Hundreds of NEU educators, including teachers, middle leaders, support staff, and more, play a crucial role in the success of Harris Federation schools. We are committed to providing students with an exceptional education, and our dedication to educating and supporting students is unwavering. However, the current conditions are making it increasingly challenging for us to carry out this important work. It doesn't have to be this way; we are advocating for change.
The fight for fairer workloads, pay and conditions, as well as equal treatment for Caribbean and overseas-trained teachers, is crucial for the well-being of educators and the success of the students they serve. By advocating for these improvements, we can create an environment where both staff and students thrive.
Indicative ballot results and next step
Harris Educators have won their indicative online ballot for strike action with an extraordinary 80% participation and 92% across 18 schools voted YES to strike action.
The NEU’s formal strike ballot of over 700 members in 18 Harris secondaries and sixth form colleges opens on 20 January and closes on 28 February. Read our latest press release on this.
Find out how to vote from the formal ballot FAQ.
Participate and VOTE as soon as you receive your ballot in the post.
How you can support us
Parents, community members, and friends outside the federation can pledge to support us here.
What are we standing up for?
We are advocating for improvements because our members want a collective voice in making Harris Federation an excellent place to teach and learn. We deeply care about the work we do, and the welfare of our colleagues is intrinsic to that.
Main areas of concern are:
Harris educators are fighting to reduce workloads because they are driving educators out of our schools, harming our health, disrupting our lives, and causing unnecessary stress. Reducing the burden will boost educators' well-being and elevate education for all.
Protecting and increasing our planning time
Educators are so overwhelmed with work that it is common to work 10–12-hour days and still have to bring work home on evenings and weekends. We are seeking:
- More and protected non-teaching time (PPA time) on our timetables during which we cannot be required to carry out any other duties. 30% for middle leaders (equivalent to 1.5 full days), 20% for all teachers (equivalent to one full day), and 10% (a half-day) for teaching support staff (e.g. TAs, pastoral).
- Rarely cover that we cannot regularly be directed to teach (or perform any other duties) during non-teaching time.
- For PPA time to be used as effectively as possible, it should be blocked together in blocks of at least half a day.
- To maximise the effectiveness of PPA time and to improve work-life balance, Harris staff should be given the option to do their PPA time at home.
Reduce admin tasks
To minimise the heavy administrative workload that distracts from high-quality teaching and cuts into evenings and weekends, Harris must implement a policy that ensures teachers are not asked to do extra tasks such as:
- Trips and SEND paperwork
- Duties over lunchtime
- Mandatory behaviour and attendance phone calls
- All admin tasks that were recently put into the School Teachers Pay & Conditions Document.
- Mentorship meetings and observations must be timetabled and must not reduce timetabled and protected PPA time.
- Harris must employ additional support staff to ensure that this does not lead to an increase in workload for support staff.
End excessive duties and meetings
During the 2023-24 school year, it was found that many Harris secondary and sixth form schools were scheduling their teachers significantly above the statutory maximum of 1,265 hours per year. This means that teachers have been assigned lessons, meetings, interventions, and duties that exceed the allowed limit by anywhere from 39 to 155 hours annually—equating to nearly five weeks of extra work!
To ensure that all Harris teachers are not overworked, NEU members are advocating for a well-defined directed time policy that includes the following:
1. A clear outline of all components that must be incorporated into a directed time calendar.
2. A timeline that ensures Senior Leadership Teams (SLTs) consult with all teachers before finalizing the calendar.
3. A commitment to make all school calendars accessible on the Harris Intranet, allowing any teacher at any school to ensure accountability.
4. A commitment to compensate teachers for any additional hours they were scheduled to work beyond the allowed limit.
Performance-related pay has led to significant workload issues within the Federation. Teachers can be denied pay progression if they do not take on additional unpaid work, such as interventions, and many support staff go years without receiving any pay increases. Research indicates that performance-related pay can result in discriminatory outcomes. The NEU members are advocating for the following:
- Harris to implement the Government's decision to eliminate performance pay and ensure that teachers progress through the Main and Upper Pay Scales every year.
- Support staff should receive annual pay progression.
- The Federation should publish and distribute pay scales for all staff groups annually.
- All staff should receive the London Living Wage.
Harris recruits teachers primarily from the Caribbean, particularly Jamaica, but fails to provide meaningful support during their transition to the UK. As a result, these teachers are often classified as unqualified, earning approximately £10,000 less per year than their UK-trained colleagues for the same work. Many of them experience delays of 3 to 4 years before receiving assistance in obtaining Qualified Teacher Status (QTS).
These teachers have collectively voted for NEU members to advocate for the following:
- Comprehensive Paid Induction: All overseas-trained teachers (OTTs) who are new to UK schools and the Federation should receive a comprehensive and paid induction before they start teaching. This training must be developed in partnership with OTTs.
- Fully funded and supported QTS process: Caribbean teachers typically arrive in the UK with full training and years of experience. Despite this, they are often paid as unqualified teachers, leading to a salary gap of around £10,000 compared to their UK-trained counterparts. Many Caribbean teachers report lengthy waits—sometimes years—before Harris sponsors their QTS applications. They urgently request that Harris:
- Fully funds the costs associated with obtaining QTS.
- Supports the completion of the QTS application within the first year of teaching at Harris.
- Provides dedicated time during the school day for teachers to work on their applications, as well as sessions for practical support and guidance.
- Relocation funding: Harris should offer relocation funding for teachers recruited from overseas, ensuring they do not incur debt from the significant expenses involved in relocating. We propose a relocation funding amount of £5,000 to help cover costs such as the skilled worker certificate, the immigration health surcharge, flights, initial accommodations, rental deposits, and more.
It is common practice in local authorities and even big MATs like Ark for union reps to receive timetabled time, taken from their teaching timetable in the case of teachers, to perform their union rep duties. In Croydon local authority, where Harris Head Office is located, reps with 30 members get 3 hours of weekly timetabled rep time. We are requesting that the Harris Federation recognise this trade union right for the betterment of all our school communities. Our proposal is:
- Timetabled weekly “facilities time” (taken from the teaching load) for reps to carry out trade union duties
