inset day attendance

Sophie Fordham, Jft's legal adviser, answers: The issue of INSET days is important for both full and part-time staff but many teachers are unclear of the obligations and their rights. Below the regulations are outlined.

INSET or Baker days
INSET or In-service Training days were introduced by the then Tory education secretary Kenneth Baker (hence Baker days) so that headteachers could bring all their staff together for training purposes. They should be an important tool for headteachers to help staff maintain and develop their professional skills and knowledge for whole school development planning.

Timing
The organisation and timing of inset days is at the discretion of the individual school and each school is expected to take local circumstances into account when planning the times. Usually they are timed to be at the beginning or end of the school holidays, as this often results in less disruption.

Attendance is voluntary
The secretary of state recognises that teachers may not want or be able to attend INSET days and expects headteachers to respect individual teachers choice and to have respect to equal opportunities.

Full-time teachers are not required to undertake INSET days outside their directed time, that is the 195 days on which the document requires them to be available for specified work, of which 190 are teaching days.

The five days when school sessions are not required were introduced to support a number of non-teaching activities, including INSET days. Training held on twilight hours would normally come within the directed time.

Part-time staff cannot be required to attend inset training outside the times when they are normally required to teach.

Payment for INSET days
In the School Teachers Pay Document 1999 the guidelines for payment are as follows:

"Payment to teachers for in-service training may only be made:
a. in respect of such training undertaken on a day other than any of the 195 days on which the teacher must be available for work in accordance with paragraph 51.2,
b. in the case of teachers employed to teach part-time and deputy head teachers, in respect of such training undertaken on a Saturday or Sunday or during school holiday, ...
and shall be determined by the relevant body."

Discretion
So the school has the option to make additional payments to full-time and part-time teachers and deputy headteachers who undertake voluntary INSET at weekends or during school holidays.

Regulation 94 states that part-time teachers and deputy headteachers may receive payments for INSET undertaken on a Saturday or Sunday or during school holidays. Headteachers and advanced skills teachers are not eligible for payments.

Information on the school's policy on payment should be available from your school's salary policy.

In conclusion
It is clear from the regulations that attendance outside the regular required hours at INSET days is not obligatory. If you are required to attend INSET training outside your contracted hours then this is voluntary. As regards your right for payment this will depend on the discretion of your school. Information should be available from the school's salary policy.