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Teachers’ Working Hours – Duties of Governors and Head Teacher

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Lengthening the school day and week has been raised again as an option. So it is an opportune time to remind ourselves of the current legislative, contractual and other requirements governing the hours of work of teachers.  At the same time it is wise to remind ourselves of the duties of the Governing Body and Head Teacher with regard to the working hours of teaching staff.

The working hours of teachers are derived from several sources:

  • The Working Time Regulations.
  • The contract between the teacher and his employer. In state schools the contract will refer principally to the current School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
  • The school’s policy on Work/Life Balance
  • A teacher’s personal working practices.

I have focused on classroom teachers below as the leadership team and other grades are slightly different and those differences will be covered in a subsequent article.

The Working Time Regulations

The Teachers’ terms (STPCD) state clearly that the Working Time Regulations must be implemented by Head Teachers and the Governing Body for classroom teachers. The Regulations specify minimum terms that must be applied but, as we shall note later, the Teachers’ terms may provide for more than the minimum in some instances. The key aspects of the Regulations are summarised below.

Maximum Hours

Most teachers are not exempt and are therefore subject to a a limit of an average of 48 hours per week, averaged over a 17 week period.

It is an average so in some weeks a teacher may be required to work more or less hours provided those balance out over the period. It is also recognised that the number of working hours may increase in high season periods e.g. where the pattern of work increases because it is a traditional busy period in the organisation or the profession. However the hours should still be averaged out over a longer period.

A teacher may agree to work more than the maximum above by signing an opt out agreement. Even then, the Head Teacher would be required to ensure that rest breaks etc. are allowed.

What Counts Towards Those Working Hours?

The following do not usually count as working hours:

  • breaks when no work is done, e.g. lunch breaks.
  • normal travel to and from work.
  • time on call away from the workplace.
  • evening and day-release classes not related to work.
  • travelling outside of normal working hours.
  • unpaid overtime a worker has volunteered to do – such as staying late to finish off a task.
  • paid or unpaid holiday or time off for personal reasons.

The following count towards the average of 48 hours per week.

  • normal duties required under a teacher’s contract.
  • job-related training.
  • time spent travelling if a teacher has to travel as part of carrying out his contractual duties (but not if travelling to and from his normal place of work to home).
  • working lunches (which you are expected to attend).
  • paid overtime; unpaid overtime will also count if the individual has no choice but to perform it.
  • time spent on call at the workplace
  • time spent actually working abroad in some cases e.g. school trips abroad – some of that time would count
  • any other time that is treated as ‘working time’ under a teacher’s contract.

The last point is significant for teachers and is explained in section 2 below.

Statutory Rest Periods

The regulations require that teachers (as workers) are provided with the following rest periods.

Daily Breaks – a minimum break of 20 minutes must be given if a teacher is working 6 or more hours in a day. Payment does not have to made for the break. The Teachers’ terms specify when classroom teachers should have a break – see section 2.

Under the Working Time Regulations, the break can be allocated at a time to suit the operation but should be during the shift and preferably not given at the end or the beginning of the work period. Part time staff and shift workers may prefer to take the break at the end of the shift so that they can leave earlier. The Teachers’ terms specify how this affects teachers as noted in section 2.

Daily Rest Period – a rest of 11 consecutive hours in each 24-hour period should be given. The rest period may cross two calendar days depending on when the working day finishes and starts. There is some flexibility to this requirement but Governors should check that teachers are able to take this rest break each day and are free from working on their professional duties. This provision does not apply to split shift workers but such an exception is unlikely to apply to teachers.

Weekly Rest Day – a day off each week but it can be allocated as a rest period of 48 hours over a 14 day period if that fits the operation better.

Annual Holidays – a minimum of 28 days holiday (5.6 weeks) which may include public/bank holidays. Teachers are deemed to have taken their statutory holiday entitlement in the school holiday periods. Governors will need to ensure that any changes to the pattern of school term times should allow teachers still to take off their entitlement to statutory minimum holidays.

Obligations of the Head and the Governing Body

The Regulations place a duty on managers to monitor the working time of staff – the hours worked, overtime, work patterns, breaks, rest days and annual leave to ensure the minimum standards are applied. The Teachers’ Terms place that responsibility on the Governing Body and Head Teacher. It should not be viewed lightly as the Regulations were passed originally under the ambit of the health and safety directive and can be enforced by the Health and Safety Executive or local environmental health officers.

There are various provisions as to how rest periods may be allocated and exceptions in some industry sectors but generally the above apply to classroom teachers with the following caveat – the Teachers’ terms (STPCD) spell out specific tasks that count and do not count towards contractual hours and, in turn, the average working hours. Those points are discussed in the next section.

Contractual Working Time of Teachers

The contractual terms of a teacher may be found in several sources:

  • the current edition of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD);
  • the individual’s written particulars of employment (often referred to as the contract);
  • the employer’s (i.e. the school’s or local authority’s) policies which have contractual force.

The main conditions relating to working time are set in the STPCD and are summarised below for classroom teachers. Leadership roles and Leading Practitioners have some different terms which will be covered in a subsequent article as will the particular terms that apply to part time teachers.

Directed Time

  • There is a contractual limit of 1,265 hours of directed time per annum for full-time classroom teachers in England and Wales. Those hours may be spread over a maximum of 195 days. 190 of those days are for pupil contact and the other 5 for non contact time such as professional development.
  • The hours may be allocated reasonably across the 195 days per school year on which the teacher is required to be available for work. Saturdays or Sundays or Bank/Public Holidays are not included unless working on such days is a specific contractual requirement.
  • Often the hours of teachers are explained as being for 32.5 hours per week for 39 weeks which traditionally is split into 38 weeks of term time and 5 other non-contact days. That may be convenient for calculating pay but as the directed hours can be spread reasonably across the 195 days – such an average is not immutable.
  • The Head Teacher may decide how the directed hours are used and all the hours do not need to be timetabled. Directed time includes: work directed by the Head Teacher such as teaching time, PPA allocated time, additional non-contact (or leadership/ management time), duties at break times or before/after school, staff meetings, parents’ evenings, training days and performance management meetings.
  • The professional duties expected of a classroom teacher are quite extensive as may be seen in section 51 of the STPCD 2013.

Non Directed Hours

On the surface, it appears that the working hours of a teacher fall well short of the average maximum of 48 hours per week set in the Working Time Regulations. However, the sting lies in section 51.22 of the 2013 STPCD which states, ” a teacher must work such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary to enable the effective discharge of the teacher’s professional duties, including in particular planning and preparing courses and lessons; and assessing, monitoring, recording and reporting on the learning needs, progress and achievements of assigned pupils”. This section is known as undirected time as the Head does not have the statutory authority to direct how many or when or how those hours should be used.

Undirected time is a contentious part of a teacher’s role as those activities can consume many hours which may tip a teacher across the average limit of 48 hours. Heads should check that when staff are working intensely, in term time, that they are able to take their daily rest breaks as late night finishes and early morning starts may be putting daily rest periods at risk.

Break Times

Classroom teachers who are required to be available for work for more than one school session on a school day, must be given one break of a reasonable length between those sessions or between 12 noon and 2 pm. The break does not have to be paid and is not subject to direction by the Head Teacher. A classroom teacher is not obliged to supervise pupils/students at lunch times which is why many schools hire teachers for that period on a separate contract or on a casual worker arrangement. However the requirement to allow a reasonable break still remains.

Contractual terms

Other terms covering working hours may also be contained in a teacher’s written particulars of employment or other documents referred to in those terms. Such terms are likely to become more common in the written particulars of teachers at academy and free schools.

The written particulars may also refer to policies on working hours. Clauses in policies will often not be binding in law unless those are expressed in such a way that it is clear that they are to be regarded as contractual.

Policy on Work/Life Balance

Governing Bodies and Head Teachers are required to have a policy for teachers. However, the requirement is not just to have a policy but to implement the legal requirements that are often referred to as a work/life balance. Section 52.4 of the STPCD 2013 emphasizes that this is a ‘must’ and that the Governors and the Head Teacher, “should ensure that they adhere to the working limits set out in the Working Time Regulations.” This also applies to the additional hours of undirected time.

Although the Guidance notes in section 4 of the STPCD refer to an older 2003 national agreement, that guidance still applies and contains some interesting reminders of the duties of the Governors and Head Teacher. For example, in section 26 there is a clear reminder of the wider legal duties to monitor and to take action to ensure there is a reasonable work life balance , “Employers have a duty to employees at common law and a legal duty under health and safety legislation, including the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and related legislation and the Working Time Regulations 1998”.

Governing Bodies should ensure that a risk assessment is carried out to assess whether or not the work demands on their teachers are reasonable and the pattern or working time does not breach the legislative requirements regarding rest breaks etc. The guidance spells out that the reasonableness of the requirement for staff to work additional hours (undirected time) must be kept under review and that duty applies to both classroom teachers and those on the leadership team who are not limited to 1265 hours per annum. The Guidance notes that it is not in the pupils’ interest for teachers to be working excessively long hours.

Personal Working Practices

We approach work in different ways. Some have the gift of being very focused and seem to be able to complete work very quickly and effectively. Many of us are not so gifted in that particular way and have to work longer. From time to time, we should review our own practices to identify:

  • opportunities to save time or to be more effective at what we do and how we do it.
  • whether we have fallen into a working pattern/method that requires too much time.

As noted earlier, the terms and regulations affecting leadership roles and especially a Head Teacher are slightly different and those will be the subject of a subsequent article.

Keep an eye out for those articles but even better receive an e-mail alert when the articles appear on this site by clicking on the link at the top of the right hand column of this page. You will then be able to receive alerts by e-mail of new articles and updates.

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Developing Leaders and Rewarding Career Development

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One thorny issue for Head Teachers and Chairs of Governors is how to steer a path through the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document to assist with developing future senior leadership team members.  For example, if you wish to encourage an individual to take on a much wider leadership role but do not have a vacant Assistant Head or Deputy Head Teacher role can you simply promote an individual temporarily to such a role for development purposes?

One may argue that development opportunities are motivating in themselves without the need for reward or recognition.  However, that motivation wears thin when the individual is expected to perform fully as a ‘leader’ but without recognition.

If the individual is employed on and subject to the School Teachers’ Terms and Conditions of Employment the position is quite clear under the 2013 STPCD. Academies may have more freedom.  First, we shall review the options for a non academy school.

The Leadership Pay Range

Individuals paid on the leadership pay range are normally expected to carry out roles comparable to either a Head Teacher, Deputy Head or Assistant Head Teacher.

The type of duties expected of the latter two roles are set out in section 49 of the 2013 terms e.g. “… in addition to carrying out the professional duties of a teacher other than a headteacher including those duties particularly assigned by the head teacher, the individual must play a major role under the overall direction of the headteacher in:

(a) formulating the aims and objectives of the school;
(b) establishing the policies through which they are to be achieved;
(c) managing staff and resources to that end; and
(d) monitoring progress towards their achievements.

and must undertake any professional duties of the headteacher reasonably delegated by the headteacher. “

The above requirements mean that, in many cases, an individual can not be placed on the leadership pay range for development as the terms stand currently. Whether the DfE will consider this further, in the current review of the Leadership pay and terms, remains to be seen.

The above terms would also rule out the creation of leadership style roles by other job titles if they do not meet the above key requirements. So what options are available to recognise staff who are willing to undergo development for future senior leadership posts?

Recognising Development via TLRs

A TLR 1 or 2 or 3 can only be awarded to a classroom teacher i.e. a qualified teacher but the definition of a classroom teacher excludes those on:

  • the Leadership Range
  • the Leading Practitioner Range
  • the Unqualified teacher Range (also known as instructors)

TLR 1 and 2 allowances are for long term responsibilities and so not suitable for a temporary development period. However, cover for an absent colleague may provide an opportunity to take on the role and receive a TLR for the period of absence.

A fixed term TLR 3 may be awarded for a project or responsibility that is required for a limited period. This would be useful to recognise an individual undertaking a development project and has the guarantee that salary safeguarding does not apply when the project is completed.

Recruitment or Retention Incentives and Benefits

It may be tempting to consider awarding a retention incentive to recognise individual development especially as such awards can take the form of either a payment or other form of financial assistance or support or benefit. Even so the allowances are intended for specific circumstances and are not generally suitable for development.

Unlike TLRs, there is no restriction on the level of teacher that may be given such an incentive. However they are specific to new teacher (recruitment incentive) or an existing teacher (retention incentive). Such incentives are not payable as a reward for specific responsibilities nor to supplement pay for other purposes beyond retention or recruitment.

Developing Leaders – Career Progression

If a teacher can not be appointed permanently to a leadership role, then career development and progression can take many forms such as:

  • Acting role in a leadership position to cover for an absent colleague.
  • Upper Pay or Main Pay Range teacher with a TLR 3 for a fixed period to say undertake a project to gain experience.
  • Upper Pay or Main Pay Range teacher with a TLR 1 or 2 according to the nature of the additional and permanent requirement for the TLR.

Career development can be fostered in many ways such as:

  • Project work or membership of a project group;
  • Secondment to another role or school;
  • Development events to raise the horizons of the individual
  • ‘Research’ projects to deepen and widen understanding
  • Visits, guided reading, coaching etc.

Staff Subject to an Academy’s Own Terms of Employment

If the Academy has implemented its own terms of employment for teachers and staff have been contracted under those, then those terms will replace the STPCD. An academy has the opportunity to design a pay structure to meet its services needs including succession planning and the development of staff for future leadership roles. An academy may make payments for developmental activities, if appropriate.

The DfE has a Chance to Encourage Succession Planning and Development

In the review of the Leadership pay range and terms, the DfE is urged to consider how the terms cam be fashioned to provide some flexibility to encourage and reward development. For example, extending the principle of TLR 3 allowances to other pay ranges and excluded roles may be one option.

Keep an eye out for those articles but even better receive an alert when the articles appear on this site by clicking on the link in the left hand column of this page. You will then be able to receive alerts by e-mail of new articles and updates.

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Continuous Service or Discontinuous Service

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With the increasing movement of teachers and support staff between different categories of schools, some interesting conundrums are arising over whether previous service counts when an individual joins another school.

To help bring some light to this question, a few articles will be published shortly. These will cover movement between maintained schools and academies and vice versa and from one academy to another.

Keep an eye out for those articles but even better receive an alert when the articles appear on this site by clicking on the link at the top of the right hand column of this page. You will then be able to receive alerts by e-mail of new articles and updates.

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Real Performance Appraisal – A Work in Progress

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Performance management skills will be become exposed this year as head teachers are required to link the results of appraisals to pay. Performance related pay will overshadow performance development as the link to pay will lead to more emphasis on a defensive collection of paper evidence.

The skills of nurturing improved and sustained performance when the wind is blowing against an individual as well as behind him is a key requirement.

Professionals Assess Themselves

Professionals share a common trait – they are often quick to realize when their performance has tailed off and they can understand what they are supposed to achieve.  However, they often struggle to know what they must do differently to improve.

So what do they do?  Some will work even more hours but often with little effect except for putting themselves under more stress.  Others may well become more disappointed in themselves or even depressed.  Many will feel that they are failing but find it difficult to voice what help they need to work in a different way as they are focused on the wrong issues.

Key questions for school leaders are:

  • Will Governors and the SLT accept their responsibility to help staff to improve their performance?
  • Are they focused on the advantages of real performance appraisal and improvement?
  • Have they revised their own skills to serve the demands of the new approach?

In this article we start to explore real performance appraisal – real because we start from the point that many head teachers are nervous of the new appraisal and pay links and have adopted a defensive approach in their pay policies and outlook on appraisal.

Effective performance for a professional is about 70% own input and 30% organisational input so the responsibility is very much with the individual. However, when an individual is working hard but not delivering, the appraisal process should become a source of encouragement and diagnosis but not defensiveness.

Diagnosis

The key need is to work with the individual to identify what is not being translated into effective classroom practice.  For example, planning and documentation may be fine so what is preventing those plans being demonstrated in teaching practice?  The individual will need help via a colleague to understand what is not happening or is happening but at the wrong time or inconsistently.

Help is required via a series of constructive observations, not as a rating observation, but as a mirror (or better a video) of what occurs compared to what the individual thinks is occurring.  Help the individual to explore what he/she needs to do differently and how that should be achieved.  Yes, professionals will need such help occasionally as the downward spiral of working hard but being ineffective can prevent the person seeing what needs to be unpicked and changed.

Sustained performance is required so continue with the observations periodically to help the individual to see when they are beginning to regress into the old habit. This time though it will be the individual who can rapidly identify what is going astray in their own practice but he/she is likely to need a few pointers as to how to avoid those issues.

Observer/Reflector/Adviser – skills in short supply

Does the school have a few gifted individuals who demonstrate those three skills and who can work with colleagues to turn performance around and regain an effective and inspired teacher?  A common mistake is to assume those on the SLT have that required combination of skills.

If you do not have such skills available in house, would it be beneficial to identify within your pyramid or locality a few who do and can be released occasionally for such help?  The cost would be justified as you only have to consider the hours of time that are absorbed in dealing with under performance or even exit options.

Effective Leadership in Action

An effective leader will find the person with the right skills and chemistry to ensure the helping relationship is productive. The results will be:

  • a teacher who is once more effective and inspiring for the pupils/students;
  • evidence to colleagues that the school’s appraisal/performance management approach is about focusing on effective performance with help when necessary.

An effective leader allows individuals to take risks to improve performance and to experiment with new ways of doing things. Such leaders free themselves from a defensive, overly cautious approach to appraisal and performance related pay.

Thinking of appraisal as an annual cycle is notorious as a downward spiral and it becomes a chore in the last few months of the cycle. Effective leaders have the knack of intervening at the appropriate time. By developing a regular discipline of reflection on performance in practice compared to what was planned will help individuals, the SLT and Governing Body to see where the trends in performance are going and to head off any significant issues. Such reflections do not have to be overly formal but will give individuals insights into their performance and ways of improving.

Finally read your pay policy again and check that you have not adopted a defensive approach to linking performance and pay. This may be a new venture for you but allow yourself to take risks and watch colleagues and students flourish as they feel able to experiment and to call for real appraisal help when needed.

Make sure that you are alerted to new articles on this blog by clicking on the link in the left hand column of this page. You will then be able to receive alerts by e-mail of new articles and updates.

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Strategic Strings to Pull for School Governors

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Can school leaders do more to raise the satisfaction of staff?  Like many organisations, schools face challenges which in their case are to:

  • Raise the learning outcomes for students;
  • Continuously improve the performance of staff;
  • Balance the budget.

An additional issue appears to be the low morale amongst teachers because of the constant changes in curriculum, the pressure of observations, pupil progress targets and the perception that teachers are not valued by parents,  the community nor the DfE at times.

Raising the Satisfaction of Teachers

Can school leaders do more to raise the satisfaction of staff? Yes, they can as there are certain levers they can use for that purpose. This is not a new problem as an insight was given in 2000 by the Head of OFSTED who, “argued that the morale of the teaching profession is affected by the quality of teaching provided within it.”  In The Guardian (4 September 2000) , he wrote, ‘The only way the morale of the profession is going to improve is when teachers teach better. Because when teachers teach better, children will learn more, and when children learn more their parents will respect teachers more. And when teachers have got the respect of parents in the community they are going to feel better about themselves.” (1)

This reciprocal reinforcement of satisfaction between ‘customers’ and staff is a well known effect in service organisations. Studies have shown that customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction are intertwined – each feed of the other and the level of staff satisfaction increases with consequent tangible improvements in staff performance and outcomes. In a service company that effect is seen in additional sales to customers and customer loyalty.  Schools are not profit organisations but the quote above is strikingly similar to the effects of the Service Profit Chain which was published in the Harvard Business Review (2). This was based on a series of premises that as an employee meets the needs of a customer, the satisfaction of the latter results in a reciprocal satisfaction for the employee. Although titled the Service Profit Chain, the premises are translatable to a teaching environment. As the learning of students improves and positive outcomes are commented upon by pupils, parents, colleagues as well as evidence from data, the professional satisfaction of a teacher increases and that reinforces the teacher’s commitment to develop students/pupils.

Strategic Mapping by Governors and Leadership Team

The term engagement is used frequently today as though it is the solution to organisational problems. It is important and requires the investment of management time and trust but engagement alone is not enough. Governors have to help the head teacher and leadership team to see the wider picture involved in raising the performance of the school and satisfying the stakeholders, staff, students and parents. A strategic map is required so that all can see what is to be achieved, when, and as important in a service organisation, how. This is even more important now that performance objectives and progression are linked to pay. Without a strategic map, the risk is that performance objectives will not be joined up so as to deliver the overall strategy.

Aids to Strategic Mapping

There are various strategic models for educational organisations but many omit key aspects of the strategic journey. One method is to adapt the balanced scorecard to the school environment. The real purpose of the balanced scorecard aid is in translating your strategy/vision for the school into clear strategic objectives that will deliver your vision and strategic goals. The name balanced scorecard is derived from looking at the way forward from four aspects. To achieve our vision:

a. How should we appear to our customers i.e. students and parents/guardians? (customer focus)
b. How will we maintain our ability to change and improve? (learning and growth)
c. How do we need to change and improve our support processes? (internal/support processes)
d. How should we appear to our stakeholders – LA or Trust, DfE and other agencies? (financial/service outcomes)

Key objectives are then set under each of those areas, as appropriate, so that the inter-dependencies can be seen.

For example under b, one objective may be to increase the understanding and use by teaching staff of pupil achievement data in order to raise learning outcomes. Governors also need to understand what the data trends are indicating and to encourage the switching of funds accordingly to improve weak areas. Focus on this area may also highlight that you need to improve your internal processes so that such data can be accessed easily and promptly. Hence, another objective under internal processes may be of that nature. In this way the cause and effect network can be seen more clearly.

Returning for a moment to the theme of teacher satisfaction and student development, objectives under b and a should also lead to increased satisfaction of teaching staff and also of pupils.

As you will gather, a strategic map still needs original thought as to what the vision should be and what are the key strategic goals based on that.  Aids such as the balanced scorecard (3) may help to ensure the success of your strategy by looking at the goals from key aspects that often underpin the service needs within a school.  However, it is better to keep the process simple to start with to serve the school’s needs.

Sources:
(1)  Quoted from HEADING TOWARDS EXCELLENCE by (Sir) John R Rowling, Trentham Books 2002.
(2) The Service Profit Chain, James L. Heskett, W. Earl Sasser, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Harvard Business Review
(3) Kaplan, Robert S.; Norton, David P. (Jan-Feb) [1992], “The Balanced Scorecard – Measures that Drive Performance”, Harvard Business Review

If you would like help in using strategic mapping to raise performance, you can contact the author via this link or by phone (see the footer for contact details).

© 2013 HR Management Dimensions

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Fact and Fiction in School Pay Policies

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With the requirement to produce a revised pay policy, it appears that some schools have allowed fact and fiction to creep into their policies.

 

Fact v Fiction in a School’s Pay Policy

It is a fact that schools must flesh out their pay policies for teachers including salary progression along the pay ranges, which, in most instances, should be based on performance.  However, some schools have convinced themselves that the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2013 (STPCD) contains additional factual requirements for an individual to progress along the salary range.

A repeated example of this is the insertion, in pay policies, of a condition requiring a teacher on the Upper Pay Range to make an application for progression from UPR 1 or 2 to the next salary point. There is no such requirement in the statutory terms. There is a requirement for a Main Range Teacher to apply to be placed on the Upper Pay Range but once on that range an application is not required to progress to UPR 2 or 3.  One of the tenets of the changes introduced by the 2013 Document is, “continued good performance as defined by an individual school’s pay policy should give a classroom or unqualified teacher an expectation of progression to the top of their respective pay range.”

Exercising Discretion in Salary Progression

Although a school has some discretion in the method of progression, School Governors and Head Teachers should note that the invention of fictional conditions that have no statutory backing will make it very difficult for the Governing Body of a maintained school to defend such a practice.

Schools are subject to general employment law and to statutory regulations, under education law, that govern the employment terms of teachers and support staff.

Academies and Free Schools have wider discretion as to how and what to pay their teaching staff as they are not bound to implement the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.  However, unreasonable conditions may not be upheld by the Courts.

Other anomalous conditions are arising. Shortly, we shall publish a check list so that you can feel confident that your school’s pay policy is effective, contains appropriate flexibility and is compliant.

By the way, in the excitement of reviewing your school’s examination results and, hopefully enjoying your summer break, you may not have noticed that the DfE have issued the September edition of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document 2013.  Another reason to ensure that you receive alerts to new articles and update on this blog site.  To be alerted, click the link in the left hand column of this page.

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Settlement Agreements and Confidentiality of Discussions

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From 29th July, compromise agreements will be known as settlement agreements. The formalities and scope are much the same. However, there are a few points you need to be aware of if you become involved in a potential dispute with an employee that could lead to a legal claim.

A new provision has been introduced allowing confidential discussions to take place about an employment issue that could lead to a claim being made.  Examples could include a significant change to an individual’s role or discussing an employee’s future and potential departure. Those discussions may attract protection from being admitted into evidence in a subsequent claim of unfair dismissal. The protection does not apply to any other claims such as breach of contract or discrimination. Protection of those discussions may also be lost if there is any improper behaviour in making an offer or agreement.

Often several aspects of employment law arise in a dispute and the limited protection of discussions in an unfair dismissal claim will not always be of much help. Beware that you are not lulled into a false sense of confidentiality in such discussions.

For fuller details of the changes and implications see the article on our HR Management Dimensions blog

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Flexibility to Reward Teachers – lessons from the experience of industry

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The promise of more flexibility to reward teachers has been mooted for several years but it looks as though 2013 will become the year of realisation. The School Teachers’ Review Body has recommended a number of flexible provisions but it remains to be seen what will appear in the 2013 edition of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.

In preparation, we need to take a realistic view of to what extent we can use flexibility and avoid developing complex, unaffordable reward practices.  So let us review the pitfalls of flexible pay by learning.from other organisations and drawing out key principles for rewarding teachers.

Reward Schemes Have a Limited Shelf Life

Companies have used flexible pay for many years to encourage:

  • higher performance,
  • the development of new skills
  • the application of those skills to address key challenges.

For example, faced with a major need to develop improved and new skills, reward structures with those aims were developed which would have a life of 3 – 5 years. At the end of that period, the objectives were achieved. Maintaining the same reward structure was no longer appropriate as the original objectives, underlying the design of the structure, had been realised.and would have led to higher costs,

Do not assume that a more flexible and performance related reward structure will continue to motivate staff and secure the outcomes you require indefinitely. Think through what you wish to achieve over the next say 2 – 3 year period.

Will your Performance Related Pay Practices Drive out the Best Performers?

Performance related pay is unlikely to drive out your poor performers but it may demotivate your best performers within a few years.

Poor performers seldom leave because they receive nil or low pay increases when performance related pay is introduced. You will still have to take direct action to try to improve their performance or remove them if such efforts prove ineffective.

The Review Body’s recommendations would allow a school to move individuals along the pay ranges much faster or slower.  For example, the Head Teacher may be able to award increases of say 150% or 75% of the pay reference points rather than only give a pre-determined rise as happens with the current scale points. The adoption of pay reference points in a salary scale should help Governing Bodies to set guidance in order to differentiate performance rewards and help with modelling the resulting pay costs.

It will also be easier for a Main Scale teacher to progress to the Upper Pay Scale as a simpler method is likely to be introduced.  More rapid progression on the UPS scale could be introduced i.e. performance increases in less that two years

Apply Flexibility Proportionately to Avoid Adverse Motivational Effects

Your best performers will be watching the percentage that they are awarded compared to the average performer. If the differential is small, that will cause discontent and your most talented teachers will feel devalued and seek another post. A two or three percent differential will not be motivating for the most talented. An objective distribution of the pay increase budget will become critical. Differentiating rewards will make budgeting more difficult but the issue should be addressed.

The proposals also envisage that the Upper Pay Scale may be extended or that individuals may be paid above UPS to encourage the most effective teachers to raise standards amongst other teachers. That will help to reward the best performing teachers but will also bring another strain upon the budget. It is likely that such a change would lead to the removal of the AST and Excellent Teacher scales.

Market Allowances

Difficulties in recruiting staff to more challenging schools were noted by the Review Body. No changes are proposed to the current four geographic pay zones. To encourage effective teachers to move to such schools, the Report suggests that recruitment and retention allowances should no longer be time limited as now. Heads need to think ahead though and ensure that such allowances have clauses attached that make it clear they to be treated as market allowances rather than fixed costs for evermore; this will help to phase out or terminate such ‘market related’ allowances as the recruitment situation changes.

Organisations are living entities and the needs change; some needs may only last for a set period.  Currently, Teaching and Learning Responsibility allowances are a more or less permanent fixed cost as their purpose is to recognise an on going responsibility required by the school.  Consequently, salary protection for up to three years will be triggered if a TLR is terminated due to changes in organisational needs.

The Review Body has recognised that the creation of temporary TLRs for a specific, time limited purpose would be a useful flexibility although the recommendation caps such allowances at £2,500. Such payments would be for a definite fixed term and would not attract salary safeguarding at the end. This will help in some situations. The Review body cites that 21% of primary and 44% of secondary teachers receive TLRs [1]. In the future, it will be interesting to see whether the number of:

  • Fixed term allowances increases while ‘permanent’ allowances decrease or
  • Temporary allowances increases without a fall in permanent allowances.

Let us hope that the future collections of such data capture the number of fixed term and permanent allowances.

New Appointees take the Salary Advertised

An interesting statement appears on page 54 of the Review Body’s report about there possibly being, “no obligation for schools when recruiting to match a teacher’s existing salary on either the main or the upper pay scales.” Whether that will provide an option to appoint UPS teachers on the Main Scale remains to be seen as this is a flexibility that would help to overcome specific issues with the current terms.

Simplification of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document

The technicality and length of the current document is stated to be a deterrent to maximising the current flexible pay provisions. It is rather ironic that the Review Body’s Report runs to 109 pages, is repetitious and at the end of the day is not very innovative in its recommendations for new pay practices.

Are You Ready to Measure Pay Practices and Pupils’ Achievements?

OFSTED expect Governing Bodies to demonstrate that they understand, set, monitor and review the strategic progress of the school in the achievements of pupils. The Review Body observes the important role that Governing Bodies will need to play in making use of pay flexibility to ensure that educational standards improve.  Put another way, value for money will need to be demonstrated in terms of pupils’ progress and achievements as Governing Bodies will have more freedom to target how they spend their pay bill to those ends.  How will Governors set and monitor this aspect of focusing pay on improving results?  We will publish an article on this shortly.

Will the DfE address the known issue that as time progresses, diminishing returns are received from performance related pay as the motivational effect of year in year out objective setting loses interest?  As noted earlier, more innovative ways of rewarding teachers need to be considered for the future.

It will be interesting to read what the Secretary of State accepts and the actual flexibility introduced by the 2013 edition of the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.

Do you want to find out what new flexible pay provisions are to be introduced and the practical implications of those?  If so, click the link in the left hand column of this page to be alerted to new articles.

Sources

[1] School Teachers’ Review Body Twenty-First Report 2012 page 58 – data cited from OME analysis of DfE School Workforce Census data (November 2010).

© 2013 HR Management Dimensions

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Are School Leavers Ill Equipped for Working Life?

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This theme surfaces regularly in the media but the nature of the alleged problem shifts. At first, blame was laid by employers on schools due to the lack of literacy skills possessed by youngsters joining the labour market. Then, the focus shifted to youngsters’ lack of interest in working for a living. Recently, the lament has been the lack of social and customer awareness skills.

Challenge your local employers to watch a local high school musical or drama production as they will then be witnessing, on stage and back stage, a wealth of skills that are transferable to the workplace.

Those skills may not be obvious at first but employers and teachers need to think in terms of transferable working life skills.  More employers will realise then that most young people are worthy of taking up a job in the workplace and of being given appropriate encouragement and development.

Are schools mainly at fault?  Are employers simply shifting their responsibilities on to schools?  Are there other solutions?  For a different insight, read the article on our sister blog, HR Management Dimensions

‘Develop Young People for their Working Life’

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Keep an eye out for future articles on this blog on the benefits and pitfalls of flexible pay. Receive alerts about new articles by clicking on the Receive New Articles notice in the left hand column.

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This article was updated on 16th March 2013

Appraisals – What Benefits Will You Derive from the Time Invested?

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Are you losing the benefits of staff appraisals and making life more difficult for yourself?   Although conducting appraisals for staff is mandatory in maintained schools, as a Head Teacher or Governor, you have a short window of opportunity to consider what you need to achieve from the appraisal process before the mooted changes to the teachers’ terms immerse you in a new round of setting SMART(ER) objectives etc.  This comes at a time when the private sector is once more questioning the value of an appraisal process.

“I have no choice in the matter”, I hear you say with the result that you are likely to carry on with the process without thinking further about it.  While you have the opportunity, pause and think about what you need to achieve from the process to improve learning within the school and achievement of the School’s plans.

For a slightly light-hearted view but with serious underlying questions, read the following article so that you can consider what should be your focus from now on –
‘Performance Appraisal – A Time Expired Process‘

Further articles will be published on what you can do to improve the benefits from the time invested in the appraisal process and also on ways of implementing more flexible pay strategies as the 2013 Teachers’ Conditions are unveiled.

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