What is directed time?
Directed time is the amount of time a headteacher can require a teacher to be at work. Under the School Teachers’ Pay and Conditions Document (STPCD), this is capped at 1,265 hours a year for full-time teachers, spread over no more than 195 days (190 teaching days plus five INSET days).
Crucially, once the 1,265 hours are used up, schools cannot direct any more time. Every school should have a directed time budget/calendar that clearly shows how the 1,265 will be allocated.
Currently, the STPCD also contains a clause which states teachers must work “such reasonable additional hours as may be necessary” to effectively discharge their duties. This already allows workload to expand outside the working day.
So, directed time matters, as it is one of the strongest enforceable protections teachers have against excessive workload. If it goes, retention of teachers will collapse even further. This is a fight to save education.
How competitive is pay?
Teachers pay has declined by 20 per cent in real terms since 2010. When compared with other graduate‑level professions, teaching often lags behind in terms of earnings and progression. Research shows teachers’ earnings tend to rank lower than most other professional groups and annual pay increases are often smaller than in the wider economy.
Support staff are woefully underpaid for the crucial work they do. Since 2010, most support staff have seen a real-terms pay cut in excess of 20 per cent.
It is short-sighted of any government not to value the education profession. Education should be seen as an investment, not a cost. We need to save education.
What is the extent of the school funding crisis?
Government spending on education is £20 billion less, in real terms, than it was in 2010. We spend way below the average of what other developed countries do.
In total, 75 per cent of schools have less money this year than they did last. We all know that schools are running on empty. The government's proposals will make a terrible situation even worse. We need to act to save education.
Does industrial action work?
Yes. At a local level we constantly see improvements to working conditions when members stand together against injustice. At a national level, it has only been through strike action – or a strong ballot turnout and the threat of strike action – that we have managed to secure decent pay awards.
This is not a fight based upon simple self-interest: it is a fight for the future of the profession and to save education.