Sixty Seventh Republic - under temporary guardianship

[Hercisback]

In the absence of staff and her fabulous thread titles and witty openers here is a 67th thread. The broom cupboard is overflowing so time for another Republic. Hopefully we hear from staff soon.

Stolen from thread 66.
'You are most welcome to this school staff support thread to get us through stressful times. It is meant for school staff only – a sort of room of requirement for school staff to let off steam.

Baiters, haters, goaders, and bashers can jog on somewhere else.

If you are NOT staff and just have a general education query please start your own thread.

Do not give the staffroom password to non-staff as it attracts the wrong sort of crowd.

Other requirements for staff room entry include the ability to find the staff room, the ability to find a clean mug in the staff room, knowledge of the photocopier codes, and the ability to sniff out where the booze is stashed - Thirsty Tuesdays, Fizz Fridays now in operation.'

honey your timetable sounds brilliant. I feel indifferent to mine this year.

If you're ready to apply for UPS then do. I did the first year I was eligible.

I concur. UPS is specifically related to experience. I was going to say "to reward" but that's not right. If you've done your time, you're entitled.

It’s your money, Honey. Claim it.

@MrsHamlet

I concur. UPS is specifically related to experience. I was going to say "to reward" but that's not right. If you've done your time, you're entitled.

Trouble is many secondary academy schools equate UPS with TLR and feel justified to dump on extra responsibilities as soon as it's ratified.

Trouble is many secondary academy schools equate UPS with TLR and feel justified to dump on extra responsibilities as soon as it's ratified

I have to confess I was under the impression UPS came with extra responsibilities.

Anyone like to guess if I’ve only worked in academies so far. very glad I’ve got you lot enlightening me

The way they get around it is that UPS staff should be making a 'wider contribution'. Sensible schools would tend to realise that the wider contribution might happen through overseeing scheme of work writing, or mentoring newer colleagues, or taking on more tricky groups, leading CPD. Some schools add massive areas onto UPS teachers such as coordinate the maths/English intervention for the department.
It's a grey area and some schools take the mick.

Even then, that condition is only as part of the progression to UPS when going through threshold and that ‘substantial and sustained’ is made clear leater on in the TPAC i.e. that the teacher is highly competent in all elements of the relevant standards and that their achievements and contribution to an educational setting or settings are substantial and sustained.

Some SLT often conveniently forget to read further down the Teachers Pay and Conditions for both Additional Payments and the section for TLRs, where it is documented that those involved in ITT duties (mentoring for example) or involved on writing programmes of studies , should be paid for it. Therefore, should not be covered under ‘substational contribution’.

I know NASUWT are also very clear on that there is no distinction between the responsibilities of teachers on the main and upper pay ranges. The teachers’ standards and the appraisal regulations also draw no distinction between the responsibilities of teachers on the main and upper pay ranges.
The STRB drew attention to the practice in some schools of teachers being asked to take on additional duties when they move onto the upper pay range or as a precondition of moving to the upper pay range:

Consultees have made clear their view that any additional responsibilities for classroom teachers should be rewarded through TLR payments, with some suggesting that in smaller schools, particularly primary schools, upper pay range teachers were sometimes asked to take on additional responsibilities without the award of a TLR payment.

The Department of Education’s advice says that: Schools should try to avoid confusing or conflating the criteria and factors for the award of TLR payments with the criteria for movement to the upper pay range both within the context of objective-setting and when making pay decisions.^

This drawing attention to the clear guidance from the Department for Education (DfE) that schools should avoid confusing or conflating the criteria and factors for the award of TLR payments and the criteria for movement to the upper pay range.

The NASUWT is therefore very clear that schools that are requiring teachers to take on additional responsibilities as a precondition of movement to the upper pay range and sustainment to the upper pay range are in breach of teachers’ national terms and conditions and guidance from the DfE.

You can see why it is ao shocking then that UPS teachers in some schools are effectively blackmailed into taking on extra TLRs without TLR payment, as a condition of going and staying on UPS. It’s awful!

Shocking but common. I was surprised that several on here didn’t think you had to be allocated time for tlr. The rules and guidance are equally clear but it seems lots of schools have been ignoring them for so long teachers have accepted it as allowed.

Quite a few schools are creative in how they interpret TLR and UPS rules.

My first TLR had no time allocated for it. I was on a full timetable and had a tutor group. It was only when I moved schools that I realised that I should have had time.

I have a day a fortnight for my TLR. I need it.

Original Sin gate seems to be rumbling on. Dr Ranj has got involved now.
10/10 to KB for this half term’s edutwitter bunfight.

Everyone seems to have got involved. People I follow who aren't in education are chipping in on it!

She's said that she isn't using the actual meaning of original sin but has applied it to something made-up by her and is wondering why people are getting shirty when they assume the religious meaning. Was she just on the wind-up? She posted about original sin years ago too so should have been told then why it was inappropriate!

@TheHoneyBadger csn you point me to the paragraph/section of the STPCD which says about time for TLRs at all? I can only see something about being burn time to carry out their duties but not explicitly linking to TLR and this would be VERY useful to us at my school!

Is it this bit? “52.6. A teacher with leadership or management responsibilities is entitled, so far as is reasonably practicable, to a reasonable amount of time during school sessions for the purpose of discharging those responsibilities.”

I saw this on Twitter this morning-presume this is what it’ll look like. I can see redundancies coming at our school.

The other problem we get is that despite the salary looking quite good for us oldies, once I went part time to raise children, I’m stuck and can’t get any more days back as I’m too expensive! Don’t think if that’s just unlucky for my school which seems spectacularly skint, or if that’s a widespread thing. I am UPS3, but if I want to work more, I’d have to get a second part time job somewhere else and since they scrapped pay portability, I wouldn’t get that on upper 3!

It sucks

@noblegiraffe

Everyone seems to have got involved. People I follow who aren't in education are chipping in on it!

She's said that she isn't using the actual meaning of original sin but has applied it to something made-up by her and is wondering why people are getting shirty when they assume the religious meaning. Was she just on the wind-up? She posted about original sin years ago too so should have been told then why it was inappropriate!

I think she’s quite often on the wind up. I think she quite likes the attention.

But it was particularly daft to use a complex piece of theology to justify the argument ‘children are born bad’. Especially if she’s using her own definition and when that particular piece of theology has been used to justify horrific acts of child abuse.

Perhaps not everything can be simplified to a single line in a knowledge organiser.

Perhaps not everything can be simplified to a single line in a knowledge organiser.

What a revolutionary thought! I wish some of my colleagues could grasp that

Didn't Katharine Birbalsingh also tweet that Michaela weren't using knowledge organisers much anymore?

MrsHP - it was last year when I applied for a role that I looked into it all but I may have bookmarked stuff so I will have a look to see if I can find it and let you know. One of the unions gave really clear advice but can't remember which.

Appu - same - I'm worried I'll never get any more days/hours because of this. However that payscale wouldn't have such a broad difference between the cost of an experienced or new teacher would it?

I say, 'children are human beings in training'. Perhaps she'd have been better off nicking that from me than misappropriating a Catholic theological concept.

Appu thanks for posting that. Looks much fairer to me. But I think you are right schools are going to struggle to pay wages and could well make redundancies.
Not a great time to be a TA.

Am I entitled to additional non-contact time to undertake my additional responsibilities?
Yes. All teachers awarded TLR payments are also entitled to additional non-contact time to undertake their additional responsibilities in accordance with the STPCD’s provisions on leadership or management time

From NEU here: neu.org.uk/advice/tlr-payments-and-other-allowances

Not in the mood for reading the STPCD at the minute though sorry

@noblegiraffe

Didn't Katharine Birbalsingh also tweet that Michaela weren't using knowledge organisers much anymore?

I know I’ve seen Dani Quinn say they ditched them in maths pretty quickly, but I don’t know about other subjects.

I’m sure they are useful for certain things but I’ve seen far too many where complex ideas have been simplified in a way that probably doesn’t do a lot for understanding or background knowledge.

All UPS applications were frozen in my school gor the past two years. Then i missed it this year due to being ill with covid. It's a double edged sword in my place as like manh primaries ups is seen as way of piling work and responsibility on.

My pension is screwed anyway with not much in the final salary section and my pension age at 67/8. I started at m2 in 2000 due to prior experience. Worked up to ups with a dhod position in secondary then left to raise kids for 6 years. No pay portability due to academisation, move yo a rural area and time out shot me back down to m2 and moved me to primary , which in retrospect was a huge mistake. Now i've been stuck at m6 for 4 years. Too expensive to move in my current school, too old at 50 and expensive to employ in another! It's been a bit of a shit career all told.

You need a career leap Phleb. Out and up. Would you be happy to go back to a job with more slt responsibility now?

Tried looking at KB’s wiki entry to see if it said anything about religious beliefs or background but it didn’t.

See this, change of subject:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/oct/27/daughter-bullied-school-covid-jab-government-campaign