More than half of ASCL members are now in academies and many are from independent schools – this month, the hotline has taken several calls from members in these sectors. Below are just a few of the questions our hotline staff have answered, although clearly in the answers there are messages for all members regardless of sector.

Leaders' surgery

Give me a break

Q: I am an assistant head and I was appointed to my academy just over a year ago having been in a community school before. I have now just been told I am expected at meetings on three of the days of next week’s half-term – and I was so looking forward to a break! I thought my contract allowed me to have school holidays off but having looked at it again, it says I have 30 days per year of holiday. Can I refuse to go to these meetings?

A: It is always vital to check carefully your contract of employment before you take up a post. For community schools, this normally will be fairly standard and adhere to the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD), but in academies and independent schools contracts can vary significantly, as you have found out. Areas that are no longer standard include holiday entitlement, sick pay, maternity benefits, notice periods, probation periods and, of course, salary. You are, of course, entitled to negotiate the terms of a contract prior to the contract becoming fixed, but once you have accepted the contract you must abide by the terms in it. Having signed your contract with limited holiday, it is reasonable for the school to expect you to book leave according to its stated procedures. If you have not booked the time off according to the employer’s rules, then it is reasonable for your employer to expect you to be at school working.

For members taking up new posts, ASCL offers a contract checking service, via the hotline, where a solicitor will look over the contract and then advise you of any issues to be aware of.

Complaints about the state of independence

Q: I am a head from an academy and we have had a formal complaint, from a particularly awkward parent, that has been through all of our complaints stages, including a governor panel. They have now complained to the EFA, and the EFA has told us to re-hear the complaint because there was no one independent on the final governors appeal. I thought governors were independent. What do I do?

A: In law, academies are independent schools that are established under the Education Act 2002. This specifies the minimum standards that have to be met for the academy to operate lawfully as a school. There are seven areas for which ‘standards’ are specified, which as you would expect includes the quality of education and the suitability of staff and premises. The seventh standard is ‘the manner in which independent schools handle complaints’. What this means is most recently laid out in The Education (Independent School Standards) (England) Regulations 2010.

This states that unresolved complaints need to be heard by a panel of at least three people ‘who were not directly involved in the matters detailed in the complaint’. Clearly, the common practice of this being a governor’s panel is compliant with the standard. However, the regulation continues that ‘where there is a panel hearing of a complaint, one panel member is independent of the management and running of the school’.

We may argue that a governor is ‘independent of the management and running of the school’, but the EFA in this is clear that it sees governors as part of the school system. So, in brief, you will have to re-organise the complaint hearing with at least two new governors and an ‘independent’ person.

Does one size fit all?

Q: I am in my second year as headteacher of an independent school. The chair of governors has just been to see me and told me that they are terminating my contract at the end of the school year. They say that I have done nothing wrong, and am perfectly competent, it’s just that I don’t “fit”. I am in shock. Surely this is not fair and they can’t do this?

A: Unfortunately, in principle, they can do this. Anyone taking up a post with a new employer can be dismissed during the first two years without being able to claim ‘unfair dismissal’. What this means is that although the employer may be being unfair, you cannot take the matter to a tribunal. There is one thing to take into consideration, though. This is that the two years does not apply if there has been discrimination – if, for example, the reason that they are saying you don’t ‘fit’ is because of your sexual orientation, then you could claim unfair dismissal on grounds of a ‘protected characteristic’ under the Equality Act 2010.

ASCL members concerned about leadership issues should call the hotline on 0116 299 1122 or email hotline@ascl.org.uk

David Snashall is ASCL Hotline Leader

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