Prior to the signing of the agreement teachers had accrued a range of duties that had little or nothing to do with their core area of expertise. The contractual changes were agreed in order to reverse this and make teachers free to teach.
The agreement also recognises that the planning and preparation of lessons and pupil assessment are key elements of successful teaching and a guaranteed allocation for these activities during the school day (guaranteed PPA time). The agreement also introduced a contractual right to leadership and management time for those teachers with leadership and management responsibilities.
In schools which have followed the remodelling process in order to facilitate implementation of the agreement, the formation of school change team has allowed teachers to help decide how the agreement should be implemented.
