‘THIS is a huge government climb-down and is a testament to the campaigning of teachers and parents,’ Kevin Courtney, Deputy General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said on Friday.
Welcoming the announcement that the forced academisation plans are now being dropped by the government, he continued: ‘Within a week of the White Paper being published demonstrations occurred across the country organised by NUT members.
‘Two petitions calling for a halt to the proposal to force all schools to become academies reached 150,000 signatures each, and 200 parents met at the NUT headquarters. This was an unprecedented outcry. This is the third major education u-turn by Government.
‘In a month we have seen baseline scrapped, SPaG Key Stage 1 tests scrapped and now the central plank of the White Paper, forced academies. This is a clear indication that government policy is in tatters. (Education Secretary) Nicky Morgan needs to stop and talk to the profession to work out a clear way forward.
‘It is time to end this ideological nonsense for this discredited government. They need to start adopting the right priorities for education by talking to the profession. They should not take extra powers to force all schools in specified local authorities to become academies. The 8% cuts to budgets that schools are facing need to be reversed. This is a huge concern as it will impact on every school and every child.’
NASUWT General Secretary Chris Keates said: ‘This is another humiliating failure for the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Teachers, school leaders and schools have been subjected to an unnecessary period of anxiety and panic as a result of his ill-conceived and politically motivated statement, which did not even command the support of the Tory rank and file, particularly in local councils, and caused rebellion in his own ranks.
‘It is disgraceful that teachers and school leaders, already under enormous pressure and stress, were ever subjected to this. Although the plan to convert every school to an academy has been dropped, the government is still subjecting schools in particular Ofsted categories to forced academisation and still regards structural change as the answer to raising standards. This aspect of the academisation policy has not changed and the NASUWT will continue to challenge it.’
Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), said: ‘Although Nicky Morgan says she is in a “listening” government, she has been very hard of hearing since the forced academies policy was announced in the Budget
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‘It has taken the combined efforts of parents, teachers, school leaders, governors, Conservative councillors, MPs and education unions to get the government to see sense and to back away from a policy which had no rationale and no merit.
‘ATL members have consistently raised their concerns with their councillors and MPs. Perhaps we should be thankful to the government for exposing the weaknesses in its academies programme and its inability to substantiate its claim that academies perform better than local authority maintained schools.
‘However, although the immediate threat of forced academisation has been lifted, there is still much in the education white paper which should worry anyone concerned about the education of England’s children and young people. There is potential for political shenanigans against local authorities if the government takes powers to force all schools in “failing” local authorities to convert to academy status.
‘And we remain deeply concerned that this proposal will put more power into the hands of unelected, unaccountable, regional schools commissioners. ATL is not complacent. We will continue to expose the shortcomings and ideological agenda of this Government which have been revealed today.’
Russell Hobby, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said on Friday: ‘Today the government has announced that it will not take up powers to compel all good and outstanding schools to become academies. This echoes the concerns NAHT raised at conference and we are pleased the government has listened to the profession.
‘We stand ready to engage in further discussions about how the government can meet its vision in co-operation with the education sector. This move gives us hope that such dialogue can now be constructive. In a further significant announcement, the government has made clear that small rural schools are not under threat from its policies on school structure. This will reassure the dedicated teachers and leaders in such schools, who are often at the heart of rural communities.
‘We remain concerned, however, at the funding situation and await clarity on the revised funding formula. We recognise that the government remains strongly in favour of academies and we ourselves have nothing against voluntary conversion to academy status. We can have a much better conversation about academies in this new climate. We welcome this constructive approach.’
• The NASUWT in Scotland is adding to its current industrial action to protect teachers and to support them in addressing the spiralling bureaucracy and workload associated with the Curriculum for Excellence. Employers have been given notice of a new and additional action instruction which will take effect on 12 May 2016, as part of the NASUWT ongoing industrial action campaign.
The NASUWT is in dispute with the Cabinet Secretary over workload, pensions, pay, conditions of service and job losses. The new instruction is in response of the failure of the Scottish government and employers to ensure that measures are in place in schools to prevent the spiralling excessive workload being faced by teachers, particularly as a result of the implementation of Curriculum for Excellence.
NASUWT members are being instructed to refuse to comply with any Curriculum for Excellence related planning, monitoring assessment or reporting systems which are inconsistent with the recommendations of the Curriculum for Excellence Working Group. Workload is currently the top concern of teachers, with 87% of teachers in Scotland, who responded to a recent NASUWT survey, citing it as their biggest concern about their job.
Excessive workload is driving teachers out of the profession, with over two thirds of teachers in the same survey saying they had seriously considered leaving the profession in the last 12 months. Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: ‘Excessive workload is blighting teachers’ professional lives and affecting their health and wellbeing, yet the government and employers are failing to act.
‘The reforms to the curriculum and qualifications systems have simply piled on the pressure.‘Recommendations made by a government working group set up to examine these issues are being ignored by employers and schools. With 87% of teachers citing workload as their biggest concern and two thirds considering leaving the profession altogether, this situation cannot be allowed to continue.’