Educational Institute
Of
Scotland
Highland Local Association
THE HIGHLAND COUNCIL
EDUCATION, CULTURE & SPORT SERVICE
Appointments Procedures - Principal Teachers (Secondary)
1. Introduction
1.1. Following consultation within schools regarding new management structures, thorough costing exercises using the job sizing toolkit should be carried out. Thereafter, the proposed structure should be signed off by the Area Education Manager.
1.2. Due to budgetary pressures, it may not be possible for a school to move to its new management structure immediately. A staged approach may be required with some aspects of the structure being put in place with immediate effect, whilst others will take a number of years to implement fully, being dependent on such factors as retirals of Principal Teachers. In such cases, Head Teachers should provide the Area Education Manager with a Transitional Plan at the point of sign off.
1.3. Following the proposed structure being signed off, Head Teachers should complete job sizing questionnaires for all new Principal Teacher posts within the new structure. These should be submitted to the Area Education Manager for signing off. Thereafter the AEM should forward the questionnaires to the Principal Staffing Resource Officer. The posts will be validated by a job sizing co-ordinator and thereafter processed through the job sizing toolkit in order to establish the scale point and salary for each post. The posts will be advertised showing the new job sized salary.
1.4. Each Principal Teacher post will have a generic Principal Teacher remit, agreed by the LNCT and based on Annex B of 'A Teaching Profession for the 21st Century'. The generic remit should be supplemented by post specific information as appropriate. However, it should be noted that all duties specific to the post must be related to and contained within Annex B, and capable of being carried out within contractual time. Principal Teacher posts will be allocated management time, commensurate with the size of the post, up to 0.5FTE.
1.5. The amount of management time for each post will be included in the job specific information which will be issued to all teachers who have indicated an interest in the post.
2. Matching procedure
2.1 Matching in is a process which may be applied to those holding the permanent post of Principal Teacher.
2.2 Where a Principal Teacher post in a new structure is unaltered from the corresponding post in the old structure, the post holder will be matched in to the new post.
2.3 In the case of Principal Teachers with responsibility for curricular areas, where the new Principal Teacher post involves an extension of 1 or more curricular areas, such a post will not be eligible for matching in, but will require to be advertised as described in Section 3.
2.4 Principal Teachers of Pupil Support may apply to be matched in to a new post. This application will be accepted if the post holder and the Authority agree that the duties of the two posts are broadly similar and do not involve significant changes in responsibility. Principal Teachers of Pupil Support who do not wish to be matched in will continue in their current post with their current duties. They may apply for a new post in the normal way if they so wish.
2.5 Agreement as to whether a Principal Teacher post meets the criteria for matching in should be reached between the Head Teacher and the current post holder. Where agreement cannot be reached, such cases should be referred to the Area Education Manager and thereafter to the Joint Secretaries of the LNC T.
2.6 Conservation rights will be as agreed nationally. Therefore, where a post holder is matched in to a post in the new structure, all conservation rights related to the post in the old structure are preserved. The matching in process does not affect the post holder's conservation rights in any way. Conservation rights are affected only if a post holder makes an application for and is appointed to a new post.
2.7 Matching in is restricted to the initial filling of posts in the new structure, and is likely to apply to only a small number of posts. It should be regarded as a transitional measure only, in that future vacancies of Principal Teacher posts will be advertised and filled in the normal manner.
3. Eligibility for promoted posts
3.1 Following the suspension until February 2007 of the requirement to advertise Principal Teacher posts nationally, all new Principal Teacher posts within new management structures other than those which have been matched in will be advertised using the following procedures.
3.2 In the first instance, Principal Teacher posts will be advertised internally to the school and open to Principal Teachers, Acting Principal Teachers, former Assistant Principal Teachers, and former Senior Teachers.
3.3 If an appointment is not made as outlined in 3.2, the post will be re-advertised internally to the school and open to all teaching staff within the school.
3.4 If an appointment is not made from staff within the school, the post will be advertised within the Highland Council area, and be open to all teaching staff.
3.5 If an appointment is not made from staff within the Highland Council area, the post may be advertised nationally.
4. Appointments
4.1 Staff eligible for matching in to posts in the new structure will not be required to apply for such posts, but will be matched in as outlined in Section 2.
4.2 Staff eligible to apply for new posts in the new structure should indicate interest in the normal manner.
4.3 Appointments will be made to new posts following competitive interview according to Highland Council's ECS appointments procedures for teaching staff.
5. Transitional arrangements
5.1 In order to sustain management capacity in particular subject areas, during session 2003-2004 transitional arrangements have been in place for Acting Principal Teachers of Guidance and Acting Principal Teachers who are sole teachers in charge of a subject.
5.2 Where a school is unable to move to part, or all, of its new structure in August 2004, and where there are currently in place Acting Principal Teachers of Guidance and / or Acting Principal Teachers who are sole teachers in charge of a subject, the posts of Acting Principal Teacher may continue until May 2005. This continuation of the post of Acting Principal Teacher will be considered on a case by case basis by the Area Education Manager, following discussion with the Head Teacher.
5.3 As schools move towards new structures, some posts will be old posts in the old structure whilst others will be new posts in the new structure. As post holders of old posts move from their post, the balance of old posts to new posts will change until no old posts remain.
5.4 Where Principal Teachers either do not apply for a new post, or are unsuccessful in applying for a new post, they will remain in their current position of Principal Teacher, retaining their current salary with associated conservation rights. They will continue to carry out management duties related to their current promoted post in line with Annex B of the '21st Century Agreement', commensurate with the amount of management time allocated, and complementary to those of the new Principal Teacher where one is appointed.
5.5 Principal Teachers who retain the post of Principal Teacher although not part of the new structure, as described in 5.4, will retain their current salary grade and any associated right to conservation.
Contact:
Andrew M Stewart
EIS Highland Local Association Secretary
98 Obsdale Park
ALNESS
Ross-shire IV17 0TR
Tel: 01349 884750
E-mail: Andrew.Stewart@highland.gov.uk or astewart@eis.org.uk
