NEU help and advice pages comprise FAQs and other guidance which address common employment workplace issues and are entirely problem focused. These documents, along with our current top 5 FAQs posed by members, represent the quickest way to get support if you need it.
Other ways to get help
Your first point of contact is your workplace reps - they are best placed to discuss your next steps to dealing with your issue. If you don't know who that is, contact your branch for assistance. Find the contact details here.
You also contact the Employment AdviceLine - however, please be advised that this national service deals with a very high volume of emails and calls and your waiting time for a response may be long.
If you can't find the answer to your question below, speaking to your rep or branch secretary will be the quickest way to answer your query.
- The NEU is committed to helping you ensure safety in the workplace for all staff and students in schools and colleges during this very challenging time.
- For leaders in education, the first and most important consideration during this crisis is the safety and wellbeing of the staff and students of your school or college.
- Read our advice and guidance for school leaders.
- Leaders of schools that are being asked to join larger hubs should carefully evaluate the risks.
- What to look out for in your school/college risk assessment
- Knowledge about the greater risks of Covid-19 to specific individuals and groups has grown during the current crisis.
- NEU leadership members are key to supporting women going through the menopause in the workplace. As a leader, you’re not alone. Collaboration between leaders, governors, workplace reps, health and safety reps and a staff support network can go a long way towards creating a supportive environment for women experiencing menopause symptoms at work.
- The new Ofsted inspection framework is focused on the quality of the school’s curriculum, and as a school leader, you have difficult decisions to make to balance staffing with budget in your school.
The most common queries NEU members have on pay for leadership teachers in schools and academies.
- This guide gives advice to leaders on how their pay progression system works.
As a school leader, it is important to ensure that your school is a great place to work, with a happy and healthy workforce and low levels of sick leave.
- Advice on ways NEU members can argue for, and develop, adequate CPD for teaching and educational professionals.
As well as statutory maternity rights, most teachers are also covered by the maternity rights scheme for teachers, set out in the Burgundy Book national agreement on conditions of service.
- A brief summary of the right to parental bereavement leave and how it can be claimed.
- Your entitlements and responsibilities under UK legislation on paternity leave and pay.
- NEU model policy on special leave requests for reasonable time off for a variety of personal, domestic, family, civic and public duties which impact on working lives.
- The model policy sets out a full range of situations for which leave may be required and which should be covered in any policy, together with recommendations on levels of paid and unpaid leave.
- A summary of the childcare disqualification arrangements operating from 31 August 2018.
- Like others on the way to gaining QTS, you may be feeling anxious about your legal position while in the classroom. This brief summary should help you understand your rights and responsibilities.
- The legal protection provided and union support available to members who choose to blow the whistle on employers.
- The most common queries on whistleblowing and disclosures in schools.
- The most common queries NEU members have on whistleblowing and disclosures in schools.
- It is often the most unpleasant voices that we hear the loudest and whether you are out at work or not, it can be extremely isolating being a lone LGBT+ staff member.
LGBT+ inclusion involves reviewing the curriculum and lesson plans across all subjects to eliminate heteronormative bias, and ensure sexual orientations and gender identities are represented.
- Every school and district should be having a conversation about LGBT+ inclusion.
- As a school governor / trustee, you are responsible for ensuring the school’s practices are consistent with its values and ethos, even where these may be different to your own.
Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) will be changing for schools in England from September 2020.
- Who is protected from sexual orientation discrimination, and the first steps you should take if you think you have been discriminated against at work.
- Who is protected from harassment on grounds of sexual orientation, and the first steps you should take if you think you have been harassed at work.
In the last few years there has been much work done, raising awareness and increasing the visibility of transgender issues. This advice aims to helps school and college staff support gender variant or questioning students in the educational environment.
The NEU Trans Equality Toolkit provides information for education staff on transitioning in school/college.
- As teachers and school staff often work on their own, there are some key health and safety issues that employers must consider.
- NEU advice on risks of lone working and what can be done to counter them.
- It is common for teachers to offer private tuition to students. Before doing so, there are several important issues to consider, such as legal and insurance protection and health and safety issues.