Researchers examined the origins, effects and implementation of performance-based 'threshold' payments for teachers. Teachers were sceptical about the effect on teaching practice, while data collection and focus on targets had increased in the classroom. Foreign observers were 'amazed' by the level of control and regulation the new measures imposed.
Source: Pat Mahony, The Impact of Performance Threshold Assessment on Teachers' Work, Economic and Social Research Council (01793 413000)
Links: Report (pdf) | Summary (pdf) | ESRC press release
Date: 2003-Dec
The schools inspectorate said that the government s training schools programme had had a 'very positive effect' on initial teacher training, and represented good value for money. (The programme was launched in 2000, with 168 schools in operation in September 2003. They are given money to develop and disseminate good practice in initial teacher training, train existing teachers to become mentors for trainee teachers, and undertake relevant research.)
Source: An Evaluation of the Training Schools Programme, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report (pdf) | Ofsted press release | DfES press release
Date: 2003-Nov
Researchers found that female teachers, teachers with disabilities and teachers from minority ethnic groups were more likely to think that age, disability, ethnicity or gender had affected their career progression. Most teachers with disabilities reported experiencing difficulties both in entering and in making progress in the profession. Members of minority ethnic groups were more likely to seek promotion than other groups of teachers: many believed they had not received promotion commensurate with their qualifications and experience.
Source: Janet Powney et al., Teachers Careers: Impact of age, disability, ethnicity, gender and sexual orientation, Research Report 488, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2003-Oct
A survey of school staffing in the school year 2002-03 suggested that schools were having to lose some 8,800 full-time equivalent teachers. Staff reductions and other savings had resulted in larger classes in nearly half the secondary schools and a fifth of primary schools. Over half of primary schools surveyed (56.4 per cent) and nearly two-thirds of secondary schools (63.3 per cent) reported that the budget settlement in 2003-04 was worse than the previous year s. (Data were collected from representative samples of 980 primary schools and 368 secondary schools in England and Wales.)
Source: Alan Smithers and Pamela Robinson, The Reality of School Staffing, National Union of Teachers (020 7388 6191)
Links: Report (pdf) | NUT press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Oct
The schools inspectorate said that 'advanced skills teachers' had helped significantly to improve teaching and learning in more than three quarters of the secondary schools and two thirds of the primary schools inspected. (The teachers were introduced by the government in 1998 to help schools attract and retain excellent classroom teachers, increase staff motivation, raise pupils achievement levels and broaden the skills and knowledge base of schools.)
Source: Advanced Skills Teachers: A survey, HMI 1767, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833)
Links: Report (pdf) | Ofsted press release
Date: 2003-Oct
Revised results from an official survey found that in January 2003 the number of full-time equivalent regular teachers in the maintained sector in England was 4,000 (1.0 per cent) higher than a year earlier. The overall pupil:teacher ratio for the maintained nursery, primary and secondary sector was 17.9 in January 2003, compared to 18.0 in 2002.
Source: School Workforce in England (Including Pupil Teacher Ratios and Pupil Adult Ratios), January 2003 (Revised), Statistical First Release 23/2003, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: SFR (pdf) | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Sep
A questionnaire survey of primary-school headteachers in England found that the main areas of interest that they felt educational research should address in the future were: specific aspects of the national curriculum, work pressures in schools, school assessments and league tables, special educational needs, and funding issues.
Source: Tamsin Archer, Anna Macaulay and Lesley Kendall, Annual Survey of Trends in Education Digest 15 Autumn 2003, National Foundation for Educational Research (01753 747281)
Links: Digest (pdf) | NFER press release
Date: 2003-Sep
An official survey of secondary schools in England found that 4 out of 10 teachers were not fully qualified in the subject they taught. Maths, science subjects and modern languages were increasingly taught by people who had not specialised in the subject. The government highlighted the fact that there were more secondary-school teachers with degrees, and more lessons taught by teachers with degrees in their subjects, than in 1996.
Source: Secondary Schools Curriculum and Staffing Survey, Statistical First Release 25/2003, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288) | Press release 25 September 2003, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: SFR (pdf) | DfES press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Sep
A number of changes to teachers' contracts came into effect from September 2003: no teacher could be required routinely to undertake clerical and administrative tasks; provision had to be made for teachers and headteachers to enjoy a reasonable work-life balance; and teachers with management and leadership responsibilities became entitled to a reasonable allocation of time within school sessions to support the discharge of their responsibilities. (The changes formed part of a national agreement, signed in January 2003, between the government, employers, and all except one school workforce union.)
Source: Press release 25 September 2003, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: DfES press release
Date: 2003-Sep
In evidence to the School Teachers' Review Body (on pay), the government said that it wanted to give schools greater stability and certainty in planning - through a three-year deal, announcement of the pay deal in November 2003 (instead of January 2004), and settlement at the level of inflation. It also said that it wanted new criteria for performance pay for experienced teachers, and greater responsibility for headteachers and governors in managing performance pay.
Source: Press release 11.7.03, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: DfES press release | DfES evidence
Date: 2003-Jul
A study calculated that there were around 9,000 minority ethnic teachers working in England's schools (2.4 per cent of the teacher workforce), whereas pupils from minority ethnic communities formed 12.9 per cent of the school population.
Source: Jacinta Dalgety, Uvanney Maylor and Alistair Ross, Minority Ethnic Teachers in England, General Teaching Council for England and Wales (0870 001 0308)
Links: GTC press release
Date: 2003-Jul
Research found that turnover (loss from schools) and wastage (loss from the maintained sector) of full-time teachers in 2002 were, respectively, 14.1 per cent and 7.9 per cent: these data suggested a fall compared to previous years which had seen steep rises. Five main factors were found to influence teachers decisions to leave: workload, new challenge, the school situation, salary, and personal circumstances. Of these, workload was by far the most important, and salary the least.
Source: Alan Smithers and Pamela Robinson, Factors Affecting Teachers Decisions to Leave the Profession, Research Report 430, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
Baseline research conducted in 2002 found that most teachers were satisfied with their continuing professional development over the previous 5 years. But most also felt that the principal drivers had been school development needs and national priorities, rather than individual needs.
Source: David Hustler, Olwen McNamara, Janis Jarvis, Mary Londra and Anne Campbell, Teachers Perceptions of Continuing Professional Development, Research Report 429, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Report (pdf) | Brief (pdf)
Date: 2003-Jun
Two schools inspectorate reports said that the quality of teacher training had improved significantly, but that there was still scope for further progress. Inspection findings from the four years from 1998 to 2002 were compared with those from the previous round during the mid to late-1990s.
Source: Quality and Standards in Primary Initial Teacher Training, HMI 547, Office for Standards in Education (07002 637833) | Quality and Standards in Secondary Initial Teacher Training, HMI 546, Office for Standards in Education
Links: Report 547 (pdf) | Report 546 (pdf) | OFSTED press release
Date: 2003-Jun
A study found little evidence that performance-related pay for teachers improved their motivation or their pupils exam results, or attracted highly qualified graduates into the profession.
Source: Peter Dolton, Steven McIntosh and Arnaud Chevalier, Teacher Pay and Performance, Institute of Education/University of London (020 7612 6050)
Links: IOE press release
Date: 2003-Apr
The government began consultation on an enhanced role for higher-level teaching assistants. The package of proposals contained changes to teachers contracts, regulations on the role of support staff in teaching and learning, and a set of standards for higher-level teaching assistants. It was developed in partnership with the signatories to a national agreement (excluding the largest teaching union, the National Union of Teachers) reached in January 2003.
Source: Standards for Higher Level Teaching Assistants: Consultation document, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document (Word file) | DfES press release
Date: 2003-Apr
The annual conference of the largest teaching union (the National Union of Teachers) called for strike ballots of its members over class sizes and national curriculum tests. The government condemned the decision, and insisted that the culture of targets and tests was 'here to stay'.
Source: The Guardian, 21.4.03, 22.4.03 and 24.4.03
Links: Guardian 21.4.03 | Guardian 22.4.03 | Guardian 24.4.03
Date: 2003-Apr
The government began consultation on plans to promote and support subject specialism by teachers. It said the plans were designed to enhance teacher professionalism by nurturing and retaining teachers enthusiasm and passion for their subjects.
Source: Subject Specialism: Consultation document, Department for Education and Skills (0845 602 2260)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | Press release
Date: 2003-Mar
The government said that, contrary to previous practice, no minister would address the 2003 annual conference of the largest teachers' union, the National Union of Teachers. The Secretary of State for Education blamed the conduct of delegates at previous conferences. He said that ministers would accept invitations from the other main unions, all of which (but not the NUT) had recently signed an agreement to reform working practices.
Source: Press release 18.2.03, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: Press release
Date: 2003-Feb
The schools inspectorate for England urged schools to do more to support new teachers. Only one half of schools visited were found to meet the development needs of teachers in their second and third years of teaching effectively.
Source: Teachers Early Professional Development, HMI 1394, Office for Standards in Education (web publication only)
Links: Report (Word file) | Press release
Date: 2003-Feb
The Law Lords upheld the right of teachers (under trade union law) to refuse to teach a pupil excluded because of their violent conduct.
Source: In re. P (a minor by his mother and litigation friend) (Appellant), UKHL 8 (Session 2002-03), House of Lords Judicial Office (020 7219 3111)
Links: Text of judgement | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Feb
A national agreement was signed between the government, school workforce unions and employers, aimed at raising standards in schools and tackling problems of teacher workload. The agreement will mean more support staff in extended roles. Extra help for teachers will include personal administrative assistants for teachers, additional technical support, new managers from outside education, cover supervisors and high level teaching assistants. One union, the National Union of Teachers, refused to sign.
Source: Raising Standards and Tackling Workload: A national agreement, Department for Education and Skills (0870 000 2288)
Links: Agreement (pdf) | Joint statement (pdf) | DfES press release | Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jan
A survey reportedly found a decline in the number of teachers wanting to become school heads, owing to concerns about excessive workload and responsibility.
Source: 18th annual survey of senior school appointments by John Howson, reported in The Guardian, 10.1.03
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2003-Jan
A survey of over 70,000 teachers in England found that one in three expect to leave teaching within five years, citing problems with workload, government interference and poor pupil behaviour.
Source: Teachers on Teaching: A Survey of the Teaching Profession, General Teaching Council for England (0870 001 0308)
Links: Report (pdf) | Key findings (pdf) | Press release | Guardian report (1) | Guardian report (2)
Date: 2003-Jan
