The Aspirations Academy Trust (www.aspirationsacademies.org) is a charitable multi-academy trust focusing on academies across Banbury,  Bournemouth, Poole, Feltham. A list of their academy schools can be found on their website.

Statement from their website

‘Aspirations Academies Trust is a charitable organisation operating in association with the Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations (QISA) and Aspirations Unlimited International (AUI).

QISA is an independent, nonprofit organisation dedicated to promoting and putting into practice the conditions that foster student aspirations in schools and learning communities around the world. QISA is the primary education partner of the Aspirations Academies Trust, with support provided by Aspirations Unlimited International.

AUI provides dynamic assessment tools designed to achieve the goal of fostering student aspirations in order for students to reach their fullest potential.’

Pay and Conditions in Aspirations Academies

The NASUWT seek to ensure that members in academy schools have, at least, the equivalent pay award to teachers in other maintained schools.

Teachers working in a Aspirations Academy should continue to receive the same pay increase and benefits as teachers in the maintained sector.

Protection of your pay and conditions under TUPE

Staff who transferred when the school became an academy transferred under TUPE and therefore benefit from the protections of TUPE.

One of those protections is that changes to the transferred contract of employment cannot be made. Regulation 4(4) TUPE sets that out - any purported variation to the contract will be void. Therefore requiring staff that transferred under TUPE to sign new contracts is not permitted. 

The protection from TUPE does not apply only to certain terms and conditions. TUPE applies to the whole contract.

The employer cannot pick and choose which bits of the contract are protected by TUPE - it is all protected by TUPE and so there should not be any move to introduce new contracts.

Employees therefore have the legal right to transfer to the new employer on their existing terms and conditions of employment and with all their existing employment rights and liabilities intact. Effectively, the new employer steps into the shoes of the old employer and it is as though the employee's contract of employment was always made with the new employer.

NB: Where an independent trade union had been recognised by the outgoing employer in respect of transferring employees, recognition will transfer to the incoming employer.

National Recognition Agreement

The NASUWT with the other school workforce trade unions has not yet negotiated a trade union recognition agreement with Aspirations Academy Trust for consultation and collective bargaining purposes.

AAT refused to accept the TUC Model agreement for academies and we are in discussions over the issue of facility time.

Employment Policies and Procedures

The trade unions will now be entering into discussions with the Trust in respect of a range of employment policies and procedures.

The NASUWT nationally has agreed regular meeting dates with the employer.

Pay and Performance Management/Appraisal

Throughout the negotiations, the NASUWT has worked constructively with the employer to seek to secure acceptable policies on pay and performance management/appraisal. AAT has worked with the unions and has moved some way to address our concerns in the wording of both policies.

The NASUWT advised there were a number of aspects set out in the PM Policy that we would not sign up to including:

 that it was not in line with the annual limit of 3 hours / 3 observations; the status of learning walks as observations; the inclusion of mock Ofsted inspections; career stage descriptors; appraisal objectives being “set” for teachers; additional appraisal objective in respect of TLR roles.

NASUWT believe this to be a demoralising document that is an extreme example of bad practice.

The NASUWT has not agreed the PM or Pay policies. The policies are not yet compliant with the NASUWT pay and performance management/appraisal requirements.