From Divisional Secretary

John Pemberthy

Dear Colleagues,
May I wish you all Season’s greetings and congratulations on surviving the long autumn terms. 

Your union has been extremely active on your behalf and we have been dealing with an ever increasing number of members requiring support over the past months.  The new OFSTED regime is, as we predicted, causing great distress in schools where safeguarding or attainment issues are causing other good work to be overlooked.  Our General Secretary, Christine Blower, is putting together a portfolio of OFSTED horror stories to put pressure on them to be more rounded in their inspections.  I have some local contributions already but please send me any from your school at the usual address or e-mail them direct to inspections@nut.org.uk

Members in some of the National Challenge schools most affected by the Badman recommendations are anxious about the disruptive effect these will have on their students and on their own careers if accepted by the LA following the current consultation.  Please go online and have your say on the consultation at www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/nationalchallenge  Our meeting on the 20th January will be a great opportunity to ask questions and find out what factors have gone into this decision making process.  I am very pleased that the Deputy Leader of the Local Authority and Group Director of Children’s Services, Jackie Hall, has agreed to be on the panel as well as other locally elected and prospective politicians from the three major parties.

Our SATS Saturday event in the centre of Gloucester was a great success with pretty much unanimous support from parents who passed by and signed our petition. It was also well covered by both major local radio stations and the press. The recent statement from Ed Balls that SATs will go ahead in 2010 is clearly disappointing, however, the Government has said it will introduce “a light touch moderation process” for teacher assessment at Key Stage 2 from 2011. It will consult on the introduction of this system.

In his statement, Ed Balls said that he has “decided to take a step further in recognising the value of teacher assessments” and that “the assessment and testing system is not set in stone”. This is significant movement from the Government and is a tribute to the success of the joint NUT/NAHT campaign.

We are pleased with this movement from the Secretary of State. We welcome it and we have called for further discussion with Government to achieve further progress. The Government is responding to the pressure of the joint NUT/NAHT campaign. The NUT will continue to pursue its Annual Conference policy that SATs should go.

Looking beyond SATS at what might replace them, it is important that we do not end up with something worse! We have heard from a number of schools where Assessing Pupil Progress (APP) has been introduced without the proper consultation or preparation.  For those who don’t know, APP is a methodology for demonstrating pupil attainment in foundation subjects. It is not necessary for every child in a group to be included, just a sample of 3 – 6 per group to demonstrate that the teacher judgement is consistent with national standards. It should be about developing the teacher as an assessor rather than just a tool to pinpoint pupil progress. It works best when teacher judgement is trusted rather than constantly re-assessed in order to get the ‘correct’ result.

The NUT has sought further assurances from the QCDA on APP. They have confirmed that it is voluntary, should be used to aid assessment for learning and is a professional matter for teachers.  Crucially the QCDA have clearly stated that APP should not increase workload.  We welcome these reassurances, which vindicate the NUT’s campaigning work on APP.  See our January 2010 Newsletter for more detailed guidance on how APP should operate in your school if it has been or is being introduced.

With best wishes

John Pemberthy - Divisional Secretary

Gloucestershire Association Divisional Secretary, John Pemberthy writes:
"The NUT is the largest teachers' union in Gloucestershire representing teachers in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary establishments, as well as supply teachers and Soulbury-paid members across the county."

The National Union of Teachers is the only union which takes into membership qualified teachers (and those on courses training to become teachers) exclusively. All the other classroom teacher unions include non teachers, which affects their focus. The Gloucestershire Association of the National Union of Teachers serves its members in many ways.

It represents their collective views, as well as the policies of the Union nationally, to the LEA, School Governing Bodies, the press and the media;

it is the only teaching union which allows into membership teachers from all sectors of education from newly qualified teachers to head teachers, supply teachers to advisers and therefore speaks for the whole profession and not just one section of it;

it is the only union which employs its own team of solicitors, in all regions of the country, who specialise in the law as it affects education, teachers and their pupils;

it acts as a source of information and expertise for members to call upon other issues such as salary scales, threshold, sick leave, maternity leave, part-time contracts, job sharing, pensions - in fact, the whole range of education and employment law so important to teachers in their daily working lives;

it provides advice and training for professional development;

it supports and represents individual members facing professional difficulties;

it provides the opportunity to meet socially with fellow teachers from other schools and settings;

it campaigns for a better deal for teachers and their pupils.

OFSTED SCHOOL INSPECTION FRAMEWORK

NUT Briefing for DIVISIONS
                 OCTOBER 2009

The documents in this folder provide information and advice about the changes to the OFSTED inspection framework for schools (Section 5 inspections). The main briefing document is based on the OFSTED publications “The Framework for the Inspection of Maintained Schools in England from September 2009”, “OFSTED’s Evaluation Schedule of Judgements for Schools Inspected Under Section Five of the Education Act, from September 2009” and “Conducting the Inspection: Guidance for Inspectors of Schools from September 2009” which may be downloaded from the OFSTED website www.ofsted.gov.uk.

The folder includes a range of materials about the revised inspection arrangements that have been produced to support members.

• A leaflet for members outlining the main changes to inspection arrangements: Link

• “The New OFSTED Inspection Framework: Frequently Asked Questions”: Link

• “OFSTED School Inspections 2009: Guidance for Head teachers”: Link