EASI Conference 2006 – an appeal clerk's perspective
In November 2006 the Education Appeals Support Initiative (EASI) held its annual South of England conference. Topics included a presentation by Professor Dame Hazel Genn on her 'Tribunals for diverse users' research and an update on disability discrimination case law. Andrea Grant, the Democratic Services Manager at Wirral Council, speaks about her role as an appeals clerk and her impressions of the EASI Conference.
1. How long have you been an appeals clerk and how did you get into the role?
I am the Democratic Services Manager at Wirral Council, and part of my role involves managing a team (albeit a very small one!) that administers our school appeals. I've previously looked after appeals in 3 other local authorities.
2. How did you first hear about the EASI Group?
I first heard about the EASI Group through one of the Council on Tribunals newsletters and got in touch with the London Group to see if there was a similar group in the Merseyside area.
3. Before the formation of the EASI Group did you have regular contact with other appeals clerks?
I did have some contacts, basically former colleagues who I could turn to for a view on issues, but there was no formal network.
4. What are the main benefits of the EASI Group?
I think the main benefit of the EASI group is to be able to share issues with colleagues in other authorities, who may have faced the same difficulties. There is a sometimes a feeling of working in isolation on school appeals, when in fact many other authorities are probably expending the same time and resources looking at similar problems and queries. Hopefully, when our Group is fully established, it will provide a useful forum to air difficulties and discuss the practicalities of new guidance. In addition, we are starting to pool some of our resources by having shared training sessions with our near neighbours which makes bringing in external trainers extremely good value.
5. How important is this kind of support network?
This kind of support network is extremely valuable to school appeal clerks. I have attended many training sessions which, although useful, sometimes bring more practical difficulties when trying to put the ideas learnt into practice. I hope that the new Merseyside EASI group will be more practically focused, for those dealing with appeals on a day-to-day basis. For our first meeting, we are hoping to have speakers from the DfES and the Ombudsman so it will be a good opportunity to voice any opinions and seek advice.
6. What were your impressions of the EASI Conference?
My first impression was how popular the conference was! I was amazed at the number of Clerks that attended. It was certainly one of the most useful conferences I've attended in terms of the relevance of the content and the networking opportunities.
7. What did you find most useful?
I found the presentations from the DfES and the Ombudsman to be the most useful aspects and it was useful for the delegates to be able to explain how the new Codes of Practice would impact on their work. Of course it was nice to hear from the Ombudsman that we are doing quite a good job!
8. In what other areas could improvements to legislation or working practices make appeals clerking easier?
I would like to see more consistency between the exclusion and admission appeals guidance. Training is one example, but there other inconsistencies. The requirement for a recently retired or serving headteacher to sit on exclusion appeals also causes us great difficulty – serving headteachers are too busy and retired headteachers often have other plans for their retirement!
(January 2007)