Newsletter of West Lothian SSTA – October/ November 2002

Super PTs -"Service Breakdown"

Unions say "Fallacious"!

A special meeting of the LNCT was arranged for November 5^th. The teachers’ side were expecting fireworks. Why? At the previous meeting, the Director intimated that a position was approaching whereby the agreement on piloting PT Curriculum (a.k.a. Faculty Heads) would have to be set aside due to the risk of "service breakdown" and further such appointments would require to be made.

"Cometh the hour …" The Director retreated in the face of determined resistance from a united front of teaching unions. However, a timescale for evaluation of existing pilots was agreed. Criteria for the evaluation were agreed also. The District Secretary will contact members in the relevant schools with full details. Higher Still coordinator John Irvine commented … "The new arrangements must be shown to be at least as effective as the old". Amen to that!

West Lothian SSTA is convinced that any fair pilot will demonstrate the dangers of using one PT to run several different subject departments. 
The Director claims he is now facing "service breakdown" in some schools because of the retiral of some teachers and the promotion of others (presumably to other Councils' schools).  However, such a situation could be avoided by appointing further acting posts or preferably substantive PT posts.

West Lothian SSTA views such language as unnecessarily alarmist. However, any such scenario would be entirely the result of the moratorium on promoted posts which the Director himself promulgated in tandem with the imposition of the "super PT" concept!
Other LNCT matters…

Job sizing arrangements: The task of briefing promoted staff in WLC about the job sizing exercise must be undertaken before Christmas. This should take about 1.5 hours which of course is additional to current work load. It was agreed on the LNCT that this could be arranged on a suitable Friday afternoon. Questionnaires will then be issued and staff will have 10 days in which to complete them. Completed questionnaires will be sent to the job sizing consultants to be "fed into the computer". The computer will then produce its result based on the programme developed by the consultants. Simple really!

Job Sizing Appeals: Any appeals re placing on salary scales will be made to one of the WLC job sizing coordinators. In the case of further difficulties, a second coordinator will be called in to adjudicate. The LNCT will take on any appeals beyond this stage

APTs and Senior Teachers will be briefed in a second round of briefing sessions before Christmas. A letter will also be sent to all APTs / STs to begin the process whereby each APT or ST will decide on their future career path: job sized PT or Chartered Teacher.

Absence Cover: This remains a problem in WLC schools. A further 25 staff have been recruited to the supply list. WLC is considering various strategies to improve the situation.

Pupil Support Assistants: After concern was voiced by West Lothian SSTA, documents were produced which clarify the use of such assistants and their job remits. Copies of these documents will be in all schools should staff wish to see them. (Alternatively, contact the District Secretary.) WLC is to review this area with a view to ensuring effective use of these very valuable colleagues. It is likely that many of those currently on temporary contracts will be awarded permanent status.

Investors in People: As part of the IIP management process (dear to every teacher’s heart) WLC will be undertaking an internal review. This will ensure that the Council is worthy of the IIP plaque. Reviewers will collect evidence of this from a sample of employees before Christmas. Some of these employees will inevitably be teachers. You have been (fore)warned! Please contact the District Secretary if you have any concerns.

Additional CPD funding: The amount of money available in school funds per teacher has been increased to £135. This is slightly more than one day’s cover to attend a course. Don’t spend it all at once folks! More seriously, the slight increase is welcome but will go nowhere in providing the kind of high quality CPD which other professions expect and get.

Discipline Task Force cash: Remember the Discipline Task Force? WLC has now received £327k additional to grant aided expenditure, to further the recommendations of the DTF. This money will be disbursed as follows …

Armadale Academy £11 039

Bathgate Academy £11 488

Broxburn Academy £07 718

Deans Com HS £11 667

Inver’d Com HS £18 689

Linlithgow Ac’y £03 410

St. Kent’s Ac’y £10 949

St. Marg’s Ac’y £11 129

JY High School £10 795

West Calder HS £06 282

Whitburn Academy £12 834

Free meal entitlement was used to calculate each school’s allocation. It is as yet unclear if this additional grant will be repeated by the Scottish Executive in the future. Hence Heads will be unable to use it for any task which requires permanent staff or commitment beyond this session.

WLC Stress at Work policy: This policy, as yet in draft form, is to be welcomed. Teachers were recently shown to be the most highly stressed group of WLC workers. The policy contains a number of very positive features …

1. Risk assessments to identify and control or prevent sources of work related stress.

2. Training for all employees in the nature and symptoms of stress.

3. Ensuring that training needs are met "particularly when an employee moves to a new or changed role".

4. Access to qualified counsellors at no charge.

The policy’s procedures contain a number of welcome statements …"Managers are expected to set up systems that allow regular two way face to face communication to gather staff and concerns"…

Well done WLC! We look forward to the implementation of the policy.

Guidance teacher members should by now have received advice from SSTA HQ anent our policy on Guidance in secondary schools. This initiative was partly prompted by developments in West Lothian and a letter sent by the District Secretary to WLC Guidance teachers. The gist of the advice sent is as follows …

• An effective secondary school requires appropriately trained and properly supported Guidance teachers.

• Any "Second line Guidance" system is additional to the above and not a substitute for it. (Nor does it constitute part of the agreed duties of classroom teachers.).

It is accepted that the nature of Guidance teachers’ jobs may change over time due to national and local initiatives – this is the case for all teachers. However, any changes in remits of individual Guidance teachers should be fully discussed and agreed with the guidance teachers involved. Time and appropriate CPD should also be made available to facilitate any such changes.

"Time for Teaching": The new posts envisaged by McCrone and paid for by the post McCrone settlement should by now be well on the way. It is vital that teachers remember the purpose of these posts. Is there anything being done by teachers in your school which need not be done by teachers? If new posts have been put in place, are they making a difference to teacher work load? Please contact your school rep or the District Secretary with your views.

Probationers’ Salaries: The "new" probationers that is. WLC would appear to have done probationers a disservice in terms of salaries. This was brought up at the LNCT. It was accepted that the method adopted by WLC was not as favourable to probationers as that adopted by other Councils. WLC will address this matter asap.

Congratulations go to two WLC employees who have recently been offered posts in the Kingdom of Fife. James Forbes, SSTA rep. at St. Margaret’s Academy will take up a post at Buckhaven. Our very best wishes go to James who was a tireless and extremely effective school rep. The second transfer to the Kingdom is Roger Stewart, Director of Education, who has been appointed to that post in Fife Council. Could this be a case of the "King across the water"?

And finally ….Salaries: The District Secretary has recently been made aware of a number of difficulties experienced by members in respect of their salaries. In one case, a member had been overpaid for a significant period of time and it was necessary to negotiate an appropriate (and affordable) re-payment schedule. Another member believed that s/he might have been overpaid but after enquiries with payroll this proved not to be the case. Yet another member had been significantly underpaid and, after an intervention by the District Secretary, a cheque for several hundred pounds was winging its way to the member just at the start of the summer holiday!

The reason for these problems? The payroll section at West Lothian House have had to undergo a number of significant changes in personnel and procedures and errors which should have been picked up have sometimes been missed.

Members are therefore advised to check their pay advice carefully. If any mistakes are identified, by all means contact payroll, but please be patient – our Council colleagues are working under considerable pressure! If any difficulties are encountered, please get in touch with the District Secretary with full details.