PPA - National Union of Teachers

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Introduction from the General Secretary This document provides advice to all head teachers, support to head teacher and leadership group NUT members and guidance to NUT school representatives on the funding provision and other arrangements they should seek for the introduction of planning, preparation and assessment time (PPA). While it cannot cover all the circumstances of individual schools, the document provides a framework for schools in planning the introduction of PPA. Alongside other teachers’ organisations, we have sought consistently to secure, within the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), guaranteed marking and preparation time for all primary and special school teachers and the protection of such time for secondary schools. The introduction of PPA as a statutory entitlement for all teachers is a step forward but it should be properly funded. We are sending this guidance to head teachers in all schools in England and Wales. It is being sent under separate cover to NUT school representatives. Our purpose is to seek in all schools, the proper implementation of PPA with full funding. Steve Sinnott PPA and Funding The Government in England and the Wales Assembly Government (WAG) have under funded the introduction of PPA. Despite financial allocations for PPA within the Governments’ budgets for schools, primary schools, for example, have received as little as £4,000 or even less for its introduction. To be effective, PPA should reduce the workload of teachers, including head teachers and the leadership group generally. The NUT believes, therefore, that the Government should release more funding to introduce PPA, particularly in primary schools. Failure to do so creates the danger of arrangements for PPA that could damage children’s educational progress and the quality of their learning experiences. The introduction of PPA must not lead to such outcomes. The NUT is committed fully to supporting all its members, including head teacher members, in demanding that their entitlement to PPA is properly funded. School Budgets and Planning Preparation and Assessment School governing bodies are currently setting school budgets for 2005-06. Schools Forums will have considered budget allocations and advised their local authorities on the shares for primary, secondary and special schools. The Government in England has said that it has allocated between 0.8 per cent and 1 per cent additionally for primary and nursery schools for the costs of introducing planning, preparation 1
and assessment time. While this percentage increase may not have been sufficient for many primary schools, the increase should have been reflected by local authorities in individual school budget allocations in accordance with Government policy in England. The introduction of PPA will be under funded in primary schools where local authorities have not allocated the full percentage or where the additional percentage share is not sufficient to pay for staff to provide PPA. In Wales, the WAG has identified separate allocations of funding for PPA. The NUT believes, therefore, that head teachers should seek to convene emergency meetings of their local authority School Forums if they believe that the allocations they have received for the introduction of PPA are insufficient. The purpose of such meetings would be to quantify the additional funding needed for PPA and, in highlighting the funding gap, seek further budget allocations. Pressure on local authorities will greatly help bring pressure on the Government to consider further funding measures to support the introduction of PPA. There may be head teacher NUT members who feel constrained to set deficit budgets as a result of under funding for PPA. NUT members should seek advice from their regional office, or in Wales, NUT Cymru, if they face difficulties on this issue. Many school governing bodies and head teachers will have written already to the Secretary of State highlighting the funding shortfall. The NUT believes that all governing bodies facing shortfalls should write to their MPs and to the Government seeking sufficient funding for PPA. The NUT requests that information and copies of any letters to local authorities and the DfES on funding shortfalls for PPA are sent to NUT Headquarters addressed to the General Secretary and marked, “PPA Funding Shortfall”. The Introduction of PPA The NUT will continue to campaign to secure additional funding for PPA from the governments in England and Wales. The NUT, with other teachers’ organisations, will press local authorities to introduce additional resources for the introduction of PPA. Head teachers and school staff will be planning, however, for the introduction of PPA in September 2005. The guidance set out below is intended to provide a framework of practical support for head teacher and leadership group NUT members. It is additional to the guidance to all NUT members on the introduction of the Annual Cover Limit and Guaranteed Planning, Preparation and Assessment Time sent to members in autumn 2004. The introduction of PPA will have implications for the percentage spent on staffing and non-staffing elements of school budgets. Many schools have experienced pressure from their local authorities or education consultants to reduce the percentage spent on the staffing element. The NUT believes that, where primary schools experience funding shortfalls for PPA, governing bodies will necessarily have to consider an increase in the percentage spent on 2
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PPA - National Union of Teachers

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