Teaching preparation time
Every school teacher in
Planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) time is the third phase of changes to the way teachers work to make sure they can spend as much of their time as possible teaching and raising standards.
Government Response: Department for Education and Skills
Schools minister Jacqui Smith said: "The conditions are right for PPA to be successfully implemented in every school, with sufficient money in the system, key support in place for schools, and the firm backing of the vast majority of professional associations and unions. We know that 23,000 schools are ready, able and willing to deliver PPA to their teachers when term begins.
"Planning, preparation and assessment time is about raising standards even further. It will give teachers dedicated time, within the current timetable, to plan and prepare for their lessons and help to personalise the education that our young people receive. PPA will not only benefit pupils, but will also help to reduce workload and pressure on teachers."
Stakeholder Response: NUT
Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said: "The NUT has long campaigned for guaranteed time outside the classroom during the pupil day for lesson planning, preparation and assessment. This campaign has come to fruition with teachers now having a statutory right to a minimum 10 per cent of the teaching week for this work.
"But the quality of education received by pupils must not be diminished by the use of people who are not qualified teachers undertaking teaching work in the classroom. Parents must be alert to the possibility of schools using unqualified people in this way.
"The government must recognise that provision of PPA time can only contribute to ever improving standards in our schools. But it must ensure that every school has an adequate supply of teachers to ensure this reform is put into effect without any reduction in the quality of education available to the nation's children's."
Stakeholder Response: PAT
PAT principal professional officer Deborah Simpson, said: "PPA will bring real benefits all round, as schools that have already implemented it are finding.
"Both pupils and teachers will benefit as teachers will have more time during the school day to plan lessons, prepare resources and mark pupils' work. Better planned and prepared lessons will help educational standards to rise.
"As a former teacher who now advises teachers, I know that teachers have always wanted time in the working day to prepare and plan and mark.
"With less marking and preparation to do in the evenings and at weekends, teachers should have more time to spend with their own families. Doing paperwork late into the night is not good for teachers, their families or the pupils they have to teach the next day.
"PPA time will also bring opportunities for schools to develop activities such as sports, outdoor activities and drama and introduce new foreign languages or other subjects for study. Pupils' educational experiences will be enriched, teachers will be able to develop their careers and there will be new opportunities for specialist support staff.
"There has been negative media coverage of PPA, with talk of teachers being replaced by assistants, but this is not what PPA is about. Teaching assistants will assist, not replace, teachers. Support staff with the appropriate qualifications, training and experience will enhance pupils' learning.
"Lessons will still be planned by the teachers and every class will have a designated teacher responsible for pupil progress. Teachers will teach and teaching assistants will assist or provide cover.
"There will be increasing opportunities for higher level teaching assistants or other professionals with specialist training in music, languages, drama and sport to support teachers and develop pupils' skills and knowledge.
"PAT has always promoted a whole team approach, with trained education professionals working together to provide the best possible education for their pupils."
Stakeholder Response: NASWUT
Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "NASUWT has been campaigning for this day for many years. The provision of this entitlement is long overdue and extremely welcome.
"Never before have teachers had a contractual provision which guarantees them timetabled time to plan, prepare and assess pupils’ work.
"Even in secondary schools where historically teachers had some time during the school sessions away from pupils, it was never guaranteed and was often eroded away by requirements to cover for absent colleagues.
"This is truly an historic development.
"The provision of guaranteed time for planning, preparation and assessment, which cannot be used for anything else, will enhance the quality of lessons and enable teachers to continue to raise standards.
"It emphasises the crucial importance of a teacher’s core role – teaching.
"PPA time, when combined with the other contractual changes introduced since 2003, will ensure that teachers are able to use their expertise to develop more personalised approaches to teaching.
"This is good news for teachers, pupils and parents.
"Schools have had three years to prepare for this change. Its introduction has been supported by extensive planning and guidance from the workforce agreement monitoring group, supported by the national remodelling team.
"Workshops held across the country have involved real schools of different types and sizes from the smallest to the largest, using real budgets to model the various strategies for introducing PPA.
"Evidence shows that over 99 per cent of schools are moving forward on PPA implementation.
"NASUWT, as a member of the workforce agreement monitoring group, will be engaged in close monitoring during September to ensure that all teachers receive their entitlement."
Stakeholder Response: ATL
Association of Teachers and Lecturers general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "We believe all the social partners can be satisfied with a job well done. Both students and teachers will benefit from these changes.
"We are pleased that teachers and support staff now have clearly defined and complementary roles. We now have a workforce which is more diverse, better trained and more able to meet the needs of today’s pupils."
"It is up to us all to make sure there aren't any hiding places for schools which don’t implement PPA time. Teachers are contractually entitled to it.
"Schools and head teachers have had three years to prepare, and there has been extensive support and guidance at school level from the workforce agreement modelling group supported by the national remodelling team. Now we expect schools to implement PPA, and not to procrastinate."
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