unions/bcs

[griffin]

Originally Posted by webman

It's not just the schools and LEAs that need to standardise their own pay scales, I think the whole country has to conform to one standard, like they do for teachers.

Now this I completley agree with, as at the momment I work in London but if I were to move Jobs I would not only loose london waiting (expected) but also sometimes drop down the paymant scale.

As already mentioned the other issue facing ICT techs in school is outsourcing.This will possibley affect lots of us in years to come as this may be an intergral part of many Building Schools for the Future initiatives.

[russdev]

i agree and bsf is one of things i am discussing at local level with various techs not only in leiceter city where that ia already under way etc so can get a real life impact and also at local union level..

which i hope will lead to talks on national level with unions about it...

Russell..

[pshuttle]

[quote="TechMonkey"] I can handle most things but if I was to head off into the big wide world I don't think I could get a similar job as I have because I dont have the backend (ohh errr!) knowledge. There is no chance of picking it up really as the courses are way too much for the school to pay for so I start feeling a bit insecure.
[quote]

Now I can agree with you there TechMonkey, I also have previously felt that in the past. However, I have had to make up the skills outside of every day work - for example I managed to get a fairly regular slot giving tuition on the Mac on behalf of Lancaster University.

Also, the school has invested in a 30 Mac network with Xserve server and I have been responsible for setting it all up ready for use with Open Directory etc - the only reason I was given this responsibility is because I had previous Mac knowledge (gained outside of school with the private tuition - although I have always owned a Mac).

Hopefuly this is setting me up nicely for a new job in the not too distant future. But it can be very frustrating if you feel stuck in a rut with no training and stale skills... I am afraid if you have tried talking to your employer about it the only route forward is probably out of your current job.

Pete

[broc]

Traditionally, funding for schools is set to a formula, as is local government funding from central government. Roughly 90% of a secondary schools budget will be swallowed up by salaries etc. The teaching unions negotiate payrises, threshold payments etc with central government, the costs of which are passed on to local government. Frequently, not all of the teacher salary increases are funded which means the school budget has to pick up the difference.

The net result is salary increases, promotions for the rest of us are limited by what is left in the budget. As Chair of Governors at a secondary school in a neighbouring LEA I am all too aware of this!

[broc]

Traditionally, funding for schools is set to a formula, as is local government funding from central government. Roughly 90% of a secondary schools budget will be swallowed up by salaries etc. The teaching unions negotiate payrises, threshold payments etc with central government, the costs of which are passed on to local government. Frequently, not all of the teacher salary increases are funded which means the school budget has to pick up the difference.

The net result is salary increases, promotions for the rest of us are limited by what is left in the budget. As Chair of Governors at a secondary school in a neighbouring LEA I am all too aware of this!

[GrumbleDook]

The big thing that hit schools (and a lot of other employers) was the NI increase.

The funding situation is one of the reasons why so many schools are in dire need of sponsorship etc ...

Those schools with specialisms get additional funding but they are tied to certain areas of development within the school.

There are several groups out there that help with sponsorship and grants ... but there are so many schools after it now that it is being spread very thinly.

[pshuttle]

Ours is a Technoloy College - so you would think that the salaries for the techies would be reasonable-ish. Well they aren't!

Pete

[beeswax]

Originally Posted by GrumbleDook

There are several groups out there that help with sponsorship and grants ... but there are so many schools after it now that it is being spread very thinly.

let me start the ball rolling on this one with the Ogden Trust. Peter Ogden was an old boy at the primary where I was a governor, so that's how I know of him. It may not be germaine to this thread, but it could help a school somewhere.
beeswax

[russdev]

interesting was discussing with union rep today read white paper that is being published today....

there is something very interesting in to do with pay...

more at 3:30 when it gets published


russ

[ChrisH]

Who, What where?

[russdev]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4757496.stm


http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/...spectionsbill/

russ

[mark]

I think local control, especially of finances will mean better pay and conditions for support staff. Schools want to pay for support but are restricted by ever decreasing budgets. That's what all this is about after all - the government doesn't raise enough money to pay for education so they're farming it out.

Wales will follow on - eventually

[lols]

I suppose my biggest grip is that in our school we have lots of TA's doing various roles, some are working with a small group, or one to one support.
In an extreme situation the various Ta's could swop jobs and it would not be a big problem but no one could walk straight into my job and do all the things I do. My argument is why should I then get lumped in the same getting paid the same wage as they are! Surely expertise counts for something. We need to be considered differently to just support staff!


There are also courses available for them to go on but in the four years I have doing my job not a single course has come up.

Sorry just having a moan. We had a meeting with our Unison Rep this week and even he could not come up with a solution.

[mark]

With talk of re-juggling posts and grades at my place lol it's always said "well we just don't know where you come in" [as IT Tech].
The guidelines i've seen are extremely vague and open to interpretation. You can point your Head/Manager to the Becta guidelines and get them you put you into a category following some general criteria:

http://www.becta.org.uk/techcomp/jdt...efsect=schools

Then [make sure they're sitting down first] line those up with the pay scales

[markman]

ICT trining is too expensive and this school are fine to help; they were paying for my degree but I had to pass the modules and they would pay me back and at 500 quid a time it isn't easy. Now I want to do MCSA they have suggested the same thing but probably with part payment. I had to appy to governors for this though because the cost was quite high.
Schools are run as businesses now and have to with budgets being tight.

One idea that used to work for me with pay rises was to go and apply for a new job, get an interview and then announce it to my boss and he would get worried run off and next thing I would get an increase (luckily he was a governor as well). I don't think it would happen with my new boss.
My current job description doesn't allow me for any further negotiations either, it looks as if I am running the school by all accounts!!