Coronavirus: officers

Safety of staff, parents and students

We are asking NEU workplace groups to take these steps:

1. Meet with members to agree issues of concern. Raise them collectively with the employer.
2. Ensure you have a bargaining framework – a meeting to discuss issues with the employer. This can be formal or informal – the important thing is an ongoing discussion between the union and your head teacher.
3. Develop the agenda for your meeting with the employer based on issues of concern to members.  
4. If the employer will not agree to any (or enough) of your ideas, go back to members, discuss the head’s position and agree next steps. Members may wish to demonstrate how strongly they feel by signing a letter or raising it with the governing body. If you need further support, speak to your branch or region/NEU Cymru.

Updated advice for CEV members 24 March 2021

Updated advice for CEV members who have been shielding and other members who have been working at home can be found here. Although the Government’s shielding requirements end on 1 April, the NEU advises that CEV education staff can and should continue to work at home given the Government’s continuing advice on working at home where possible. Model resources are available at the bottom of this page.

Teaching and learning

As more pupils get back to school, staff will want to think about how teaching and learning will be managed.

We think this should be a matter for collective discussion and agreement, as with safety, wellbeing and workload.

A focus on assessing and exploring the learning and emotional experiences of children and young people during lockdown will be essential.

Talk about ‘catch-up’ or ‘falling behind’ is unhelpful, creates stress for staff and demotivates learners.

Staff in every school and college should be given the time and space to determine how assessment and classroom practice need to be adapted during this period.

Support for pupils should be a rounded assessment of social, emotional and academic development, to plan next steps in learning and reintegration. We believe priorities during the ‘re-entry’ phase should be:

• Rebuilding relationships that underpin learning and a sense of belonging
• Reminding students of routines
• Relearning rules and responding to students’ different needs
• Re-establishing the environment for learning
• Rekindling a love for learning

Visit our Remote Education Hub for advice on what is and isn’t reasonable and how you can collectively speak to your head teacher about these issues.

Working conditions and wider opening asks

Unmanageable workloads are a major concern for educators, that have only increased during the pandemic. Your time and efforts are not unlimited. Educators need to be physically and mentally refreshed if we are to meet the challenges of the recovery of our education system. There must be a prioritisation of how your time is most efficiently used in the coming months.

Non-urgent tasks, such as data management and elements of planning, will need to be delayed. Discuss as a union group the most important priorities and the time necessary to deliver them. These should form the basis for an agreement with your head. Below are some of the issues that NEU groups may want to discuss in their school/college union meeting and arrange a meeting with your head/principal to negotiate the extra time needed to meet these priorities.

• Time to plan a curriculum to support pupils to re-engage with school, their learning and each other.
• Time to plan and carry out assessments to understand pupils' starting points
• More time to work together to understand exam board requirements, develop departmental and whole school systems for awarding and moderating grades and plan and carry out assessments and gather evidence for GCSE, A level and vocational qualifications.
• Paid time off to be vaccinated.
• Deserved time off during the 6-week summer break in recognition of the outstanding efforts of educators over the last year and to enable them to recharge their batteries for the next year.
• Time to talk collectively about changes that might be needed to behaviour policies or strategies on well-being and mental health, to ensure staff can respond to students needs.

Guidance for Officers

Resources

NEU officers are integral to supporting members and reps in their areas. Our downloadable guide helps officers in:

• Communicating with reps and members in schools with outbreaks or high infections rates
• Meeting with key decision makers to discuss how schools are kept safe and raise any member concerns
• Feeding back to reps and members

NEU reps will help raise issues relating to safety and workload. We have outlined all guidance to NEU reps here.

How to hold a successful digital members or reps meeting

We have this short guide to help you deliver a digital meetings of reps and even members to discuss the checklist and ensure we represent members views collectively in discussion with your leadership teams.

Rep recruitment drive

Many members have already stepped up to become NEU reps and to become part of rep teams to help during the COVID-19 crisis.

If there is a member who wants to be a rep in your area, even supporting an existing rep, we are encouraging them to indicate they want to get involved using our form here.

Support for you

We are asking you as local branch and district officers to support reps and members during this time, if you require further assistance, please contact your region/Wales office.