NEWS

Call to ‘stop insulting the profession’

Teachers must be supported, not denigrated, the NASUWT has told a forum of parliamentarians and educationalists.

Dr Patrick Roach, the NASUWT’s Assistant General Secretary for Policy and Communications [left], addressed members of the Westminster Education Forum, which brings together MPs and civil servants with public organisations and industry representatives to share ideas and shape policy making on education. Speaking on the topic ‘Morale and Recruitment – the State of the Workforce’, Dr Roach called for an end to attacks on teacher quality, saying that the view peddled by some politicians that the profession is riddled with incompetent teachers was false and insulting to the profession.

“What is clear,” he said, “is that there has been a persistent failure to invest in the continuing development of teacher quality at all stages of teachers’ careers. “Investing in professional development is the means for raising teacher quality; not by denigrating the profession; not by restricting access to government-funded initial teacher training (ITT) only to those students who have previously graduated with a 2:2 or higher degree or who had the privilege of studying at an elite university; nor by accelerating the fast-track to the sack by diluting or removing the employment rights of teachers; but by creating the conditions in every school for confident professional practice and teacher agency to be nurtured, encouraged, and supported.”

Dr Roach called for a contractual entitlement to high quality continuing professional development (CPD) to become a right for all teachers and stated that the new Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) would help to achieve this aim. An entitlement to CPD must also be at the heart of the Government’s new licence to practise plans, Dr Roach said, warning that teachers would not support the plans if they amounted to an ‘MOT for teachers’ or placed additional duties or responsibilities on them.


ESA transition

The Department of Education Northern Ireland (DENI) has set out further details of how the transition to the new Education and Skills Authority (ESA) is to be managed. A date for the establishment of ESA, which will bring together the functions of the Education and Library Boards (ELBs) and other educational bodies, with the aim of reducing bureaucracy and freeing up greater expenditure for schools, is still to be determined after the original deadline of 1 January 2010 was pushed back.

However, the DENI has published details of how the transition period will work, with four new committees created to work on bringing together much of the work presently being undertaken by the ELBs.

The four committees will have responsibility for services, that will include catering, school transport and cleaning, finance and human resources, education standards, and children and young people’s services, which will include special needs provision and child protection. ELBs will continue with the day-to-day running of education services while the work to consolidate services is progressed.

The DENI is also to set up working groups to look at the implementation of Government policies, including Every School a Good School, the Entitlement Framework and Irish- medium Education in schools.

The NASUWT is closely monitoring the DENI’s plans and will continue to make representations to ensure that teachers’ professionalism and working conditions are protected during the transition period.



Redundancy changes announced

Changes have been announced to the redundancy and pensions arrangements for teachers and principals in Northern Ireland.

NASUWT representatives are currently visiting schools affected by redundancies to explain the implications of the changes that will affect the benefits available to teachers who are made redundant.

The main changes are:

•all teachers made redundant will get double the normal redundancy payment that they would have received prior to the new regulations. This enhanced severance payment, which is available to teachers made redundant and those accessing voluntary redundancy, could be up to 60 weeks’ salary and is not age dependent;

•the Education and Library Boards (ELBs) will not pay full pension benefits to any teacher between 55 and 60 who is made redundant. These teachers can access a reduced pension as well as an enhanced redundancy payment of up to 60 weeks’ salary;

•all teachers who are 60 and over are entitled to access their full unreduced pension benefits and an enhanced redundancy package of up to 60 weeks’ salary.

Further details of the changes are available on the Department of Education Northern Ireland’s (DENI’s) consultations webpage at www.deni.gov.uk/index/teachers-pg/64_teachers-pensionscheme _pg/equality_impact_assessments.htm or www.nasuwt.org.uk.
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