Teachers welcome time to plan lessons
Teachers’ groups have welcomed a new initiative that will give them more time to plan lessons.
From September 1st teachers will be entitled to spend ten per cent of their working week on preparation, planning and marking of students’ work.
This is the third stage of changes designed to improve the way teachers work, and is known as the Planning, Preparation and Assessment time (PPA).
National Union of Teachers (NUT) general secretary Steve Sinnott said it was a measure the organisation had long campaigned for, and general secretary of NASUWT Chris Keates described the move as a “truly an historic development”.
Schools’ minister Jacqui Smith said the “conditions are right for PPA to be successfully implemented in every school”.
There was sufficient money in the system now for the process to be implemented in schools, she added, and the move would raise standards in teaching.
Ms Smith said 23,000 schools have confirmed they are ready to go ahead with the plan, and money had been made available to fund the provision of PPA time.
“In 2005/06, school funding will reach over £4,000 per pupil, an increase of over £1,000 in real terms since 1997,” she said.
The NUT welcomed the move, saying it was something it had campaigned for, but added that the government must ensure that every school had an adequate supply of teachers.
Mr Sinnott said 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”.
The NASUWT said it was an historic move, and that teachers had never been given guaranteed preparation time before.
“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,” Mr Keates said.
And the Professional Association of Teachers (PAT) echoed those comments. PAT principal professional officer Deborah Simpson said the initiative would bring “real benefits all round” and said she did not envisage teachers being replaced by classroom assistants.
“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,” Ms Simpson said.
