Page 5


Upfront


Continued from page 4






warned Christine Blower, adding that the cuts “beg the question of where the government will find the funding for its free schools and academies programmes”.


Teachers’ pay


The new government will honour the 2.3 per cent pay rise agreed for school teachers for 2010, but the Chancellor’s emergency budget proposed a two-year pay freeze from 2011 for all public sector workers earning over £21,000 a year. With inflation currently over 5 per cent, this means substantial real-terms pay cuts.


This pay freeze will reduce spending power, delaying economic recovery and risking a ‘double-dip’ recession. It will also discourage people from entering teaching and other public service professions.


Teachers’ pensions


The 2007 reforms to teachers’ pensions were intended to make them affordable for the long term. Now the new government has announced a review of “unsustainable” public sector pensions. These ‘gold-plated’ pensions in fact average less than £10,000 a year for teachers and £4,000 for local government workers.


Further proposals to link pensions to the consumer prices index rather than the retail prices index are likely to cost existing pensioners thousands of pounds over the course of their retirement. The NUT will do all it can to protect the pensions of teachers and other public sector workers.






The NUT remains committed to the aims of a good local school for every child, and national pay and conditions for all teachers. Read more about our campaign to defend state education on pages 12 and 13.






 


Other news


 Curriculum changes


 


The government is dropping restrictions on International GCSE qualifications – often likened to the old O level – so state schools as well as independent schools will be able to offer them.


The next stage of the Key Stage 4 diploma, designed by Labour to bridge the gap between academic and vocational qualifications, has also been ditched. Work on science, humanities and language diplomas, due in September, will not go ahead.


Christine Blower said these decisions make “even more of a confused mess of the public examinations system than we had already”. She accused the coalition of implying that there are “elite, vocational and bog-standard qualifications”.


Christine called on the government to back GCSEs and A levels as “rigorous and respected qualifications” and to commit itself to the review of 14-19 exams set by the previous government for 2013.


Reform of the primary curriculum in England, which was to be based on the 2009 Rose review, has also been ditched. Instead, schools will teach the current primary national curriculum until at least July 2012. Christine Blower urged ministers to read Robin Alexander’s independent primary review and consult teachers on the future of the curriculum.


Education and Children’s Bill


The Education and Children’s Bill – covering curriculum freedoms, Ofsted reform, the ‘pupil premium’ and more – is due this autumn.


The NUT’s message to government is that schools don’t need a tougher Ofsted or more prescriptive curriculum. The government should initiate a fundamental review of school accountability, and ensure that support, not punishment, follows any inspection.


The NUT welcomes the ‘pupil premium’, which will give additional funding for the most disadvantaged pupils. The government must make sure, however, that it is not negated by swingeing cuts to the education budget and children’s services.


Abolition of GTCE, QCDA and Becta


The General Teaching Council for England was axed by Michael Gove on 2 June. Christine Blower cautiously welcomed this, saying the GTCE had been imposed on teachers, and they were aggrieved at having to pay the £36.50 annual fee.


She called for consultation on whether teachers believe a professional council should be maintained. “If we are to achieve the holy grail of evidence-based policy-making, free from political interference, there would be merit in looking at the recent proposal for a Chief Education Officer along the lines of the Chief Science and Medical Officers,” she said.


The new government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’ also saw the abolition of the Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency (QDCA) and Becta, the schools’ technology agency. The QCDA’s demise casts doubts on the future of Assessing Pupils’ Progress, the agency’s approach for teachers to make judgements about learning.


The NUT expresses solidarity with all workers who have lost their jobs as a result of the government’s cuts.


ISA


Home Secretary Theresa May has halted registration to the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA) pending a review. The ISA had been due to begin considering applications for registration of the 9 million+ adults in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who work or volunteer with children and vulnerable adults from this July.


The NUT had concerns about the original proposals. As well as leaving teachers out-of-pocket, the scheme looked likely to deter parents and volunteers from helping with school visits and activities.


The ISA will continue considering referrals for barring. The NUT has been campaigning for changes to the process for barring, and will keep up the pressure for a fair system.






• For more information, go to www.teachers.org.uk/vettingandbarring.

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