ASCL urging members to refuse requests

ASCL has written to governors and directors of children's services to remind them of their role in reducing workload for senior leaders.

ASCL is especially concerned at the excessive demands being made by some local authorities for information that isn't easily accessible from existing data collection systems and thus places an added burden on school leaders' workload.

Due to this, ASCL urges all members to refuse to comply with local authority requests that require extra data manipulation and to alert ASCL by emailing malcolm.trobe@ascl.org.uk with a brief description of the request and the name of the local authority.

A resolution passed at the February Council meeting sets out ASCL's position in more detail. The letter sent to directors of children's services in March makes clear this position and ASCL's advice to members. See page 14 for more on the resolution.

ASCL also sent a letter to governors, co-signed by the National Governors Association, reminding them of their duty to have regard to the work/life balance of heads when carrying out their duties. The letter encourages them to organise the governing body's work in order to have minimal impact on heads' time outside of school hours.

For a copy of both letters, visit www.ascl.org.uk and click on current issues.