More time for teachers' training
Monday 09 April 2012
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EmailTeachers snowed under with a huge and growing workload are calling for a big campaign to help them get time for professional development.
Delegates to the NASUWT annual conference in Birmingham pinpointed the problem in Wales and said the School Teacher Appraisal (Wales) Regulation 2011 paved the way for trouble.
A resolution - passed unanimously - said it heralds a performance management system which fails to respect a work-life balance for teachers and head teachers.
It was unnecessary to keep a required special portfolio based on "reflective practice" in relation to professional development.
Delegates called on the Welsh government to provide extra funding so portfolio time can be found in the timetable.
John Tobutt of Cardiff said it will create "massive problems" and the idea was a "prescriptive, dictatorial" system which offers no support.
Delegates were also "appalled" by political attempts to redefine schools and colleges as "low-risk" environments and noted lives of children and adults are being risked as a result of "reckless and simplistic" waffle by government.
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