve or if the warnings of the profession are not heeded?

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

“I don’t sense, at the moment, that pay “For me, as the system has become is first on the list of things our members corrupted – not, I emphasise, corrupt – would take to the streets over. School because of the different pressures on it leaders, we all know, are not in it just and how it has been tweaked over the last 15-20 years, we now have for their own financial reward. They are truly to rebuild it to create dedicated to delivering a system that is fit for “We also have for their children; they purpose today. That to persuade the care deeply. We’re seeing includes national pay that the motivation to scales, central pay setting STRB to have the leave the profession and limited freedoms. But confidence of its it gives us a system that and do something else mission and to is accelerating, rather we know is fair, we know stand up and say than the desire to is adequate in terms of its disrupt the profession.” rewards and is justifiable what’s in front of However, in what is to the public,” emphasises its face.” potentially something Paul Whiteman.

VIEW FROM THE NATIONS

of a warning shot across to the bows that ministers would be wise to heed, Paul adds: “I’m not sure at what point that will switch. However, if things don’t change, I’m confident it will.

“We’re telling the government that school leaders are running things on goodwill, and the amount of time the government can rely on that is running out. I can’t predict when that will be, but the calls – the calls to do something, the calls for industrial action – are growing louder each time I am in front of members and talking about pay. It’s not loud enough yet to make me think it’s time to agitate, time to organise, but it is catching my attention.”

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pupils in just one school, and they’re getting paid more. So, we are pushing for the Welsh Government to look at that. It has been included as a point of discussion for the IWPRB, and we have been gathering evidence,” Laura adds.

LAURA DOEL, NAHT CYMRU DIRECTOR NAHT Cymru is submitting a response to the Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) and has been surveying its GRAHAM GAULT, NAHT(NI) members on pay and well-being, highlights INTERIM DIRECTOR NAHT Cymru director Laura Doel.

In Northern Ireland, after unions jointly “The IWPRB and the Welsh Government have agreed on a 1.75% put in a claim for 6%, school leaders and pay rise for 2021/22,” she says. “But I don’t think you can call it a head teachers have now been offered rise when it is less than inflation; so, we’re still chasing our tails. And an increase of 2.49% over two years. we are still seeing the differentials between leadership “It is even worse than just the headline figure because the pay and the main pay scale being narrowed, which way the employers have decided to make this increase is is a real concern when it comes to progression. by adjusting the leadership pay scale,” highlights NAHT When you combine it with workload pressures Northern Ireland interim director Graham Gault. and significant leadership responsibility, you have “So, for each band that our members might be people saying, ‘I’m better off staying where I am’. on, they have taken off the bottom one and put “We are calling for a significant pay rise. another point on the top. That means while the We are also in conversations with the Welsh band as a whole may have an increase of 2.49% – Government to set a three-year or longer it is, of course, nowhere near even the current rate fully-funded pay deal, rather than of inflation – the only person who can benefit year-on-year pay settlements from that in the short term is the member who where the budgetary pressure is is on the upper end of that scale because also pushed back on to schools they now have a new point to go to. by local authorities,” Laura adds.

“If you are a principal and With it now a legal requirement are on the lower end of the for schools to have an additional scale, you still have to move learning needs coordinator (ALNCo) through the increments before in place, there are ongoing issues there is any advantage for around remuneration and the fact there you, and for some people, that is no defined pay structure for this role. could take three or four years.

“We are calling for a pay scale for “The pay offer is an insult “WE’RE STILL CHASING OUR ALNCos that recognises their role and to our members. It is a very TAILS. AND WE ARE STILL responsibility. We are looking, too, at poor offer,” Graham adds.

SEEING THE DIFFERENTIALS remuneration for school leaders responsible The dissatisfaction has been such ... BEING NARROWED”, for more than one school,” Laura highlights. that a ballot was held during February SAYS LAURA DOEL. “We have a growing trend of federations on whether to accept the offer, with of schools, and we don’t have a mechanism NAHT members in Northern Ireland by which to pay them. Pay for school voting to reject it. Indeed, all five trade leaders responsible for more than one school is still calculated unions in the collective bargaining group, known as the Northern on pupil numbers. But this may not reflect the responsibility of, Ireland Teachers’ Council (NITC), have now formally rejected say, managing a federation of small, rural, community schools. the offer. Given the current wider political paralysis in Northern “You might have just 120 pupils between three schools, Ireland, how this is all going to be resolved remains uncertain. for example, but you are managing three lots of teams, three “The other complication within all this is, with the collapse sites and all of the management responsibility that goes of the Northern Ireland Executive, the difficulty now of with that. A school leader down the road might have 200 getting back to the negotiating table,” Graham highlights.

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PAY ROUNDTABLE

WHAT NAHT HAS SAID In the ‘Fixing the leadership crisis’ report, NAHT made it very clear change is needed to resolve the growing recruitment and retention crisis and for school leadership to become a sustainable career.

Indeed, the report has argued that it is ‘essential’ school leaders feel able, eager and willing to commit to decades-long careers.

The report concluded the following:

More than half of assistant and deputy head teachers (53%) say they do not aspire to headship, with more than a fifth (23%) undecided.

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Dissatisfaction is rising steeply: fewer than a third (30%) of school leaders would recommend school leadership as a career goal (a fall of 36% in a single year).

Do not aspire to headship

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Undecided

These pressures drive worrying mental health and well-being outcomes for school leaders: more than a third of middle leaders (35%) and assistant and deputy heads (38%) identified needing access to mental health or well-being support over the last year.

50%

40%

30% Lack of professional recognition and trust, unsustainable workload and high-stakes inspection combine to drive attrition and undermine aspiration to lead.

The pay freeze, lack of pay progression and a decade of declining real-term pay for leaders have tested their vocational commitement beyond .

20%

10%

0% Middle leaders

Assistant and deputy heads

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

The report argued that ‘urgent and coordinated action’ was now required to ensure a sufficient pipeline of school leaders for the future. It made five key recommendations to the government.

1 Restore trust by empowering school leaders to make the decisions that best meet their learners’ needs, free from centralised diktat and control.

4

Commit to full engagement, proper consultation and meaningful collaboration with the profession’s representative bodies when developing policy.

2

Restore school leaders’ real pay, and restore the leadership differential; set the STRB a remit to consult with trader unions to devise a new professional pay structure to support teachers and school leaders throughout their careers.

The grim picture for school leaders and head teachers was mimicked in NAHT’s other report, ‘School business leadership in crisis? Making school business leadership sustainable’.

This report concluded that the number of school business leaders who would recommend school leadership fell by 10% between 2020 and 2021, from 48% to 43%.

Value school leaders and teachers by removing the drivers of the mental health and well-being crisis and providing accessible, fullyfunded support.

As for other school leaders, the pressures on school business leaders were driving worrying mental health and well-being outcomes, with 70% reporting increased worry, fear or stress about their job, an increase of 30% in the last year alone.

Three quarters (75%) of respondents disagreed that their salary fairly reflects the roles and responsibilities they undertake. Equally worrying, almost

3 Reform inspection and accountability measures to remove drivers of unnecessary workload, fear and stress.

5 a fifth (19%) of respondents said they planned to leave within the next year.

As with the ‘Fixing the leadership crisis’ report, ‘urgent and coordinated action’ was required to ensure the sufficient supply of school business leaders for now and in the future, NAHT argued. It urged the government to develop ‘a comprehensive and holistic strategy’ to support the pipeline of school business leaders.

This strategy needed to:

• Include initiatives to tackle the workload of school business leaders, integrated with those offered for the leadership profession as a whole • Resolve the issues around the disparity in pay many school business leaders face by ensuring that school business leaders performing a leadership-level role are able to be paid at an equivalent level to other comparable leadership roles • To support this, NAHT is calling for a thorough review of the leadership pay structure, which should include aligning the pay of school business leaders alongside a revised STPCD • Raise the professional status of school business leaders within the sector and schools. This should include working with the sector to develop materials and guidance on how schools can embed and maximise the impact of school business leaders in their staffing structure • Provide greater support to help mitigate some of the systemic barriers to flexible working opportunities for all roles, including school business leaders • Remove the drivers of the mental health and well-being crisis, and provide accessible, fully-funded support for school business leaders.

Read the full feature online here: https://features.naht.org.uk/fixing-school-leaders-pay/index.html

13

WELL-BEING

How are your

14

health and well-being?

Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton looks at how the pressures of leading through a pandemic have taken their toll.

ead teachers and school leaders are used to the argument that their role is more about the vocation than the money, and they don’t expect much in the way of plaudits from politicians (unlikely anyway from the current government) or even the public.

It’s true that you go above and beyond for the children, for the lifechanging benefit and agency you can bring to young people’s futures, and for the positive mark your actions and decisions will leave on your local area. But that is not a reason to pay you poorly or for the government to neglect your well-being. It is not wrong for a school leader to expect, even demand, to be as well remunerated

H

and treated like any other professional graduate occupation.

The pivotal role of schools and school leaders in shaping, supporting and serving their local communities has, of course, been highlighted like never before over the past two years of the covid-19 pandemic. But at what personal cost?

NAHT’s recent report, ‘Fixing the leadership crisis: time for change’, highlighted how a decade of erosion of pay and recognition and of unsustainable workload and high-stakes accountability – together with the intense pressures of leading through a pandemic – is all taking a terrible toll on head teachers’ and school leaders’ health and well-being.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Based on a survey of more than 2,000 NAHT members, the report found that threequarters (75%) of school leaders felt their role was having a negative impact on their mental health, a rise of almost 21% in a single year.

The report also identified a growing need for mental health and wellbeing support across all school job roles. More than a quarter (27%) of school leaders said supporting staff members’ well-being was one of the top three greatest impacts on their workload over the last year.

The vast majority (91%) of assistant and deputy heads reported that the mental health support they provide to staff had increased or ‘greatly’ increased over the last three years. More than a third (35%) of middle leaders and 38% of assistant and deputy heads said they had identified a personal need for mental health or well-being support during the past year.

These deeply concerning conclusions prompted NAHT to gather members together in February to gauge just how ‘sick’ school leadership is becoming and what, if anything, can be done about it.

Almost all – nine in ten, or 88% – felt the quality or quantity of their sleep had been affected by their role in the past year, increasing from 83% in 2020. A total of 83% of respondents reported increased worry, fear or stress about their job, an increase of more than 15% over the last year. Almost six in ten (59%) said their role has had a negative impact on their physical health, compared with 46% in 2020.

These deeply concerning conclusions prompted NAHT to gather members together in February to gauge just how ‘sick’ school leadership is becoming and what, if anything, can be done about it.

91%

of assistant and deputy heads reported that the mental health support they provide to staff had increased or ‘greatly’ increased over the last three years.

88%

felt the quality or quantity of their sleep had been affected by their role in the past year.

15

WELL-BEING

IAN HARTWRIGHT, NAHT SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR For Ian Hartwright, NAHT senior policy advisor, the findings from the ‘Fixing the leadership crisis’ report should be ringing massive alarm bells in government.

“This is a blindingly important wake-up call for the government. A third of our assistant, deputy and middle leadership members have said they had a mental health or well-being need – and had identified that in the last year.

There will be many more people, I suspect, who won’t have quite identified that for themselves.

“It is very doubled-edged. If a third of your workforce is telling you that their work is making them ill, the government really does need to sit up and take notice of that,” Ian tells Leadership Focus.

16

IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG TO FIND OUT Within minutes of the virtual event starting – in fact still during the opening ‘introductions’ – NAHT members were pouring out the mental and physical toll that the past two years of managing and leading during the pandemic had taken on them, in something almost akin to a cathartic ‘therapy session’.

Members talked about how Ofsted restarting inspections added to an already unsustainable situation; they spoke about the impact their roles had had on their mental and physical health, including feelings of burnout, guilt, desperation, anxiety and comfort eating.

Deeply worrying, every NAHT member in the discussion indicated they were either now actively looking at taking early retirement – as early as financially possible – or planning to leave the profession early.

The fear, therefore, is that members’ experience of the pandemic risks turning

the ‘leaky pipeline’ of school leaders’ recruitment and retention identified

by NAHT back in 2017 into a fullblown, gushing torrent of a leadership crisis in the not-too-distant future.

NAHT has made it very clear in its latest evidence on pay to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (discussed in more detail on page 7) that, alongside pay in members’ pockets, a deeper conversation is needed around how school leadership (and teaching more widely) can become a more sustainable and sustaining career.

As it has said: “The situation is not irretrievable, but the window in which to act is closing quickly.

If the pandemic lifts, long-delayed career decisions are likely to come into play across all job roles. The evidence strongly demonstrates that morale and aspiration are at an all-time low. Truly terrible mental health and well-being indicators make teaching look a desperately unattractive profession to join.”

LEA LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

“Mental health support is very useful, “M part particularly for members of staff who we know have mental health needs or when staff are in crisis,” she explained. “But, looking at our budget, it may be something look we need to reduce because we can’t afford n to continue paying it. And the staff do co know they are very lucky to receive that.

“Because of the volume of “B peo people who want to see the cou counsellor, they don’t get regular sup support. We book a session for the senior leadership team to do supervision session, but that is a su only once a term. But if you are in c crisis as a leader, you should not have to wait until the next term for time to book a slot with a cou counsellor to talk about the crisis you had six weeks ago,” she added.

WHAT, THEN, CAN BE DONE?

Clearly, making school leadership a more t i bl and d viable i bl llong-term t sustainable career (and, crucially, one that is not going to make you ill) is not something that can happen overnight.

As one head teacher on the panel pointed out, it was the spiralling burden of workload combined with the pressure of high-stakes accountability, with a lack of pay, recognition and respect, and with the scouring effects of the pandemic that were all coming together to create a toxic mix.

For example, he and his wife (a teacher) had experienced 12 Ofsted inspections within their first 10 years of married life.

Even for those head teachers who have been resilient enough to survive decades at the top of the profession, the experience of the pandemic has tipped many of them over the edge.

One Essex head teacher, a head for nearly two decades, told how the exit to retirement now can’t come soon enough.

“I’ve met with the pensions adviser. I am past 50 years of age; I will be hitting 55 and then running. My husband is also a teacher. He is also planning to leave when I’m 55; his comment was: ‘I could go and work in Tesco and not have to bring work home in the evening.’ There is, I feel, going to be a huge leadership crisis,” she said.

A further factor – and worry – highlighted by the panel was the dditi lfi i lb d on already l d additional financial burden stretched school budgets of affording all the extra mental health and well-being support and assistance that, increasingly, was now needed.

One panellist pointed out that in her school, they fund a counsellor to come in once a fortnight for an afternoon, usually to do three hours at the cost of £50 an hour, with staff able to self-refer for support. Senior leaders had access to mental health training, and the school had paid for staff members to gain mental health first-aider qualifications.

A further panellist highlighted how, too ofte often, community or NHS mental health serv services are inaccessible or unavailable, both for children and adults. Yet, buying occupational health support is an occu expe expensive option for many schools when bud budgets are tight.

“C “CAMHS (NHS Child and Adolescent M Mental Health Services) is so broken in this area; if you have a suicidal child, it can take about two years to get them support. And it is the same for adult mental health support. It comes down to funding,” he said.

Another pointed to the fact there is still often a stigma around accessing mental health support – about feeling that, by asking for help, you are somehow ‘failing’ as a school leader.

17

WELL-BEING

“I think there is an educational aspect to this for school leaders as well. I think we need a level of support and supervision similar to, say, what a GP might expect or be offered – again, a very stressful occupation.

Any professional occupational usually has expectations of supervision,” he said.

“The problem is we all manage large numbers of staff. We refer some to occupational health for mental health support. As school leaders and managers, we often utilise these services to support our staff, but this is something that should be built in to our profession so that it is an expectation of having supervision and support.

18

“If it was actually supervision as opposed to ‘mental health’, I think you would get a lot more buy-in by the professionals who are leaders in schools,” he added.

Ultimately, as another panellist expressed strongly, supporting head teachers’ and school leaders’ well-being needs comes back to three words: support, recognition and status.

As he put it, in a powerful call to the government: “Support us to do the job you want us to do by investing in us and giving us the tools to do the job.

Recognise that we are doing our very, very best. And be public about it. Don’t imply it, and don’t be mealy-mouthed.

“Get behind us and say, ‘school leaders do an amazing job’ all the time; when parents question that, stand behind school leadership and say, ‘trust the leaders in your schools to solve your children’s problems for you’.”

HOW NAHT WORKS TO SUPPORT YOUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING

For members who feel they are struggling, whether mentally or physically, NAHT offers a range of well-being support resources, which you can access here: www.naht.org.uk/well-being.

This support includes access to confidential counselling, expert advisors, financial well-being assistance and much, much more.

Furthermore, NAHT president Tim Bowen has made health and well-being a key priority for his year as president.

He has nominated Education Support, which has been supporting NAHT members for a number of years, as his charity for the year.

TIM BOWEN, NAHT PRESIDENT

You can find out more about Education Support and what it offers at www.naht.org.uk/education-support.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

‘Members have abused their health, both mentally and physically, to keep the show on the road’ I’ve watched members age before my eyes over the pandemic. It was tough before, but the last two yearrs have brought into sharp focus jusst the level of pressure that school leade ership is under, writes NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman.

PAUL WHITEMAN, NAHT GENERAL SECRETARY Members have abu used their health – both mentally and physically – to keep the show on the road. You can see it in their faces. Even before they begin to describe the impact it’s had on their personal life or health, you can see peoplle physically changing. I have he eard harro owing stories of members who have had to visit the doctor for acute stress-related problems, but also of membe ers who ha ave put off seeing a doctorr because of their dedication to the task.

We’re only just beginning to understand the dep pth of the e toll this has had on members.

If the government doesn’t begin to listen to the profession about the impact the pandemic is having on the health and well-being of school leaders, combined with general workload and accountability pressures and the ongoing lack of recognition, we’re just going to fall further and further into crisis.

What is beginning to worry me is the number of members who are now asking for quotes for their pensions.

A while ago, we surveyed members asking how many had thought of leaving the profession earlier than the normal retirement age. Nearly half, 47%, said they wanted to go after the pandemic.

To me, that says a couple of things. First, just the sheer professionalism of people who are beyond frustration – that they will not leave their school in the middle of a crisis.

We know that survey data of people’s intentions doesn’t always follow through to actions later. But we are experiencing a spike in calls, with members saying, ‘I want to retire, so please can you give me some advice?’. How that translates to how many we lose, we have yet to see.

But the signals are that people are truly beginning to prepare to go. The risk is we will lose a load of leadership and teaching experience, which weakens education.

Read and share this feature: https://features.naht.org.uk/health-and-well-being/index.html

19

WELL-BEING 20

VIEW FROM THE NATIONS

40s saying, ‘what else is out there?’. That is a real worry. We have people who are very early on in a leadership career saying, ‘no, this is not for me’. Or people who have come into middle leadership saying, ‘no way’ to additional responsibility,” Laura adds.

LAURA DOEL, NAHT CYMRU DIRECTOR On top of the general pressures of managing and leading through a pandemic, Welsh school GRAHAM GAULT, NAHT(NI) leaders and head teachers face a number of INTERIM DIRECTOR extra pressure points, highlights NAHT Cymru Much as in England, in Northern Ireland, director Laura Doel. First, there is the rollout of the combination of workload, the pandemic, the new curriculum for Wales, which will be up and running from accountability pressures and a general lack this September. of recognition and remuneration is creating Second, new legislation has been put in place for additional real fear of a looming retirement and retention crisis, says NAHT learning needs (ALN) in Wales, meaning it has become a legal Northern Ireland interim director Graham Gault. requirement for every school to have an ALN coordinator and carry “We ran a retirement seminar for members a few weeks ago, and out a review of pupils’ needs and offer support where necessary.

Third, as in England, there is the pressure of Estyn’s inspection I was shocked that more than 10% of our total membership turned arrangements, compounded by a new inspection regime being up. That really surprised me; it frightened me. Some people will have introduced in pilot form from the spring. On top of all this, the just been there for information, of course, but we might need a big recruitment drive in the years to come,” he warns.

Welsh Government is looking at reforming the school day and school year, potentially extending the school day and Graham is himself chair of a working party reviewing school making changes to the school holidays. (Read our leaders’ workload. While this has yet to report, he suggests policy update on page 41 for more on this.) the evidence gathered so far is seriously worrying.

“The issue of pay came up within the evidence “So, we are at a very stressful point in Wales,” sessions, from principals from all sectors,” Graham says Laura. “Even before the pandemic, we points out. “It wasn’t that the principals wanted were concerned about the curriculum rollout. more money. There were two factors that I could It involves such a significant change in terms of identify. The first was a feeling of a complete lack what’s expected of practice and pedagogy, and it of respect and value; it is just so damaging to requires a cultural shift too. Practitioners grew morale – the feeling that you don’t count. up in the national curriculum – went to “School leaders’ pay is not bad when you school with the national curriculum compare it with the public sector. But and have only ever taught the national whenever you sit down and look curriculum – and now the rule book is at what they do – in Northern being ripped up.

Ireland, there is a completely “People will have the freedom to open-ended contractual situation. develop a curriculum that suits their That means everything and setting and learners, so on the one anything can end up falling to the hand (and positively), it does allow principal every time,” he says. for innovation; it is something that “The pay doesn’t reflect the has really driven enthusiasm among responsibility, expectation and practitioners in Wales. However, on the accountability that is on the shoulders other, it’s not easy to do. The support and “WE ARE EVEN NOW of school leaders. It just makes it training offered to members have also been SEEING MEMBERS IN cumulatively difficult to get up in the a mixed picture,” Laura adds.

THEIR 40s SAYING, ‘WHAT morning and do your work with the “I think it is fair to say our members are ELSE IS OUT THERE?’,” enthusiasm and the joy that your staff feeling the pressure. That’s not to say they SAYS LAURA DOEL. and your children need. Your morale don’t continue to step up every day they starts to be picked away. walk into school and lead their teams with “THERE IS SUCH A SENSE OF a smile on their face – because they do very “The second factor that members DESOLATION OUT THERE”, much. But behind that, in the privacy of raised, again and again, is that in SAY GRAHAM GAULT. their offices, I know from my conversations Northern Ireland, principals and with members, there is a real concern along vice-principals, people in leadership roles, don’t have access to any other form of remuneration or the lines of ‘how much longer can we keep going?’, ‘how can recompense for additional responsibilities. we continue to work at this level?’ and about what is coming “So, for example, if you’re a teacher and take on the role of round the corner.

“With every month that goes by, there seems to be something special needs coordinator, you will get one or two teaching else. Rather than things easing, additional pressures seem to be allowances for that. What we’ve seen over the past decade is coming to the fore, which is really having an effect. school leaders increasingly taking on these really big roles, first, to save finances for the school and, second, because quite often, “We’re already struggling with recruitment and retention in teachers just don’t want to do them. But whenever a principal or Wales as much as in England. There are challenges in Wales, vice-principal takes on this role, there is no recompense for them; especially in border local authority areas. For example, you can see they aren’t entitled to any additional allowances. a border drain issue if terms and conditions or pay is favourable in a neighbouring school in an English local authority.

“People are just at the end of their tether. Incoming calls to the “Another worrying trend is the increase of members contacting office about health concerns are up. Incoming calls to the office the pension line. We see people in their 50s getting in touch to about retirement and looking at options for leaving the profession are up. Even just anecdotally, there is such a sense of desolation determine the penalties for taking early retirement and being out there; it is really awful,” Graham adds. willing to take them. We are even now seeing members in their

#ilconf22

Come to...

Inspiring Leadership Conference 2022 28 – 29 June at the ICC, Birmingham Get ready for another thought-provoking, empowering and above all, inspiring two days, as Inspiring Leadership – the conference for leaders in education – is back. Our line-up of compelling keynote speakers will continue to be announced over the upcoming weeks.

Take a look at Inspiring Leadership so far…

Ed Balls

Penny Mallory

Some of you may recognise Ed from his latest BBC series, ‘Inside the Care Crisis with Ed Balls’ broadcast on BBC 2 in 2021, or for his appearance on Strictly Come Dancing and his memorable performance of Gangnam style.

As a troubled, runaway homeless teenager, she hit rock bottom. Against all the odds, she turned her life around and made the impossible possible to become a Champion Rally Driver and the first and only woman in the world to drive a World Rally Car for Ford.

Ed will speak about the highs and lows of his career, how power can be used for good, and the lessons to be learned when things go wrong.

Dave Coplin With over 25 years in the technology industry (and via his former ‘day job’ as ‘Chief Envisioning Officer’ at Microsoft) Dave is at the forefront of conversations on how individuals and organisations could benefit from the transformational potential of technology, rather than simply using it to do the same things… but only slightly better.

Dave will address the intersection of modern society and technology.

Hosted by

Penny will speak on the qualities a high performing team needs to succeed.

Darren Edwards A former mountaineer and Army Reservist who sustained a life-changing injury in the summer of 2016.

Darren will speak of his personal story of overcoming adversity and building a resilient mindset, and is guaranteed to motivate, encourage change, and inspire. Instilled with humour, down-to-earth honesty and a genuine sense for adventure and pushing the limits of his disability.

Ready to be inspired? Secure your place today. For more information, scan the QR code or visit www.inspiringleadership.org

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Is vulnerability the key to better leadership?

SINEAD MC BREARTY, chief executive at Education Support, provides hints and tips on showing vulnerability as a leader and how it can help build a stronger team. ociety has often seen vulnerability as a weakness. Today, however, many take a different view, with vulnerability now crucial for great leadership. For school leaders, it can help build trust and inspire committed and resilient teams.

Author Madeleine L’Engle writes: “When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown up, we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability ... to be alive is to be vulnerable.”

Researcher and author Brené Brown argues that vulnerability is essential for deeper relationships and brave leadership, which she defines as the courage to face “uncertainty, risk and emotional exposure”.

S

So, what does this mean for your day-to-day life as a school leader?

Vulnerability isn’t about ‘airing your dirty laundry in public’ or showing extreme transparency for the sake of it. However, a certain amount of openness (within the right boundaries) can lead to greater trust among your peers.

Your team doesn’t need to know the details of your relationship troubles, but you could mention you’re going through a stressful personal situation.

That will help your team understand you, and it may help them feel compassion

rather than frustration if you’re acting differently. It may also empower them to share when they face similar personal issues and reach out for support.

As a leader, how can you show vulnerability?

While vulnerability can be humanising and connecting, staff shouldn’t feel they need to comfort or support their line manager.

Our rule of thumb is simple: if you have unresolved feelings about an issue or situation, it probably isn’t one to share.

But you might try the following: • Actively listen to your peers and focus on the act of understanding rather than having all the right answers • Admit when you’ve made a mistake and dare to say “I was wrong” • Embrace moments of uncertainty and try to find the potential, even if that means asking for help • Speak your truth (kindly), even if it might ruffle some feathers because you know it will benefit the organisation and team.

Building stronger teams Vulnerability can help your team in several ways: • Psychological safety and well-being improve where vulnerability is met with positivity and rewarded. This leads to high-performing and inclusive cultures

Inspirational speaker and author Simon Sinek echoes how expressing vulnerability in leadership is to be truly human:

“A leader, first and foremost, is a human. Only when we have the strength to show our vulnerability can we truly lead.”

• When people see a leader’s authenticity and courage, they feel the freedom to do the same, which enhances feelings of belonging • Active vulnerability empowers people to speak their truths, and in turn, it creates a better school environment for all. Vulnerability is the greatest antidote to hostility, and when you show vulnerability during difficult conversations, defensiveness is often disarmed • It allows teams to tackle problems with greater clarity, foresight and speed. It’s easier to problem-solve when people aren’t trying to hide tiny errors and are open about needing more information • It builds better relationships and encourages people to ask for help when they need it. This can subsequently lead to greater innovation and better collaboration among team members • It diminishes stress by creating an environment where everyone feels safe to share their struggles. Research has also shown that connection fosters loyalty.

Peer support

We know it can be difficult for school leaders to be vulnerable in front of their teams. Peer support gives you the opportunity to discuss challenges with other leaders who are experiencing similar difficulties. Find out more about our peer support groups and school leaders’ experiences of being a part of them at https://bit.ly/3CiMpLS

Education Support is NAHT president Tim Bowen’s chosen charity partner for his presidential year.

23

EQUALITY

MIND THE GAP: TACKLING GENDER PAY INEQUALITIES Leadership Focus journalist Nic Paton looks at what needs to happen to address gender pay inequalities across the profession.

ow shocked should we be that, in 2022, we’re still talking about the need to narrow gender pay gaps in education?

Schools and school leaders work their hardest to create ‘equal’ childhoods for their pupils – equal opportunities; equal futures – yet, when it comes to their aspirations and progression, stubborn and often systemic gender pay gaps remain across the profession.

Gender pay gaps are the difference in earnings between all women and men in an organisation. Although related, they are distinct from equal pay.

H

24

In 2018, the UK government required all organisations (including schools and colleges) with 250 or more employees to report and publish their gender pay gap information.

This has meant that gender pay disparities can often be more easily identified, tracked and monitored than pay gaps concerning other protected characteristics, such as people with disabilities, who come from different ethnic backgrounds or identify differently.

Yet, at the same time, the existence of a gender pay gap can indicate similar disparities or barriers existing in these harder-to-measure protected characteristics.

To try to get a feel for the extent of gender pay disparities in education, at the end of last year, NAHT teamed up with ASCL, the National Governance Association (NGA) and WomensEd to release a report: ‘Closing the gender pay gap in education: a leadership imperative’.

Worryingly, the report’s analysis of the school workforce census (SWC) statistics concluded that despite a broad national pay framework, men typically still earn more than women within education, regardless of school phase or structure.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Equally worrying in school leadership, the more senior the position, the wider the gulf becomes.

IN 2020/21, FOR EXAMPLE, MALES EARNED ON AVERAGE…

The difference between the average salaries of men and women also increased with age and seniority in the role. At head teacher level, across all types of state-funded schools, women tend to have steadier increases in salary by age, the report found. In contrast, men tend to see much larger increases, particularly towards the end of their careers.

£17,334.

In fact, the difference by age 60 and older is as vast as

AVERAGE HEAD TEACHER’S PAY BY AGE IN ALL STATE-FUNDED SCHOOLS £96,000

£95,825

£91,000 £86,000

£86,018 £82,012

£81,000

Male

£80,607 £78,491

£76,000

£75,231 £71,987

£71,000

2.4%

more at classroom teacher level and…

11.3%

more than female head teachers.

A similar pattern is seen at ‘other leadership’ levels, although the salary difference is not quite as pronounced.

The divergence point is at the 3539 age bracket, with the difference between average salaries among men and women almost doubling, from £2,760 (for those between 35 and 39 years of age) to £4,024 (for those between 40 and 44 years of age).

In the limited number of cases where the average salary pay gap favours women, the difference tends to be far smaller. For example, the largest gap favouring women in 2020/21 was £892 (classroom teachers in primary academies). The largest gap favouring men was £4,165 (for head teachers in special or pupil referral unit academies).

Female

£74,492

£70,650

£69,553 £67,001

£66,000

£65,038

£64,581

£62,198

£61,000

30-34

35-39

40-44

45-49

50-54

55-59

60+

The gap exists in both primary and secondary at head teacher level – and it is actually increasing over recent years, the report showed.

For example, the report concluded that the difference between men’s and women’s average pay for head teachers across all state-funded nursery and primary schools had been steadily increasing since 2010/11.

It rises from an average gap of

£1,878 in 2010/11 to

£2,834 in 2020/21.

AVERAGE HEAD TEACHER’S PAY BY YEAR IN STATE-FUNDED SECONDARY SCHOOLS

In secondary, the gap has also increased over the last 10 years, peaking in 2019/20 with an average gap of £2,917.

The gap for 2021/22 currently stands at

£2,702.

£98,000

£96,843

£96,000 £94,566 £94,000

£94,142 £92,319

£91,741 £92,000

£92,740

£90,444

£91,648 £91,058

£89,688

£90,000 £87,910

£88,304

Male

£91,685

£89,218

£89,575

£89,485

Female

£89,978

£88,262

£88,000 £87,699

£86,245

£86,817

£86,000 £85,363 £84,000 2010/11

2011/12

2012/13

2013/14

2014/15

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

EQUALITY

Over decades, gender pay gaps can amount not only to a substantial difference in terms of money earned but also, of course, have major implications for an individual’s pension and retirement income.

was 50 years ago. We sometimes forget because there are a lot of other strands of inequality out there that also need to be tackled, just how important pay equality still is,” he tells Leadership Focus.

“Education is a feminised workplace; most people in education are female. Yet when you look at very senior leadership, a cut-off, a tapering off is still happening.

So, we need to make sure we keep pay

equality absolutely at the forefront of every negotiation and interaction.

“We’ve seen school leadership pay erode over the last decade, and for our female school leaders, there can be almost a ‘double’ hit,” Paul adds.

PAUL WHITEMAN, NAHT GENERAL SECRETARY For NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman, these statistics indicate just how much of a job still needs to be done – at individual school, national and governmental level – to narrow gender pay inequalities in the profession.

“We need to remember that equal pay is still as much a problem now as it

The ‘Closing the gender pay gap in education’ joint report also acted as a catalyst for bringing members together in February for a virtual roundtable discussion to unpick its findings, consider its implications and gauge what needs to be done.

26 The initial reaction to the evidence was generally one of disbelief, with attendees noting the starkness of the findings.

For example, one attendee explained that: “On the whole, you don’t know how much other leaders earn. I know my ‘journey’, but I don’t know about anybody else’s.

We have the national pay scale, and you assume that is stuck to, but that’s probably as far as most people go.”

The group highlighted how the range of new roles in the system, some of which don’t have the historic pay scale for benchmarking, can muddy the waters around what a role is ‘worth’.

As another of our panellists noted: “This feeds into the issue that you have no idea what somebody else is on in a school similar to yours, whether smaller or larger.

At one level, I like that autonomy, and I feel that is right; I think there should be room for manoeuvre. But, again, it just doesn’t help with the gender pay gap in particular, especially when some people may feel more confident about negotiating.”

One NAHT member, a female head teacher in the West Midlands, had recently moved to her current role and highlighted how she had plucked up the courage to ask to be paid, at the very least, the same as in her previous deputy head position. “I felt really, really cheeky for asking that. I know

many other people don’t feel cheeky; they just feel entitled to ask. I think that plays into it as well,” she said.

The group discussed the role of flexible working, career breaks and wider societal expectations and norms, all of which can n exacerbate gender pay y gaps.

As one panel member said of the report’s findings: “At mid-level, it is clear there is quite a good level of gender equality in terms of pay. But then, as people progress and get further in their careers, pay inequality widens.

Equally, when people have breaks in the profession, how they come back to where they were is incredibly problematic; I think that is a really big thing.

“Someone has a break for whatever reason. They are, say, an upper pay scale teacher or TLR2, perhaps leading literacy in a big primary school; they have a break and then come back, and suddenly, they are back on the main pay scale. Or they may find it very hard to get back at the

leve level they were. That is a massive barrier. And that comes back to the inchoate nature of the progression through the profession, which makes it very, very difficult,” they added.

The group shared their th experiences of tthe disparities in care career breaks seen between m men and women in their schools and th their personal lives and how this, in turn, feeds into the representation disparity that still often exists in senior leadership in schools.

For example, the ‘Closing the gender pay gap in education’ joint report concluded that, within primary, men are present at senior level at a ratio of almost 2:1 of their representation at teaching level.

While just 13% of teaching staff are male, 26% of head teachers are male.

It was a similar picture in secondary: 34% of classroom teachers are male, increasing to 60% for head teachers.

“I’ve been in senior leadership positions for 20 years, and a male has

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

never asked to go part-time after the birth of his child. But I think at least 95% of the time, when a female comes back from maternity leave, they ask to go part-time,” one member shared.

“I was four days a week [to look after my children], but when I was promoted to deputy head, I went back to five days a week. My husband, who is also a teacher, floated the idea of going parttime in his schools, but he never put a flexible working request in because it felt like it would have been perceived as being ‘funny’ that he would even ask,” said another member on the panel. “[In my experience], inequity in our society around caring responsibilities does seem to mean more women want to be part-time or are forced to think of themselves doing that, and that is an issue that will drive inequality in pay. We want to think about how we address that and make it easier for people to work flexibly in school,” a further attendee noted.

Tied into this is the issue of the huge workload senior leaders face. The impact of workload, job intensity and high-stakes accountability is, of course, a massive concern for NAHT on many levels: in terms of pay and recognition, agency and respect, health and well-being, recruitment and retention, and so on. But workload can and should also be seen as an equalities issue, the panel agreed.

“Even the perception of unmanageable workload can be a barrier, especially if it deters up-and-coming school leaders with parental or caring responsibilities from even enior applying for more se

or headship positions in the first place,” highlighted one attendee. This could help to explain why the number of female senior leaders, who may be more likely to be juggling such caring responsibilities, tended to taper off the further up the leadership scale you go, they also pointed out.

Another added: “It is juggling being a teacher or school leader and all the responsibilities for your class or school, worrying about your home life,, your this and your that, and paying the bills. Becausse, in my experience, therre are ectations often huge expe on females to do all of that additiona al [home] stuff.”

What, then, needs to (or even can) be done? What can NAHT do about this, and what message needs to go back to the government?

“The governmen nt needs ere is an to recognise the issue,” emphasised one attendee.

“Recognise there is an issue, and then we can start doing something about it. But, unless you recognise it, there is nothing any of us can do. And be open, like we all are, to change.”

IAN HARTWRIGHT, NAHT SENIOR POLICY ADVISOR “What is important is ensuring that people can work in a sustainable manner. That is something we have talked to the e Department for ducation (DfE) a lot Ed about over the last two years, about making school leadership a sustainable career.

Because, quite clearly, it isn’t,” NAHT senior policy advisor Ian Hartwright agrees to Leadership Focus.

There is an imp portant role in

here, too, for governors. Governors need to consider the equality impact of their decisions (especially on pay and progression), and they may need more training and support around the potential for unconscious bias.

“Governors obviously play a key role in senior leadership appointment and head teachers’ performance management, and that is one of the key elements g forward,,” Ian adds. of moving o needs to be NAHT also using itss evidence around gend der inequality as a springboard nto advocacy, in conversations and campaigning around narrowing inequality across the board.

“The gender pay gap report is a really good way into that,” emphasises Ian n, highlighting that, with hin its evidence y this year to on pay the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), NAHT has called for a ‘comprehensive analysis of the gender pay gap’ to be undertaken, along with ‘action to eliminate pay gaps for all protected characteristics to ensure pay equality and equity’.

“The DfE has not done any work on this for five years, despite the STRB saying that it needs to do the work and do the maths to find out what the gender pay gap is,” Ian continues.

“I think gender pay inequality is a key that unlocks the door for us to all the other equalities issues that exist around pay; those really knotty and difficult ones, like around disability, ethnicity, race and so on. It’s 2022 – yes, these are all massively difficult areas, but they must be tackled,” Ian adds.

NATALIE ARNETT, NAHT SENIOR EQUALITIES OFFICER “It is about seeing the interplay, not seeing the structures in isolation,” agrees NAHT senior equalities officer Natalie Arnett. “Education is part of the wider cultural system, and that has interplays and effects in schools. It is really important and should not be forgotten.”

27

EQUALITY

VIEW FROM THE NATIONS Pay gaps and pay inequalities remain a ‘live’ issue for NAHT in Wales and Northern Ireland, as much as in England, point out NAHT Cymru director Laura Doel and NAHT Northern Ireland interim director Graham Gault.

LAURA DOEL, NAHT CYMRU DIRECTOR “For example, we know there are female school leaders across Wales who often don’t feel in a position to be able to negotiate on pay,” Laura says, also highlighting the current pay disparity between small, rural and often federated schools and larger, often more urban schools.

Because pay rises come out of school budgets, explains Laura, school leaders could sometimes feel reluctant to argue the case with a local authority or governing body to be paid more.

“We always encourage members going through this situation to contact us because we can offer additional support. We firmly believe we need to do all we can, as a trade union, to narrow gender and other pay gaps.

“We need to make sure all our members, from whatever background or wherever they are in Wales, are properly represented and remunerated for the crucial role that they do in their communities,” Laura adds.

28

GRAHAM GAULT, NAHT(NI) INTERIM DIRECTOR For Graham, one equality issue on the agenda in Northern Ireland is that of nursery principals. This is because, first, they are the only principal cohort in Northern Ireland to have no release from teaching responsibilities, despite working under many of the same accountability and workload demands and pressures as their counterparts in primary schools.

Then, second is the fact that they are in the only school principal cohort in Northern Ireland that is exclusively female, making this disparity – very clearly – an equalities issue, he argues, and one that NAHT Northern Ireland is campaigning on.

“It is inconceivable that if these were ex-grammar school, rugby club people – the sort of people who have the minister’s ear – this would have been provided for them a long time ago,” Graham points out.

“IT IS INCONCEIVABLE THAT IF THESE WERE EX-GRAMMAR SCHOOL, RUGBY CLUB PEOPLE – THE SORT OF PEOPLE WHO HAVE THE MINISTER’S EAR – THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN PROVIDED FOR THEM A LONG TIME AGO,” SAYS GRAHAM GAULT.

WHAT NAHT HAS CALLED FOR As well as its evidence for broad gender pay gaps across the profession, the ‘Closing the gender pay gap in education’ joint report made a range of recommendations for the government, schools and trusts, governors and individuals.

The government, it argued, should seek to do the following: • Improve national-level analysis of the pay gap trends from the DfE. There should also be better data and information on pay for school business leaders. This data collection must also consider improvements in the data collected for those with protected characteristics • Act on the calls from the STRB and the sector for a comprehensive review of the pay framework for both classroom teachers and school leaders

ENCOURAGE MEN AND WOMEN TO SHARE CARING RESPONSIBILITIES BETTER, INCLUDING GREATER PROMOTION OF PATERNAL LEAVE.

• Carry out comprehensive analysis (probably by the DfE) on the equality implications of the teachers and school leaders’ pay system, including consideration of the role that performance-related pay has on the gender pay gap • Review the factors determining pay for school leaders and question which

leadership roles are covered by the existing pay structure • Provide greater support to help mitigate some of the systemic barriers to flexible working opportunities for all roles, including senior leaders • Encourage men and women to share caring responsibilities better, including greater promotion of paternal leave.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

WHERE A GAP EXISTS, CREATE A PLAN AND CHANGE YOUR GENDER PAY GAP REPORT FROM MONITORING TO AN ACTION TOOL. – reviewing approaches to flexible working, and reviewing and planning actions to retain more women leaders following maternity leave Schools and trusts, the report recommended, should seek to do the following: • Understand the situation in your organisation. Even if you are not legally required to undertake gender pay gap collection, it is still good practice to collect and analyse the data for internal purposes. You should consider reviewing data on staffing makeup and rates of progression based on gender • Depending on the size of your school, consider publishing your gender pay gap information (even if you’re not legally required to do so) because this helps to create transparency and is an opportunity to share what actions you are taking to address any differences that might exist • For those schools with extremely small staffing bodies, where it might not always be possible to monitor the data effectively, still undertake proactive measures aimed at preventing a gender pay gap from emerging • Actively interrogate the evidence regularly. Work with your governors and senior leaders to ask pertinent questions if your data monitoring suggests a gender pay gap exists • Where a gap exists, create a plan and change your gender pay gap report from monitoring to an action tool. This might include the following: – reviewing recruitment materials and processes to ensure they do not include any gendered perceptions and/or biases – reviewing ways to ensure interview panels are as diverse as possible

– considering opportunities to offer childcare facilities and opportunities to offer mentoring systems for aspiring leaders from protected groups.

• Remove the request for a current salary from your recruitment materials and requests for references. Asking candidates for their current salaries can undermine other diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives being undertaken • Ensure your school’s core values support equality, diversity and inclusion • Seek to work collaboratively across local authorities and/or trusts and with sector organisations to mentor and support school leaders to address their gender pay gaps.

Governing boards, the report argued, should seek to do the following: • Review your organisation’s recruitment policy and its outcomes to ensure they support equality, diversity and inclusion • Ensure there is a regular review of your organisation’s pay policy and pay-setting procedures in light of any gender pay gap information • Review the diversity of your governance team. The NGA (www.nga. org.uk) has a number of resources that can help • Ensure recruiting panels for appointments are diverse, with interview panels including women.

Finally, the report recommended that individual employees or school leaders should seek to do the following: • Find out if your organisation has published a gender pay gap report, and if there is a gap, ask how it is seeking to reduce it; ask your organisation whether it collects data on any other pay gaps, such as an ethnicity pay gap • Contribute to creating and evaluating your organisational action plan to reduce the gender pay gap • Review and/or support the development of the organisational strategy for flexible working. Review whether your organisation retains the current salary question on the application form. If yes, ask ‘why?’

• Consider opportunities to develop your negotiation skills • Involve your union representative in such issues to ensure women are represented effectively.

ENSURE RECRUITING PANELS FOR APPOINTMENTS ARE DIVERSE, WITH INTERVIEW PANELS INCLUDING WOMEN.

Read and share this feature: https://features.naht.org.uk/mind-the-gap/index.html

29

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Spotlight on the public sector equality duty NAHT senior equalities officer NATALIE ARNETT examines the public sector equality duty and what your school must do to comply.

What’s the Equality Act 2010?

Introduced more than a decade ago, the Equality Act 2010 replaced nine major Acts of parliament and almost 100 sets of regulations to create a single, consolidated source of discrimination law.

It protects people against discrimination (both direct and indirect), harassment and victimisation based on nine protected characteristics:

1. Age* 2. Disability 3. Gender reassignment 4. Marriage or civil partnersh ip (in employment only) 5. Pregnanc y and maternity 6. Race 7. Religion or belief 8. Sex 9. Sexual orientation.

What’s the public sector equality duty?

One part of the Equality Act 2010 is the public sector equality duty (PSED). It is a duty where public bodies must consider all individuals when carrying out their dayto-day work. The duty applies to all types of schools and colleges across all phases.

The PSED consists of a ‘general equality duty’ supported by ‘specific duties’ imposed by secondary legislation.

The general duty has three main elements that schools and colleges must give due regard to when carrying out functions as public bodies. Across all the protected characteristics, they must do the following: Eliminate discrimination, harassment 1 and victimisation or any other unlawful conduct in the Equality Act 2010 Advance equality of opportunity 2 between those who share a protected characteristic and those who don’t Foster good relations between 3 those who share a protected characteristic and those who don’t. *Where schools are concerned, age will be a relevant characteristic when considering their duties as an employer, but not in relation to pupils.

What’s due regard?

In legal terms, this means giving relevant and proportionate consideration to the duty.

In practical terms, it means the following: • Demonstrating awareness of your duties under the Act by assessing the impact any decision or action will have on people with protected characteristics • Considering any equality implications when developing policies and taking de decisions and ensuring you review them re regularly and consider them from an eq equality perspective • In Integrating the PSED when carrying ou out the school’s function (this means th thinking about how to comply with the du duty seriously, rigorously and with an op open mind. Any process must be more th than just a tick-box exercise).

You can’t delegate the responsibility to carry out this duty to anyone else; your school must do it.

are complying with the public sector equality duty – you should update this annually • Prepare and publish equality objectives; you should update them every four years.

The duty is not prescriptive about how it is satisfied, so how one school complies with the duty in relation to a decision it’s making can look different for organisations of different sizes and with different levels of resources.

The government is clear that the duties should not be overly burdensome on schools.

Don’t miss the 2022 version of our equality, diversity and inclusion calendar.

Download it here: www.naht.org.uk/RD/EDI-calendar-2022

Specific duties

The specific duties require your school to do the following: • Publish information (the easiest way will probably be on your school’s website) to demonstrate how you

For further details on the PSED, read NAHT’s essential guide at www.naht.org.uk/ RD/psed

31

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POLICY CORNER

POLICY UPDATE

Northern Ireland GRAHAM GAULT, NAHT(NI) interim director, shares an update on the key issues affecting our members in Northern Ireland. n Northern Ireland, NAHT deservedly enjoys the reputation of being the powerful and credible voice of school leaders. We proactively promote the efficacy of school leadership towards meeting the needs of our children and young people, and we proudly speak with passion and positivity on behalf of our members across all educational issues. However, we are, first and foremost, a trade union and will never be found wanting in relentlessly working for fair terms and conditions for our membership.

The industrial context in Northern Ireland has become considerably strained in recent months. As is the case across the nations, relations have been damaged by the government’s response to managing covid-19 in schools. Still, in Northern Ireland, some additional dynamics are complicating the situation.

In recent years, school leaders have experienced a real-term cut of 17% in pay. In June 2021, NAHT and our sister unions submitted a formal pay claim of a cost-of-living increase of 6%. In response, the Department of Education made an offer of around 2.49% on

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average, broken down in such a way that many members would not see any benefit for several years. Following our democratic principles, we surveyed the Northern Ireland membership, who responded with a rejection of the pay offer and indicated an appetite for industrial action if the employers refuse to negotiate a significantly improved deal. Following our members’ expressed will, we are embarking on a public pay campaign in the approach to the forthcoming elections and look forward to the employers re-engaging in negotiations under a fair pay settlement.

This context is unfolding, of course, in the broader industrial landscape, following the industrial dispute between NAHT(NI), our sister unions and the employing authorities, which came to an end on 28 April 2020. The Teachers’ Pay and Workload Agreement, which brought that action to an end, includes an agreement to ‘a series of measures to address teachers’ concerns about workload and accountability and improve the efficiency and effectiveness

17% cut in pay in recent years

6%

formal pay claim submitted

by NAHT and sister unions in June 2021

2.49% pay offer made by the Department of Education

of the education system’, with reviews in nine key areas of concern.

The single, most-important part of that agreement for our members is ‘the review of workload impact on school leaders’. A working group, chaired by NAHT and comprising representatives from trade unions and employing authorities, has progressed this following a robust evidencegathering process. We anticipate that a final report with wide-ranging recommendations will be ready by the end of April this year.

Northern Ireland members are expectant that the review into school leaders’ workload will provide the impetus for significant, positive and tangible change, and we are fully expecting the employing authorities to step up and deliver. In short, they must.

We want to avoid another industrial dispute, of course. However, if our members express a will for action to secure fair pay and safe working conditions, NAHT(NI) has both the capacity and the resilience to deliver.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Wales

POLICY UPDATE

LAURA DOEL, NAHT Cymru director, provides an update on the work being done in Wales to protect and empower NAHT members.

Newly qualified teacher (NQT) programme

As a direct result of the pandemic, the Welsh Government launched a new programme last September to support trainee teachers who had missed the opportunity to gain classroom experience. Around 400 NQTs were allocated to schools by the induction placement scheme, and their wages were centrally funded for initially just the autumn term of 2021 – but this was later extended to cover spring 2022.

As well as giving NQTs more opportunities for training and mentoring, the scheme also allowed schools to increase capacity and free up other teachers to provide extra help to vulnerable learners.

Unfortunately, not every school successfully allocated someone, and that has been a criticism of the programme given that staff members’ absence has crippled some schools’ ability to stay open.

Crucially, what is disappointing is that a recent survey by NAHT Cymru revealed that of our members who had been allocated an NQT through the programme, only 50% said they could offer them permanent employment because of budget constraints.

NAHT Cymru has called on the government to extend the scheme into the summer term to support schools suffering from issues caused by staff members’ absences and NQTs coming into the profession.

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School day and year reform

The Welsh Government has committed to exploring reform to the school day and year as part of the three-year cooperation deal between Labour and Plaid Cymru.

In January, it launched a 10-week pilot with 13 schools on extending the school day by one hour.

Schools shared an additional £2m to facilitate the pilot, which the government says will feed into the evidence-gathering process.

In relation to changes to the school year, a whole host of options are up for discussion. The government has commissioned an independent research consultancy to survey the profession on possible options, including changing the six-week holiday, fixing the Easter break each year, extending half-term and having nationally-set term dates.

NAHT Cymru has repeatedly asked the Welsh Government for the rationale behind these proposals, including the evidence that suggests extending the school day or moving term times offers any benefit to learners.

The language used in the cooperation agreement talks about fitting in with family life and working patterns these days as opposed to any educational benefit to children and young people.

Funding: small and rural schools NAHT Cymru has urged the Welsh Government to reconsider removing grant funding for small and rural schools in Wales.

While introduced initially to promote innovation and support greater school-to-school working, the fund has become essential in keeping these schools open.

This news will be a hammer blow for small and rural communities.

Small schools are at the heart of every locality, be it a village, town or city. But as one of the groups hit

hardest by budget cuts, the future remains uncertain for thousands of small schools.

The Welsh Government maintains that the fund was a one-Seneddterm-only proposition and that an additional 9% has gone into the Revenue Support Grant, which local authorities across Wales receive to spend as they wish.

NAHT Cymru has urged the Welsh Local Government Association to come to the table and discuss how these schools will be supported going forward.

HEROES

TIM BOWEN: NAHT president 2021/22

Celebrating the unsung heroes of the pandemic ince Easter, I have had the privilege of being on secondment to fulfil my role as our union’s national president.

This has given me the rewarding opportunity to meet and engage with many members from various branches and regions, including Wales, Northern Ireland, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands.

I had found the experience of managing my primary school during the pandemic, since March 2020, the most demanding management challenge I had experienced in my 25 years of headship. I was indebted to the strong support and courage of my staff team and key governors who helped ensure that collectively we did the very best we could to meet the needs of our pupils during this unprecedented and worrying period.

However, I must admit to now having a feeling of ‘survivor’s guilt’!

Having spoken with many NAHT members in recent months, the message I have constantly heard is that the pressures of managing a school since September have, in many cases, been greater than at any stage during the pandemic.

For school leaders and their teams, dealing with the frequent disruption of staff members’ and pupils’ absences while doing everything they could to keep their schools open and providing the best quality of education possible for those pupils in school, along with those self-isolating, has been an immense pressure. During this academic year, I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for the work and professionalism of school leaders and all school staff.

You really are the unsung heroes of this pandemic. And while you have been coping with the immense

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pressures each day has brought, the inspectorate in England has carried on as if nothing had changed, and the government rewarded all your efforts and dedication by withholding a much-needed and fully deserved pay award. Both actions have been deeply damaging to morale and immensely disrespectful.

Hopefully, by the time you read this, the worst disruption of the pandemic will be over, and you will be able to concentrate on the many important management and development tasks your roles require, many of which will have had to be put on hold as you were so busy ‘keeping the ship afloat’.

But no one should underestimate the toll the pandemic has taken on the profession, especially the pressures that school leaders have been under as they rose to the unique challenges they faced daily with great courage.

During this academic year, I have nothing but the greatest respect and admiration for the work and professionalism of school leaders and all school staff.

Above: Tim Bowen.

As I write these notes, I am very much looking forward to attending NAHT’s first-ever National Wellbeing Conference (on 23 March).

This will be our first in-person conference of the year. Never has the message about the importance of school leaders’ well-being been more needed, both for recruitment and retention purposes.

I sincerely hope that the remainder of the academic year goes well for you all and wish you every success as you undertake the vital and immensely worthwhile work that you do.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

References on leaving employment – the law explained NAHT solicitor RICHARD WINTERBOTTOM looks at your duties as an employer and rights as an employee in terms of work references.

In its response to the inquiry into non-disclosure agreements by the Women and Equalities Select Committee in October 2019, the government proposed preventing employers from withholding a reference by making it a mandatory requirement that an employer provides a reference for any employee.

Since that statement, the government has produced nothing further, so this article looks at the current duties and rights when it comes to references.

Is the employer obliged to provide a reference?

There is currently no statutory duty on an employer to give a reference.

Consequently, if the employer refuses to provide a reference, there is generally no legal claim that the employee can bring.

In some cases, individual employers may have a policy on providing references for existing and former employees, but neither of these has a statutory or legal footing.

What are the employer’s obligations if they do provide a reference?

When providing a reference, the employer is under a duty of care to ensure it is true, accurate and fair, but this does not mean the employer is obliged to provide a full and comprehensive reference. What the employer includes in a reference is largely left to them to decide, provided it is not misleading.

In the case of Cox v Sun Alliance Life Ltd, the court held that an employer was negligent when it provided a reference that stated it had a reasonable basis for dismissing the claimant on the ground of dishonesty.

The allegation was neither put to the employee nor investigated, and the employer shelved the disciplinary proceedings pending settlement negotiations.

The employer has a standard of care it is expected to meet when providing a reference, which includes the following duties: • To conduct an objective and rigorous appraisal of the facts and opinion, especially where those opinions are negative • To take reasonable care to ensure the facts set out are accurate and true • To ensure there is a legitimate and proper basis when they express an opinion in the reference, particularly if they derive that opinion from an earlier investigation

• To take reasonable care to ensure the reference is not misleading by implication, nuance or innuendo.

Could a refusal to provide a reference amount to discrimination?

A refusal to provide a reference or poor reference may amount to direct discrimination if the reason is a protected characteristic (ie age, disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation or sex). This protection applies to those still in employment and after employment has ended.

What are the implications for data protection?

When an employer provides a reference, this amounts to the processing of personal data. The employer must comply with data protection principles under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If the information in a reference includes an employee’s sickness absence record, this amounts to special category data, and the employer should not generally disclose this information unless the employee has given their consent or it is necessary to comply with rights and obligations under employment law.

Can I request a copy of the reference?

A reference given in confidence by the employer does not have to be disclosed to an employee, even if they make a data subject access request because there is a specific exemption. However, the employment practices code (www.naht. org.uk/RD/employment_practices_code) by the Information Commissioner’s Office states employers should bear in mind that it is good data protection practice to be open with employees about the information they have about them and enable employees to challenge information they consider inaccurate or misleading.

43

PENSION POT

The Teachers’ Pen The ongoing journey to remove discrimination

NAHT head of advice KATE ATKINSON looks at the impact of two judgments, steps taken by the Teachers’ Pension Scheme to remedy the discrimination and what it means for you.

Survivors’ benefits in the Teachers’ Pension Scheme – another step towards equality

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Discrimination – the journey to compliance As many of you will know, there have been many changes made to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme England and Wales and the Northern Ireland Teachers’ Pension Scheme (together, the TPS) over the last decade to ensure the benefits provided don’t discriminate against different groups based on a protected characteristic, such as age, sex or sexual orientation.

Some of these changes relate to what are known as survivors’ benefits; these are benefits paid out to someone after the death of the TPS member – the typical benefit here is a spouse’s pension. As you can imagine, some of these changes relate to the treatment of single-sex partners, spouses and civil partners in relation to these so-called survivors’ benefits.

The recent development – the Goodwin case The most recent development on this anti-discrimination journey, which may impact some members positively in terms of the benefits they would leave behind to their loved ones, relates to a case called Goodwin that involved the TPS. The tribunal looking at this case held that the TPS’s rules could lead to two areas of discrimination on the death of a member:

A female in a same-sex marriage might in some cases be treated more favourably than a female in an opposite-sex marriage or civil partnership Male survivors of a female spouse or partner could also receive lower benefits than female survivors.

1

2

In terms of where discrimination usually occurs, this case was quite unusual because men suffered discrimination rather than women and heterosexual spouses rather than same-sex spouses. This case demonstrates that discrimination can be built into structures in very unusual and unexpected ways, and it must be corrected wherever found.

What does this mean in practical terms?

The discrimination identified in the Goodwin case has now been remedied; this means that TPS’s rules now ensure the following: • That the male spouse or civil partner of a female member is treated in the same way as a same-sex spouse or civil partner in terms of the length of service used to calculate benefits • That this change will apply for deaths in respect of female members, which occurred from 5 December 2005 and is the date that same-sex civil partnerships were introduced.

The detail behind the two bullet points set out above is that survivors’ benefits will now be calculated using service

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

nsion Schem me from 1 April 1972 or 6 April 1978 if a marriage or civil partnership took place after the last day of pensionable service.

This will apply for deaths in respect of female members, which occurred from 5 December 2005.

Do you need to do anything?

If you think this decision may impact you, you don’t need to contact the TPS. The TPS will be writing to affected members and has already begun recalculating payments to survivors receiving pension payments, starting from the oldest cases.

This will be completed by June 2023.

For anyone that becomes entitled to a survivors’ pension under the TPS from now on, you should be paid on the correct basis from the very start.

The ongoing saga of age discrimination – the end is in sight Where are we?

Let’s start with the good news: this ongoing saga is very nearly over. Before we move into the detail of where we are now, what is the background here?

When new public service pension schemes were introduced in 2015, transitional protection arrangements allowed older workers to continue building pensions in their existing final salary schemes while younger workers were moved into new career-average schemes.

The Court of Appeal looked at this in a case known as McCloud and found that this difference in treatment amounted to unlawful age discrimination since workers born before the relevant cut-off date were treated ‘manifestly more favourably’ than those born afterwards. In summary, allowing older members to stay in the final salary scheme when moving younger members out of it amounted to age discrimination against younger people.

Amendments have been made to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme England and Wales and Northern Ireland Teachers’ Pension Scheme (together, the TPS) to ‘remedy the discrimination’.

These amendments took place on 1 April 2022.

So, what does this all mean in practice?

What’s going to happen?

• The last day of service in the final salary scheme for all members of the TPS was 31 March 2022. Please don’t worry about this. All the benefits you built up until that point will be protected; you won’t have lost them.

The final salary section is just closing for any future service accrual • All members are now in the career-average scheme (effective from 1 April 2022) in relation to new future service accrual • If you had final salary pension benefits, although your future service accrual is stopping, the salary link will continue to apply (unless you have a break

from the TPS of more than five years).

This means that any salary increases (or decreases!) you receive in the future will be considered when working out your final salary pension at retirement.

Do you need to do anything?

You don’t need to take any action – even if you are one of the members who will be eligible to choose between your final salary (legacy) and career-average (reformed) pension scheme benefits for service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 (the remedy period). You’ll make your choice at retirement using what is known as the Deferred Choice Underpin. This means that you don’t need to do anything now; you will only need to make a choice at retirement. You will be provided with all the necessary information to make a choice about which pension scheme benefits are better for you at that time.

For any members who are affected and who have already taken benefits from the final salary (legacy) scheme or who will take their benefits before the TPS is ready to implement this change, don’t worry. You will also be contacted by the TPS directly and given information to help you decide whether you’d like to review your pension using the Deferred Choice Underpin. If you would like to amend your pension based on this, then this will be backdated and any arrears paid. The TPS will contact you when it is ready to provide you with this choice.

45

HAVE A QUESTION ABOUT YOUR PENSION? Email: pensionsadvice@naht.org.uk. Alternatively, visit our website (www.naht.org.uk/pension) for the latest advice and guidance.

LEADERSHIP FOCUS | APRIL 2022

Operation Encompass:

concerned about a child in your school experiencing domestic abuse?

ELISABETH CARNEY–HAWORTH OBE, NAHT life member and co-creator of Operation Encompass, talks about the scheme’s national helpline to safeguard and support schools with pupils experiencing domestic abuse.

hank you so, so much; this really does help me. This service needs to continue because it helps other staff and me in school ... [with] supporting the children,” says one caller to the teachers’ helpline by Operation Encompass.

The pandemic reminded us all how vulnerable many of our children are and how vital schools are in the health and wellbeing of pupils and communities.

The closure of schools because of covid-19 placed great stress on school leaders, teachers, support staff, pupils and their families. School staff were working in very different and challenging situations, without many of their usual support

T

mechanisms and under immense pressure.

It became even more difficult for many to ensure vulnerable children who weren’t in school were safe and well. People were compelled to confront our schools’ crucial role in protecting, supporting and nurturing all children, particularly our vulnerable children. And in that classification of vulnerability are our children experiencing domestic abuse in their lives.

That’s why Operation Encompass created the first-ever national teachers’ helpline at the start of the first lockdown.

It initially aimed to give school staff as much support as possible in an unprecedented time so that they could continue to support the children in their care in the best way possible.

Operation Encompass carefully selected the professionals who answer the calls from school staff. The psychologists all have extensive experience in providing consultation and support to staff working in schools and education settings, and they also know and understand Operation Encompass.

Like all other resources from Operation Encompass, the helpline is provided for free for schools (you simply pay the local rate for the call, and that’s it). All you need to do is call the number, and an educational or clinical psychologist will answer: confidential, no threshold, no paperwork and no waiting, just an opportunity to discuss the most

effective and compassionate approach to support children experiencing domestic abuse and other trauma. Education staff can reflect, discuss concerns or worries, and talk through planned actions and interventions to affirm the procedures already in place at the school. The psychologists contribute further precious and insightful suggestions for support.

And like the free validated online domestic abuse training offered by Operation Encompass, which more than 9,000 people have accessed since the start of the pandemic, the advice to those calling the helpline has been incredibly well-received by everyone. Those who have phoned have spoken about the positive impact that the decisions have had, not only on how they have been able to support the individual children and their families that they called about, but also to enhance procedures across the whole school. In this way, we aim to build ongoing capacity within our school systems and ensure staff members are confident in responding and supporting children in their care.

WHAT HEAD TEACHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THE HELPLINE “I used the helpline, and it was absolutely fantastic. Brilliant advice from lovey and very knowledgeable people. Thank you for setting this up; it is greatly needed.”

“Incredible early intervention.

No judgment, and no paperwork.”

If you’re concerned about a child or children in your school experiencing domestic abuse, call the Operation Encompass teachers’ helpline on 020 4513 9990 for FREE advice and professional dialogue with an educational psychologist about how best to support them. It’s open Monday to Friday from 8am to 1pm.

47

THE FINAL WORD

SUSAN YOUNG: education columnist

Sharing the joy of teaching hat do you do if a member of your staff has, almost overnight, acquired more than 150,000 Twitter followers by sharing undeniably hilarious anecdotes about his pupils?

George Pointon (@GeorgePointon_ on Twitter) is a 27-year-old teacher whose brilliant summaries of children’s unique thought processes have taken Twitter by storm.

When asking six-year-olds to pitch a film idea, their suggestions included Burger Monster and Money Cannon (“A crazed trillionaire builds a cannon and fires all his money into the air.

What seems like a gesture of goodwill ultimately leads to chaos, greed and destruction.

It holds a mirror to the state of society. Oscar buzz has begun.”).

Responses included 183,000 likes, discussion of each pitch’s merits, casting suggestions and an actual screenwriter commenting: “Honestly, these are better pitches than half the ones I hear daily.

They’re hired. All of them.”

Another thread described one week in school. “Someone using this as a metaphor – ‘She was as tall as a lizard stood up when all other lizards lay down’. ‘Two kids tasting each other’s earwax. They wanted to test if one person’s wax tasted different to another’s.

It did, apparently’. ‘Asked a child for a synopsis of Lord of the Flies.

They gave up and instead gave a synopsis of Cat in the Hat’.”

George conveys the sheer joy of working with children – not the usual meat of educational social media – which is why NAHT asked me to break with the usual format and track him down.

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54

He’s carefully ambiguous about where he is employed but says he started working pastorally with children with special needs, loved it, did his PGCE and now teaches children and teens in several schools.

“The first time I’d asked six-year-olds to tell a joke, the responses were so great that I typed it out on my lunch break to share a really funny thing without having to tell the story 150 times. It was at the start of term when teachers are thinking, ‘here we go again’, and it caught massive attention.

“It went a bit crazy, and I panicked that I might have stepped over the line; I am aware of safeguarding and have kept a level of ambiguity. I went to management, and they said it’s OK as long as I can keep to that and it doesn’t affect my work.

I wouldn’t want it to affect my work either. Ultimately, they are teachers, and they enjoy it too.”

Mocking colleagues have put out a red carpet (“It’s nice camaraderie”), and parents who have guessed his identity give him “a little bit of stick”

Above: Susan Young.

Children are 100% about something, and the next day, 100% about something completely contradictory.

That’s what I love.

but understand that work is his priority. The children – whose identities are heavily anonymised – know nothing about it.

“The kids are so brilliant – I’m just the middleman helping people enjoy what they’re saying.

Teachers need a space to vent, but sometimes positive things about working with children and young people need to be pushed into the limelight.

“Children are 100% about something, and the next day, 100% about something completely contradictory. That’s what I love.”

Strangely, as well as being a great advertisement for the joys of children and teaching, George performs a virtual leadership role for colleagues, and he spends a lot of time replying to would-be teachers.

“The thing you learn is that the actual teaching side is only about 30%. There is so much planning, time and effort in the other stuff, which can be tedious or tiring. People can read these posts on Twitter, and it takes the edge off of bad news or doubts about teaching – everyone’s got these brilliant people in their classes. It’s almost like creating a coffee stop for teachers and a strong community bond. It’s a nice reminder that teaching can be really good fun”.

The Computing Quality Framework Supporting schools to deliver excellence in computing

Talk to us!

Find out more at computingqualityframework.org

Is your school delivering excellent computing education?

The Computing Quality Framework (CQF) is a new free online tool which enables schools to review and improve their computing education provision and access free support and resources. The CQF, which is now being used by over 500 schools, tracks progress and recognises excellence by awarding a Computing Quality Mark.

The CQF has been developed by experts at the National Centre for Computing Education (NCCE), funded by the Department for Education, and support for teachers is available from the NCCE’s network of Computing Hubs based at schools across England.

Contact your local NCCE Computing Hub

“The CQF showcases the progress we’ve made in our computing department and helped us to review our aims and create plans to achieve our goals. As an NCCE Computing Hub, we’re also looking forward to supporting other schools to achieve the Computing Quality Mark.”

Sophie Barr, computer science teacher at Pate’s Grammar School, Cheltenham

Find out more at computingqualityframework.org

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