SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue


Behaviour and special needs


Drawing on his recent book on behaviour in the inclusive classroom, Colin Lever considers the behavioural problems that SEN students can exhibit and how teachers can and should respond Pages 8 and 9


Exam howlers


After the furore over examination standards late last year, Professor Mick Waters argues that our exam system undoes so much of the good work of teachers Page 7


Pensions and budgets big concerns for 2012


Heads and teachers are facing a new year of worry over budgets, the pace of change in education, and more potential industrial action over pensions. As 2011 ended, talks between


union leaders and ministers over pensions had still not reached an agreement although a new offer had been tabled by the government. Futhermore, one union, the


NASUWT, was preparing to go back to the High Court to challenge the government over its decision to switch the indexing of pensions from the Retail Prices Index (RPI) to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). An appeal hearing is expected soon. Meanwhile, a survey of more


QR Codes


QR codes, the recent technology craze, can be applied in effective ways in the classroom Page 10


SecEdonline


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then 3,000 headteachers found that financial issues and budgets were their main concerns for the year ahead. The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) study found that managing a reduced budget was a concern for 38 per cent, while making changes to pay and conditions and strategic medi- um-term financial planning worried 24 per cent and 16 per cent of heads respectively. Almost a fifth said they were


having to manage reduced staffing levels, and 16 per cent had concerns on how reduced local authority serv- ices would impact on their schools. Improving exam results and mak- ing changes to the curriculum were worries for 40 and 26 per cent. Brian Lightman, ASCL’s gen-


eral secretary, told SecEd: “Clearly 2011 has been an immensely chal- lenging year for school leaders due to the government’s vast and rushed agenda for change in the context of reducing budgets, cutbacks to sup-


port services, a pay freeze and the prospect of a significant worsening of their pension scheme. “In spite of this, schools have


achieved further significant improvements in standards of achievement, but there are limits to what can be achieved even with this exceptional level of commitment. In this context the government needs to listen carefully and respond to their concerns and publicly recognise and value their work in 2012.” He said schools were feeling


the pressure of rising floor tar- gets at a time of reduced budgets. “Achieving 50 per cent A* to C GCSEs with English and maths will be a huge achievement for schools with the most challenging pupil intakes. Even with the benefit of the pupil premium, many of these schools will struggle to balance the books while providing the special- ised support that will enable them to reach this level. All of this makes it a very uncertain time for schools.” It comes as the pre-Christmas


negotiations over the future of the Teachers’ Pension Scheme (TPS) led to the government tabling a new set of headline proposals which some of the public sector unions have agreed to put before their members. The new proposals retain plans


for a career-average pension scheme but include an improved accrual rate of 1/57th of salary each year. Also, teachers who are 10 years from retirement will be immune to any changes and those who miss the 10-year cut-off by up to 3.5 years will also receive some protection. Teachers would continue to be


able to choose a retirement date at any age from 55 onwards and one union said that although teachers’ retirement age will be linked to the state retirement age, “the govern-


Issue 303 • January 5 2012 Price £1.00 www.sec-ed.com


Heads voice fears over cuts as unions continue pensions fight by Dorothy Lepkowska


ment has conceded that retirement at 65 will be financially viable for teachers”. After the talks, Danny Alexander,


chief secretary to the Treasury, said: “We and the unions agree that this is the best outcome that can be achieved through negotiation.” However, the two largest teach-


ing unions – the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the NASUWT – have both refused to sign up to the new proposals. Christine Blower, general secre-


tary of the NUT, said: “There was insufficient progress in terms of the government’s position that teachers should work longer, pay more and get less. We reserved our position due to lack of progress but also the lack of documentation in certain critical areas.” Her counterpart at the NASUWT, Chris Keates, said:


“The coalition has still not provided any information on the need for reform to the TPS. “We remain committed to a nego-


tiated settlement on pensions, but it is important that any agreements are based upon sound evidence and that decisions are made in light of critical information being made available.” Both unions have said their


executive committees will discuss how to proceed in January. However, the Association of


Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), Voice, and ASCL have all agreed to take the offer back to members, although the NAHT warned that “it could take a lot to persuade school leaders to swallow it”. General secretary Russell Hobby said: “There are significant areas to discuss in the new year, including the contribution rates.”


ASCL chief Brian Lightman


said the new proposals “go some way to addressing our concerns” but warned it was not a done deal. Dr Mary Bousted from the ATL said the deal was “the best that can be achieved in negotiation”, but that it was still unfair. The NASUWT, meanwhile,


is awaiting a date for its appeal against the government’s change to the indexing of pensions from RPI to the lower CPI. The hearing is expected this month. The judges in the original hear-


ing late last year were unable to reach a unanimous decision, and one of them believed that ministers had acted unlawfully. The change has devalued pen-


sions by up to 15 per cent and meant that instead of increasing by 4.6 per cent last April, they increased by 3.1 per cent.


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