September TEACHERS UNDER ATTACK PREPARING FOR ACTION

September Since May 2010 relentless reform and cuts Already implemented National negotiating forums on pay and conditions abolished. Savage cuts to local authority budgets removing or reducing services vital to schools and making specialist teachers redundant. Two-year pay freeze. Pensions indexing changed from RPI to CPI. Roll-out of the academies and free schools project. Enabling private providers to run chains of schools. Professional status undermined by the removal of the requirement for some schools to employ teachers with QTS.

September Deep cuts to school budgets causing job loss and job insecurity. EBacc announced, resulting in downgrading of certain subjects and loss of jobs and reduction of teaching time in non-EBacc subjects. Retrospective application of EBacc to performance league tables increased pressure on target setting. Schools and teachers denigrated by misuse of international performance data. Publication on a school-by-school basis of staff personal data. Regulation and guidance designed to promote good practice and protect teachers, scrapped. Equality rights reduced, including compensation for discrimination. Increased autonomy for schools driving up workload and creating a culture of bullying.

September Proposed Pension changes to contributions, scheme design and retirement age. Changes to the teachers’ contract to introduce ‘flexibility’. Further budget cuts for schools and local authorities. New performance management and capability arrangements. Stripping out the safeguards for teachers in the performance management regulations, including the limit on classroom observation. Performance management and capability procedures merged, putting teachers on a permanent capability procedure. New professional standards, which are vague and open to wide interpretation and will be used to judge teacher performance. No notice inspections. Changes to the inspection framework to focus mainly on classroom teachers.

September Changes to the inspection framework to redefine the gradings of schools. Curriculum changes which will increase workload. Implementation of the Bew Review on Key Stage 2 testing – increased workload. Implementation of the Wolf Review - potential to put jobs at risk. Imposition of synthetic phonics as the only method of teaching reading. Changes to employment law to reduce the rights of employees.

September

7 Members have already indicated a willingness to take action when the time is right IS THE TIME RIGHT ?

September The time is now right for industrial action because: efforts to engage constructively with the Coalition have had little impact; attacks have already taken their toll on teachers: half of teachers are seriously considering quitting teaching altogether, 84% of teachers feel professionally disempowered, undermining their ability to deliver the best for their pupils, 74% of teachers say they have deep concerns about workload, pay and pensions, budget cuts and job security and pupil indiscipline, results from the NASUWT Workload Survey demonstrate significant failure to implement contractual provisions.

September pensions negotiations are not progressing and the Coalition has set a deadline for the end of October for the consultation on pension contribution increases; the Secretary of State has already written to the School Teachers’ Review Body stating that he will be giving it a remit to increase flexibility in the contract, which will impact adversely on teachers; the TUC is planning a major day of action across all public service unions.

September The Coalition is seeking to make as many changes as possible in the next year: Continuing austerity programme. Enact the Education Bill, ‘The Bill to end all Bills’, by 1 January Changes to the contract by September Key Stage 2 moderation changes. Pension contribution increases - April Legislation on pensions reform must be laid by Summer Performance management and professional standards changes - September 2012 and on a voluntary basis from this term. Ofsted inspection changes from January 2012.