ATL

ATL Conference 2008

Tuesday 18 March 2008 - sessions two and three

Read a round-up of the day's events at conference.

Second session of conference

During this session there was an address from Julia Neal, President of ATL.

Stress in teachers - CARRIED

11. COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Cornwall, Hertfordshire and Wiltshire branches.

THAT Conference, recognising that the excellent practice in caring for the welfare of their staff shown by some schools and colleges is not common to all, and being aware that undue stress is a significant cause of absence from work, notes the research data that demonstrates that stress-related illness remains the principal cause of ill-health in teachers and lecturers. Conference therefore asks the Executive Committee to:

(i) work with other unions to encourage members to record stress as a cause for absence where appropriate, and to ensure that LAs collect this information and liaise with the PCTs in their areas to encourage GPs to record the cause for absence as stress where applicable;

(ii) work with other unions to persuade the government to collect relevant statistics on the effect of stress upon the profession;

(iii) maintain the pressure on government to reduce the principal causes of stress and to encourage the introduction of staff wellbeing programmes in schools and colleges;

(iv) investigate existing practice and provide appropriate advice for members;

(v) discuss within the Social Partnership how best practice can be extended to all schools and provide evidence to the STRB to seek to improve conditions of service in this respect.

Proposer: Elizabeth Greed, Lavington School, Wiltshire; seconder: David Guiterman, St Austell College, Cornwall.

Bullying - CARRIED

12. CHESHIRE BRANCH

THAT Conference, requests the Executive Committee to relaunch its campaign against workplace bullying in conjunction with like-minded TUC partners to:

(i) include emerging forms of electronic intimidation;

(ii) outlaw bullying from whatever quarter, be it from management, peers, service users or members of the public.

Proposer: Colin Newcombe, Unattached member, Cheshire; seconder: Ian Bonner, Unattached member, Cheshire.

National agreement on raising standards and tackling workload - CARRIED

13. COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Berkshire, Coventry, Kent and Wolverhampton branches.

THAT Conference:

(a) noting that some members have serious concerns relating to the implementation of the national agreement on raising standards and tackling workload;

(b) recognising that existing regulations accept that there are some circumstances in which people without qualified status can teach class groups effectively, notes that the inappropriate application of the regulations is exposing a number of pupils to an unreasonable number of lessons without appropriately trained teachers, calls upon the Executive Committee to:

(i) work with WAMG and the Social Partners to press for the full realisation of the national agreement on raising standards and tackling workload;

(ii) lobby government to ensure that support staff are not exploited;

(iii) work with WAMG, the Social Partners and government to put in place mechanisms to ensure full implementation of the agreements.

Proposer: Janice Walsha, Alfred Sutton Primary School, Berkshire; seconder: Sam Bechler, Wolverhampton.

Behaviour management and workload - CARRIED

14. COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by North Wales and Hertfordshire branches.

THAT Conference, recognising the increasing workload faced by many members in managing the behaviour of pupils and students, along with the current imbalance in accountability among stakeholders in education, asks the Executive Committee to:

(i) investigate the issues and work within the Social Partnership to seek to address them;

(ii) produce guidance for members on what might be acceptable as reasonable and unreasonable demands from senior management of schools and colleges;

(iii) urge the Government to recognise the need for pupils, students and parents to accept greater responsibility for learning and behaviour.

Proposer: David Clout, Unattached member, Hertfordshire; seconder: Dean Brown, Ysgol Bryn Elian, North Wales.

Cult of celebrity - LOST

15. BRENT BRANCH

THAT Conference is appalled at the extent of the decline in this country into the cult of celebrity, which is perverting children's aspirations and expectations. This compounds the subsequent sense of failure, alienation and low self - esteem when celebrity status is not achieved. Conference therefore urges the Executive Committee to call upon the Government and other relevant agencies to take action to promote positive role models of ordinary people across the media.

Proposer: Hank Roberts, Copland Specialist Science Community College, Brent; seconder: Azra Haque, Hay Lane Special School, Brent.

Teenage suicides - CARRIED

16. NORTHERN IRELAND BRANCH

THAT Conference, expressing deep concern at the increasing number of pupils across the UK who have committed suicide due to academic, social and peer pressure, urges the Executive Committee to call upon the Ministers with direct responsibility for education around the UK to coordinate work on suicide prevention, in order to develop robust programmes for all schools.

Proposer: John Harkin, Oakgrove Integrated College, Londonderry; seconder: Sandra Douglas, Victoria Primary School, County Down.

Impact of social dysfunction and family breakdown - CARRIED

17. WILTSHIRE BRANCH

THAT Conference urges the Executive Committee to press the government to recognise fully the extent to which social dysfunction and family breakdown are damaging the educational attainment of children and the performance of schools and colleges.

Proposer: Phil Whalley, Hardenhuish School, Wiltshire; seconder: Liz Wrighton, South Wilts Grammar School, Wiltshire.

School and college buildings - CARRIED

18. COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Wiltshire and Devon branches.

THAT Conference notes with concern the lack of space in many schools and the large number of education buildings that are not fit for purpose and calls upon the Executive Committee to press the government to:

(i) provide for financial incentives so that schools and colleges can introduce energy - saving and environmental schemes;

(ii) create building standards for refurbishment projects for existing buildings that include:

(a) consideration of teaching and learning activity requirements;

(b) heating and lighting that is fit for purpose and considers the health of staff and students;

(c) staff facilities that provide sufficient space for staff to rest, have an uninterrupted lunch break and for storage of personal belongings;

(d) suitable parking areas for cars, bicycles and for school buses to load safely away from the public roadway;

(e) sufficient smaller rooms for mentoring and tutoring and for use as offices and the storage of equipment.

Proposer: Philip Smith, Ridgeway School, Devon; seconder: Kim Knappett, Forest Hill School, London.

Asbestos - CARRIED

19. BRENT BRANCH

THAT Conference, deeply concerned by the number of education staff dying from asbestos - related diseases, calls upon the Executive Committee to demand that the government:

(i) conducts a survey of all educational establishments to determine whether asbestos is present. The results should be centrally collated and made public;

(ii) ensures that the premises with the largest quantity of asbestos are dealt with first;

(iii) ensures the complete removal of asbestos from all educational establishments, in accordance with approved HSE standards and by firms licensed under the Asbestos (Licensing) Regulations, by 2010.

Proposer: Hank Roberts, Copland Specialist Science Community College, Brent; seconder: Azra Haque, Hay Lane Special School, Brent.

Health and safety fire marshall training - CARRIED

20. DEVON BRANCH

THAT Conference, requests the Executive Committee to call on the HSE to ensure that the Regulatory reform (Fire Safety) Order 1 October 2006 is properly implemented in all educational establishments.

Proposer: Joyce Walters, Coombeshead College, Newton Abbot, Devon; seconder: Rosamund Davies, Devon.

Surveillance cameras in schools - CARRIED

21. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

THAT Conference, calls upon the Executive Committee to examine the increasing use of surveillance cameras in schools and adopt and promote a policy to protect members.

Proposer: Peter Walker, Executive Committee; seconder: Malcolm St John - Smith, Executive Committee.

Manual handling - CARRIED

22. BIRMINGHAM BRANCH.

THAT Conference, mindful of the number of working days lost to injuries caused by inappropriate manual handling, requests the Executive Committee to press the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to enact regulations that will outlaw the use of staff untrained in manual handling techniques, to move or remove furniture and other weighty or bulky objects in the course of their employment in schools or colleges.

Furthermore, until such legislation comes into force Conference urges the Executive Committee to ensure all ATL members are fully aware of the potential dangers of attempting to move or remove furniture, parcels or other weighty objects by producing suitable publicity and engaging, where appropriate, in a media campaign to highlight the dangers to persons untrained in manual handling techniques.

Proposer: Chris Tanquee, Oldknow Junior School, Birmingham; seconder: Alan James, Unattached member, Birmingham.

Violence at work - CARRIED

23 BRADFORD BRANCH

THAT Conference, believing that the current legislation to protect staff from violence at work is ineffective, requests the Executive Committee to lobby the Government to:

(i) ensure that all employers abide by the legislation in place so that staff feel safe at work without the continuing threat of violence from pupils or others;

(ii) penalise employers who blatantly ignore the legislation.

Proposer: Ann Nash, Bradford Education Authority, Bradford; seconder: Philip Shackleton, Bradford Education Authority, Bradford.

Malicious accusations - CARRIED

24 COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Berkshire and Wolverhampton branches.

THAT Conference, realising the vulnerability of individual members to malicious, unfounded accusations of sexual or other misconduct, requests the Executive Committee to:

(i) urgently seek ways to ensure more effective protection of all members in schools or colleges where such accusations have been made against a colleague by a pupil or pupils;

(ii) lobby the government to require LAs to establish a register recording all instances of such unfounded allegations, with a view to prosecuting those of the relevant age or applying sanctions to those of younger age.

Proposer: Brenda Walters, Wednesfield High School, Wolverhampton; seconder: Martyne Ellard, Park House School, Berkshire.

CRB checks - CARRIED

25. COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Norfolk and Avon branches.

THAT Conference, considering the present system of CRB checks to be over burdensome and not fit for purpose, urges the Executive Committee to:

(i) press the government for the introduction of an efficient, deliverable and practicably useful process;

(ii) ensure that adults undertaking courses in schools and colleges, alongside 14 - 19 year - old students are CRB checked under a reformed system and that they declare whether or not they are listed on the sex offenders' register;

(iii) ensure that all teachers and lecturers in the establishment affected are made aware of those on the register studying in their school or college.

Proposer: Martin Gibbs, City of Bristol College, Avon; seconder: Shirley Buxton, Lionwood Infants School, Norfolk.

Third session of Conference

A series of workshops will took place before the third session of Conference began.

Community cohesion - CARRIED

26. INNER LONDON BRANCH

THAT Conference, whilst noting the introduction of a new duty on schools to promote community cohesion and deploring the present over - prescriptive national curriculum which will be a barrier to schools implementing this duty, calls on the Executive Committee to:

(i) campaign for aspects of the curriculum to be locally determined in order to reflect the history, experiences and needs of pupils and communities;

(ii) investigate the impact of educational underachievement among working class boys on the economy within specific regions;

(iii) provide guidance to members on the requirements of the school workforce to fulfil this duty.

Proposer: John Puckrin, Unattached member, Inner London; seconder: Bob Skelly, unattached member, inner London.

Test for fitness to run an educational establishment - CARRIED

27. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

THAT Conference, noting the closure of St Elphin's independent school and the continued concerns over academies, calls upon the Executive Committee to lobby the Government to institute a rigorous and standard 'fit and proper person' test for any individual or company seeking to run any educational establishment.

Proposer: Malcolm St John - Smith, Executive Committee; seconder: Peter Walker, Executive Committee.

Curriculum reforms - CARRIED

28. WILTSHIRE BRANCH

THAT Conference, mindful of the extensive and concurrent programme of reforms in secondary education planned for the next two to three years, which include significant changes to KS3, GCSE, AS and A2 syllabi and courses, urges the Executive Committee to press the government to accept the principle that reform would be more effectively introduced if no more than one significant change to the curriculum was implemented in each sector of education in any given academic year.

Proposer: John Hawkins, Unattached member, Wiltshire; seconder: Phil Whalley, Hardenhuish School, Wiltshire.

Curriculum, assessment and workload - CARRIED

29. COMPOSITE from resolutions submitted by Stoke on Trent and Kent branches.

THAT Conference, believing that the curriculum is too important to be left as the plaything of politicians, requests the Executive Committee to:

(i) monitor how the new Primary Framework has added to the workload of Primary teachers;

(ii) investigate the use and abuse of level statements and recommend how they should be used to inform our work;

(iii) seek to abolish the inappropriate use of statistics (such as sub - division of national curriculum levels) and their misuse in labelling pupils, classes and teachers.

Proposer: Zoë Fail, St Mary's RC School, East Sussex; seconder: Peter Lane, Etruria Industrial Museum, Stoke on Trent.

Teaching reading - CARRIED

30. CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH BRANCH

THAT Conference, noting government policy on teaching reading through the use of synthetic phonics, deplores the expectation that primary teachers will have to implement a reading policy without adequate training or resources and therefore calls upon the Executive Committee to campaign for adequate funding.

Proposer: Helen Brook, The Vine Inter - Church Primary School, Cambridge; seconder: Steven Taylor, Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridge.

KS1 and KS2 assessments - NOT TAKEN

31. INNER LONDON BRANCH

THAT Conference, believing that the government has not made sufficient progress in the reduction of the workload associated with the organisation and administration of KS2 tests and KS1 assessment tasks and tests, requests the Executive Committee to consider a lawful campaign;

(i) of non co - operation in the implementation of these tasks and tests;

(ii) working, if possible, with other teaching unions on this issue.

Proposer: Jean Roberts, Old Oak Primary School, London; seconder: Liz Coston, Torridon Junior School, London.

Pressure of homework - CARRIED

32. INNER LONDON BRANCH

THAT Conference, notes with deep concern that many children in our schools appear unhappy and anxious. Children should be able to explore, experiment and enjoy their learning without feeling pressurised; homework has become an increasing pressure placed on children in primary and secondary schools. Conference calls upon the Executive Committee to press the Government to:

(i) scrap compulsory homework for primary - aged children and to limit the amount of time allocated to compulsory homework at secondary level;

(ii) set up a Royal Commission to ascertain the reasons for this unhappiness and to recommend a plan of action to help alleviate it.

Proposer: Kim Knappett, Forest Hill School, London; seconder: Jean Roberts, Old Oak Primary School, London.

Funding inequalities between KS1 and KS2 - CARRIED

33. CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH BRANCH

THAT Conference, urges the Executive Committee to lobby the government to address the funding inequalities that currently exist between KS1 and KS2.

Proposer: Steven Taylor, Warboys Community Primary School, Cambridge; seconder: Helen Brook, The Vine Inter - Church Primary School, Cambridge.

Target setting - CARRIED

34 NORTH WALES BRANCH

THAT Conference, viewing with concern the use of data from systems that may be flawed as a basis for target setting, calls upon the Executive Committee to draw to the attention of the Government and relevant agencies the adverse consequences of this practice.

Proposer: Gareth Lewis, Ysgol Clywedog, Wrexham; seconder: David Healey, Ysgol Friars, Bangor.

Examination standards - CARRIED

35. CHESHIRE BRANCH

THAT Conference, noting the continuing controversy over examination standards, which jeopardises public confidence in GCSE and 'A' level qualifications and in the professional competence of teachers and lecturers, calls upon the Executive Committee to take an uncompromising stand on behalf of teachers, lecturers, pupils and students by devising a vigorous campaign to champion their solid achievements year on year.

Proposer: Stuart Hart, Fallibroome High School, Cheshire; seconder: Colin Newcombe, Unattached member, Cheshire.

Use of teaching time to provide evidence to examination boards - CARRIED

36. STOKE ON TRENT BRANCH

THAT Conference, requests the Executive Committee to:

(i) investigate the increasing use of teaching time to provide evidence to external examining boards, either directly through skill assessment or 'internal' testing, or indirectly through preparation for more frequent and repeat sittings of modular type tests;

(ii) insists that work done for exam boards is properly contracted outside teaching hours and appropriately valued.

Proposer: Peter Lane, Etruria Industrial Museum, Stoke on Trent; seconder: Ken Hickin, Unattached member, Stoke on Trent.

Ofsted - CARRIED

37. CAMBRIDGESHIRE AND PETERBOROUGH BRANCH

THAT Conference asks the Executive Committee to investigate the possibility of replacing the present Ofsted inspection teams, which in many cases lack professional credibility, with teams composed of serving teachers with recent and relevant classroom experience.

Proposer: Barry Williams, Abbey College, Cambridgeshire; seconder: Deana Corcoran, Cottenham Village College, Cambridge.