National Agreement on Raising Standards and Tackling Workload

In January 2003 a National Agreement on Raising Standards and tackling workload was signed by Government, employers and the majority of the school workforce unions in England and Wales. The National Agreement was designed to enhance the status of all who work in schools and restore a work/life balance to enable teachers to focus more effectively on their teaching and to provide every pupil with a chance to achieve greater success. The Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group, formed by the signatories to the National Agreement oversaw a seven point plan to: Reduce teachers' overall hours progressively Make changes to teachers’ contracts, phased over three years Reduce unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy Reform support staff roles to help teachers and support pupils Recruit new school managers, including business and personnel managers Put additional resources into a national ‘change management’ programme Monitor progress on the delivery of the Agreement. Among other contractual changes, the Agreement stated that teachers should not be required routinely to undertake administrative and clerical tasks and that these should be transferred to appropriate support staff. A National Remodelling Team was established to support schools to find solutions to their own workload issues and to share solutions with others. Currently, there is a Remodelling Adviser in every local education authority who co-ordinates remodelling training for schools and who is a key contact for schools seeking guidance on any aspect of the remodelling agenda. Some schools have found that participation in remodelling has made a real difference to their capacity to raise standards, while making schools more attractive places for teachers and support staff. Useful web links To read more about the National Agreement, click here. To find out more about the National remodelling Team, click here. View next page

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