Single Status - The Final Frontier May 4, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized , 4comments
On return to Musselburgh Grammar this afternoon I found a copy of the new pay and grading model on my desk. It had apparently been slid under the door of my office this morning and it made very interesting reading.
As the figures have not been officially announced I guess they have to be taken with a pinch of salt and cant be replied upon.
If they do indeed turn out to be true then technical support staff in East Lothian will be placed on a scale that will give then a rise of less than £1 an hour. Other support staff in the school will lose money.
Technical support staff haven’t had a pay review for 20 years now (not for want of trying) and it was hoped that job evaluation would take into account the radical change in working practices experienced by technicians over the past twenty years. It quite obviously has not.
If these pay scales are implemented then East Lothian support staff will continue to be amongst the lowest paid in all of the 32 local authorities.
Being bottom of the pile is not something that sits easy with me, certainly not something I envisaged whilst studying for my ONC and HNC at Stevenson and Napier.
The title of a clash song comes to mind. Any suggestions ??
Technorati Tags: elcouncil, single status, east lothian council
Support Staff Conference May 4, 2007
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I attended a meeting this morning in Haddington.
Various members of Education support staff had gathered to discuss improving links and communication between the differing professions that support the learning and teaching process within East Lothian.
The primary idea is to hold a conference for support staff in order for them to get to know each other, find out about what each job fully entails, network and generally help raise the profile of an important and essential part of the education process thats often forgotten about.
The head of education, Don Ledingham, is passionate about all staff being fully involved in the education process and is working to try to break down the traditional hierarchical structures that can exist within schools to enable this to happen.
We talked about how our varying roles as support staff were generally treated by members of management teams in educational establishments, and it became obvious that recognition of staff’s contributions and value by management, were, to put it mildly, patchy.
The need for teamwork within schools was identified as crucial to enhancing the experience of the pupils at our schools and no doubt this will be one of the topics that will take centre stage when the education support workers conference takes place later on in the year.
Technorati Tags: elcouncil, support staff
Youtube, Google and Science Videos April 26, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized, digital imaging, video , 3commentsWhilst talking to a colleague, Irene Sommerville, about the use of videos in the classroom she asked if I knew of any way to download videos from google or youtube.
She had been keen to show a google clip in one of her classes but found that due to the current speed of the network it was impracticable to wait the length of time necessary that the clip needed to “load up” on the google website before being able to be shown.
The only way I knew was to download the google videoplayer but I think Irene really wanted a store of videos that she could call up at a couple of clicks.
This morning Irene told me she had found a website called vixy that will take the URL of the google or youtube video and convert it into an AVI file that can be saved on your desktop etc. If you want to give it a try click on the image below and let me know what you think.
I haven’t really had a chance to try it out but thought I would let people know about it and see if it could be of any use in compiling a database of videos that can be readily shown in schools that struggle with the speed of their connection.
Technorati Tags: youtube, google, vixy
East Lothian Glow Mentors Online April 23, 2007
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I am sitting using the video conferencing facility within Glow. Tess Watson, Robin Strain and Dave”glow boy” Rawson are also on. Its proving very informative and the marratech software is working well.
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All Glow again April 23, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized , add a comment
Following on from my post this morning I decided to have another go on the Glow portal at lunchtime.
I was surprised when the Marratech video conferencing software took downloaded itself and burst into life. It took me quite by surprise I can tell you.
I will be attempting to use it a bit later on tonight when some of the glow mentors will be going online for a bit of a natter to discuss the finer points of the glow portal.
Now all I have to do is suss out if the firewall will let me through.
Hopefully all should go well and I will be back in the field of play rather than being on the sidelines.
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Technorati Tags: glow, glowscotland, elcouncil, it, marratech
Single Status Update April 23, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Single Status, Uncategorized , 1 comment so farOn returning to work last week I was anxious to update myself on how the single status negotiations had been going in East Lothian.
I found some information on the intranet and the news was as I thought it may be. A collective agreement may not be possible on the pay and grading model.
Unison have stated that it is unlikely that they will be instructed by their legal advisers to recommend a collective agreement. If a collective agreement doesn’t take place then the council could then force through the new pay and grading model without the backing of the unions, but if they do do this it would mean no backdating of pay for staff.
Some of the new terms and conditions have, after negotiation, been revised
- Overtime premium rates will be paid after 37hrs (was after 40 hrs)
- Overtime calculator of time 4/10ths i.e 40% (was 33%)
- Weekend working as part of normal contractual working week - an hourly enhancement of additional 10% (was zero)
- Public holidays - 6 fixed and 6 floating (was 4 fixed, 8 floating)
- Working day defined as 6am - 10pm (was 6am - 11pm)
So what happens next?
Throughout May staff will receive their employee information packs advising them of the predicted outcomes for the grading of their jobs under the new revised pay and grading model. Details of individuals new salary range will be confirmed and employee consultation packs will be attached to the information pack detailing the revised terms and conditions proposals.
I, like thousands of others working for East Lothian Council, will be anxiously waiting for these packs to drop through the letterbox hoping that I am not one of the 15% that will be red circled and lose pay.
Technorati Tags: elcouncil, single staus, job evaluation, unison
No Glow April 23, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, ICT, Uncategorized , add a comment
Since returning from holiday, I have been trying in vain to take part in the phase 2 of the Glow trial.
I can get logged on but am unable to install the necessary software needed to take part in the video conferencing aspect of Glow.
I understand that some of the laptops provided to Glow mentors in East Lothian have the software preloaded whilst others (like mine) will need to have it installed by one of our IT officers.
Our excellent IT officers are always busy and I think by the time I log a call and get someone out to install the software it will be too late to take part in this phase of the trial so I am feeling a bit left out merely watching from the sidelines.
Hopefully by the time the third part of the trial takes place, information will be relayed by the Glow team to the mentors so that the necessary software needed for the other tools within Glow can be preloaded and ready to go.
Technorati Tags: glow, glowscotland, elcouncil, IT
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Sagrada Familia April 13, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized, barcelona , 5comments
Today I took a bus tour of Barcelona and stopped off at a few city attractions on its route. One of the places was the Sagrada Familia, massive unfinished cathedral, still being built after the project started nearly 120yrs ago.
The work has stopped and started since the first stone was laid but it must rate as one of the most amazing pieces of architecture I have ever seen.
They say it may well take another 100 years to finish as the scale of the project is massive, but when the last stone is eventually laid it will be an everlasting memorial to the designer and architect Antoni Gaudi.
Gaudi worked for over 40 years on the project, devoting the last 15 years of his life to it, now thats what I call commitment.
It really is a truly remarkable building and should be on everyones “must see” list in Barcelona.
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Barcelona April 12, 2007
Posted by Brian in : Uncategorized, barcelona , 1 comment so far
I am on holiday in Barcelona for a few days. This is the first time I have visited here and although I only arrived a few hours ago, my first impression is that it seems a great place.
Yesterday evening I took a stroll down Les Rambles, which runs for a couple of kilometers from one of the main squares down to the harbour.
It was very busy and you could buy anything from the usual tourist tat to live cockerels, guinea fowl and parakeets.
For me, the most interesting part of Las Ramblas was the plethora of small side streets branching off the main thoroughfare.
It reminded me of the closes that run off the high street in Edinburgh. Nosing around down these side streets I found some amazing little shops and bars, full of books, bric a bac and bucket loads of charm.
Like life itself, I find the most interesting bits of a city usually lie off the beaten track and round corners that generally aren’t visited by the tourist hoards.
Glow Chat and Videoconferencing April 2, 2007
Posted by Brian in : GLOW, Uncategorized , add a comment
I managed to get logged on to Glow a couple of times this weekend. It’s beginning to make a bit more sense to me but until a few points are cleared up at authority level the Glow mentors in East Lothian will not be able to make full use of all its components.
For example to get chat to work properly, computers need to have the latest version of Java on them and for the videoconferencing to be used, users have to download and install a programme from marratech. Downloads are only carried out by ICT officers so I’ll have to wait until one can come out and install the necessary software on my laptop before I can explore any more.
Its all very frustrating but I guess the pilot phase of any project is to flag up any problems so that they can be fixed now rather than later.
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