The professionalism of our members is under attack within further education (FE).
We have witnessed the role of the FE practitioner change in recent years. We have seen an erosion of pay and conditions which has resulted in a workforce that is overburdened and stressed.
We call on the AoC and colleges to sign up to our five-point charter for professional respect in further education.
an agreed national policy on the delivery of guided learning hours
the resourcing of more administration staff
nationally agreed class size recommendations for 16-18 and 19 +
a set of agreed workload and wellbeing protocols such as working from home agreements
a set of agreed boundaries for contacting staff by email or phone.
2. Pay:
a 10% increase in pay. This is a first step to restore more than the 35% cut in real pay for FE staff over a decade. After two significant increases in base rate funding and inflation running above 7% this claim is reasonable
a commitment to close gender and ethnic pay gaps
to reduce the use of precarious employment.
3. Valuing the professional judgement of practitioners:
colleges to establish forums where practitioners and trade union representatives are consulted about ongoing professional development support to avoid imposed target driven training
place the departmental team at the centre of staff development in each area to allow collegiate practices to determine the support needs of the practitioner
colleges to recognise the positive role that Union Learning Representatives play, their statutory rights and to provide facility time to support their role.
4. A meaningful national bargaining framework:
colleges to agree a national bargaining framework that levels up the sector and is binding. An equal sector is a more productive one.
5. Trade unions treated as partners:
recognised trade unions to have representation on bodies/committees throughout colleges including, governing bodies, curriculum and health and safety committees.
