Management Information Sheet

PPA time

Further to MI 133/08 and MI 48/09, schools are reminded that all teachers at a school, including headteachers, with timetabled teaching commitments, whether employed on permanent, fixed-term, temporary or part-time contracts, have a contractual entitlement to guaranteed PPA time within the timetabled teaching day (see PPA Time slides). For related information about the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), including PPA time - see page 17 of the Practice Guidance for the EYFS. For clarification of the Governing Body responsibilities on pay and conditions - see A guide to the law for school governors: pay and conditions of service.

Members of the local social partnership (Local WAMG), a group that includes unions, LA and governor representation, often receive queries from teachers and headteachers and support staff about PPA. This information sheet contains advice from the local social partnership on the contractual entitlement to guaranteed PPA within the timetabled teaching day:-

The amount of guaranteed PPA time should be set as at least 10% of a teacher's timetabled teaching time. Only teaching time within a teacher's 1265 contracted hours counts for these purposes, not other forms of pupil contact. For example, a teacher who is timetabled to teach 20 hours out of a 25-hour teaching week must receive at least two hours of guaranteed PPA time. This time must appear on the teacher's timetable. Any non-contact time allocated for other activities (e.g. non-guaranteed PPA time, meetings, and time for leadership and management responsibilities) must be additional to the guaranteed PPA time.

Guaranteed PPA time should be provided as part of a teacher's normal weekly or fortnightly timetable. It must take place, therefore, during the timetabled teaching day (i.e. during the time in which pupils are taught at the school) and must not be bolted on before or after pupil sessions. In order for the time to be put to meaningful use by the teacher, it must be allocated in blocks of no less than 30 minutes.

Guaranteed PPA time must be used for planning, preparation and assessment - these duties are contained in the relevant paragraphs of the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document (Section 2 of the Document). The time must not be encroached upon, including by any obligation to cover for absent colleagues (see MI 19/09), or attend meetings. It is for the teacher to determine the particular PPA priorities for each block of guaranteed PPA time, although that does not preclude them from choosing to use some of the time to support collaborative activities. NB: PPA time can be taken off site but this is at the Headteacher's discretion.

The 10% guaranteed PPA time is a minimum figure. Any teacher who was already in receipt of more than this amount of time specifically for PPA prior to the introduction of this change should not have had his/her existing allocation reduced.

For newly qualified teachers, in addition to their guaranteed PPA time, NQTs also benefit from the contractual provisions of Section 2 paragraph 63.15 of the Document. This states that teachers serving induction periods under the induction regulations do not teach more than 90% of the time a teacher at that school who does not receive payments in respect of additional duties or responsibilities would be expected to teach.

Teachers with leadership and management responsibilities are now entitled, as far as is reasonably practicable, to a reasonable allocation of time "to support the discharge of their responsibilities". This is in addition to the contractual provisions on work/life balance and guaranteed PPA time. This is allocated within school sessions (i.e. could be within registration/assembly time as well as timetabled teaching time) - there is a no-detriment provision with regard to any existing allocation of this time.

Supply teachers will be entitled to PPA time from the time they are required to plan, prepare and assess any lessons they are delivering as opposed to solely delivering lessons that have been pre-set, as is often associated with very short term cover. The amount of time before this takes place is not stated anywhere because each situation could be different and differences between phases will also have a bearing. This will also be down to the expectations placed on the supply teacher. A supply teacher covering a longer term absence should take the PPA time of the teacher they are replacing.

When deploying support staff to provide PPA release, headteachers should be mindful of the advice given by national WAMG in Guidance for Schools on Higher Level Teaching Assistant Roles for School Support Staff, Note 12, Note 17, and most currently Note 22 which states:

Deploying support staff as part of PPA arrangements
Cover supervision is not an appropriate means of maintaining curriculum provision during the time a teacher is timetabled for PPA. As a teacher's PPA time constitutes a regular timetabled activity, a member of staff with the appropriate training, skills and experience to deliver 'specified work' should be deployed to ensure the continuation of teaching and learning throughout the timetable. The guidance accompanying the specified work regulations for England and Wales states that:

Support staff…may undertake the 'specified work' subject to a number of conditions. These conditions, as set out in paragraph 10 of Schedule 2 of the Regulations, are as follows:
i. the support staff member must carry out the 'specified work' in order to assist or support the work of a qualified teacher in the school;
ii. the support staff member must be subject to the direction and supervision of a qualified teacher in accordance with arrangements made by the headteacher of the school; and
iii. the headteacher must be satisfied that the support staff member has the skills, expertise and experience required to carry out the 'specified work'."

WAMG Note 22 also gives advice on contractual arrangements for support staff and particularly for the effective deployment of HLTAs.

Finally, it is advised that PPA strategies should be regularly evaluated (especially as staff and roles change and develop) to ensure they offer the best possible continuity of teaching and learning for pupils over the school year and are supportive of schools' work in further improving standards.

From the open comments received to the Teacher Workload Diary Survey 2010, planning, preparation and assessment (PPA) has been identified as the factor that has had the greatest positive impact in reducing teachers' working hours. The introduction of 'rarely cover' was the second most frequently mentioned factor having a positive impact on workload.

Additional payments

To clarify issues that have arisen in schools, please note that in accordance with Section 2, paragraph 49.1 of the Document, "Subject to sub-paragraph (2), the relevant body may make such payments as they see fit to a teacher, including a headteacher, in respect of:-

(a) continuing professional development undertaken outside the school day;
(b) activities relating to the provision of initial teacher training as part of the ordinary conduct of the school;
(c) participation in out-of-school hours learning activity agreed between the teacher and headteacher or, in the case of the headteacher, between the headteacher and the relevant body;
(d) additional responsibilities and activities due to, or in respect of, the provision of services by the headteacher relating to the raising of educational standards to one or more additional schools. "

Cover

Schools are reminded that in accordance with Section 2 of the Document, paragraph 63.10, "Teachers should be required to provide cover in accordance with paragraph 61.7 only rarely, and only in circumstances that are not foreseeable (This does not apply to teachers who are employed wholly or mainly for the purpose of providing such cover). Also see Section 4 of the Document which gives details on the background, purpose of the provisions, implementation, definition of absence, management, school calendar and timetable, learning outside the classroom, gained time, no detriment, strategies for managing cover, supply teachers, cover supervision and higher level teaching assistants.

Cover supervisors and higher level teaching assistants are for short term absences only and should not be used as the remedy for the medium or long term absence of a teacher. Medium and long term absences should be covered by a teacher, possibly through a fixed term appointment or supply teacher.

Each school will need to consider the appropriate deployment of a supply teacher in the case of long term absence and may wish to revise the agreed timetable if there are good educational grounds for doing so. Such revisions should be subject to consultation with staff and their union representatives.

The school should monitor and analyse patterns of absence (planned and unplanned) and levels of cover and manage these appropriately.

Further information and useful resources can be found on the Norfolk Schools website - go to the A-Z index, select W for Workforce Remodelling - Resources, including Remodelling Newsletter No. 15 which gives further detail around the changes resulting from the National Workload Agreement.

For queries on workforce reform and related issues, please contact Peter Simmonds on 07795 265669, or Virginia Wakely on 01603 638092, . Or contact HR Direct on 01603 222212.

This MI sheet has been produced in liaison with the local social partnership group (Local WAMG) representing teacher and support staff unions - signatories to the National Workload Agreement, and also the NUT, plus Governor representation.