Public and Commercial Services Union

Education group

The PCS Education group brings together the DfE and several of it’s Arms Length Bodies (ALBs) together to discuss areas of shared interest.

At present, the department and each of the ALBs are responsible for their own negotiations around terms and conditions of employment, as legally they are treated as individual employers. However, this is in the process of changing as a result of the Public Bodies Bill and the group is sharing information and planning for an anticipated return to “single table” bargaining as a result of these changes.

The Education Group is currently made up of the following areas:

• Department for Education (DfE)
• Becta
• Children’s Workforce Development Council (CWDC)
• General Teaching Council for England (GTC)
• Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QCDA)
• Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA)
• Young Persons Learning Agency (YPLA)

The first and most important element of the Group is you, the member.

Without membership involvement and activity PCS is not able to function effectively as a union. Member representation largely takes place at branch level. A branch may be a particular building or several all containing members of that organisation, and will be involved in advice and personal representation, meetings with members and distribution of union materials.

View further details of the current Education Group Branches and key representatives.

Group executive committee

Covering all of the branches within Dfe and it’s ALBs there is a group executive committee (GEC). This is made up of representatives elected by the group membership to take forward issues common to all the branches which have been passed by the annual group conference.

At present, the GEC is made up of elected representatives from the DfE, with lead reps from the ALBs attending as observers in an advisory capacity. In 2011, there will be a fully combined GEC with the ALBs also electing representatives to the GEC.

Although it is likely that changes to electoral structures will be required in the near future as a result of the reforms being made, the GEC sees it as crucial that all areas are properly represented and so ensures that all have the opportunity to contribute to any decisions made.

In order to do this we will continue to attempt to ensure all areas are able to send a locally elected representative to GEC meetings, especially where they have been unable to elect a representative through the normal annual elections.

Branches will carry on as normal

Individual branches in both the department and the ALBs will continue to function as normal throughout the coming re-structuring of the group, and updates on current issues such as pay negotiations, changes to performance management systems and site issues will be available on this website as well as through normal Branch distribution methods.

PCS priorities are ultimately its members’ priorities. This is reflected in the way that PCS has grown in membership. This growth increases our influence with employers.

If you want to see improvements to your pay and do not want to be disciplined unfairly, or if you want to work in healthy conditions without being continually overloaded with work, then joining PCS and playing a role in the union’s work is the way to turn what you want into a reality.