Select Committee on Education and Skills Minutes of Evidence


Memorandum submitted by the Secondary Heads Association

A.  INTRODUCTION

  1.  The Secondary Heads Association represents 11,000 members of leadership teams in maintained and independent schools and colleges throughout the UK. Retention and recruitment of secondary teachers are clearly of major interest to our members at the institutional level and out of their concern for the education system as a whole.

  2.  The age profile of the teaching profession is very worrying:

    —  50% of teachers are aged over 45;

    —  22% of teachers are aged 35 to 44; and

    —  28% of teachers are aged 21 to 34.

  3.  The implication is that rates of loss will rise significantly over the next 15 years, even if everything is done to reduce the incidence of teachers leaving for other professions or retiring early. More than half of the teaching force of 2015 is not currently in teaching. The problem is not distributed evenly between schools, between types of school, or between areas of the country. Some schools experience much higher turnover rates than others; some currently have a still higher proportion of their key staff due for retirement within the next 10 years.

  4.  Of particular concern is the inevitable loss of the large number of experienced and highly effective senior teachers due to retire during the next 10 years. These staff will be very hard to replace.

  5.  Some retention issues are common to all age groups but there are particular concerns for particular age groups.

  6.  There is some transfer of secondary teachers into and out of the primary and tertiary sectors. Pay and conditions have been particularly poor in the tertiary sector in recent years, which has tended to favour the secondary sector. Recent initiatives aimed at allowing college staff to catch up with schoolteachers may further worsen the supply of secondary teachers.

  7.  We have organised our remarks as follows:

    A.  Introduction;

    B.  Workload;

    C.  Bureaucracy;

    D.  Poor behaviour;

    E.  Conditions of service;

    F.  Pay and pensions;

    G.  Recruitment and retention allowances;

    H.  Particular age groups;

    I.  Standing of the teaching profession; and

    J.  Summary.

B.  WORKLOAD

  8.  During term time teachers' working hours are high by comparison with other public servants and the commercial world. Although the holiday entitlement is good, teachers feel that they need psychological recovery time because of the high-stress nature of the occupation—even in schools with virtually no behaviour problems.

  9.  The recent workforce remodelling agreement is aimed at reducing the workload of teachers and enabling a greater focus on their main role of teaching. This is welcome, but as yet unproven in practice. Further, as teachers' workload is determined principally by the number and size of the classes they teach, present funding difficulties can only worsen these figures.

  10.  Teachers come into teaching because they want to work with young people and to have a job that is creative and challenging. Hard work is not a deterrent. Research into the civil service showed that stress was not determined primarily by workload but by the level of responsibility and insufficient freedom to carry out the role. Initiatives aimed not at supporting and developing teachers but controlling them are very unhelpful in this regard. There have been too many such initiatives in recent years.

C.  BUREAUCRACY

  11.  People in all walks of life complain about unnecessary and irksome paperwork, but teachers have experienced a marked rise in this during the past 15 years. It is a factor often cited by those leaving the profession.

  12.  The Ofsted inspection regime in particular, though it has not been alone in this failing, has set unreasonably high expectations of the extent of documentary "evidence" required of teachers.

  13.  Emphasis on the progress of individual pupils is right, but the role has changed; instead of being in charge of one class following one, albeit differentiated, programme of study, teachers now feel that they have to be prepared to describe 30 different programmes. This has been a major contributory factor to teachers' dissatisfaction about workload.

  14.  Teachers rightly feel accountable for raising standards and improving results. But they are often faced with externally imposed and unattainable improvement targets with cohorts of children who may be similar to or less capable than last year's group.

  15.  The Secretary of State's recent announcement in relation to primary education that schools should be able to set their own targets is welcome, and SHA would hope that this principle will be extended into the secondary sector as soon as possible. If target setting began with individual teachers instead of ending with them, they would have a much greater attachment to the target, instead of resenting its imposition as they frequently do at present.

  16.  None of this need undermine accountability in its true sense; teachers and their leaders expect to be accountable. Please see the recently published SHA paper Towards Intelligent Accountability for Schools, attached as Annex A.[2]

D.  POOR BEHAVIOUR

  17.  There have always been challenging pupils in schools, but the very poor behaviour of a minority is widely felt to be more burdensome on teachers, and indeed upon other pupils, than ever before. This may reflect changes in society as a whole. SHA welcomes the reduction of the number of pupils in special schools and the trend towards inclusion, but it has tended to be seen by successive national and local governments as a cost saving measure, with the result that insufficient resources have followed often challenging pupils into mainstream schools.

  18.  Retention of teachers is harder in schools serving disadvantaged communities. Compensatory funding must be adequate to support teachers in the difficult task of teaching in these schools.

  19.  Targets to reduce exclusions, elaborate procedures and intensive monitoring of short term exclusions have undermined disciplinary systems in schools and the authority of teachers and school leaders. Schools have been criticised for the number of exclusions they report, even when they are reacting with moderation to a large proportion of very difficult pupils. This has resulted in schools keeping pupils who should be educated elsewhere. In many areas there is a lack of suitable alternative provision. The development of on-site pupil referral units has benefited the school where they are sited but they have not been the useful area resources that had been intended.

  20.  Managing poor behaviour is the aspect of teaching that most often causes young teachers difficulty and ITT courses should tackle the problem much more fully. New teachers still have to learn all their strategies for avoiding, containing and reducing bad behaviour during their first years of teaching. Many young teachers feel as if they are failures if they find some classes difficult.

E.  CONDITIONS OF SERVICE

  21.  Like any other employees, teachers want to work for successful, stable and supportive organisations. Inconsistency of funding, leading to redundancies of teachers, has been damaging in this respect. When longer serving teachers entered the profession, redundancies amongst teachers were unknown; in the public sector as a whole, security of employment and an excellent pension scheme were seen as balancing the relatively poor pay and working conditions. Although relatively few teachers are made redundant these factors are no longer seen as compensatory.

  22.  Professional development is very important to, and for, teachers and this should be available at all stages of their careers. Recently training has often focused on the most recent government initiative rather than the professional development of the individual teacher. Funding difficulties in 2003-04 have resulted in cutbacks to professional development.

  23.  Decrepit buildings and poorly equipped classrooms are still too common in secondary schools, and are instrumental in the decision of some teachers to find work in other professions, where warm, dry, clean, quiet and properly equipped workplaces are taken for granted.

  24.  Some heads report that increasing the comfort factors for teachers has been helpful; for example better staff room facilities, readily available tea and coffee, sandwiches at meetings, and occasional social events in and out of school. These are all good employment practice, but difficult for heads to justify in some quarters when funding is tight. These quite inexpensive moves help to give a fully professional experience for young teachers in particular.

F.  PAY AND PENSIONS

  25.  Teachers still feel their salary levels to be low in comparison with those of similarly qualified and capable graduates who go into the world of commerce. Especially in the South East there is a very serious concern about the cost of house purchase, which is beyond many or most young teachers.

  26.  In the context of pensions problems in other sectors the Teachers' Pension Scheme is an attraction into teaching. It would bear improvement, or at least guaranteeing in its present form, and should not be worsened. In particular, it would be a mistake to raise the normal age of retirement. Whilst this would keep some teachers working longer, they would be doing so under sufferance, sickness levels would rise and there would be more cynical and unhappy staff to tell potential teachers and young teachers not to begin, or to leave whilst they have alternatives.

  27.  Young people are now thinking about pensions to a much greater extent than in the past, and there are benefits that could be highlighted. The scheme could be improved in various respects.

G.  RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION ALLOWANCES

  28.  Under the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions of Service Document 2002 (STPCD), relevant bodies have the discretion to pay teachers any of five recruitment and retention allowances (RRAs). With effect from 1 April 2003 the cash value of these has been as follows: RR1 £1,002, RR2 £1,971, RR3 £2,985, RR4 £4,158 and RR5 £5,415.

  29.  When in April 2001 the previous restrictions on the use of recruitment and retention allowances (the third and fourth allowances could only be awarded in Inner London and in schools requiring special measures) were removed and a fifth allowance was introduced, SHA was concerned about the impact of such measures on schools' management structures, because a teacher could in theory be awarded a recruitment and retention allowance that was worth almost as much as management allowance 3. SHA was also concerned about the impact on school budgets of spiralling salary costs, due to the operation of market forces in the context of a severe teacher shortage.

  30.  In practice such fears have so far proved groundless. The data published in table 11 of the School Teachers' Review Body's (STRB) Twelfth Report (January 2003) shows that 2.9% of teachers were in receipt of RR1 in September 2002, 1.1% in receipt of RR2, 0.2% in receipt of RR3, a small number in receipt of RR4 and that 95.9% did not receive a recruitment and retention allowance at all.

  31.  The research study carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers for the STRB and published on 12 May 2003 broadly speaking confirms the data provided in the STRB report. Relatively few headteachers use RRAs outside London and the South East and even in these areas payment seems to be concentrated in particular districts and particular schools. Where RRAs were used, they were used more widely than to address teacher shortages in particular subjects (that is to address general recruitment and retention issues). The case study research indicated that heads disliked using RRAs and felt that they were divisive. As a result other devices tended to be used for recruitment and retention purposes—for example, payment for new teachers in July and August (an informal "golden hello") and the award of management allowances. A starting salary that is higher up the main scale than is strictly permitted under the STPCD is another tactic that is often used (the advantage of this and the award of management allowances is that they are seen to confer status and advancement).

  32.  Despite the limited use of RRAs, SHA remains very concerned about the potentially detrimental effects of RRAs on school management structures and budgets and feels strongly that recruitment and retention difficulties would be better addressed by means of improved base pay and a far better balance between base pay levels and discretionary payments than is currently the case.

H.  PARTICULAR AGE GROUPS

  33.  Experienced Teachers

  To reduce the numbers wanting to take early retirement, there should be opportunities for timetable variation, for part-time work without any detrimental effect on pensions, and to become mentors or coaches for younger colleagues. Some heads of department will eventually have the opportunity to become consultant leaders and this should have a positive effect on the morale of the group concerned.

  34.  We await with interest the outcome of a project between the GTC and SAGA. It is imperative that teachers with many years experience should feel that they want to continue to make use of their skills, and that they should not feel dragooned or tricked into doing so.

  35.  Decent working conditions and a reasonable degree of comfort are likely to be significant for teachers in this phase of their careers. See paragraph 21 above.

  36.  Middle Years

  Some teachers in this age group feel resentful because the only career development that they see is to apply for senior posts on the leadership scale or as advanced skills teachers. A more coherent and unified scale would be helpful in this regard.

  37.  Opportunities for secondment or sabbatical after a number of years teaching would be welcome, as available in HE and for school teachers in, for example, Australia.

  38.  Decent working conditions and a reasonable degree of comfort are likely to be significant for teachers in this phase of their careers. See paragraphs 21 and 22 above. Those with extra responsibilities in particular should have properly equipped workstations with desk space, filing and a computer.

  39.  Teachers in this phase are also particularly in need of a reasonable degree of secretarial support.

  40.  Young teachers

  LEAs that have piloted special programmes for teachers in their second and third years have indicated their success. These should be developed nationally. Higher education courses, such as a masters degree in teaching, may be beneficial for teachers in their second year onwards, but those which begin immediately after initial teacher training SHA would not encourage; the first year of teaching is busy enough without this. It may be helpful for newly qualified teachers to retain some link with their ITT provider during the first year and this could lead to a further degree later.

  41.  Decent working conditions (see paragraphs 21 and 22 above) are significant for young teachers too. Clearly, social events are very useful in developing a sense of belonging to the school and to the profession.

I.  STANDING OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

  42.  There has been a period of denigrating the work of teachers that has been very damaging to morale. Teachers feel that they are not well regarded by the public, though recent research would suggest that this is not the case.

  43.  Further effort should be made, however, to celebrate the excellent work of teachers and schools. Awards for a few may have some good effect, but more opportunities should be taken to praise the many.

  44.  In a much less deferential and increasingly litigious society, parents are much more inclined to complain about schools and individual teachers than they once were. This may be right, but teachers need to be better prepared for it, and schools should have the resources to deal with complaints and if necessary defend their staff.

  45.  A period of managerialism in education, emanating from central government, has undermined the sense of teaching as a vocation. We need to try to recover that sense in the profession; we can foster a sense of corporate vocation by constantly highlighting the student-focused and person-focused approach. Teachers need to feel that they work to help and support children and do their best for them. This will not be possible whilst they are subject to a top-down numerical target-driven approach to accountability.

J.  SUMMARY

  46.  Measures required to improve the retention of teachers include the following:

    1.  Implementation of the Workforce Agreement, signed by the Government, NEOST and unions on 15 January 2003.

    2.  An improved funding system, which delivers increased funding equitably and transparently to all schools.

    3.  A reduction in the number of government initiatives for schools.

    4.  A change in the target-setting regime from top-down to bottom-up.

    5.  Implementation of the measures recommended by SHA in Towards Intelligent Accountability for Schools.

    6.  Adequate resources to educate children with special needs.

    7.  Appropriate levels of funding for schools serving disadvantaged communities.

    8.  Further encouragement from the government in support of good discipline in schools.

    9.  More attention to behaviour management in ITT courses.

    10.  Improved working conditions in schools.

    11.  Improvements in the Teachers Pension Scheme.

    12.  Maintenance of the existing retirement age.

    13.  An improved pay structure for teachers, with improved base pay and a better balance between base pay levels and discretionary payments.

    14.  Absorption of the Recruitment and Retention Allowances into the main pay spines.

    15.  Opportunities for timetable variation, for part-time work without any detrimental effect on pensions, and to become mentors or coaches for younger colleagues.

    16.  Better administration support for teachers, as outlined in the workforce agreement.

    17.  More celebration of the excellent work of teachers and schools.

May 2003



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