Replace Ofsted Join the campaign for a fairer system. See page 8.
Disability discrimination One teacher’s battle for the right support. See page 12.
The magazine for NEU Leadership members
Post-Covid teaching How to become traumainformed. See page 20.
Spring 2022
“Everything stops with you.” Amy Lassman on the move from deputy to head page 16
Pension changes
Updates to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme in full See page 19
Welcome
Lead.
Spring 2022
Head teacher Amy Lassman Photo: Kois Miah NEU president: Daniel Kebede NEU joint general secretaries: Mary Bousted & Kevin Courtney Editor: Sally Gillen Editorial assistant: Sarah Thompson
THERE is a sense of here we go again with this year’s pay proposals. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi is, like others before him, focusing on the starting teacher salary. He plans to boost it to £30,000. But leaders and other experienced teachers will get just three per cent in 2022/23. How little he understands what drives the retention crisis (page 4). Yes, Mr Zahawi is right that the starting teaching salary must make our profession as attractive as other graduate professions. But that’s only the beginning. What about the years afterwards? In real terms, the average teacher has lost 17 per cent of their pay since 2010. What kind of incentive is that to join our profession or for those already in it to stay? The union is arguing for at least eight per cent this year and next for all teachers, to match the increases for beginner teachers, and with predictions that inflation could soar to ten per cent, it cannot be less. The Education Secretary must also understand that while pay is important, it is workload that forces teachers to quit. While the Government stubbornly refuses to accept that Ofsted drives up workload, it won’t solve the recruitment and retention crisis. What a terrible indictment of its regime that committed leaders “spend until 2pm on Wednesday on a knife-edge” (see pages 8-9 and 16-17) dreading the inspection call. The union’s campaign Replace Ofsted: Let teachers teach is your opportunity to tell Mr Zahawi that Ofsted must go. Please do sign the petition (page 4). Government must hear your voice. Kevin Courtney Joint general secretary National Education Union
neu.org.uk facebook.com/ nationaleducationunion twitter.com/NEUnion
Contents
Published and printed on behalf of NEU by James Pembroke Media, 90 Walcot Street, Bath BA1 5BG jamespembrokemedia.co.uk Project manager: Lizzie Hufton t: 01225 337777 e: lizzie.hufton@james pembrokemedia.co.uk Art editor: Simon Goddard To advertise contact: Paul Heitzman t: 01727 739 196 e: paul@centuryone publishing.uk
Features 8 Campaigns
Why it’s time to replace Ofsted
12
10 Guild app
8
12 Feature
Tackling disability discrimination
Regulars 4
Ad artwork coordinator: Caitlyn Hobbs
Except where the NEU has formally negotiated agreements with companies as part of its services to members, inclusion of an advertisement in Lead does not imply any form of recommendation. While every effort is made to ensure the reliability of advertisers, the NEU cannot accept any liability for the quality of goods or services offered. Lead is printed by Walstead.
Connect with leaders on the NEU Leadership app
Call for fair pay rises, Covid guidance and the TUC women’s conference
22 Final word 16
16 Interview
Update
We need good leaders, not knighted ministers, says Mary Bousted
Taking on a head role during Covid
19 TPS FAQs
Changes to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme
20 Masterclass
Adopting a traumainformed approach
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
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Update
Sign the NEU’s petition to oust Ofsted and let teachers teach A PETITION calling on the Government to replace Ofsted was due to be launched at the NEU’s annual conference in Bournemouth (11-14 April), as Lead went to press. Part of the union’s national campaign, Replace Ofsted: Let teachers teach, the petition calls on members to pledge their support for a radical overhaul of inspection and accountability in England. Our survey of members found 88 per cent were in
favour of replacing Ofsted, which has become a toxic force in the profession over the last 30 years. Its regime generates unnecessary workload – forcing thousands and thousands of stressed and exhausted teachers out of the profession every year. It feeds the recruitment and retention crisis in teaching. The petition calls on the Government to: 1. replace Ofsted with a school accountability system which is supportive, effective and fair
2. work with teachers, leaders and other stakeholders to establish a commission to learn how school accountability is done in other high-performing education nations 3. develop an accountability system which commands the trust and confidence of education staff as well as parents and voters. Sign up at replaceofsted. valueeducation.org.uk See page 8.
Lower pay rises for heads ‘unfair’ and ‘divisive’ THE union has told the Government it must offer school leaders and experienced teachers the same pay boost as new starters – or risk damaging morale and exacerbating the retention crisis. The warning by NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney followed the release of Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi’s proposals on teacher pay in March. Mr Zahawi has advised the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) that leaders should receive a three per cent increase. He said new teachers should receive £30,000 a year to make teaching competitive with other graduate professions. But Kevin criticised the proposal as ‘divisive’, arguing: “Imposing lower increases for more experienced teachers and head teachers is deeply unfair, will damage morale and will actually increase the retention problems already facing the profession.” He added: “The increases to starting pay that are proposed in the Government’s evidence to the STRB must be accompanied by equivalent increases in pay for all teachers and school leaders. We will call on the STRB to recommend that all teachers and school
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lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
leaders get the same rises proposed for beginner teachers and that the Government should fully fund them.” The NEU is calling for all teachers to have their pay boosted by at least eight per cent this year and next to help restore pay levels after years of pay freezes and below-inflation rises. In real terms, the average teacher has seen their pay fall by 17 per cent since 2010. At the time of a cost of living crisis, falling pay for teachers is contributing to recruitment and retention problems in education. Tens of thousands of members responded to the union’s pay survey at the start of the year, with 98 per cent backing the union’s campaign to increase pay by at least eight per cent. Kevin said: “Instead of continuing to cut teacher pay, the Government should be taking urgent action to restore the pay cuts imposed since 2010 so that we can recruit, retain and value the teachers we need.” Pay was due to be debated at the annual conference in Bournemouth (11-14 April), attended by around 1,600 delegates, as Lead went to press.
Go to neu.org.uk/campaigns/paycampaign
NEU guidance on dealing with cases of long Covid ADVICE on how to support staff with long Covid published by the union says decisions about a staff member’s condition, and whether it constitutes a disability and therefore protection under the Equality Act 2010, must be made case by case. Symptoms of long Covid are diverse and include breathlessness, chronic fatigue, brain fog, a persistent cough and muscle aches. They may require employers to make reasonable adjustments. Disciplinary action for long Covid-related sickness absences may be met with claims of discrimination arising from disability, says the union. The union’s position is that members who have an extreme reaction to the Covid-19 vaccine and develop conditions or experience the worsening of underlying conditions as a result should receive the same support as members with suspected or confirmed long Covid. To read the guidance, go to neu. org.uk/advice/supportingmembers-long-covid
Update
Time to rethink unreliable and inequitable 14-19 assessment, says commission NEU past president and secondary head teacher Robin Bevan spoke powerfully about the flaws in the assessment and qualifications system for 14- to 19-year olds at the launch of an in-depth report in February. “Exams currently dictate, distort and diminish the value, relevance and enjoyment of secondary school in England,” said Robin, one of a panel of experts who has reviewed the system over the past year. “Educators across the country are clamouring for equitable and reliable assessment reform, so all pupils can experience worthwhile and motivating progression in learning.” Robin was a member of the ten-strong Independent Assessment Commission, whose report concluded that the assessment system in England is inequitable and unreliable.
He said there was a bizarre view from Government that increased exam content is equivalent to better depth of learning and understanding, and that the mode of learning had changed from exploration to recitation. Commission chair Louise Hayward, professor of educational assessment and innovation at the University of Glasgow, said: “One clear message is that it is time for
a new era of assessment and qualifications. Qualifications that are more equitable, reliable and represent what matters for employment and young people as they move into employment.” She added: “The current system leaves behind a forgotten third. That’s not an acceptable place to be.” Evidence gathered from employers found that they believe young people are not
developing the essential skills and competences needed in the workplace, such as such as nimble thinking, collaboration and innovation, says the report. The highstakes system encourages students to regard learning predominantly as a way to pass examinations. To read the report, go to neweraassessment.org.uk/ findings
NEU past president Robin Bevan (right) at the launch of the report
Union works to find alternative to primary tests THE NEU has formed an independent Primary Assessment Commission (PAC) to draw up proposals for an evidence-led, professionally endorsed alternative to highstakes tests in England. There is a growing consensus among educators, parents and politicians that the system is broken. However, there is no clear alternative on the table and little agreement on what the future could look like.
The PAC’s members will be teachers, researchers and head teachers, and it will take evidence from a range of stakeholders. Chaired by Dominic Wyse and Alice Bradbury, professors at University College London (UCL), the PAC will meet over the next seven months to: review the key issues for assessment in primary schools from the perspectives of educators and external stakeholders
rovide indicators of how p well research evidence links to current policies and practices for assessment in primary schools recommend principles for improving assessment in primary schools and offer examples of practice that reflects these principles. It is proposed that an interim report will be released in the summer, followed by a final report later in the year.
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
5
TUC women’s conference
Ivy Scott
Sarah Vaughan
Emma Thornton
Women hit by impact of menopause opting out of leadership roles, conference hears TOO many women step back from leadership positions or avoid them altogether because they are struggling to manage menopause symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog, delegates at the TUC women’s conference (9-11 March) heard. At the NEU’s fringe session, Making menopause matter at work, NEU rep Emma Thornton said: “The range of symptoms can make women feel they have become terrible at their job. They don’t have the energy any more. They don’t have the patience or the stamina. But they make these choices not realising that these menopausal symptoms are temporary, and they will get better.” Emma, a rep for Northern Education Trust, which runs 22 schools, said it
“The policy contains really helpful suggestions that don’t cost the employer anything.” 6
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
has recently adopted the NEU’s model menopause policy. The policy (see box, opposite) sets out employers’ legal duties, line managers’ responsibilities and easy-to-implement changes that can be introduced in the workplace such as providing fans, blinds on windows and regulating the temperature in classrooms. The policy is part of a menopause toolkit that includes a checklist for leaders. “It is an excellent piece of guidance. It’s easily implemented, and it contains really helpful suggestions that don’t cost the employer anything,” said Emma. A standalone menopause policy is hugely important, she added. Delegates also heard from Sarah Vaughan, branch and district secretary for Cheshire East, who helped develop the union’s policy after she began tackling the issue in her own school seven years ago. Echoing Emma’s points, she said: “Workplaces don’t recognise that performance issues, additional sick days and unusual reactions to situations could be menopause-related, and sometimes women themselves don’t recognise that the menopause is affecting them,” she said. “Workplaces don’t always realise they can offer support for the menopause, and women don’t realise there is help there to ask for.”
At one school, cleaners no longer wear nylon tabards because they were exacerbating menopause symptoms, she said. Other schools make deodorants, soaps, creams and sanitary products available in the toilets. “Small adjustments can make the difference and being in a workplace where the menopause is spoken about openly makes a huge difference,” said Sarah. “Greater flexibility is still needed in workplace policies to enable women to manage their symptoms and to be confident that their voices will be listened to.” Key points for schools are: check the risk assessments that are available cater for the needs of women going through the menopause; maintain and monitor policy for effectiveness, and consider workplace surveys and training for staff. Ivy Scott, a member of the Black organising forum in the eastern region, told the fringe that six out of ten women say menopause symptoms have had a negative impact on their lives. Research into menopause does not include Black women, so the union needs to have meetings where Black speakers can share their expertise, she said. Last year, she began holding meetings to raise awareness of the menopause, with plans to run more.
TUC women’s conference THE NEU’S MENOPAUSE POLICY AND TOOLKIT AND EMPLOYERS’ LEGAL DUTIES SANDRA Bennett, who is based in the NEU employment rights unit, said treatment related to the menopause can amount to unlawful discrimination on the grounds of sex, age and/or disability. The NEU sees employers taking action against menopausal women instead of taking action to support them, said Sandra. She gave an example: A 52-year-old primary teacher experienced severe menopause symptoms for almost a year. She was experiencing memory loss as part of the menopause. This was exacerbated by a warning from her head that she would be monitored as her capability was in question. Her NEU caseworker challenged the employer which admitted it didn’t have a menopause policy, it hadn’t considered how it should support menopausal women, and it hadn’t adjusted workplace procedures to take account of menopausal women’s needs. Our caseworker persuaded the employer to: halt the performance monitoring arrange a referral to occupational health review the sickness absence policy and capability procedures to take account of the impact that menopausal symptoms might have on menopausal women workers. The officer ensured workplace policies and procedures were adjusted to prevent less favourable treatment of menopausal women. Find out more at: neu.org.uk/advice/workingthroughmenopause neu.org. uk/advice/ menopauseguide-andchecklistleaders
Focus on women’s safety CHAIR of the NEU’s women’s organising forum, Heather McKenzie, spoke in support of a motion on femicide proposed by entertainment union Equity. It called for the creative industries to do more to challenge the portrayal of women in media images and the stereotypical storytelling of women’s lives. The motion also called for the TUC and its affi liates to demand the Government listen and act urgently to tackle the societal issue of women’s safety; to commit adequate funding for re-education, and to
Heather McKenzie
support the work of Equity in calling upon production companies to take a stance
industry which ‘touches all
against the discriminatory
our lives’. This challenge to
portrayal of women.
power is happening but not
Heather said: “We must also
quickly enough.
challenge the stereotyping of women as victims.” She added that things
“I look forward to the mini-series that blows out of the water the fallacy that it is
were changing, but there was
women’s responsibility to keep
still a long way to go in the
themselves safe,” said Heather.
Call for trauma-informed support NEU member Susan Aitouaziz,
“We must recognise
Barking and Dagenham NEU
that women are victims of
branch secretary, spoke in
much more serious crimes
support of a motion proposed
than they commit,” said
by Unite and passed by
Susan. “The majority of
conference. Highlighting
their crimes are non-violent;
the impact of maternal
they pose no threat to the
imprisonment on children
public. Imprisoning women
including an increased risk
is a choice made by the
of school exclusion, it called
legal system.”
on the TUC to campaign for
She added that the
funding for specialist trauma-
money spent on prison
informed support for children
places could be better
with a mother in prison.
spent on providing
In 2020, there were 5,011
community solutions, such
women sent to prison – most
as house arrest, which would
imprisoned for theft – who left
allow mothers to stay with
180,000 children.
their children.
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
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Campaigns
Free to teach
Sally Gillen outlines the NEU’s campaign Replace Ofsted: Let teachers teach and hears from assistant head Sydney Heighington about why he’s signed up. HOW different the working week would be if you weren’t on tenterhooks until 2pm on Wednesday. If, freed from that pressure and distraction, you were allowed to focus on running your school and on the most important people – your staff and learners. How much easier it would be to create stability within your staff group, and consistency for your learners, if teachers stayed. And how heartening it would be to see your staff’s mental health and wellbeing boosted – if the burden of Ofsted was lifted. Ironically, the inspectorate’s best chance of fulfilling its strapline mission to “improve lives” would be to make way for an
“Uncertainty and lack of control are major sources of stress.” 8
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
accountability system that is fair, reliable and fit for purpose. All the things it is not. But Ofsted is going nowhere. Not without a collective push from leaders and teachers. That is why at this year’s annual conference in Bournemouth, the union was due to launch a petition as part of the Replace Ofsted: Let teachers teach campaign. Primary assistant head Sydney Heighington has signed up. He also features in the NEU’s film explaining the campaign (pictured above). Along with many other senior leaders around the country, Sydney and his SLT colleagues “are always waiting for Wednesday to come around”. His school was last inspected in 2008. “We’ve been on the cusp of imminent inspection for years and we are always on guard,” he says. “That’s been non-stop stress for the head and the senior leadership team. Uncertainty and lack of control are major causes of stress. This continuous waiting has taken a toll on staff wellbeing.” He adds: “Inspections aren’t done in the
right way and the Government doesn’t have educators’ best interests at heart. The union does. The NEU is looking to ensure that teachers are teaching well, and that schools are wonderful, thriving places for children, but not at the cost of teachers’ mental health.” Ofsted’s constant switch of focus to the next ‘big thing’ undermines the work of schools, argues Sydney, with schools forced to continually adapt what they are doing to try to meet the inspectorate’s expectations. “We have to try to do everything and it’s like spinning plates. You’re worried Ofsted will look at one of the plates and tell you ‘that one’s not spinning fast enough and that’s the one we’re looking at’. An impending Ofsted visit often impedes school improvement, as leaders can be reluctant to make changes they will not have time to embed.” He also believes Ofsted’s approach denies schools the opportunity to highlight their individual and unique strengths. “Judging everyone through the same lens doesn’t work.” In addition, evidence is emerging that the inspectorate is failing to take into
Campaigns account the impact of staff sickness during the pandemic. Sydney’s school has had 163 teacher days of staff absence since September. Sydney wants to see Ofsted replaced with an accountability system designed to support schools to improve. Four years ago, his school joined a growing number of others signing up to a model of school improvement where senior leaders go into each other’s schools for three days and review them. It is an approach based on collaboration and peer-to-peer support. “Teachers are reviewing teachers and there’s a lot more praise and a lot less stress,” says Sydney. “The reviews are done by people who know what they’re looking for. It’s
fantastic, very professional, and the response from staff is ten times more positive.” Reviewers spend three days at a school and then publish their report. It is a fair and rigorous system, Sydney says, as schools in a local area can’t simply buddy up. Reviewers are drawn from other areas of the country. There is no Ofsted-style language condemning schools as “failing”. Instead, a school’s performance is reviewed according to what has gone well and what can be even better. It is just one alternative to Ofsted. How transformational that would be for England’s education system. Sign the petition and take the first step towards that change.
“Teachers are reviewing teachers and there’s a lot less stress. It’s very professional and the response from staff is ten times more positive.”
REPLACE OFSTED: LET TEACHERS TEACH The stress and
We must create a
TEACHERS and leaders
they discriminate against
work under the shadow
schools in deprived areas
unsustainable workload
new approach to school
cast by Ofsted, an
– awarding Outstanding
generated by Ofsted
and college evaluation
unfair and unreliable
grades to four times more
is a major factor in
which is supportive,
inspectorate.
secondary schools with
the appalling teacher
effective and fair.
better off pupils than
retention rates that blight
approaches its 30-year
schools with students who
English education. Nearly
anniversary, now is the
are worse off. A major
40 per cent of teachers
right time to examine
research study showed
leave the profession within
what effect its inspections
that, even when schools
ten years. No education
have on the quality of
in deprived areas are
system can improve while
education that teachers
making excellent value-
it haemorrhages school
and leaders are able
added progress, they are
leaders and teachers.
to provide and, in
still more likely to be given
particular, for our most
poor Ofsted judgements.
As Ofsted
disadvantaged pupils. In 2017, the National
Teachers and leaders know that working in
Sign the petition calling on the Government to:
Audit Office concluded:
disadvantaged areas
“Ofsted does not know
is likely to be harmful to
whether its school
their careers because of
school accountability
trust and confidence of
inspections are having
the unfairness of Ofsted
system which is
education staff as well
the intended impact: to
judgements. It is harder
supportive, effective
as parents and voters.
raise the standards of
to recruit and retain
and fair;
www.replaceofsted.
education and improve
teachers in these schools.
2 work with teachers,
the quality of children’s
Disadvantaged children,
leaders and other
and young people’s lives.”
who most need qualified
stakeholders to
and experienced
establish a commission
published any research
teachers if they are to fulfil
to learn how school
to prove that its
their potential, are least
accountability is
inspections accurately
likely to get them.
done in other high-
Ofsted has never
reflect the quality of
School inspection
education schools
must be fair. It should be
provide. Comprehensive,
supportive. It should not
independent analysis of
be, as too many Ofsted
Ofsted judgements show
inspections are, punitive.
1 replace Ofsted with a
which commands the
valueeducation.org.uk
performing education nations; 3 develop an accountability system
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Leadership app
Join the conversation The NEU Leadership community Guild app is a private digital platform especially for leaders and an exclusive member benefit. OFSTED deferrals and inspections, workload pressures, staff wellbeing. These are just some of the issues NEU leaders are discussing on the NEU Leadership community Guild app, a WhatsApp-style professional messaging space for leaders. The app is a secure, easy-to-use, private digital platform. It is provided by technology company Guild and content is curated by the NEU. “This is a really useful tool for NEU leader members, and I’m looking forward to more and more leaders joining as they hear about it,” says NEU National Leadership Council vice-president Josie Whiteley. “In a rapidly changing environment, it offers me a really useful way to stay in touch with others facing the same issues. It offers me a real opportunity to chat to others in a safe and professional space – ask a question and someone will share their thoughts with you.” What is the purpose of the app? It is a space for you to: connect, learn from, and collaborate with other leaders in education discuss challenges, seek advice, share ideas and support each other discuss local and national education issues campaign and influence collectively for a better education system for all provide experiences and stories to inform NEU policy development and direction encourage each other to get involved in the work of the union build local and national leadership networks to minimise feelings of isolation. Who is it for? This community is for NEU Leadership members comprising: head teachers and principals deputy head teachers and vice-principals assistant head teachers and assistant principals heads of centres, schools and post-16 colleges 10
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
leaders in the independent sector leaders in further education executive head teachers leaders of multi-academy trusts directors and assistant directors of education business managers, bursars and further education finance managers. Who else is involved? The professional community space is led and driven by NEU leaders to motivate and inspire other leadership members. Guild will work in partnership with a small number of NEU staff and NEU leaders joining the community to promote positive connections to benefit education and the education profession. NEU staff will post upcoming events and information that may be of interest to leaders. How can leaders join? There are just four steps: 1. Register at guild.co/app/set-up-account or by downloading the app from the App Store or Google Play – just search for ‘Guild app’. 2. Once registered, email guildenquiries@neu.org.uk and request to join the NEU community. 3. A link will be sent to your email address in a few days. Click on the link to join the NEU Leadership community. 4. After joining, you will see a welcome message, which sets out the purpose of the community group and who is involved. The NEU behaviour statement can also be found here and explains the expectations for the group. We ask that leaders add their photo and complete the profi le section to introduce themselves. Once leaders have joined, they can add a comment or ask a question on the platform. Click on an existing topic to continue the conversation, or start a new topic by clicking New Conversation.
Does the app give me access to individual support? Leaders can find direct messaging on a one-to-one basis with a peer an additional benefit. This allows members to raise queries and concerns that may otherwise be difficult to share on the larger platform. A member can direct message another leader by clicking on their photo. The phrase New Direct Message will appear and communication created here can only be seen between two members. Join and collaborate with other leadership members to network, offer peer support and build the union movement. Register now for the app and request to join the exclusive NEU Leadership community.
NEU National Leadership Council vice-president Josie Whiteley
“It offers me a real opportunity to chat to others in a safe and professional space.”
Feature
‘I was not the problem – discrimination was’ Yasmin Omar took her employer to tribunal and won. She believed her disability and teaching did not mix, but her new head convinced her she was wrong. Words: Sally Gillen Photos: Kois Miah “I AM sorry to hear about your multiple sclerosis (MS) diagnosis,” Yasmin Omar’s head teacher told her. “I’d like to think there’s nothing we can’t support you through in the future.” It was a simple statement, yet these 24 words provided two things that, in her 16 months as a teacher, Yasmin had not been given by a school leader: recognition and reassurance. Walking home from the January 2020 meeting, she was in tears. “Despite having had MS for a year and a half, it was the first time anyone in the teaching profession had acknowledged the weight of my diagnosis,” she recalls. “It’s something I will never forget. I finally began to come to terms with the realisation that my teaching career did not have to end because of MS – I was not the problem, discrimination was.” That truth is now set out in black and 12
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white. A 73-page employment tribunal judgement on the case Yasmin was forced to bring against the school she joined in 2018 as a newly qualified science teacher, just five months after being diagnosed with MS, sets out a catalogue of failings. They include the school’s failure to put in place the reasonable adjustments requested by Yasmin (see box, right and page 14), which included being relieved of break duty, having a reduced timetable and handing in lesson plans half an hour later. Brampton Manor Academy, in east London, had repeatedly discriminated against and harassed Yasmin because of her disability (see panel, page 14). On her first day a manager “effectively refused” Yasmin’s request to leave an Inset day half an hour early to attend an urgent hospital appointment. During her time at the school, she developed a dozen new lesions and the MS spread to her spinal cord.
Yasmin then spent the 2018-2019 academic year in physiotherapy relearning to walk without crutches. The judgement is a shocking read for anyone. For education leaders, it is also a warning of the consequences of failing to fulfi l the moral, ethical and legal duties employers have to staff who have a disability. The school “wanted to maintain its own success by ensuring the success of its pupils”, says the judgement, but “this
“Her new school’s attitude inspired her with confidence.” Tribunal judgement
“The support I received from the NEU made the scariest experience of my life easier to cope with.” has to be balanced with its duties to its employees, ie to manage them fairly, properly and in accordance with its legal responsibilities and duties”. The tribunal added that it did not accept the school’s position, which suggested it had to choose between supporting the teacher or prioritising its pupils’ education. In January, Yasmin’s case was settled. The details were not disclosed. “I can finally begin to close that chapter,” she says. “The case has been equally the most cathartic yet painful experience of my life.” Since starting at a different school in January 2020, Yasmin has been in remission and has a full teaching timetable, teaches all year groups and runs an after-school club. “Working with supportive teams, including the business manager and head teacher, has played a hand in that,” she says. The tribunal judges noted that Yasmin’s present school made adjustments,
Feature
Yasmin Omar: “My career did not have to end because of MS – I was not the problem, discrimination was”
including not requiring her to do break duty at all and giving her access to the lift, from her first day. “Her new school’s attitude inspired her with confidence and has led to her having an uneventful working life as a teacher,” they add. Yasmin says: “I feel haunted by how much I had to rely on my line managers [at Brampton Manor], none of whom had training in supporting a member of staff with multiple sclerosis, which I only found out years later during the tribunal. “The biggest challenge teachers like myself face is a lack of understanding by those in a position of influence. Invisible illnesses make up the largest
REASONABLE ADJUSTMENTS: HOW THE SCHOOL FAILED IN ITS LEGAL DUTY UNDER section 20 of the Equality Act 2010, employers have a duty to make adjustments where a disabled person is put at a substantial disadvantage in comparison with persons who are not disabled. The tribunal ruled that Brampton Manor failed to comply with this duty. Its judgement acknowledges that the school made
three adjustments: it gave Yasmin a lift key, allowed her to teach in classrooms on the ground floor – even though it was not what she asked for – and arranged for her to do her break in the library rather than the school playground. However, the school did not have any expert/ medical opinion that those were all the adjustments that she needed. The school
refused Yasmin’s requests and instead, debated with her on whether they really were what she needed and suggested instead options that would work for them, says the ruling. Yasmin was only referred to occupational health when the school was pressed to do so by Yasmin’s NEU rep in March 2019 – five months after joining the school.
proportion of disability in the workplace, yet misconceptions are still widespread and disability is associated with a wheelchair logo.” Joining her present school in early 2020, Yasmin says she immediately felt safe. “I finally had the chance to find my feet in an environment free of fear and suffering and focus on my development as a teacher, who is part of a nurturing community, rather than a teacher made to feel like an outsider because of a chronic illness. “The support I received from the NEU made the scariest experience of my life easier to cope with. Discrimination can make you feel small, while the employer looms large, but the court of law ultimately levels the playing field.”
“The school wanted to maintain its own success by ensuring the success of its pupils. This has to be balanced with its duties to its employees.” Tribunal judgement lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
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Feature
Timeline to a tribunal AP R I L 2018 In April 2018, five months before joining Brampton Manor Academy as a newly qualified teacher, Yasmin is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
S E P TEM BE R 2018 In September 2018, on her first day at Brampton Manor – an Inset day – Yasmin is “effectively refused” permission to leave early to attend an urgent medical appointment. During her first week, Yasmin begins to experience blurred vision, loss of balance and migraines. She
Yasmin was on statutory sick pay and evicted from her home after suffering a major relapse
is prescribed medication and told to stay at home for five days. A senior manager invites Yasmin to a stage 1 trigger meeting under
Yasmin considers resigning and taking out a grievance. On 22 November Yasmin sends a
F E BR UARY 2 019 On 24 February, she writes to managers to say her condition has become worse, she
the school’s managing sickness
three-page letter to the head saying
is on the brink of giving up and feels she
absence procedure.
she wishes to resign and has not
cannot cope with a full timetable. She asks
A couple of weeks after the
received any help or been listened
for her timetable of 19 hours to be reduced
meeting, Yasmin receives a letter in
to. She says she had tried to make
to 15/16 hours. The tribunal described
her pigeonhole saying her absence
all her medical appointments at the
Yasmin’s letter as “a cry for help”.
has had an adverse impact on the
weekends or after school.
running of the school and her classes have been affected by her absence. Yasmin is set a target of no further periods of absence from
At a meeting, the head suggests
M AR C H 2 019
she could take a break and return in
On 14 March, Yasmin is told at a meeting
January.
that her absence is having a significant
Yasmin is then on special
impact on the school. Her NEU rep says
work due to sickness for the rest of
leave from 26 November 2018 to
Yamsin does not merely have a cold,
the academic year.
6 January 2019.
but a disability. The rep’s suggestion that
Yasmin asks to be relieved of break
Yasmin be referred to occupational health
duty because of fatigue, but a senior
DECE M BE R 2 018
manager tells her: “If you’re unfit to do
On 14 December an MRI scan shows
break duty, the next question is, are
new lesions on Yasmin’s brain. She
assessment Yasmin is declared unfit for
you unfit to teach?”
needs an appointment with her
work, having had a major relapse.
NOVE M BER 2018 In November 2018, she takes a day off
neurologist and the earliest one is on 23 January. Before her return date, the school
sick to attend a hospital appointment
does not contact Yasmin for any
because of concerns her symptoms
update on her health.
are getting worse. She then receives
On her return, she is given a full
is agreed. After an occupational health
From February 2019, Yasmin receives statutory sick pay. She is evicted from her home and left homeless. A doctor suggests a phased return to work in September and a number of adjustments, but Yasmin cannot
an email from a senior manager saying
timetable. There are no adjustments
contemplate returning and resigns on
the absence has triggered the formal
and no handover with the teachers
2 September 2019.
stage of the absence procedure. At a
who have been covering.
meeting, a senior manager tells Yasmin
During her first week back,
the break duty is an integral part of her
Yasmin’s symptoms become much
role as a teacher and relieving her of
worse. She continues to go into
it is not a reasonable adjustment. He
school, concerned about triggering
stresses to Yasmin the impact of her
stage 3 of the absence management
absence on her class.
procedure.
14
lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
To find out more about supporting staff with a disability, and finding help if you are working with a disability yourself, visit our links to the A-Z resources on neu.org.uk/disability
Interview
‘Head teachers have power and agency’ Imagine taking on your first headship during the pandemic. Amy Lassman tells Sarah Thompson about her tough start but why she still believes hers is the best job ever. Photos: Kois Miah AMY Lassman had been deputy head for five years and was poised to take over as head. It was February 2020, her head had just resigned and the plan was for a really thorough transition over five months and then Amy would apply for the role. Then Covid-19 struck. By the middle of March, schools had closed, and Amy’s head teacher was forced to shield. That left Amy as the most senior staff member on site for the next seven months. It was September 2020 before she even began as acting head (her head had extended her notice period), and February 2021 before she was appointed permanently. It’s not the start to headship anyone would choose.
Amy found her feet as a head during the pandemic
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Nevertheless, Amy enthuses that it’s the best job ever. Even on the toughest days. “There’s always something funny. And however bad it gets, there’s always something uplifting as well because you can’t be around that many children and not have something ridiculous happen,” she smiles. “There’s a bit of a joke that goes around Twitter, which is ‘I must’ve missed that day on my NPQH when they talked about getting a shoe off the roof or dealing with a rabid dog in the playground.’ Every day I think I’m going to go down to the nursery and see the children, remind myself what I’m here for.” Amy’s school, Nelson Mandela Primary, is in the Sparkbrook area of Birmingham, one of the most economically deprived parts of the UK. Thirty-six per cent of her pupils receive free school meals. The area was also hit very hard by Covid-19, with one of the highest levels of infections in the country. Navigating her way through the uncharted territory of a pandemic, dealing with questions to which no one knew the answers, at the same time as finding her feet as a new head teacher, was a stark reminder of the weight of responsibility that comes with being a head. “You realise everything stops with you,” Amy says. “That’s the difference between being the deputy and head – the accountability. When something happens, you have to deal with it. You can’t be the go-between. That’s a big learning curve.
“You learn quickly not to make snap decisions. Because the things you’re being asked are much more important than the things you were being asked as a deputy head.” She has also been struck by the relationship between a deputy, who she describes as a head’s sounding board, and the head teacher. “You can’t share your deepest fears and frustrations with your deputy because you have to keep them positive. I consider myself to have been very lucky throughout my life, but there have been times recently when I’ve thought I just can’t any more. It’s just too much. I reset very quickly, have a glass of wine, call a friend.” Support, especially in the midst of constantly changing Government policies, has been vital, and Amy says she’s been very grateful for the advice from the union. When the NEU said schools should close in January 2021, Amy took the brave step of sending her staff the Section 44 letter template. “It was a hard weekend,” she recalls. “I didn’t know what people were going to do. In the end I emailed everyone and said, ‘Here’s the letter template. If you send it to me, I can close the school, but I can’t do it unless you tell me you’re not coming to work.’ “Every colleague sent me a letter because they were worried for their own safety and the safety of their families and the children.” Her school was one of 6,000 primaries that closed. It illustrated the power of the union, she believes.
Interview
Amy Lassman: “The NEU is a campaigning union and I think that we need more head teachers to be vocal. It’s a good thing to be in the NEU as a leader”
“It was a classic example of how head teachers have power and agency, and the union was able to mobilise huge numbers of staff to make the right decision to protect hundreds of thousands of people. We’ll come out on the right side of history,” she argues. “We took that decision out of the hands of Government, and seemingly, easily. What else can we do if we put our minds to it?” High on her agenda would be replacing Ofsted. As leader of a school rated Outstanding in 2008, an inspection is imminent. “We’re living on a knife edge every time the phone rings,” says Amy. “It gets to 2pm on a Wednesday and the deputy head and I just collapse. There’s a huge collective sigh of
“I get to make the decisions about how my school develops, its culture and its vision. That’s the dream.”
relief because they’re not coming that week. The pressure it puts on schools is ridiculous.” She adds that when, just before Christmas, Ofsted announced there would be no inspections in the last week of term, she went round every classroom informing staff. “Every single teacher visibly relaxed. It’s just a nightmare, the whole thing.” Despite the challenges, Amy describes being a head teacher as “a luxurious position to be in”. “I get to make the decisions about how my school develops, its culture and its vision,” she says. “That’s the dream.” For Amy this means, as a priority, creating an environment where the children feel safe and happy. Her own time at primary school was wonderful, she says. “My memories are of playing rounders in the field and sitting on a rocking horse in reception.” Her carefree time contrasts sharply with the experience of children now, who are tested in five of their seven years of primary education. It is “wrong and unnecessary”, argues Amy, because the focus needs to be on creating a nurturing environment. She backs the campaign to scrap statutory testing in primaries. “The NEU is a campaigning union and I really think that we need more head teachers to be vocal. I want people to know it’s a good thing to be in the NEU as a leader.”
Joining the NEU National Leadership Council has become an important part of her support network, while she has also built links with leaders in her local area. Together they have formed an unofficial consortium offering moderation sessions and peer-to-peer support. “You can ask any question,” she says. “No-one’s going to say, ‘What, you don’t know that?’.” She has also signed up for the senior mental health lead training course, run by charity Place2Be, which offers supervision and space to share and reflect. “It’s a really important investment,” she says. “You can’t expect head teachers to deal with the level of things we do without some kind of supervisory support.” Firmly committed to ethical leadership, she is dismayed by the numbers of education leaders who have drifted away from the moral purpose of education. “There are too many people in school leadership who are business-orientated. They’re not in it for the right reasons. All these schools with silent corridors and ridiculous behaviour and uniform policies. “We need head teachers to be vocal and stay true to their initial motivations. If you think back to why you wanted to be a teacher in the first place, being a head teacher is just doing that but for more children.” lead. The magazine for NEU Leadership members
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Pensions
TPS age discrimination FAQs Find out how recent changes to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) will affect you, and whether you need to take any action now. BIG changes were made to the Teachers’ Pension Scheme on 1 April. Th is stems from the age discrimination in the public sector pension schemes introduced in 2015. Protections meant older members of the TPS remained in the fi nal salary scheme or delayed joining the career average scheme when younger members transferred into the career average scheme in April 2015. Th is was found to be unlawful. To rectify the discrimination, eligible members will get a choice between fi nal salary scheme benefits or career average scheme benefits for the period 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. Members will be expected to choose at the point of retirement. Am I affected? If you were a member of the TPS on 31 March 2012, remained in service on 1 April 2015 and haven’t had a more than five-year break since then, this affects you. Why are people who joined after 31 March 2012 not affected? Because legally they would not have had the option of staying in the fi nal salary scheme, whatever their age. They would have all been moved into the career average scheme on 1 April 2015. Will older members who stayed in their final salary schemes until 31 March 2022 get the same choice between final salary and career average? Yes.
What happened on 1 April? All members of the TPS moved into the career average scheme. Th is includes those older members who previously had full protection. What happens to the service I’ve built up in the final salary scheme? Th is is protected and will be increased in line with consumer price index (CPI) inflation until you take your pension. What do I need to do if I am affected and haven’t left the TPS? Nothing. You will be contacted by the TPS and will receive an annual statement showing the comparison between final salary and career average for the period from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022. You will only have to make a decision when you take your pension. Are there any groups who will have to make an immediate decision? Yes, people who left the TPS between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022 who have taken or moved their pension benefits. These include retirees, people who have transferred their pension out, divorcees, those who have taken ill health retirement and death cases (their representatives in this case). Will teachers have to pay extra because of this decision? The NEU does not believe teachers will end up paying extra but this will be determined by the 2020 valuation of the TPS, which is expected to be completed (at the time of
writing) in March 2023. The Government intends to pass the cost of fixing the age discrimination on to the TPS so that it is borne by employers/employees. The NEU has pointed out the unfairness many times of making employees potentially pay for their own compensation. What about members of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)? Compensation for members in the LGPS is different due to the different structure. All LGPS members were moved into a career average scheme in 2014. Older members had the additional protection of an ‘underpin’, guaranteeing them the better of career average or their previous final salary scheme. This will be extended to all members for the period 1 April 2014 to 31 March 2022.
WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION? Teachers’ Pension Scheme: teacherspensions.co.uk Local Government Pension Scheme: lgpsmember.org NEU pension advice: neu.org.uk/pensions Sign up with TPS MyPensionOnline to keep up to date. You will need a National Insurance number and an email address.
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Masterclass
Introducing traumainformed teaching As schools try to move forward from Covid-19, Lead speaks to a former head about developing a trauma-informed approach. Words: Laraine Clay
Working in an area with high SIOBHAN Collingwood has levels of deprivation, she became seen angry, unteachable children increasingly aware of the need to become happy young learners by look at what was causing children’s using practices that understand challenging behaviour rather than the terrible toll trauma can have simply labelling them as naughty on them, their families and or disruptive, and excluding them. communities. “We have to ask why are there And the Covid-19 pandemic so many children with physical is a prime example of just such health problems, why are there trauma, with the after-effects so many children who try really manifesting themselves in many hard but can’t retain what they different ways. are learning? Siobhan is the education “We have to have that level lead at the Lancashire Violence of understanding of what is Reduction Network (LVRN), happening to someone’s brain who which specialises in traumais living with trauma, and not just informed practice. The punish them for their trauma by organisation works across agencies, saying it looks like you’re a risk to such as schools and social care, and other people and putting them in with communities and individuals. isolation and labelling them as bad Key to its work in preventing and troubled.” and reducing violence is tackling Siobhan Collingwood has worked with children affected by trauma She explains that certain parts the impact of trauma experienced of the brain are affected by trauma by many children and families. which trigger responses often While the pandemic has brought associated with “difficult” children. this to wider attention, it is not new for compassionate and trauma-informed. One of these is the fight-or-flight Siobhan, who has seen for many years A teacher for almost 30 years, response, a primitive response to danger. the suffering endured by children as a she retired as head at Morecambe “Someone who has lived in that result of other traumatic experiences. Bay Community Primary School in response a lot will very quickly be During the first lockdown, LVRN Lancashire last September after 17 triggered back into it. They misread published downloadable resources years at the helm during which time ‘threats’ all the time and will be quickly offering guidance on how to respond she recognised “an epidemic of mental thrown back into a fighting response or a to the aftermath of the pandemic and health issues which was certainly not hiding response.” the behavioural responses to it. And helped as more pressure was put on It is these types of behaviours that this response, Siobhan says, should be services and systems”. 20
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Masterclass
TRAUMA-INFORMED SCHOOLING EXPLAINED There are 18 violence reduction networks (VRNs) across the country sharing information and expertise, with Lancashire specialising in traumainformed practice. They also network with other countries and across the world it is estimated that 40 to 50 per cent of the population is living with some kind of childhood trauma.
What is a traumainformed school? LVRN defines it as one that is able to support children and young people who suffer with trauma and whose experience of trauma acts as a barrier to learning. A traumainformed school works in collaboration with children, families and organisations
Siobhan says need to be recognised by teachers, and strategies and time put in place to manage them. She gives an example of a boy she knows who starts clenching his fists into a ball if he feels threatened. “He lived with domestic abuse and does not want to be that violent man. I tell him to breathe calmly and know that he is not that person, that he is not that man.” A stress ball worked for another child whose response is to freeze if they feel threatened. “The ball just gives some sort of sensory stimulation, bringing them back into the world around them,” Siobhan explains. She refers to the children as disregulated or de-regulated, terms she would like to see widely recognised and the toxic effects of trauma understood. “You gradually have to calm them, make them feel safe again. Their responses often make them feel stupid in front of the classroom so it can be important to get them out of that area. You need an area of soft furnishing, someone who can help talk that person down, someone who knows what they are doing. It needs time.”
to develop positive relationships and provide interventions for children affected by trauma in order to heal their bodies, minds and brains. It involves staff in every part of the organisation, taking into consideration the experiences of trauma (among children and staff) and applying trauma knowledge to the way we practice.
While she was working at Morecambe Bay, the school started a nurturing group to rebuild attachment, and create a nurturing environment. “We started with key stage 1 and key stage 2 groups and within a few years we didn’t need a group for key stage 1 and exclusion rates dropped.” “If we start at the nought to three age group caring, forming attachments, helping families build strong relationships, we have a lot more children arriving school-ready.” Schools are central to this approach which involves including, and often supporting, families and the community. But she emphasises that becoming a trauma-informed school should not just be a tickbox exercise.
“They misread ‘threats’ and will be thrown back into a fighting response.”
“I’m worried about tokenism. You can do the training and tick the box saying that you are a trauma-informed school, but you have to work with the community, put things in place. “Premises staff, front-of-school staff, senior management teams, governors – they all have to be involved. It’s got to be embedded,” she says. “To become trauma informed you need to change behaviours, learn how to use the right language, change the emphasis on how to work with children and how to respond to them.” Siobhan wants to see traumainformed champions in every school and part of her work with LVRN is training, not just in schools but across multi-agency services, including family support, probation and health. Siobhan likes to quote the late Archbishop Desmond Tutu when explaining her approach to childhood trauma: “There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in.”
Responding to Covid-19 – putting in place a recovery curriculum At her former school, Morecambe Bay Primary, Siobhan developed a recovery curriculum, designed to help pupils post-pandemic. To find out more go to the LVRN website to download the guide (pictured left): bit.ly/3KCa1yd
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Final word
We don’t need knights in shining armour – just good leaders
Mary Bousted Joint general secretary, National Education Union neu.org.uk facebook.com/ national education union NEUnion
ARISE Sir Gavin Williamson! The announcement of the erstwhile Secretary of State for Education’s peerage has been met by almost universal outrage. Sacked from two ministerial posts – firstly in 2019 by then Prime Minister Theresa May, for leaking defence secrets, and again in 2021 by Boris Johnson because of his rank incompetence, when competence was the quality most needed during the Covid crisis. A report by the thinktank Institute for Government into the Government’s handling of schools during the pandemic makes for coruscating reading. The report’s authors note: “Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, seemed determined to appear to be in control of events that they could not in fact control. There were repeated assertions that this or that would happen – that test kits would be available in schools in September, for example, or that schools would reopen in January 2021 or that exams would definitely be held in 2021 – up to the point where they did not happen, forcing last-minute U-turns.” School leaders despaired at the utter incompetence of the Government and the haplessness of Williamson. Communications from the Department for Education (DfE) were too often late – arriving in leaders’ inboxes on Friday evening, with health and safety requirements to be implemented on Monday morning. Multiple versions of documents containing important guidance were sent out, without tracked changes, leaving leaders relying on Twitter to work out where the changes were which they were required by law to follow.
“School leaders despaired at the utter incompetence of the Government and the haplessness of Williamson.” 22
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As the NEU joint general secretary, I can testify to the exasperation I felt in virtual meetings with the DfE where we were assured that everything would be alright, when it was already clear that it would not be alright. Exasperation mounted as I was repeatedly assured that pupils did not transmit Covid in school – only on the way to or from school – despite growing evidence, in the form of sky-high infection rates for primary and secondary pupils, that Covid did, indeed, transmit in classrooms. It is not even as though the consequences of the pandemic are still not being felt, and felt acutely, in schools. One secondary school leader contacted me
“We were assured that everything would be alright, when it was clear that it would not be.” recently. He wrote: “Staff are reporting an excessive strain from being in the position where the DfE are (probably rightly) anticipating that exams will go ahead as normal, whilst Ofqual/JCQ have not relinquished the requirements associated with being ready to issue teacher assessed grades (TAGs). “As a school we have around 4,000 exam entries every year. The Ofqual/JCQ requirements associated with the potential creation of TAGs are significantly onerous. They just about work as an alternative to exams. They were never designed to exist fully in parallel with exams. Whereas we might normally afford every pupil with a ‘mock’ in each subject at some point in the year (according to subject readiness), the scale of such ‘testing’, and the rigour demanded of the marking/grading, is vastly greater than any ordinary (or healthy) process of in-school summative assessment. “Our plans for the TAGs included a number of windows for that testing: some have passed, others are to follow. We assumed that by March we would know whether we are staging the remainder of the in-house TAG assessments or preparing for examinations. At present we are obliged to do both.” This leader asked if the NEU could, as a matter of urgency, engage with the DfE and with Ofqual on the issue of the workload generated by the requirements of a dual system of TAGs and exams. We are, of course, doing just that. Solving that problem would be a far better use of the nation’s resources than a knighthood for a failed Secretary of State for Education.
