TEACHERS have expressed their rising anger at their excessive workload by sending a letter to Tory Coalition Secretary of State and the Deputy Prime Minister.
Teachers site Ofsted inspections as contributing to their workload. They say that it is not just the ‘fear’ of the Ofsted inspection but ‘the operation of the inspection system’ itself.
They demand: ‘A better system of accountability which can lead to better outcomes for students and remove excessive workload for teachers and school leaders.’
The letter reads:
‘Dear Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister.
‘Re: Government response to the Workload Challenge.
‘We are writing to you in response to the publication of your response to the Workload Challenge.
‘All of us continue to have serious concerns about teacher workload and its impact on teacher recruitment and retention – we believe that this must remain a central focus for ministers and politicians.
‘We have engaged with you and with ministers and civil servants in the Department for Education for many months seeking real change for teachers and school leaders.
‘We have shared with you both our individual union and joint union responses and suggestions.
‘There are positive points in your response including the recognition that workload is a real problem and the commitment to plan greater lead in times and consider workload issues more seriously before further changes are introduced.
‘Unfortunately though, many of the suggestions our unions jointly made to you have not been taken forward.
‘The central point we have made in our talks is that the high stakes system of accountability in general and Ofsted in particular is driving unnecessary workload at unacceptable levels for teachers and for school leaders.
‘Your own research has also confirmed this:
‘l 53% of Workload Challenge respondents cited accountability/perceived pressures of Ofsted as the creator of the burden of their workload.
‘l Inspection identified as a main external driver of workload in the Accountability Deep Dive.
‘But the Government’s response to the Workload Challenge contains little new with regard to inspection and we therefore do not believe your proposals will get close to the root cause of the workload problem.
‘The failure of the response to the Workload Challenge to robustly address these problems is certainly a missed opportunity which will disappoint teachers and school leaders and will hugely undermine the other work that is planned.
‘You should be clear that it is not just “fear” of Ofsted that is leading to unnecessary workload; the operation of the inspection system itself is a material factor.
‘This is not alas about perception but the lived experience of our colleagues. During the talks we provided you with a joint paper on the principles that should underlie accountability in the education system including the notion that the system should be based on trust.
‘However we do not see those principles yet given effect in your response. We pressed in the talks that the time is right to conduct an external review of the validity and reliability of Ofsted’s inspections, and more recently Ofsted’s Chief Inspector has told the Education Select Committee he would welcome such independent scrutiny.
‘There are many other points that we jointly made to you that you have not taken action on.
‘Amongst them for example we suggested that:
‘The DFE should permit schools to take additional non-teaching days during the summer term.
‘Having some notice would allow school leaders to plan to make the best use of such days.
‘There should be a communication from HMCI around the need for teacher workload to be managed – which would be a useful signal to the whole system.
‘We also sought clear statements from the Secretary of State that teacher time is a precious resource, that average working hours are too high and that she wants them to decrease.
‘Preferably she should indicate a target for that reduction.
‘We continue to jointly urge you to conduct this review of Ofsted, to take forward the other points we have suggested and to discuss seriously with us how a reform of accountability can be given effect.
‘A better system of accountability can lead to better outcomes for students and remove excessive workload for teachers and school leaders.
‘Other countries have solved this problem – it should not be beyond us to do so as well.
‘We think it is important you join this week’s meeting of the Programme of Talks to discuss these concerns and how we can move forward in addressing them during the remainder of the talks process.
‘Yours sincerely,
Mary Bousted, Brian Lightman, Russell Hobby ATL ASCL, & NAHT, Christine Blower,
Deborah Lawson NUT.’
l Brent teacher unions, the NASUWT and NUT and ATL a teacher, lecturer and support staff union have joined with their Health and Safety Representatives in expressing their serious concern about fire safety at the Michaela Community School in Wembley Park.
In a joint statement they said: ‘We endorse the complaint in particular the point that the evacuation route being used is a wooden fenced walkway and an internal staircase which is shared with construction workers in the unoccupied part of the school which remains a construction site.
‘It is negligent in our view, not only to have an escape route that is surrounded with flammable material, but also to have failed to carry out a new fire risk assessment when the school actually had pupils present.
‘The initial report was done before the school was opened, and made very important recommendations which included the need for a further report which has not occurred.
‘We are certain that this problem would not have happened if it was a local authority school rather than a “free” school.
‘The LA would not open a school in the state Michaela was in and certainly not before full health and safety checks had been done including with the fire brigade.’
• Children’s access to critical educational opportunities is becoming even more dependent on their parents’ ability to pay, a survey by the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union in the UK, has revealed.
The annual survey, which elicits thousands of responses from parents, has been conducted each year since 2012.
The survey for the academic year 2014/15 shows the escalating costs that parents increasingly face.
The Coalition Government’s education policies, which have allowed schools to charge for educational activities which were previously free and which have seen the abolition of the national guidance on school charging policies, have been instrumental in driving the increasing financial burdens that parents face for items such as school uniform and equipment.
The survey findings included:
• two thirds of parents said that uniform had to be purchased from a particular supplier, compared to 57% in 2013.
Nearly half of parents (48%) said the same for PE kit and equipment, up from 44% in 2013. Restricting the purchase to one supplier often means the items are more expensive;
• there has been a steady increase in the costs of providing equipment for lessons.
The number of children whose equipment costs parents under £50 per annum has reduced from 84% in 2012 to 69% in 2014, whereas the number of children whose equipment costs parents in excess of £76 per annum has risen from 6% in 2012 to almost a quarter (23%) in 2014;
• the average cost to families of school meals has increased. Over half (51%) are now paying between £2 and £4, compared to 44% in 2013, when the average cost per pupil for meals was between £1 and £3;
• financial donations to schools are rising. In 2014, 62% of parents that made financial donations to their child’s school paid over £21 per year, a rise of 10% on 2013. In 2014 there was a 6% increase in the number donating in excess of £51.
These are ‘voluntary’ contributions that parents often say they feel obliged to pay.
• the cost of trips and excursions has increased, with well over a quarter of parents now spending over £200 per year and increasing numbers unable to afford to pay for their children to participate.
Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, said: ‘It has always been a fundamental principle of our great public services that they are free at the point of use.
‘Now, thanks to the Coalition Government, for too many children, access to many critical educational opportunities is increasingly based on their parents’ ability to pay.
‘The costs of attending some schools are now acting as a barrier to parents accessing their school of choice for their children.
‘Educational experiences that promote opportunity and achievement should not be determined by an ability to pay.
‘It is simply unacceptable that the curriculum options for young people are determined by whether their parents can pay for books, equipment or field trips.
‘The concerns of parents in the NASUWT’s survey were confirmed recently in a poll conducted by ComRes, in which almost three quarters of parents agreed that there should be much stronger regulation over how much schools are allowed to charge for the services they provide to pupils.
‘At a time when there are over 3.7 million children in the UK living in poverty, and families already hit hard by the Coalition Government’s economic and social policies, it is scandalous that parents now face an additional, unacceptable tax on their children’s learning.’
