ABSTRACT
The next few years are likely to see some dramatic changes in the teaching profession. The historic Workload Agreement signed in early 2003 came into force over a period of three years starting from September 2003. It made considerable changes to what teachers were expected to do and what they can require others to do for them. Teachers in primary schools were more affected by some of the changes than teachers in the secondary sector. For instance, non-contact time had been common for many years in secondary schools but had rarely been available to those working in primary schools before the third stage of the Workload Agreement was introduced in 2005. This was followed at the end of 2005 by the switch from Management Points to payments for Teaching and Learning Responsibility (TLR) and the requirement that schools conduct a full review of their staffing structures to take account of the changes. Teaching is now a much more closely defined responsibility than it ever was in the past. However, anomalies still remain at the leadership level, with executive head teachers in danger of looking more like American school superintendents than leading teachers.
