JNC sept 3rd 2024 Printing strategy
Renfrewshire Council · 3 September 2024
Back to Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff — 3 September 2024 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers To: Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating for Teachers On: 3rd September, 2024 Printing Procedures and Printing Facilities Report by Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) Background Recently Renfrewshire introduced a new print strategy in schools without any impact assessment or consultation with the teaching unions or staff whom it most affects. The Council started its implementation of the new strategy which has reduced the number of print devices available in schools and aims to lower the overall volume, and cost, of printing. Over the summer some new devices were brought into some establishments and whilst the move towards environmentally sound, green policies is generally supported and welcomed by the Teachers’ side the recent changes to school printer access and caps on individual and departmental printing has raised some problems for teachers. The bottom line is that any restrictions will ultimately reduce materials available to children and young people. The Teachers’ side has concerns with the implementation, infrastructure and timing of the launch of Renfrewshire’s new print strategy as it comes alongside other Microsoft licensing issues which exacerbate difficulties in accessing teaching resources. To add to the frustration, during the recent in-service days valuable time was spent gaining access to new logons/pins. Systemic and administrative problems detracted from the time available for preparation at the start of term. Some staff have expressed the worry that the very low caps imposed on in-house printing in some schools creates additional workload as teachers are having to revisit plans and produce bulk resources much further in advance. Strict limits have been imposed on the amount of ad hoc local printing permitted which will
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inevitably have the effect of limiting flexibility, the lag in some subjects may even make materials less topical. There are other concerns that over-reliance on a single, central reprographics source, namely Document Solutions which can take long periods for documents to be returned to schools, is unwise. Others cite that irrespective of the quality of material produced – and there have been instances when the quality of print materials has been poor - the cost is levied to the school. Part-time staff are concerned that any restrictions will impact them disproportionately. The push towards digital learning whilst a feature of a modern curriculum does highlight inequality, raising serious concerns for those children and young people in our learning communities from lower decile backgrounds with variable access to devices or Wi-Fi at home. The poverty-related attainment gap may be widened where non-digital resources are restricted in schools. There are serious concerns too for ASN pupils and a teacher’s ability to respond to the immediate learner’s needs especially where differentiated materials are required quickly. All cuts to resources, be it photocopying budgets or print facilities, is a loss to children and young people in schools. Action • The Teachers’ Side is seeking a reconsideration in the reductions on individual and departmental printing quotas, sometimes capped at very low amounts. • A recognition that the new print strategy may place unnecessary burdens in respect of planning and limit flexibility of teachers to react to learners’ needs • The Teachers’ side is seeking assurances that the administrative aspects of gaining access to copiers will be dealt with by admin staff and that this will not fall to individual teachers to contact IT helpline as time taken to do so reduces time available for preparation and correction.