Agenda item

Report of the Assistant Director, Human Resources to present two reviewed policies (Pay and Teacher Appraisal) to be recommended by the Council from 27^th July 2016 for adoption by the governing bodies of the community, voluntary controlled, community special and maintained nursery schools which the Council maintains and to be implemented by the Council in respect of any unattached teachers it employs from September 2016.

The Committee considered the report on two reviewed policies (Pay and Teacher Appraisal) to be recommended by the Council from 27^th July 2016 for adoption by the governing bodies of the community, voluntary controlled, community special and maintained nursery schools which the Council maintains and to be implemented by the Council in respect of any unattached teachers it employs from September 2016. The report was presented by Victoria Tricarico, Head of People and Change, who outlined the proposed policies and any changes contained therein, and clarified that these policies related to teaching staff only and that a separate policy for support staff would be produced in due course. It was noted that it was good practice for these policies to be reviewed on an annual basis.

In respect of the Pay Policy, the Committee was advised that final details would be subject to the publication of the School Teacher’s Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD) 2016, which was expected later in the year. Once the STPCD was issued, the final details of the Pay Policy would be confirmed and the document issued to schools.

It was noted that the Council had consulted with headteachers, governing bodies, the unions, and the Schools Consultative Group on both policies, and that the versions presented to the Committee for approval incorporated feedback from these stakeholders.

In response to a question from the Committee regarding the changes made to the policies compared with previous versions, it was confirmed that there had been no significant changes in respect of the content of either but that the structure of both had been slightly amended for clarity. The Committee asked about the feedback that had been received from stakeholders; it was reported that there had been some requests for clarification around the technical aspects of the pay policy and that, in respect of the appraisal policy, feedback had largely been around wording and emphasis. With regards to the feedback from the unions, the NUT and NASUWT have a model appraisal policy which outlines the position of those teaching unions, and feedback had been broadly consistent with this, for example lesson observations and the expectation of clarity when it was proposed for pay progression to be withheld. Discussion at the Schools Consultative Forum had largely focussed on wording and requests for clarification, but some procedural points had also been raised, for example regarding grievances.

The Chair moved the recommendations of the report and it was:

RESOLVED

i)             That the Committee approve the model Pay Policy and model Teacher Appraisal Policy attached at Appendix A and Appendix B to the report, to: -

a.    be recommended by the Council from 27^th July 2016 for adoption by the governing bodies of the community, voluntary controlled, community special and maintained nursery schools which the Council maintains

b.    be implemented by the Council in respect of any unattached teachers it employs from September 2016.

ii)            That the Committee authorise the Assistant Director Transformation and Resources in consultation with the Chair of the Committee to make such amendments to the Pay Policy and Teacher Appraisal Policy as he considers minor, any such amendments to be reported back to the meeting of the Committee immediately following the making of the amendments. This includes publishing pay scales in line with the teacher national pay award.