IMMEDIATE
10 January 2014
Michael Gove’s proposed changes to teachers’ pay and conditions
Today (10th Jan) is the deadline for the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) to report to Michael Gove about the working conditions of school teachers in England and Wales.He has asked the STRB to consider fundamental changes to school teachers’ working conditions, including:
•removing the statutory limits of 195 days and 1265 ‘directed’ hours of working time
per year;
•removing all protection against being directed to cover for absent teachers;
•ending the protection against carrying out administrative tasks;
•changing the current rights to time for planning, preparation and assessment of pupils;
•removing the provision preventing teachers being required to undertake midday
supervision or even removing their right to a lunch break of reasonable length.
These provisions are currently mandatory in all local authority run schools and, as Michael Gove acknowledges, they are also followed by the overwhelming majority of academies.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said:
“These proposed changes would be bad at any time but, coming on top of the enormous hours teachers already work, the stress of the job and the changes to pay and pensions, they would be the last straw for many teachers.
“In the recent NUT-commissioned YouGov survey (1), 85% of all teachers wanted a national framework for working hours, not one set on a school-by-school basis. 74% of teachers said their morale had dropped since the last General Election and only 4% thought the Government had made a positive difference to the education system.
“What should also be of particular concern to the Coalition Parties are the voting intentions of respondents. When asked ‘If there was a general election tomorrow which political party would you vote for’, only 16% of teachers currently say they will vote Conservative, 7% say they will vote Liberal Democrat and 57% have said they intend to vote Labour.
“A NUT/YouGov survey (2) of teachers just prior to the 2010 General Election asked the question ‘If there was a general election tomorrow which party would you vote for’: 33% of teachers said they intended to vote Conservative, 32% Labour and 27% Liberal Democrat.
“David Cameron and Nick Clegg should take note. Our most recent NUT/YouGov survey is a shocking indictment of their education policies and could cost them dearly at a General Election. This Government demonstrably neither understands education nor cares for teachers or pupils. Any further provocation will not go down well. Michael Gove and his superiors need to rethink their policies.”
ENDpr005-2014
For further information contact Caroline Cowie on 0207 380 4706 or 07879480061
Please click here if you wish to unsubscribe from this mailing list
Editor’s Notes:
(1)NUT/YouGov survey of teachers 2013
(2)NUT/YouGov survey of teachers 2010
It is important to note that the specific question for voting intention on the 2010 and 2013 surveys differed in both structure and placement and, as such, the results are not exactly comparable.