Performance management proposals in Wales “open to abuse”, says NASUWT
The introduction of a new Performance Management system in Wales will lead to greater workload burdens for teachers and headteachers and could be open to abuse by employers, delegates at the NASUWT Annual Conference in Birmingham have been warned today.
The Conference was told that the requirement on teachers and headteachers to keep a Practice Review and Development (PRD) portfolio was unnecessary and had the potential to impact adversely on working time and hours.
The motion being debated called on the National Executive of the NASUWT to mount a vigorous campaign to secure contractual entitlements for teachers relating to PRD time and continuing professional development (CPD).
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers' union in Wales, said: "Our members in Wales put workload at the top of the agenda when it comes to the issues that most concern them in their day-to-day teaching practice.
“Debilitating burdens distract them from teaching and learning.
“The Welsh Government must provide schools with additional funding so that PRD time is timetabled in the school teaching week and to ensure the provision of a contractual entitlement to CPD is enshrined in the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document (STRB).
“Quality professional development cannot be done on the cheap or in teachers’ own time.
NASUWT Wales Organiser Rex Philips said: "We are concerned this new system of performance will place additional bureaucratic burdens on our members, affecting their work/life balance.
"With our strong mandate from members in Wales to Stand up for Standards we will, if necessary, review the national action instructions to offer the full protection members expect."
ENDS
NASUWT Press Office contacts:
Ben Padley 07785 463 119
Lena Davies 07867 392 746
Notes to editors
The NASUWT’s Annual Conference is being held at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham from April 6th to the 9th.
The full text of the motion is below:
2(c) PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT
Suzanne Nantcurvis to move, Hopkin Thomas to second:
Conference notes with concern that the provisions of The School Teacher Appraisal (Wales) Regulations 2011 herald the introduction of a Performance Management (PM) system in Wales that fails to respect the contractual entitlement of teachers and headteachers to a work/life balance, will be workload intensive and bureaucratically burdensome and presents a management tool that is open to abuse.
Conference maintains that the requirement on teachers and headteachers to keep a Practice Review and Development (PRD) portfolio, based on reflective practice in relation to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) activities and their impact on standards, is unnecessary and has the potential to impact adversely on working time and working hours.
Conference expects the Welsh Government to provide schools with additional funding so that PRD time may be timetabled in the school teaching week and to make submissions for the provision of a contractual entitlement to CPD to be enshrined in the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document.
Conference acknowledges that the national action on Standing up for Standards will protect members during the current PM cycle but is concerned that the new system will be detrimental to teachers’ and headteachers’ work/life balance.
Conference therefore calls on the National Executive to mount a vigorous campaign to secure contractual entitlements to PRD time and to CPD and, if necessary, to review the national action instructions in order to offer full protection to members.
(Executive)
-01.png){kind=spacer}