STAND FIRM AGAINST

"REMODELLING"

Members of the National Union of Teachers can be proud that the NUT has stood firm and refused to sign up to the Government’s agenda. Now the NUT has a responsibility to organise against these threats and also take action to win reforms that would genuinely improve workload and pay for all school staff.

An attack on comprehensive education

We have to make clear to teachers and parents that these proposals signal that the Government is giving up on ever genuinely solving teacher shortages. It was Lord Puttnam, when he was Chair of the General Teaching Council, who floated the idea that overall teacher numbers should be cut "from 450,000 to 250,000 better-paid ‘super-teachers’, backed by an army of assistants". This is the educational future that is being discussed by some in the corridors of the DfES.

A process that has already started - papering over the cracks with the occasional Teaching Assistant in front of a class - could too easily develop into a permanent feature of working-class education. Qualified teachers will lead a team of unqualified staff instructing pupils in a simple Gradgrind curriculum from DfES worksheets, without creativity, without inspiration, without real learning. No doubt it will be the most needy children in the most under-staffed schools that are most likely to suffer this fate. It is an attack on comprehensive education that we cannot allow.

The only solution to "raising standards and tackling workload" is more teachers

The NUT must stand for real "modernisation" - reduced class sizes, genuine non-contact time, an end to teacher shortages – for a properly funded education system where schools have sufficient qualified teachers to staff every class and to provide release for cover and non-contact time as well. We also seek the recruitment of more properly-paid support staff to support teachers and pupils – but not to be taken from their proper roles to now act as cheap substitutes for qualified teaching staff.

We also want recognition for the essential work of support staff. The Government has relied on their skills, particularly to help implement their literacy and numeracy strategies. Yet, for all the extra training and responsibilities, support staff have to constantly battle against poverty pay and term-time only contracts. Unlike the Government, we want to see them properly paid for the work they do,

instead of having to take on teaching duties to improve their appalling wages.

In opposing these changes, teachers aren’t in any way criticising the valuable work carried out by teaching assistants (TAs) in schools. However, we recognise that teaching is as a highly skilled profession that requires properly qualified staff. If TAs are to become fully trained and qualified then why not pay them fully as well – as properly qualified teachers!

The only genuine way of "raising standards and tackling workload" – as the Government entitles its proposals – is to recruit more teachers. There is no other route. With adequate staffing, every school could have enough additional teachers to release all colleagues for non-contact time during the working week. Class sizes could be improved – not worsened. But, when it comes to expanding teacher numbers, the "Time for Standards" consultation paper said bluntly, "this is not an option".

The NUT has to go on the offensive by exposing the Government’s real agenda and demand that they improve the pay and conditions of teachers so that schools can recruit and retain the staff they need. After all, we are not short of teachers – just teachers who are prepared to work in schools. There are perhaps 300,000 qualified teachers who have left teaching who could be attracted back into the classroom by a Government really committed to improving education.

The other unions must withdraw their support for the "deal"

The NUT leadership will come under increasing pressure to compromise in our opposition. Already the TUC are trying to broker a deal so that the NUT could be brought on board with the other unions. Teachers – and support staff - should make clear that there is one real way of getting professional unity on this issue - by demanding the other unions withdraw from the agreement as well.

Organise national action

The budgetary problems hitting schools are quickly exposing the ATL and NASUWT’s claims that their deal with the Government will deliver meaningful reductions in teacher workload. If the Government won’t act to reduce teachers’ hours, then the NUT has to implement firm action that will protect teachers. This must include sanctioning a refusal to plan, prepare or mark lessons taken by assistants. But the NUT should also announce it is ready to sanction local strike action to oppose the use of unqualified staff.

Through a combination of local ballots, workload sanctions and negotiations, the Union can work to defend teachers and protect education. But we cannot rely on school-by-school action alone. We need to use the collective strength of the whole Union. Too many unqualified staff are teaching classes already in schools. Willingly or not, staff shortages and budget pressures will lead more Heads into adopting the Government agenda.

We need a clear demonstration that we are determined to oppose these reforms and win the improved funding required for real improvements in education. That means balloting NUT members for a national one-day strike. This should be used as a national day of action to explain to parents, teachers and support staff that the future of comprehensive education is under attack and that the NUT is not prepared to stand by and let it happen.