Very unusually the Government has amended the 2023 STCPD mid-year with a new annex 5 detailing the administrative tasks which teachers should not ordinarily be expected to do.
You can view the revised document here: School teachers’ pay and conditions document 2023 (March 2024) (publishing.service.gov.uk)
The new guidance can be found on page 85 onwards.
The inclusion of a list of administrative tasks was one of the changes which the Government committed to make following the initial report and recommendations from the Teachers’ Workload Reduction Workforce earlier this year.
The list it expands the existing requirement in para 52.8 of the STCPD which states:
A teacher should not be required routinely to participate in any administrative, clerical and organisational tasks which do not call for the exercise of a teacher’s professional skills and judgment, including those associated with the arrangements for preparing pupils for external examinations such as invigilation
There are no real surprises in the list of tasks - but is slightly different to the original 21 tasks list that was removed from the STPCD in 2013. The accompanying guidance makes it clear that the list of tasks is not exhaustive but is illustrative – and encourages Schools to consider 3 questions when assessing the appropriateness of any task
- Does it need to be done at all?
- Is the task of an administrative or clerical nature?
- Does it call for the exercise of a teacher’s professional skills or judgment?
The Annex sits under Section 3 of the STPCD – the non-statutory guidance – so whilst Schools need to have due regard to the requirements it is not binding in the same way as the other Sections of the STPCD.
Whilst it has been established practice for some years that teachers should not be undertaking tasks which detract from their core teaching and learning accountabilities – the list does serve to clarify expectations and is likely to be referred to by teachers and unions in instances where disputes over workload arise.
Please do contact us should you have any queries regarding this guidance.
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