The new workload agreement, signed by most of the professional associations and the Government, provides that teachers will receive 10 per cent of the working week for planning, preparation and assessment, but not until September 2005. It is not free time, but non-contact time away from managing a classroom or other learning situations. From this September, new rules about the maximum amount of cover you will be required to do will be introduced as phase two of the agreement. You should have been relieved of administrative tasks no longer required of teachers after phase one was introduced in September.

If you have a question for John Howson, please email jill.parkin@tes.co.uk