In accordance with the terms of the local recognition and procedure agreement, which stated that the Chair of the Committee should alternate between the two sides comprising the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff, it was agreed that Councillor Henry chair this meeting of the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff.

There was submitted the Minute of meeting held on 6 September 2016. It was noted that the Minute required to be amended in relation to item 6 and specifically the first line of the second paragraph to reflect that appeals were only being submitted in some schools.

There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretaries relative to the review of teacher’s job sizing procedures.

The report intimated that a working group comprised of representatives from Children’s Services, trade unions, human resources and customer and business services has been established to ensure that Renfrewshire Council’s application of teacher job sizing procedures were fit for purpose and in accordance with the Scottish Negotiating Committee for Teachers Conditions of Service.  Details of the review and the proposed revised procedure were appended to the report. It was advised that since the agenda had been published there had been a slight amendment to the proposed procedure and on page three of the appendix that the following text be inserted at the end of paragraph four:

'Due to government restriction on the publication of Census data until December of any given session, posts advertised up to December in any school year will contain whole school data that relates to the previous session. For example, for a job sizing process being undertaken in November 2016, the whole school data included would be taken from September 2015.'

It was agreed that the draft Teacher Job Sizing Procedure be amended to include this additional text.

The report highlighted that following approval of the procedure, it was intended that a number of briefing/training sessions for primary and secondary Head Teachers and their respective Education Support Managers/Senior Delivery Officers would take place to enable discussions to take place on the revised procedure and enable clarification on any points in relation to the procedure. It was anticipated that following the training sessions there would be further amendments to the Teacher Job Sizing Procedure and this would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee. 

There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) relative to Renfrewshire’s Attainment Challenge.

The report intimated that the Teacher’s side welcomed the additional funding available through the Scottish Attainment Challenge initiative.  Renfrewshire’s proposals for implementing this initiative were presented to the Education and Children Policy Board meeting on 3 November 2016 and the document indicated that ‘these proposals reflected the current professional views of a range of stakeholders.’  It was highlighted that the proposals could not be regarded as reflecting the view of Renfrewshire’s teachers as there had been no meaningful discussion with the teacher professional associations around the proposals.

The Head of Schools apologised for the lack of consultation with the teacher professional associations in relation to the Attainment Challenge proposals and advised that the Scottish Government had dictated very tight timescales in relation to this item.  He also intimated that these were initial proposals and as the approach was developed then the teacher professional associations would be engaged.  The Director of Children’s Services underlined that the process had been flawed in terms of timing and also committed to engage and schedule a meeting with the Teacher’s side in relation to the proposals.

DECIDED:

(a) That it be agreed that the Teachers’ side be consulted on the Attainment Challenge proposals; and

There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) relative to the role of Learning Representatives.

The report intimated that the Renfrewshire EIS now had three Learning Representatives who had undertaken a rigorous development programme through the undergraduate module provided by the University of West of Scotland.  The representatives were now seeking to work in partnership with designated colleagues from Renfrewshire Council in order to advance professional learning throughout the teaching profession in Renfrewshire.

The Head of Schools highlighted that there was a strong history of the use of Learning Representatives with Renfrewshire and welcomed the introduction of the three new Learning Representatives.  It was agreed that there should be further discussion between the Management and Teachers’ side in relation to the role of the Learning Representatives and the requirement for appropriate time off.  The results of this discussion would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee.

 DECIDED:

(a) That it be agreed that further discussion would take place between the Management and Teachers’ side in relation to the role of the Learning Representatives and the requirement for appropriate time off; and

There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) relative to indiscipline in schools.

The report intimated that the 2016 EIS AGM unanimously passed a motion “that this AGM calls on Council to investigate indiscipline problems which are creating barriers to effective teaching and learning and that the resultant data be shared with Scottish Government, Local Authorities and relevant parent organisations.”

The report highlighted a particular concern in relation to an increasing number of incidents falling within the definition of violent behaviour which were disrupting effective teaching and learning and the resultant stress and anxiety for teachers subjected to such behaviour.

The Joint Secretary (Teachers’ Side) advised that whilst there were measures in place in relation to violent behaviour these were not being consistently completed and there was a requirement for a clear process to be laid out for Head Teachers and stressed that this must be followed. The EIS had devised a reporting form which could be utilised for reporting incidents.

The Head of Early Years & Inclusion shared the concerns from the Teaching Side and advised that work was currently underway to look at how staff were supported.  There was currently an online system in place and whilst there was an increased use of the system there was work required to promote the system and ensure that it was utilised more effectively. It was confirmed that staff often had issues with accessing the forms as it was held on a Lotus Notes system and that it would be helpful to load the form onto GLOW.  It was agreed that the Management and Teachers’ side would share their respective forms for reporting incidents, the current form would be uploaded to GLOW and that both sides would also work to promote and encourage staff to use the current system.

It was also agreed that the Management and Teachers’ side would have a further discussion regarding violent conduct, the strategies to deal with this and risk assessments and the results of this discussion would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee.

DECIDED:

(a) That it be agreed that the Management and Teachers’ side would share their respective incident forms and that the current form would be uploaded to GLOW;

(b) That it be agreed that the Management and Teachers’ side would work to promote and encourage staff to use the current system; and

(c) That it be agreed that the Management and Teachers’ side would have a further discussion regarding violent conduct, the strategies to deal with this and risk assessments and the results of this would be reported to a future meeting of the Committee.