Under-fire consortia’s future to be discussed at conference
Asecond teaching union is questioning the cost effectiveness and work of the four school improvement consortia in Wales at a time of stretched education budgets.
Two motions on the matter are going to the UCAC annual conference which opens tomorrow.
They follow a call from teachers to the National Education Union Cymru’s annual conference in March (which was cancelled by snow) to “call time” on the consortia.
Motions that had been due to go to that conference said the consortia, a cornerstone of Wales’ education policy in recent years, have failed and should be replaced with a body devised by the profession.
The four consortia, created by the Welsh Government and launched in 2012, operate on hundreds of millions of pounds which come to them via Welsh Government through the Pupils Development Grant, and other grants, and the 22 local education authorities they assist, the NEU said.
Now UCAC’s Monmouthshire, Torfaen and Newport Association and its Conwy Association have motions going to that union’s annual conference calling on it to “note the increasing influence of the regional consortia over education and the increase in the numbers of personnel they employ.”
It goes on: “In view of the increasing cuts to school budgets, conference calls on the Welsh Government to publish – in a transparent manner – all funding sources for the regional consortia, and to carry out a value for money audit based on the impact on raising standards in the sector in relation to the impact on school budgets.”
A second motion from UCAC’s Wrexham Association asks the conference to note “various apparently compulsory requirements presented to schools and teachers by the regional consortia e.g. requesting more than one version of the school’s self-evaluation report, officers giving conflicting advice on the same subject.”
The motion adds: “Conference calls on the consortia to ensure that they plan ahead and communicate effectively at the start of each school year so that everyone can create a work schedule and reduce workload.”
Asked to respond to the motions the four consortia (CSC, ERW, EAS and GwE) issued a joint statement saying: “All consortia have appropriate value for money policy and framework, which links clearly the resources that are used with the results that are achieved.
“For 2018-19, there have been significant budgets cuts to the core funding provided to each consortium and grant allocations for supporting schools have also been reduced. The present two-year grant settlement will see a cut of around 40% to numerous budget lines. This is on top of a cumulative cut of around 20% since 2013.
“The four consortia are effectively working together to support schools to deliver national priorities including the delivery of high quality national leadership development programmes at all levels.
“The consortia also work effectively in partnership with school leaders, teachers and support staff in continuing to raise standards and improving pupil attainment. Together we are fully committed to reducing bureaucracy and workload for schools and in ensuring effective communication with all stakeholders. Additionally, since 2013, delegation rates of resources into schools since 2013 have increased in all regions.
“The consortia and Welsh Government are also committed to establishing a self-improving school system based on effective collaboration between schools that are competent learning organisations.”
Mike Glavin, managing director of the Central South Consortium, added: “The Central South Consortium welcomes feedback from all education unions.
“The Consortium has recently undertaken its third annual value for money audit. Estyn recently noted that: ‘In partnership with a local higher education institution, the consortium has begun to pilot a model of measuring value for money using seven key measures. These include more than a simple analysis of resource input tied to educational outcomes; rather it looks in greater detail at seven key elements to help the assessment of value for money.
“‘These include ‘economy, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability, collaborative advantage, added value and quality’.
“The number of staff employed by CSC has reduced year upon year since 2012. A further change management process is currently underway, which will see our teams further streamlined to ensure that we are able to delegate the highest possible funds to schools. We are also currently in the process of moving our base. Our new location will see significant cost savings resulting in further resources being made available to schools.
“The Welsh Government model for regional consortia requires a minimum of 80% of the education improvement grant to be delegated to schools; we delegate 94%.
“In line with Welsh Government requirements we have recently published our business plan for 2018/19. Our plan contains information about our funding streams along with our governance model. The business plan is available on our website.
“Our core revenue assumptions incorporate a further 2% efficiency saving for 2018-2019, following previous financial cuts of 5% in 2016/17 and 5% in 2017/18 along with significant cuts to grant funding since 2016.”
He said a joint cross-consortia campaign with ERW, EAS and GwE has also taken place which has focused on reducing teacher workload.
The campaign was produced in collaboration with Estyn, NAHT Cymru, UCAC, NASUWT, National Education Union Cymru, Welsh Government, Education Workforce Council, Unison, ASCL, Voice Cymru, Association of Directors of Education in Wales and Undeb yr Athrawon.
The four school improvement providers are:
■ Central South Consortium Joint Education Service which works with Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taf and Vale of Glamorgan councils;
■ GwE (Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Wrexham and Anglesey councils);
■ South East Wales Education Achievement Service (Blaenau Gwent, Caerphilly, Monmouthshire, Newport and Torfaen councils);
■ ERW (Carmarthenshire, Neath and Port Talbot, Pembrokeshire, Powys and Swansea councils).
Education Minister Kirsty Williams is due to address the UCAC annual conference which runs from April 20 to 21 in Nant Gwrtheyrn, Llithfaen.