June 2015

The know zone

  • Know your boundaries
    Cherry Ridgway explains how comparable outcomes work for setting GCSE grades and looks ahead to the national reference tests, starting in 2017. More
  • Business class
    Anyone who has found attending parents’ evenings inconvenient will appreciate the new appointment procedures, seating arrangements and musical accompaniments suggested by Sean Hayes. More
  • CPD options
    As pressure grows on budgets, what can schools and colleges do to ensure their CPD opportunities for staff remain as rich and creative as possible? Here we highlight some key steps. More
  • A driving force
    Drive iQ aims to change the way that young people learn to drive in the UK. It is a state-of-the-art, award-winning online software programme that gives every young person a virtual experience of driving in all conditions and on all types of roads to help them acquire genuine experience when learning to drive. More
  • Balanced view
    Val Andrew outlines some basic tenets of sound financial planning to ensure that your school or college is running at maximum efficiency. More
  • The post-levels challenge
    Julie McCulloch explores the rationale for the overhaul of primary assessment and looks at how a new commission will aim to resolve some of the problems raised. More
  • The future of CPD
    Following their Shaping the Future of CPD event held earlier this year, the team at IRIS Connect have released a report unveiling important recommendations on the future of professional development from Sir Tim Brighouse, David Weston from the Teacher Development Trust, Philippa Cordingley from CUREE and many more. More
  • School holidays
    From September, all schools will be able to set their own terms and holidays. Newspapers have suggested that about 60 per cent of heads will use that power to help parents avoid holiday surcharges. What are you thinking of doing? Are you going to change your current set-up or will things remain the same in your school? Are you working with other schools in your local area to coordinate school holidays? Here, ASCL members share their views… More
  • Leaders’ surgery
    ASCL members concerned about leadership issues should call the Hotline on 0116 299 1122 or email hotline@ascl.org.uk More
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Leaders' surgery

Plausible cover story?

Q: I am a deputy headteacher and I want to use teachers released from examination classes to cover those doing activities like trips and sports days and a union rep has told me that I can’t. Surely I can do this, as it’s just a replacement for their already scheduled teaching time.

A: ASCL can only express the following views, which are believed to be correct; you should also seek advice from your HR provider or retained lawyers. If your school follows the school teachers’ pay and conditions document (STPCD), then the union rep is right. This is an issue primarily about ‘cover’, which teachers can be asked to do ‘only rarely’ (section 53.7 of the STPCD 2104). This is normally interpreted as being in an emergency – and planned activities as you describe are not an emergency.

‘Cover’ is an emotive issue, and the term ‘cover’ should be applied to any situation where a teacher is unable to do his or her full professional duties of planning, delivery and assessment – a useful guide is to think about whether the teacher knows the individuals in the class and can plan for those individual needs. In respect of that timetable released time, such time is known as ‘gained time’ and teachers can be directed to do professional activity during those class-times – it is not free time. Guidance about ‘gained time’ is included in the 2013 STPCD.

When all of this was negotiated many years ago, there were guidance notes about ‘gained time’ but these have not been included in the STPCD 2014, but they are in STPCD 2013, which you can download from the web. In paragraphs 76 and 77 (page 104) there is a list of things you can refer to, including team teaching, induction activities and teaching material development. The fact that the current STPCD does not include this guidance does not mean that it is not valid. Finally, on the ‘covering’ activities, you can always do a timetable re-write if you have a whole week of this type of activity – this is allowed for ‘good educational reasons’ but you should usually give teachers a couple of weeks’ notice to adequately prepare for any new classes.

Advice on exclusions

Q: I am a headteacher and I want to know if I can permanently exclude a child on the autism spectrum who has made a weapon and threatened a teacher with it? The police are involved and are treating it as a crime. His parents are objecting on the grounds of his autism being a disability.

A: It is sometimes said that you should not exclude a student with special educational needs (SEN) but this is not so. The current DfE exclusions guidelines permit exclusions where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) advises in its guidance on excluding a disabled pupil for behaviour that arises as a consequence of their disability that exclusion is likely to result in unlawful disability discrimination unless you can show that the exclusion was a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim.

In this case, as long as there had been measures put in place to deal with any needs arising from autism, and these can be demonstrated, then the exclusion is not because of the disability, but because of the need to keep the school community safe. The exclusion also needs to be in line with the school’s own behaviour and sanctions policy. What should be done by the school is often in the Education, Care and Health Plan (EHCP) if there is one. The parents may well appeal to a first-tier tribunal if the governors uphold the exclusion and the tribunal will look again at the disability aspects of an exclusion.

We would advise you to seek your own legal advice about the nature of the disability from your local authority’s special education needs team or your retained lawyers.

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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