Class Sizes in Practical Subjects
11th September 2023
11th September 2023
6th September 2023
5th September 2023
5th September 2023
The FAQs archived below are those published during Phases 1-4 of our industrial action campaign from October 2022 - June 2023:
4. Meeting Limited to One Meeting Per Term Of One Hour Duration
PHASE 3 - Commencing 8am Wednesday 4 January 2023: FAQs
3. Meetings/events held outside of the school’s normal pupil learning day
Simply the answer to this is yes, provided the members have been consulted and are in agreement. Any arrangements already agreed before the third phase began in January 2023 should be honoured.
Historically some schools routinely offer an additional day’s holiday in lieu of two additional sessions. This means that teachers are still working 195 days per academic year, albeit they are doing the equivalent of 1½ day’s work on two separate occasions.
In reference to the second part of the question, a local arrangement which is both agreed and beneficial to our members is not in breach of our industrial action.
PHASE 2 - Commencing 8am Monday 1 November 2022: FAQs
NB: For ease of reference questions will be placed into sections to correspond with the numbering on our Industrial Action Campaign Poster (pdf).
1. Teaching Time / PPA
Where PPA time is accounted for in the normal school day, teachers should, where appropriate, revisit their directed time budget and move their personal PPA time outside the normal teaching day. This will allow PPA time to be facilitated at a time and place of the teacher’s choosing. Where morning duty is accounted for as supervision, this should be seen as a health and safety requirement and should therefore continue.
2. Lunchtime Supervision
In relation to lunchtime supervision, all teachers are entitled to 30-minute break between 12 and 2, where they cannot be directed to supervise pupils. It is to these 30 minutes that the action refers.
3. ETI Inspections
Members may continue to engage in the ongoing review of the inspection process, and where a school is in Formal Intervention may take part in formal inspections with a view to moving the school out of Formal Intervention.
7. Training Events / Meetings
This action refers to training that has originated outside individual schools or is part of any new initiative that has not been agreed.
PHASE 1 - Commencing 8am Monday 17 October 2022: FAQs
NB: For ease of reference questions will be placed into sections to correspond with the numbering on our Industrial Action Campaign Poster (pdf).
1. Boycott Assessment Arrangements
Simply you will no longer be required to upload the data on to SIMS or any similar platform except the data linked to the session required to complete the one formal written report in line with the 2007 Regulation.
INTO advise that you should only carry out the assessments needed to fulfil your own personal planning. Members should continue to assess as they normally would on an ongoing basis but should not upload any data to the SIMS system or any other platforms, except for data relating to external moderation i.e. GCSE and A Levels, which may be uploaded to SIMS or other platforms as necessary.
2. No Submission of Planners or Lessons Plans
No, members should not submit short or medium-term planners. These will still be created as personal planners including schemes of work but should not be submitted to the principal or other members of the school/senior management team or anyone acting on their behalf.
A principal may request them to be submitted but teachers following the industrial action will not be obliged to hand them in.
If your departmental action plan forms part of a new Whole School Development Plan, then no you should not submit a departmental action plan.
If the departmental action plan does not form part of the Whole School Development Plan, then we advise that you continue to complete such a plan but you are under no obligation to submit it to school leadership.
4. Meeting Limited to One Meeting Per Term Of One Hour Duration
To comply with both the 1987 and 2007 education focused regulations, all teachers are required to communicate and consult with parents once per year. In light of this, INTO advises that all members should continue to report to parents, both in writing and in person, once per annum. To comply with this INTO’s expectation is that the normal weekly directed time must be used to accommodate the PTM and the PTM will substitute for the one weekly meeting cited within our action short of strike. The PTM should be accounted for within the individually agreed Directed Time Budgets.
Members should also be aware that, irrespective of how long a PTM lasts, they should not be expected to work for any more than 32½ hours per week. Also, for example, if the PTM last 3 hours then the school would have to agree one of two options:
5. No Engagement in New Initiatives
7. No Classroom Observation Outside PRSD or EPD
10. Principals’ Data Boycott
12. Members Are Not to Complete Any Part of The School Development Plan
4th September 2023
4th September 2023
4th September 2023
4th September 2023
4th September 2023