Happy New Year! In this Bulletin:

BGM Reminder

Teaching Observation & Peer Observation

BYOD

Climate, Coffee & Conversation

Solidarity With Sheffield UCU

BGM Reminder

The second Branch General Meeting of the academic year will be held via Teams on 21 January, 1.30-3.00.

Agenda Items

1. L-SL Progression
2. Other Ongoing Disputes
   – Redundancy Prevention
   – Block Delivery & Sprints
   – Recording of Teaching
   – Grade G Teaching Roles
3. Teaching Obs & Peer Obs
4. Appraisal
5. AOB

Remember that BGMs and AGMs are official union meetings and you are legally entitled to time off to attend them. Senior mgmt have promised that no teaching sessions or other staff meetings will be scheduled to clash, but some managers do seem to forget this, so please let us know if you encounter any difficulties.

Members for whom we have a Lancashire email address have been sent a calendar appointment. Others please join via the link you have been emailed.

Teaching Observation & Peer Observation

Management have confirmed the following:

• The version of the Teaching Observation scheme now in use is the version previously agreed with UCU and will remain so until any revisions are agreed with UCU.
• The Peer Dialogue scheme is a new initiative and is not intended to replace any existing scheme. Participation in it is entirely voluntary.
• The Peer Observation Scheme has not changed from the version agreed with UCU. The CCL website has been amended to show that the Peer Observation and Peer Dialogue schemes are separate from each other and there are no plans to change or phase out the agreed scheme.

BYOD

LIS would welcome hearing from UCU members on the  User Owned Device policy (aka Bring Your Own Device or BYOD). LIS are aware that there have been some issues around staff using their own devices for doing university work and would like feedback on the policy, particularly if either use of one’s own device or the necessity of using a university-provided device has caused issues or prevented innovation.

Please send your use cases to Paul Colling in LIS with the Subject line “UX-UseCase”: PSColling@lancashire.ac.uk

Climate, Coffee & Conversation

Members interested in campaigning on environmental issues at the university are encouraged to join the Climate, Coffee & Conversation Teams space – created to connect with colleagues across the university and share ideas on how to embed sustainability on campus.

Throughout the year the Climate, Coffee & Conversation team also organises informal gatherings that are advertised on the Teams space and Sharepoint, aimed at all colleagues interested in environmental sustainability – in a similar spirit to the Green Network set up by UCU Green Reps in the past.

Solidarity With Sheffield UCU

A message from comrades in Sheffield. Please attend if you can.

Calling all UCU members — Staff at the University of Sheffield are under attack by their management, and we need your support as individuals and branches. Much like many institutions across the sector, University of Sheffield management are trying to make unprecedented cuts to staffing levels, despite the University’s finances being in healthy shape. In response, Sheffield UCU has taken 16 days of strike action and are poised to take more. However, now University management are threatening a lockout of any staff members who take part in Action Short of a Strike and refuse to reschedule teaching that would have occurred during strike action. Sheffield UCU are standing strong in the face of this threat, and through constant work and negotiations have held off a lockout for the first week of January, but this is one of the most punitive responses to ASOS that UKHE has seen, and we need the support of all UCU members to fight it! Pivotal negotiations are occurring this week, but SUCU members face potential indefinite lockout starting on 12 January. Please join us on 12 January 3:30pm to hear about the dispute and discuss what it might mean for other UCU branches. Register here to attend. Solidarity, Sheffield UCU Branch Committee”

Lancashire UCU Branch Committee

In this Bulletin:

Open Member Meeting Reminder

Appraisal Update

Teaching Observation, Peer Observation and Peer Dialogue Schemes

Open Member Meeting Reminder

The second Open Member Meeting of the year will take place next Wednesday, 26 November, at 1.00-2.00pm. For logistical reasons, this one will be on Teams only, at the link you have been emailed.

These are informal, no-agenda meetings for members to bring any concerns or ideas to the Branch Committee. Come and tell us what is happening in your schools/services.

Appraisal Update

In the last bulletin we advised members not to use the appraisal form that management recently tried to introduce without appropriate consultation. We have also told Management that objectives that stem from that appraisal form are not viewed by UCU as legitimate objectives. Management have confirmed that, until the situation is resolved, managers will not insist the new form is used, that there will no penalty for refusing to use the form, and that appraisal objectives can simply be recorded in a Word document. While discussions with management on this are ongoing, management should continue to carry out appraisals. The current situation with the form should not mean that appraisals are postponed. A form is not necessarily needed for an appraisal to be carried out effectively but a good form can provide a useful guide for members about what to expect. In the absence of a suitable form, here’s our advice on what you should expect in your appraisal:

1. Achieving or maintaining shared understanding about the scope, purpose and nature of your role. This should include agreeing your written workload, which should be consistent with the University’s policies (as described in the Lancashire UCU guidance). Appraisal is a year-round process, which involves not only agreeing the workload plan for the academic year before it begins but also modifying it and keeping it up to date as the academic year progresses. The workload plan should consist of time allocations that allow specified objectives to be met, and appraisal involves not only agreeing that plan but reviewing it. The feasibility of objectives must be assessed, for example in relation to their appropriateness for your role, whether adequate resources have been provided (which will include time but also potentially other things) and any other potential or actual barriers to achieving the objectives.

2. When appropriate, setting a development/progression plan and monitoring your progress with it. If you are Assistant Lecturer or Lecturer at Points 36—38, then you should have a three-year progression plan whose successful completion will allow you to progress to, respectively, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer (unless you have chosen not to undertake a progression plan). If you’re in any other Grade G teaching role or Grade H role, we suggest that you contact UCU for personalised advice. For any member who aspires to be promoted to a higher grade, a development plan that will enable you to demonstrate your ability to perform a higher-graded role can form part of the appraisal.

3. Your needs in relation to training and development should be discussed, including a discussion of what the employer can provide to support this.

4. There should be a discussion of any links between your health and well-being and your work. This could include identifying action the employer needs to take to prevent work from having a negative impact on your well-being or considering how existing health issues are affecting your experience at work or ability to carry out your work.

Teaching Observation, Peer Observation and Peer Dialogue Schemes

The UCU bulletin for October reported that Management had surreptitiously replaced the version of the Teaching Observation scheme that was negotiated and agreed with UCU by a significantly different version not discussed, negotiated or agreed with UCU. It now seems that this fate has also befallen the Peer Observation Scheme, which was negotiated and agreed with UCU, but has been surreptitiously replaced by an unnegotiated new version called Peer Dialogue Scheme. Therefore, for the time being, if you are asked to participate in Teaching Observation or in the Peer Observation/Dialogue scheme, UCU advise you to decline. If your line manager attempts to instruct you to participate then UCU advise you to seek UCU support. Once the versioning issues have been resolved and UCU are sure that only a negotiated and agreed version is in use, we will send updated advice in a branch bulletin.

Lancashire UCU Branch Committee