The following policy resolutions were reached at the 2008 annual conference:
1. Support for Leaders
Conference seeks to promote, support and protect its members. We require that Council create a National Protocol, and then negotiate this with all local authorities. The Protocol would ensure that, when concerns have been raised about the performance of members, they are entitled to, and are given, appropriate professional support and positive advice. The Protocol would set out a minimum timescale within which this takes place.
2. Conference deplores the falling standards of services to schools provided by local authorities where the removal of the “E” in Local Education Authority seems to equate to the relegation of education to second class status.
Conference calls upon National Council to develop a robust response which will restore the confidence of school leaders and lead to a resurgence of the influence of education at local authority level.
3. Conference calls upon the government to acknowledge that its 10-year Children’s Plan can only be delivered by sustaining the current high quality leadership in schools, and addressing the issues of autonomy and accountability of schools.
4. Conference reaffirms its commitment to proper and appropriate pay for support staff and welcomes the new negotiating body in England. Conference rejects any notion that school budgets are liable for compensation payments to avoid/settle grievance and tribunal claims. Government policy in England, Wales and Northern Ireland relies heavily on support staff. Conference therefore urges national and local governments to find a solution which does not damage schools’ ability todeliver the current agenda.
5. Conference remains entirely committed to the aims of the Foundation Phase in Wales.
Conference recognises that this is key policy development in Wales. Its success or otherwise will determine the future success or otherwise of generations of children.
Conference further recognises that success is dependent on dedicating sufficient resources to the Foundation Phase to secure the required staffing levels, to train staff and to adapt and develop materials and buildings.
Conference calls for the Welsh Assembly Government to protect the funding for Foundation Phase pilot school settings and condemns the wholly insufficient levels of funding that have been allocated for its introduction from September 2008. Conference calls for a review of the present funding arrangement for the implementation of the Foundation Phase with a fundamental review of funding to inform the autumn/spring spending review.
6. Recruitment and Retention
Recruitment and retention of school leaders are critical issues for the education profession at the moment and will become increasingly so over the next 5 years. Conference calls on Council urgently to explore these issues and to share the wide range of good practice that exist across the country with the government in order to develop a cohesive, transparent approach which reduces vulnerability and increases capacity.
7. Conference acknowledges that leadership recruitment across the country is of major concern. However, as always, where recruitment of leaders is hard, London is one of the hardest. We urge government to consider and act upon proposals that might ease this situation, for example:
• A London pay settlement that acknowledges the need to attract and retain school leaders in the capital.
• A revised and more effective Chartered London Teacher Scheme.
• Changes to the NPQH to address the specific needs of urban leaders.
• A building programme designed to lift many London primaries from their Dickensian heritage.
• Free public transport for London teachers.
8. Conference believes that government policies, on school admissions and social cohesion, are contradictory rather than complementary.
Conference therefore urges National Council to work with Government to correct this anomaly.
9. Government Policy Issues
Conference believes that the government has reneged on its promise to reduce the bureaucratic workload of school leaders. It has introduced inefficient on-line systems such as RAISEonline, SEF and School Profile and has imposed initiatives such as FMSiS and data collection. Conference instructs Council to redouble its efforts to identify which initiatives are statutory and to advise members strongly to exercise professional choice with non-statutory initiatives.
10.Conference deplores the ever increasing number of directives and initiatives imposed on schools without consultation or planning by governments and local authorities with inadequate funding and training.
Conference calls on Council to monitor the number and relevance of initiatives and to lobby governments to manage all future initiatives so that change is coordinated, manageable, appropriate and evolutionary. Governments must stop wasting money on successive initiatives that have little or no impact on standards.
11. Given the state of both the global and national economy, Conference urges Council to negotiate a degree of flexibility within the three year fixed funding cycle.
12. Conference believes that the relationship of the school improvement partners (SIPs) with headteachers should be one of support and challenge as was the original intention. Council is instructed to seek national consistency, using local examples of good practice.
13. While welcoming the steps taken by government to increase the opportunities for school leaders and their teams to develop their skills in working with pupils who have increasingly complex needs, Conference asks government to clarigy how the 3-tiered approach outlined in its SEN Strategy will be met in full.
14. Curriculum, Assessment and Inspections
Conference wishes to celebrate on behalf of its members one of its quality partnerships: the NAHT/VSO International Extended Placements for School Leaders. We strongly recommend that the DCSF continue its financial support for this excellent work.
16. Following NAHT’s Commission of Inquiry into Assessment and League Tables, Conference recommends that, alongside the current piloting of progress tests, the government investigates using:
• teacher assessment at key stages 2 and 3 to track individual pupil progress,
• sampling to monitor national standards, and
• existing measures other than test results for holding schools to account.
15. That Council be instructed to continue vigorously to lobby government for rationalisation and appropriate time scales for change in the Secondary Curriculum.
17. Conference instructs Council vehemently to oppose any proposals for ‘No Notice Inspections’ and the continued publication of League Tables, both of which militate against the recruitment of new headteachers and cause unacceptable levels of stress for serving heads.
18. It is unacceptable that church schools have to undergo two intense inspections in a matter of weeks. We urge National Council to work with religious bodies to reduce the workload and stress on school leaders created by the statutory inspection of a church school.
