NEU action short of strike

This is Phase 4 of our continuing action short of strike (from Monday 17 April 2023).

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Document Northern Ireland Industrial action

Incorporating the actions in Phases 1, 2, and 3.

Phase 4 (incorporating Phases 1, 2, and 3).

Teacher’s Contract, Workload and ‘Jordanstown’

  • Teaching: Maximum teaching hours 25 (Primary & Special) / 23.5 (Post Primary)
  • Non-contact time: non-contact Directed Time outside of school’s normal pupil learning day at a time and place of your choosing.
  • Time Budget: no tasks that are not in Time Budget.
  • Cover: No cover outside of Jordanstown Agreement.
  • Lunchtime Supervision: No lunchtime supervision (unless separate contract of employment).
  • Teaching Allowances: No tasks not included in Time Budget.
  • Unremunerated Duties: No unpaid (new or existing) extra-curricular activities.

New Initiatives

  • New Initiatives: No engagement with new initiatives - unless workload impact assessed and agreed with trade union.

Assessment, Lesson Plans, SEN

  • Assessment: Continue to boycott Assessment arrangements.
    • No assigning levels of progression / internal tracking except data linked to one annual report.
    • No existing or new marking, assessment, homework, tracking policies, unless agreed with trade union and included in Time Budget.
  • Planners & Lesson Plans: No submitting planners / lessons plans.
  • Book Scoops / Scrutiny: No scrutiny of pupils’ books.
  • Remote Learning: No remote learning unless in Time Budget.
  • Invigilation: No invigilation of public examinations
  • Training, SEND, PLPs: No training or implementation of work relating to Phase 2 SEND and PLPs.
  • Education/Care Plans: We will avoid negative impact on education or care plan needs because of industrial action.

Meetings and communications

  • Meetings: One formal school meeting (max one hour) per term.
  • Other meetings outside hours: No meetings / events outside of the school’s normal pupil learning day.
  • Parents: No meeting with, or report to, parents outside pupil sessions (except in exceptional circumstances / legitimate safeguarding issues.
  • Communication: No responding to emails / telephone calls / online messaging platforms outside of the pupil learning day or during lunch break.

Other actions

  • PRSD & Classroom Observation: No PRSD unless below UPS3 (or below ISR for school leaders).
    • Members will not engage with any other classroom observation outside progression requirements.
  • Admin & Clerical: No routine administrative or clerical tasks. (Including requisition of materials and teaching supplies).
  • Scribing: No scribing activities.
  • School Development Plan: No cooperation with School Development Plan.
  • Board of Governors: No attendance at Governors’ meetings after 5:00pm. No contribution to Annual Board of Governor Reports.
  • Inspection / ETI: No engagement with Inspections.
  • Training: No employer-led training (except for legitimate safeguarding)
  • ALCs & Pathways: No attendance at Area Learning Community (ALC) or Pathways into Partnership.
  • Consultations: No responses to consultations.
  • Travel: No business travel unless reimbursement agreed in advance.
  • Impact of action: No additional work arising from Industrial Action of other trade unions.

Phase 1, 2, 3 & 4 ASOS complete actions in detail:

Teachers' Actions

Teacher’s Contract, Workload and ‘Jordanstown’

  • Teaching: Members will rigorously comply with the Jordanstown Agreement – and limit teaching to 25 hours (Primary & Special) and 23.5 hours (Post Primary)
  • Non-contact time: Members should complete non-contact Directed Time, outside of the school’s normal pupil learning day at a time and place of their choosing.
  • Time Budget: Members will not engage in and tasks that are not set out in their individual Directed Time Budget.
  • Cover: Members will refuse to undertake any cover (including temporary compositing of classes) for absent colleagues outside of the requirements of the Teachers’ Terms and Conditions of Employment Regulations (NI) 1987 and 1988 amendment (Jordanstown Agreement).
    • (Morning and School bus duties should be seen as Health and Safety issues and are therefore exempt from action).
  • Lunchtime Supervision: Members will not provide lunchtime supervision unless they have voluntarily entered a separate or ‘secondary’ contract of employment for this activity.
  • Teaching Allowances: Members in receipt of Teaching or SEN Allowances, will refuse to undertake any tasks associated with these allowances that have not been specifically included within their individual Directed Time Budget.
  • Unremunerated Duties: Members are reminded that they cannot be directed to undertake unremunerated (new or existing) extra-curricular activities.

New Initiatives

  • New Initiatives: Members will not engage in any new initiatives. Members will refuse to implement any existing or new initiatives or working practices from the Department of Education or other arm’s-length bodies which have not been workload impact assessed and agreed with your Trade Union.

Assessment, Lesson Plans, SEN

  • Assessment: Members will continue to boycott Assessment arrangements. Members will refuse to engage in any new or existing end of Foundation and Key Stages One, Two and Three assessment arrangements.
    • Members are not to assign levels of progression or to engage with internal tracking data procedures except the data session linked to the production of one annual report. This includes refusing to comply with any existing or new marking, assessment, homework and tracking policies, which has not been agreed with your trade union in your workplace and is included in your Directed Time Budget.
  • Planners & Lesson Plans: Members will not submit their planners or lessons plans to members of the Senior Management Team or anyone acting on their behalf.
  • Book Scoops / Scrutiny: Members will refuse to co-operate with the scrutiny by other staff of pupils’ books, nor conduct scrutiny of the books of pupils of other staff.
  • Remote Learning: Members will not engage in the remote learning, unless included in their Directed Time-Budget.
  • Invigilation: Members will refuse to undertake invigilation of public examinations
  • Training, SEND, PLPs: Members will not participate in training for, or the implementation of, any work relating to Phase 2 of SEND Implementation and PLPs.
  • Education/Care Plans: Members should, at both system and school level, take due cognisance of any educational or care plan for the young persons in their charge who have special educational needs and ensure they are not negatively impacted because of this industrial action.

Meetings and communications

  • Meetings: Members shall only be directed to attend one formal school meeting of no more than one hour duration per Calendar per term, and where an agenda is published 48 hours in advance.
  • Other meetings outside hours: Members are not to attend meetings/events held outside of the school’s normal pupil learning day.
  • Parents: Other than fulfilling a teacher’s contractual obligation, members are not to meet with or report to parents on an ad hoc basis in person, online or by telephone, outside pupil sessions except in exceptional circumstances pertaining to legitimate safeguarding and child protection issues.
  • Communication: Members will refuse to respond to emails / telephone calls / online messaging platforms outside of the pupil teaching day or during their lunch break (unless for legitimate safeguarding and child protection issues).

Other actions

  • PRSD & Classroom Observation: All members currently at UPS3 or at the top of their Individual School Rate (ISR) will refuse to cooperate with or undertake any work related to their own Performance Review and Staff Development (PRSD) process.
    • Members will refuse to co-operate with any classroom observation outside of Induction and Early Professional Development and the Performance Review and Staff Development (PRSD) scheme.
    • Members will not engage with any other classroom observation outside of this provision.
  • Admin & Clerical: Members (unless paid a specific teaching allowance and time is allocated in their individual Directed Time Budget) will refuse to carry out any routine administrative or clerical tasks.
  • Requisition of Materials: Members are not to conduct requisition of materials or teaching supplies unless specifically allocated appropriate time within their Directed Time Budget.
  • Scribing: Members will not engage in scribing activities.
  • School Development Plan: Members, including principals and vice principals, are not to complete any part of the School Development Plan
  • Board of Governors: Members will not co-operate with Governors’ meetings after 5:00pm. Members including principals and vice principals will not write/produce or contribute to Annual Board of Governor Reports.
  • Inspection / ETI: Members will not engage with ETI Inspections or internal inspections.
    • In the event of legitimate matters of safeguarding or if the school is in the Formal Intervention Process members should contact NEU for further advice.
  • Training: Members will not attend employer-led training (except for legitimate safeguarding)
  • ALCs & Pathways: Members will not attend Area Learning Community (ALC) or Pathways into Partnership.
  • Consultations: Members will refuse to respond to, or facilitate, consultations initiated by employing authorities and any other arm’s length bodies unless requested to do so by their trade union.
  • Travel: All members will refuse to undertake any business travel unless arrangements for reimbursement have been made in advance of travel.
  • Impact of action: All members will refuse to undertake any other activity or additional work that may arise from the Industrial Action of other Trade Unions.

Leadership Members

  • Principal and vice principal members are to cap their work to 37.5 hours per week.
  • Principal or acting principal members will refuse to facilitate or attend any Board of Governors’ meetings after 5.00pm.
  • Principal/vice principal members will refuse to forward minutes of Board of Governors meetings to the employing authorities.
  • Principal members will refuse to provide information or data to the employing authorities relating to staff or pupils outside of the Annual Census and monthly return. (*See list below)
  • Principal/vice principal members will refuse to produce more than one financial plan in any academic year and only in circumstances where a final school budget has been allocated. Members will refuse to share any financial plan with the employing authority, D.E. or associated ALBs.
  • Financial Plans will reflect the year immediately following the date of budget allocation. Until such times as a three-year budget has been provided to schools, principals should limit any school development planning to one year.
  • Principal/vice principal members will refuse to facilitate any school visits by School Development Services (SDS), except for those associated with legitimate safeguarding issues or if the school is in Formal Intervention.
  • Principal members will refuse to engage with School Improvement Professionals (SIPs), apart from at their request and associated only with urgent school-based needs.
  • Principal and vice principal members will refuse to engage with or enact any process associated with redundancy procedures within schools that are as a direct consequence of budgetary constraints, other than category one redundancies and related transfer redundancies.

*Providing Information

Principal members are not to provide information or data to the employing authorities relating to staff or pupils outside of the Annual Census and monthly return.

Refuse to provide information, data or financial planning to employers and or other bodies whether directly or indirectly and refuse to provide data which is available elsewhere.

You should refuse any request from the employers related to:

  • TSN
  • Engage III Planner
  • SEND Funding Audit
  • Healthy Happy Minds MMRs
  • CCEA Adaptive Assessments
  • TIS
  • 3-year financial plan
  • NI School Omnibus Survey
  • PISA
  • EDIS
  • Attendance verification for EA transport parental payment
  • Mandatory return on teaching vacancies
  • Teacher Validation Exercise
  • School Meals Uptake data collection
  • Resource provision staffing 22-23
  • EWO audits
  • EA Anti-bullying Reaching Out Surveys
  • EA Language consultations
  • Survey of school leavers
  • CCEA Principal Forum
  • Government Land and Property Asset Register Validation
  • Annual Schools Stock take & Capital Assets Verification
  • Extended School Annual Report
  • Support Staff Survey
  • Digital devices plan
  • Holidays & closures notifications
  • Assessment Data
  • Consultations

You should refuse to provide any other form of data or information that can be obtained from elsewhere or that has been provided previously.

Any data submitted should be in the form of a paper copy.

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