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Professional expectations for teachers and pay and conditions for leaders dominated the debate at the last Council meeting held on 2-3 March.

STRB pay and conditions review

Council heard that the STRB (School Teachers' Review Body) is embarking on a review of pay and conditions of school leaders. This is due in great measure to ASCL's evidence to the STRB last autumn and our ongoing campaign to raise the issue of school leaders' pay, workload and increasing responsibility.

ASCL is preparing evidence to submit to the review, the results of which will be announced in the autumn term. Much of the background for our evidence will come out of ASCL's recent publication Leadership that Lasts. Members of the review panel have already requested, and been given, copies of the book.

Election results

Malcolm Trobe of Malmsbury School in Wiltshire was elected unopposed as president for 2006-07. Brian Lightman of St Cyres School in Penarth was elected unopposed as vice president for 2006-07. Congratulations go to them both and we look forward to their leadership next year.

In the national elections, six members were elected for three years:

• Spokey Wheeler, Burlington Danes School, London

• David Lowe, Cambridge Tutors College, Croydon

• Sue Moore, Queen Elizabeth II High School, Isle of Man

• John Morgan, Conyers School, Stockton

• Christine Wright, St Wilfrid's RC School, South Shields

• Pauline Thomas, Abertillery School, Blaenau Gwent

Two members were elected for one year:

• Rob Bray, Ilkeston School, Derbyshire

• Bernard Roberts, Prince Henry's High School, Evesham

Elections were also held for District 9: Western Shires, District 12: North East, District 13: North West and District 15: Northern Ireland. For the results, go to www.ascl.org.uk and to 'About us' and 'ASCL Council'.

Honorary membership for Tony Neal

It is customary to grant honorary membership of the association to former presidents when they retire from their school or college. Accordingly, the Executive Committee recommended to Council that Tony Neal, who retired as head of De Aston School, Market Rasen, at the end of December, be appointed as an honorary member.

Tony has served the association with great distinction in many ways, most notably as treasurer and president. He has also been our expert on statistics and on rural schools and we owe him a considerable debt not only for the work he has done for us but for the manner in which he has done it. Many a dour debate or dry financial report has been lightened by his wit and enlightened by his erudition. He remains as ASCL representative on the GTC.

Professional standards for teachers

ASCL has been asked to comment, via the Rewards and Incentives Group (RIG) on proposals for the new Professional Standards for Teachers. The TDA is leading this initiative. Stephen Szemerenyi, as ASCL's representative on RIG, shared the draft proposals at Council and asked for a response.

Council members were concerned that the proposals fell well short of what ASCL members expected, especially in reference to UPS3 (or specifically a lack of any reference to UPS3).

Therefore the following resolution was passed: "ASCL's long standing objective of having a continuum of professional expectations for teachers is not being met by the current proposals. Separate standards for UPS3 would be a step towards achieving our original objective."

Council believes that unless significant progress is made towards ASCL's objective of a continuum of professional expectations, the association may not be able to agree to the proposals for standards for classroom teachers.

CPD matrix

A new continuing professional development (CPD) matrix, created by ASCL Council members, is available on the website.

With the advent of workforce remodelling, the continuing professional development of every staff member has become essential. In addition staff no longer need to be limited to previous conventions with regard to how they contribute to school or college life.

To help staff and school and college leaders think 'outside the box', ASCL's Professional Committee has produced a professional development matrix which outlines the traditional CPD opportunities for academic and support staff during their career development, and looks at ways that all staff can contribute to the whole school.

The basic template for the framework can be found on the website at www.ascl.org.uk. It is in the members' area under 'guidance'.

Once you've downloaded it, you can tailor it to your own needs, for instance by adding extra roles, enlarging it and giving it to staff development coordinators, putting it on the staff room wall or including it in the staff handbook. The choice is yours!

Obviously this is a dynamic framework, so if you have ideas that could be added to the present format, do send them to gw@doyrms.com

Beverly Birchley, Professional Committee