ATL

ATL Conference 2010

Tuesday 30 March - morning session

Fourth session of Conference: 9.00 - 12.30

During this session there was an address by Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Conservative Shadow Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families.

Resolutions

22 Defending state education - carried
23 Deployment of support staff - carried in all parts
24 Ofsted abolition - carried
25 Primary modern foreign languages - carried
26 Bonus culture - carried in all parts
27 Male role models - carried in part
28 Use of MDF in schools - lost
29 Early professional development - carried in all parts
30 Social networking - carried
31 Electronic communication with students - carried in all parts
32 Teacher sabbaticals - not taken
33 14-19 funding - carried

22 Defending state education - carried

BRENT BRANCH

THAT Conference, in the face of government designs to abolish the comprehensive state education system, calls upon the Executive Committee to seek to organise a joint campaign, embracing, if possible, all the educationunions and other relevant educational bodies, to defend state education by all legitimate means. Further, Conference calls upon the Executive Committee to authorise action, up to and including industrial action, in schools which request this to resist privatisation or part privatisation, such as moving to academy or trust status.

Proposer: Hank Roberts, Copland: A Specialist Science College, Brent
Seconder: Azra Haque, Hay Lane Special School, Brent

23 Deployment of support staff - carried in all parts

COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by North Wales, Gloucestershire, Bradford and Wakefield branches.

THAT Conference values the contribution made by support staff to schools in assisting and supporting teachers but views with growing concern, particularly since the introduction of PPA and rarely cover, their deployment within teaching roles for which they may have neither the qualifications nor the relevant experience. Such deployment makes unreasonable demands on support staff and risks their becoming teachers on the cheap; it also fails to meet the legitimate expectations of pupils and parents. Conference therefore requests that the Executive Committee works with the government and other social partners to ensure that:
(i) the regulations and guidance on the deployment of support staff are understood and implemented in all schools;
(ii) support staff are fully trained and fully supported within their roles;
(iii) a recognised national qualification for cover supervisors is developed, with the intention that all persons covering must have this qualification.

Proposer: Glyn Kenyon, Buttershaw Business and Enterprise College, Bradford
Seconder: Florence Farahani, Barnwood Park Arts' College, Gloucester

24 Ofsted abolition - carried

COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire and Norfolk branches.

THAT Conference believes that Ofsted continues to do more harm than good to education and instructs the Executive Committee to call on the government to commission an urgent, independent, fundamental review to determine whether this expensive, burgeoning quango should be allowed to continue in its present form and function.

Proposer: Judith Bennett, Unattached member, Oxfordshire
Seconder: Andrew McCandlish, Overstrand, The Belfry VACE Primary School, Norfolk

25 Primary modern foreign languages - carried

CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH BRANCH

THAT Conference urgently requests the Executive Committee to lobby the government through the auspices of the social partnership to re-evaluate the statutory teaching of modern foreign languages in the primary sector, unless delivered by fully funded and trained specialists.

Proposer: Helen Brook, The Vine Inter-Church Primary School, Cambridgeshire
Seconder: Susan Williams, Abbey College, Cambridgeshire

26 Bonus culture - carried in all parts

BRENT BRANCH

THAT Conference gives its full support to members who expose unlawful and corrupt practices via whistleblowing legislation and urgently seeks discussions with the government to:
(i) change financial accountability mechanisms for schools and colleges, including academies;
(ii) replace the statutory provisions in the School Teachers' Pay and Conditions Document, permitting school leaders to receive unlimited additional pay above their normal maximum pay levels, with clearly defined limits, together with clear and explicit criteria for any additional payments;
(iii) introduce a new statutory duty on all schools to publish details annually of the pay and rewards of headteachers and other school leaders;
(iv) ensure that all school governing bodies are aware of the new provisions and have adequate mechanisms for setting and monitoring pay levels within their schools.

Proposer: Hank Roberts, Copland: A Specialist Science College, Brent
Seconder: Kevin Alderton, Copland: A Specialist Science College, Brent

27 Male role models - carried in part

CHESHIRE BRANCH

THAT Conference notes the very poor average achievement of white working class boys, in comparison with other groups of pupils, and the research into reasons for this situation. Conference regrets the lack of good male role models for many boys within our schools and believes that this must be rectified in order to improve the level of boys' achievement. Conference instructs the Executive Committee to raise the profile of such role models by:
(i) supporting policies that publicise the contribution made to society by men who support and care for their families in a positive and responsible manner; CARRIED 
(ii) stirring other bodies, such as the TUC, to be proactive in this task, perhaps via a special Conference; CARRIED
(iii) supporting any form of positive discrimination or other action that improves the lot of working class white boys and remedies their destructive low achievement. LOST

Proposer: Ian Bonner, Unattached member, Cheshire West and Cheshire
Seconder: Stephen Waldron, Sir Thomas Boteler C of E school, Warrington

28 Use of MDF in schools - lost

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

THAT Conference expresses its concern about the use of MDF in technology lessons in schools. MDF is made from wood dust and scrap-bonded by a glue containing formaldehyde. Although most manufacturers claim to use low levels of formaldehyde, children should not be put at risk. Formaldehyde can cause irritation of the eyes, nose and throat if exposed for sustained periods. Conference calls upon the Executive Committee to campaign for the elimination of MDF in schools.

Proposer: Hank Roberts, Executive Committee member
Seconder: Brian Ward, Executive Committee member

29 Early professional development - carried in all parts

NORTHERN IRELAND BRANCH

THAT Conference notes with concern that NQTs in Northern Ireland are finding great difficulty in completing their early professional development due to the appalling lack of jobs within the education system. Conference calls upon the Executive Committee to put pressure on the Department of Education for Northern Ireland to put in place the following measures to alleviate the problem:
(i) a dedicated 10% PPA time, to bring teachers in Northern Ireland in line with their colleagues in England and Wales, thus 'freeing up' approximately 2,000 additional teaching jobs;
(ii) a more meaningful system of early professional development, linked in with the performance review and staff development scheme of their colleagues.

Proposer: Ashley Dickey, Substitute teacher, Northern Ireland
Seconder: Gordon White, Lisneal College, Londonderry

30 Social networking - carried

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

THAT Conference is alarmed at the detrimental effect that social networking websites such as Facebook, Bebo and Twitter can cause persons working in the education sector, and calls upon the Executive Committee to develop policy and issue advice for members.

Proposer: Alison Sherratt, Executive Committee member
Seconder: Helen Brook, Executive Committee member

31 Electronic communication with students - carried in all parts

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

THAT Conference asks Executive Committee to:
(i) survey members to establish whether requirements exist within their school or college for them to make themselves available for communication with students electronically, on an individual or collective basis, outside normal teaching time;
(ii) collect information on any protocols, safeguards and guidelines that have been established by schools and colleges to protect both students and staff, and to consider publishing them for its members.

Proposer: Peter Walker, Executive Committee member
Seconder: Brian Ward, Executive Committee member

32 Teacher sabbaticals - not taken

CAMBRIDGE AND PETERBOROUGH BRANCH

THAT Conference, encouraged by Ed Balls' own belief that teachers in the UK are 'the best in the world, but to remain the best must not stand still,' requests that the Executive Committee campaigns for teachers to have the right to a minimum of one term's secondment for the purpose of professional or personal development after each seven years' of teaching experience or five years' continuous service within the same establishment.

Proposer: Steve Taylor, Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridgeshire
Seconder: Pat King, Supply teacher, Cambridgeshire

33 14-19 funding - carried

NORTH WALES BRANCH

THAT Conference, while welcoming, in principle, the extended range of learning opportunities afforded by 14-19 developments, considers that this development is fatally undermined by cutbacks in funding, and rejects categorically the notion that more can be achieved with less.

Proposer: David Healey, Ysgol Friars, Bangor
Seconder: Gareth Lewis, Ysgol Clywedog, Wrexham