Policies

Your working conditions at school/college are determined by national and local policies. The main national document is the STPCD, which is published each year. The STPCD has the force of law. Many of it's provisions are not discretionary. For example, Heads cannot decide not to allocate PPA time: doing so would be against the law! But this document needs to be interpreted and implemented, and this is where arguments and disagreements often develop.

A further important national document is The Burgundy Book, which also covers a whole range of issues relating to the employment of teachers.

In addition to these, however, you are also affected by a series of locally negotiated policies. These are negotiated between Local Authority CYPS Officers, and Leicestershire NUT. These locally agreed policies are then (hopefully) adopted by your Governing Body and implemented by your school managers, especially the Head/Principal.

These local policies cover issues such as Performance Management, Whole School Pay Policy, Disciplinary Procedures, Redundancy Procedures, Capability Procedures, the Management of Attendance Policy, and a wide range of other issues. Clearly, these are very important to you and your working conditions. These are often reviewed and updated to reflect changes in the law, legal decisions, etc. These consultations and negotiations are carried out mainly by the Secretary, and are discussed at Committee meetings.

Here we have made available some of the more important policies, along with NUT advice on some issues which we know are helpful to members.

Issues connected with the interpretation and application of these policies can often be resolved informally, sometimes with the support of your School Rep, but where this is not possible you should contact the Secretary for further support and advice.