Rob
Williams, Director
NAHT Cymru
9
Columbus Walk
Brigantine Place
Cardiff
CF10 4BY
21st June
2019
Dear Janet Finch-Saunders
AM,
NAHT welcomes the opportunity to
submit evidence to the Petitions Committee.
NAHT represents more than 29,000
school leaders in early years, primary, secondary and special
schools, making us the largest association for school leaders in
the UK.
We
represent, advise and train school leaders in Wales, England and
Northern Ireland. We use our voice at the highest levels of
government to influence policy for the benefit of leaders and
learners everywhere.
Our
new section, NAHT Edge, supports, develops and represents middle
leaders in schools.
Petition
text
We, the undersigned,
request that all supply teachers be paid
fairly and have full access to training opportunities and other
terms and conditions. There should be a qualified teacher in every
classroom and taxpayers' money should be going directly into
education and not into the pockets of private agencies.
Supply teachers are
being exploited and teachers are leaving the profession as they
cannot afford to be supply teachers. Agencies reduce teachers' pay
by forty to sixty percent and teachers lose their pensions, this is
public money going into the private sector for profit. Lessons are
being covered by unqualified staff.
We
understand that the petition has been under consideration by the
Petitions Committee since May 2018 and, most recently, the
Committee held an evidence session with the Minister for Education
on 2 April 2019.
Following the session, the
Committee sought our views on the general content of the petition
and the following specific issues:
á
the viability of a
public sector solution for employing supply teachers in Wales, for
example in a similar vein to the system which operates in Northern
Ireland, or the recent pilot project based on cluster
arrangements;
á
the improvements which
could potentially arise out of new framework contract arrangements
developed by the National Procurement Service
á
(including letting the
contract on the basis of individual local authority
ÔlotsÕ, a minimum daily pay rate and greater
transparency over agency fees);
á
any potential
opportunities or risks for supply teaching arising from the
devolution of pay and conditions for teachers; and
á
arrangements for
professional learning for supply teachers, particularly in light of
current education reforms.
NAHT Cymru
response:
- NAHT Cymru believes, wherever
possible, there should be a qualified teacher in every classroom in
Wales, this is essential if we expect to maintain high standards of
teaching and learning;
- NAHT Cymru believes that all
teachers should have access to the TeachersÕ Pensions
Scheme, irrespective of their place of employment within the Welsh
Education system;
- NAHT Cymru believes that a
national education service, that employs teachers trained to
national standards, that is implementing a national curriculum,
that is nationally inspected, upholds national standards with
national accountabilities and outcomes should have a national pay
and conditions service framework;
- A range of factors, including ever
growing cost pressures, has led to an increasing role for supply
agencies for permanent and temporary recruitment, leading to
additional financial pressures on schools who are already
struggling. NAHT Cymru believes government should regulate payments
to supply agencies to secure best value for public funds and that
there needs to be greater transparency in terms of a minimum daily
pay rate and greater transparency over agency fees;
- The practical implications of
employing supply staff within schools plays out in a variety of
ways, particularly in relation to the reasons why a school requires
supply cover, in the first instance. For example, there is a
distinct difference between the circumstances under which a school
might source longer-term, anticipated medical absence cover to that
of supply staff required under urgent unplanned sickness
absence;
- Schools require the ability to
source high quality supply staff, often at very short notice, and
many schools see value in being able to access familiar staff who
they know and who themselves understand the ethos and day-to-day
workings of the school;
- NAHT Cymru understand that Local
Authority Ôsupply poolsÕ or Ôsupply
listsÕ were the relative norm some years ago, but, often as
a result of Local Authority funding pressures, they are not
necessarily viable in many parts of Wales;
- NAHT Cymru understands that
private companies, who are able to offer supply staff insurance
cover for schools have approached Local Authorities within Wales
offering to ÔmanageÕ their Ôsupply staff
poolsÕ. However, it is unclear as to the contractual or
commercial arrangements undertaken nor whether this offer has been
taken up by any Local Authority;
- The potential for shared services
between Local Authorities has appeared to be growing, particularly
since the establishment of Regional Consortia Ð for example,
shared HR services and school improvement. However, there is no
uniformity of approach between regions and there remains a risk of
duplication where some Local Authorities maintain a level of a
certain type of service within a Regional Consortia that also
provides an element of the same service;
- Given the financial pressures
facing Local Authorities and, by default, schools and other
settings in the public sector, NAHT Cymru would be surprised if
there was the capacity or level of expertise remaining within Local
Authorities to reintroduce a public sector solution for employing
supply teachers at that level.
Regional Consortia also do not
have the statutory responsibilities for education
delivery (including employer duties) that are retained by Local
Authorities and they are set up under very differing governance
structures which, again, we believe would not be appropriate for
managing a public sector solution for employing supply
teachers;
- Whether there would be the
possibility of a fully functioning national public sector solution
for employing supply teachers, is a matter for Welsh
Government;
- Within our submission to the
Supply Model Taskforce in 2016, NAHT Cymru suggested looking at a
model currently used by the Plymouth Association of Primary
(school) Heads a Co-operative, Community Interest Company (CIC).
One of the challenges we found in looking at this model, however,
was obtaining key data, including staff pay levels Ð the model
talks about Ôexcellent working pay and conditionsÕ and
the testimonials from supply staff are positive but may not provide
the full picture. One of the other challenges was the degree of
Ôbuy-inÕ to meet the economies of scale required for
its success and the employment status and requirements placed upon
the headteachers who were involved in the running of the model, in
terms of workload;
- The scale of the school funding
crisis in Wales, outlined within our evidence to the Children,
Young People and Education Committee school funding inquiry, calls
into question the current ability of schools to meet the growing
costs of supply cover.
- School leaders clearly wish to see
supply teachers paid fairly, but the current reality is that school
budgets are inadequate Ð for example, schools look at saving
money on what can be costly supply cover insurance and instead
often use alternative solutions to cover absent colleagues,
including not employing external supply staff but instead using
themselves and other leadership colleagues (including ALNCos) which
pulls them away from their substantive roles. This is a risky,
unsustainable and not-to-be-recommended approach, but the scale of
cuts have forced this upon many settings;
- In the current financial climate,
if schools were to strictly adhere to employing supply staff and
ensuring they are paid fairly at all times, the knock-on effect
could well be catastrophic, placing the school in a position
whereby the only solution to making up an end-of-year budget
deficit would be to go through an enforced redundancy process and
lose permanent staff;
- It is difficult to project the
potential improvements which could arise out of new framework
contract arrangement developed by the National Procurement Service
without seeing the detail of any approach and the practical
implications for schools and school leadership. However, the
principle behind a national model, which could potentially better
manage the consistency, quality and a more common approach across
the whole of Wales, would be of interest to school leaders. How
this could be managed in order to benefit from schools that know
their supply staff and supply staff who know their schools would be
of great benefit. However, there would also need to be a
comprehensive financial impact assessment to establish if schools
would be able to fully utilise the benefits of such a system, or
would they simply not be able to afford to do so even if they were,
in principle, in favour of it?
- In accepting that devolution of
teachersÕ pay and conditions to Wales has now taken place,
despite our original reservations, NAHT Cymru do believe that there
might be opportunities to create improved conditions of service
within Wales. Our reservations, however, still remain, as they are
based principally upon the limiting nature of the overall quantum
of funding at the disposal of Welsh Government and the risk of not
at least ensuring parity with England which could result in a loss
of talent out of Wales;
- NAHT Cymru were mindful that,
given the extraordinarily limited timescale available for the new
Independent Welsh Pay Review Body (IWPRB) within this first-year
remit, focusing solely upon pay matters was essential in order to
reach a decision in time for any pay award. However, within the Pay
Partnership Forum (including the workforce unions, employers and
Welsh Government) future remit areas are already being
discussed;
- In future remits, the issue of
supply teacher pay, professional learning and conditions of service
will be essential in order to bring consistency, transparency and
fairness to the whole workforce. The risks that exist will be
mainly as a result of the capacity, within finances, time and
within the wider system, to meet the deserved needs of supply
staff. Warm words alone will not make it happen. It is worth
noting, for example, that Welsh Government recognised the pressures
upon schools in delivering the professional learning required for
the new curriculum by announcing additional National Approach for
Professional Learning (NAPL) funding Ð the same needs to be
explored specifically for supply staff;
- It would be NAHT CymruÕs
view that ensuring access to quality professional learning, across
all the essential education policy areas within current reform, for
example, the new curriculum and ALNET (Wales) Bill, needs to be
planned on a national basis and delivered via committed additional
resource;
- The risk of encouraging a local,
low level approach to such professional learning for supply staff,
is one of inconsistency, varying quality and hit-and-miss
accessibility, highly dependent upon the individualÕs
employment circumstances;
- NAHT Cymru believe that in order
to fully address the issues outlined within the petition text, a
full and comprehensive review of all the relevant factors is
required. Principally, identifying all the relevant factors that
have driven the system to the circumstances under which we now find
ourselves within Wales. The school workforceÕs commitment to
do the best for our children and young people, despite an
increasingly challenging financial picture, has resulted in support
staff, teachers and school leaders often operating in ways that
appear admirable but ultimately create risk and are unsustainable
in terms of mental health, wellbeing and ongoing high
performance.
Rob Williams
NAHT Cymru - Director