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 John Welsh would chair this meeting of the Renfrewshire Council Joint Negotiating Committee for Teaching Staff.

There was submitted the Minute of meeting held on 7 February 2017.

The Head of Schools advised that in relation to item 4 – Teacher Workload that meetings had been held with Head Teachers in relation to the Pupil Equity Fund and they had been reminded that workload must be considered.

The Head of Early Years & Inclusion advised that in relation to item 8 – Indiscipline in Schools that the technical difficulties which had prevented the upload of the risk assessment form to GLOW had still to be resolved and the terms of reference for the sub-group were still to be developed. This would be a priority over the next 10 days.

DECIDED:

(a) That the Minute be approved; and

There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretaries relative to a proposed amendment to the membership of the Joint Negotiating Committee for Teachers for session 2016/17.  A copy of the revised membership was appended to the report.

There was submitted a report by the Head of Schools relative to revised periods of notice.

The report intimated that the SNCT had agreed that notice periods should be determined at a national level rather than local level and as a result of this the list of devolved powers would be required to be updated.  A copy of the SNCT guidance 17/57 which was published on 28 February 2017 was appended to the report and it was noted that this updated and replaced SNCT 16/57.

DECIDED:

(a) That the report be noted; and

There was submitted a report by the Joint Secretary (Teacher’s Side) relative to the role of the SNCT and LNCT.

The report intimated that the recent Scottish Government decision to allocate funding directly to schools through the Pupil Equity Fund had implications for agreements reached through the SNCT and LNCT.  The EIS welcomed any additional funding provided to help in the drive to boost pupil attainment but had concerns related to the circumventing of agreed procedures related to staffing policy and arrangements.

The Head of Schools confirmed that the Management Side were committed to ongoing dialogue in relation to this matter and as part of these discussions an early warning system would be put in place to flag up any specific workload issues.

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

The report intimated that it had been brought to the attention of the Teacher’s side that there was an inconsistency of approach in relation to the recording and reporting of violent incidents in schools.  Each incident should be recorded individually and counted as a separate incident when the violence statistics are being transmitted to Renfrewshire Council headquarters.

The Joint Secretary (Teacher’s Side) expressed concern in relation to the lack of progress since the issues regarding violent incidents was first reported in November 2016.  There were specific instances where the reporting process did not appear to be followed or implemented which was having an impact on the teachers involved.

The Head of Early Years & Inclusion confirmed that all Head Teachers had been advised that incidents should be reported and that the Head Teachers and the officers from the inclusion support team were responsible for creating the risk assessment in relation to reported incidents.  The Head of Early Years & Inclusion advised that he was awaiting information in relation to the November and December 2016 incidents and the process followed in relation to these incidents.  Once this information was received then this would then be shared with the Promoting Positive Behaviour policy sub-group which was in the process of being established.