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The National Agreement

In January 2003 UNISON joined with other school staff trade unions, employers and the Government to sign a National Agreement on remodelling the school workforce. The Agreement acknowledged that workforce reform was necessary to improve conditions for school staff and to benefit pupils' education.

The Agreement introduced significant changes to the nationally defined conditions of service for teachers, but it is not only about teachers. The Agreement acknowledged the important contribution which support staff make to the learning of pupils, the work of teachers and the efficient running of schools at all levels.
The Agreement did not change the contracts of support staff. However it was always understood that the implementation of the different aspects of the Agreement would provide better access to training and, crucially, give access to fair pay and grading for support staff. UNISON is working to ensure that these improvements, implicit in the Agreement, are now delivered in all schools and LEAs.

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Winning appropriate reward and recognition for all support staff is not something that will happen overnight, but the Agreement has:-

• led to nationally developed job profiles with four levels, which opened up career opportunities and locally negotiated pay structures
• led to the introduction of new statutory regulations which define who can do 'specified work'
• created new support staff roles, such as cover supervisors, school business managers (bursars) and pastoral managers
• led to the establishment of standards for new Higher Level Teaching Assistant (HLTA) roles
• established a new emphasis on training and qualifications for support staff at all levels

Properly implemented, remodelling and workforce reform will:-

• provide clearer careers paths for support staff
• give greater access to training during paid hours
• ensure that all areas of support staff activity are properly recognised and rewarded
• allow teachers and support staff to work together more effectively
• improve schools for pupils

These are benefits which need to be delivered for all support staff - for admin workers as much as teaching assistants, for technicians equally with premises staff.

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Remodelling helps to ensure that change comes through consultation and agreement

COVER SUPERVISION and HIGHER LEVEL TEACHING ASSISTANTS (HLTAs)

Both are new roles and they are not interchangeable.

Remodelling means

• where support staff are asked to take on additional responsibilities there is agreement and regrading where appropriate
• if HLTAs are timetabled to take classes when teachers are released for Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) activities this must be done with consultation and pay must be reviewed
  

Support staff do not have to accept unilateral changes to their contracts

Pay and Grading

UNISON's view has always been that remodelling cannot be implemented unless there is a fair and decent pay and grading structure. The National Agreement by itself will not deliver this because pay is not negotiated nationally but at local authority level. The Agreement allowed us to successfully negotiate career structures for staff working in schools - something support staff in schools have been wanting for years.
UNISON supports national grades for support staff and is pursuing this with the employers nationally. UNISON will also continue its campaign to end discrimination against term-time workers. Our position is that term-time workers are full year employees who have the right to full annual leave and public holidays.