WORK/LIFE BALANCE

RIG also said that pay was no longer the top priority for teachers. Teachers now placed workload above pay in their list of priorities and attached greater importance to job quality and quality of life
STRB 15th Report - December 2005 - Para 2.29

Work/Life Balance is set to become a major issue with the teacher unions in 2006 and 2007. It is important to remember that one of the prime aims of remodelling was to reduce the length of the working week - but the annual surveys conducted by the Office For Manpower Economics have not yet uncovered any significant evidence that this is actually happening in practice. Indeed evidence from our recent TLR courses suggests that many headteachers are close to despair over their own workload - one of the reasons we have introduced our advocacy service for groups of schools taking out an annual support contract

Seizing the initiative on work/life balance by producing a clearly thought-out policy of one of our four key recommendations for 2006. There are several reasons for this

• Despite all the understandable cynicism, teachers (and headteachers!) now have a statutory entitlement to a proper work/life balance. It is therefore important for governing bodies to have a proper policy in place - not least to guard against the possibility of constructive dismissal claims. Our experience is that most schools have done a great deal to promote wellbeing, but have not yet formalised this into a policy; as a result, there is a danger that staff will not appreciate the extent to which work-life balance is already being addressed.
  
  
• In a world of growing teacher and skilled teaching assistant shortages, you will find it very difficult to recruit and retain high quality staff unless they perceive you as the local employer of choice; being proactive over workload and working hours are key stepping stones to achieving this enviable status

Our half day workshop will

• Brief you on what the legal entitlement means
  
  
• Explain what a tribunal would expect to see
  
  
• Set out three possible approaches - reducing the number of hours worked, improving the quality of everyday life and making working patterns more flexible
  
  
• Provide advice on producing a model policy and monitoring progress
  
  
• Give you a model policy to use as the basis for moving things forward in your own school

A half day workshop for up to 20 headteachers and senior team members costs £1200 plus travel, accommodation if required and VAT; for an extra £300 plus VAT you can combine it with the Performance Pay Update to create a full day session