Respondents saying all events for which they were asked to cover were foreseeable/not foreseeable - Shown as Table

The Impact of Rarely Cover Implementation

The contractual provision on rarely cover is part of the package of workforce reforms arising from the 2003 National Agreement: ʻRaising Standards and Tackling Workload’. As such, rarely cover is intended to contribute to raising educational standards by enabling teachers and headteachers to focus their time on teaching and leading and managing teaching and learning.

The STPCD guidance confirmed that the requirement that teachers should only be expected to cover rarely from 1 September 2009 was not intended to result in a worsening of a teacherʼs overall working conditions. The guidance to schools confirmed that they should put in place strategies for managing rarely cover that contribute to securing downward pressure on teacher and headteacher workloads and excessive working hours, ensuring that teachers and headteachers are not required to work unreasonable hours and the achievement of a reasonable work/life balance.

As a consequence of how schools have implemented rarely cover, a number of impact trends can be observed.

Around one third (30.3%) of respondents said that the number of lessons they were now required to teach had increased since 1 September. The proportion of respondents who said that the number of lessons they now taught had increased was lower in the case of respondents from primary schools (16.7%) than respondents from secondary schools (32.6%). Of the respondents who said the number of lessons they were required to teach had increased, the main reasons cited were:

Reasons given by schools for asking teachers to teach more

To enable the school to implement rarely cover 30%
To prevent staff being made redundant 6%
To offset reductions in staff numbers 20%
To respond to increased pupil numbers 7%
Other reasons 39%

One in eight (12.4%) respondents reported a reduction in the amount of PPA time they had been allocated since the introduction of the rarely cover provisions and one quarter (25.1%) reported that they had experienced a reduction in the amount of non-contact time they now received since the introduction of rarely cover at their school.

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