JNC paper 14th Nov 23 Supply Staff concerns
Renfrewshire Council · 14 November 2023
Back to Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff — 14 November 2023 and its agenda
Text extracted from the council's PDF. Layout and reading order may differ from the original.
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Item 9 Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers To: Renfrewshire Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers On: 14th November, 2023 Report by Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) Supply Teachers’ Concerns Summary There have been several concerns raised with the Teaching Unions, by Renfrewshire supply teachers many of which have been raised at previous JNC’s but which remain a source of concern: • Supply staff continue to suffer detriment to their continuous professional development by not having access to in-service training that occurs during in-service days. Supply teachers are therefore being professionally de- skilled relative to their permanent counterparts. This two-tier approach leaves supply staff feeling devalued. • Supply teachers continue to report that Glow accounts are terminated at the end of each deployment, and this can have a negative consequence for some as it means that their communications including emails or other personal information as well as resources is lost. Also, where opportunities such as internal vacancies are offered supply teachers have no access to this information which further disadvantages them. And, when they are in school the time it takes to access registers or other internal communications leaves them further disadvantaged. • When substantive posts are advertised supply teachers are in the difficult situation when references from the most recent school are required as part of the application process. Where teachers cannot gain long-term work and build relationships they may not be able to provide references especially when appointments may have been for short periods. • The permanent supply pool is referenced in JNC11 (revised) and defines how cover is paid for depending upon the length of absences. It is a concern for the Teachers’ Side, especially in the secondary sector, that this resource is being systematically depleted. It is reported that some long-term absences are being covered internally rather than by allocating supply staff, even after the 20-day limit or on the 3rd day of absence where staff are absent due to jury duty. The use of internal cover in long-term absences through changing of other teachers’ departmental timetables breaches the
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equitable distribution of cover clause and is also resulting in fewer opportunities for work for supply staff, some of whom have had extremely limited opportunities or merely single days of employment since the start of term in session 23-24. The worrying consequence of this is that supply teachers report that they need to consider leaving the profession to find work outside of the Authority or teaching altogether as it is not financially viable to rely on such insecure work. This should be a concern for the reputation of Renfrewshire Council and for all of us as we risk losing trained personnel. Actions: a mechanism is found to enable the supply workforce to participate in in-service training. a technical solution should be put in place to give supply teachers access to GLOW to allow them to access Council information and log into school SEEMIS systems. some consideration be given to the recruitment processes and the requirement for references from the ‘most recent school’ as this may not be the reference which best advantages supply teachers. the secondary permanent supply pool should be replenished. the Council should advise Head teachers to abide by JNC 11 (revised) in the allocation of cover rather than redistribute cover to existing employees.