Jessica O'ConnorMembers of the National Education Union (NEU) working in sixth form colleges have secured new contractual workload protections following negotiations with the Sixth Form Colleges Association and fellow union NASUWT as part of the 2025/26 pay round.
The agreement includes the introduction of Planning, Preparation and Assessment (PPA) time into sixth form college teachers’ terms and conditions, alongside a ‘rarely cover’ equivalent, agreed principles on directed time and workload, and new joint guidance on class sizes and contact hours.
While PPA time has existed in schools since 2005, sixth form colleges have not previously had an equivalent entitlement.
Likewise, the ‘rarely cover’ provision, introduced in schools in 2009 to limit cover requirements for absent colleagues, had not previously existed in colleges.
The new principles on directed time and workload are intended to establish clearer parameters around teacher workload management within sixth form colleges.
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Through sustained negotiation and collective strength, NEU sixth form college teachers have gained important workload improvements.
“College workloads have steadily ticked upwards and are a significant driver of the retention and recruitment challenges within the education sector.’
Kebede added: “Our members were unequivocal that they needed genuinely protected time to plan, prepare and assess, while demands on college teachers to cover were constant in many instances.
“New workload principles will go a long way toward ensuring that teacher workloads are fair and balanced, whereas the enshrining of directed time in colleges at a time in which it is under threat in schools is an important step in the right direction for the sector.
“This workload win is down to the resolve of NEU sixth form college teachers to stand firm until their conditions improved, as well as a mark of the success of the effective dialogue between unions and employers that the sectoral collective bargaining structure in sixth form colleges facilitates.”
