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NEWS


Accountability call as test pilot ends

The NASUWT has once again urged the Government to review the school accountability system following the announcement that the piloting of single level tests in England is to end.

Single level tests have been piloted since 2007 by ten local authorities. They took a ‘stage not age’ approach to assessment, enabling teachers to decide when to enter Key Stage 2 pupils for the tests in English and maths.

Making the announcement, Schools Minister Nick Gibb pledged the Government’s continuing commitment to external testing and stated that the evidence gathered from the pilot projects would feed into the forthcoming review of primary education.

The NASUWT called on the Government to take the opportunity presented by the primary review to re-examine the accountability system, arguing that while the Union has no objection to external testing, it has serious concerns about the use to which the test results are put.

Test results are used to feed performance league tables, which rank schools’ performance, drive teachers to teach to the tests, stifle teachers’ ability to exercise professional judgement and remove curriculum flexibility.

The forthcoming curriculum review should underpin consideration of appropriate approaches to assessment and testing. The opportunity to review the accountability regime should not be missed.


CALL FOR AN END TO VIOLENCE

Violence and oppression of teachers in Zimbabwe must end, the NASUWT is due to tell a meeting of human rights campaigners.

The Union is moving a motion at the AGM of Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA), which condemns the harassment and violence being suffered by teachers, trade unionists and political activists in Zimbabwe.

Teachers in the country are being targeted in a bid by the ruling Zanu-PF party to stop them from exposing the human rights abuses being perpetrated by Robert Mugabe’s government.

Mr Mugabe has created Operation Vharamuromo, which means Operation Close Your Mouth, to suppress the views of those who oppose his leadership.

The NASUWT is working with teacher trade union partners internationally to provide support to the Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ), which has appealed to the leaders of the three parties that make up the country’s national unity government to end their programme of violence that has seen teachers killed, imprisoned and ‘disappear’ simply for speaking up for their rights.

PTUZ has been working to provide teachers who have suffered abuse and oppression with professional counselling and practical support.

Members of PTUZ have been targeted by government forces after the Union accused the Ministry of Education of failing to speak out about the alleged intimidation of and violence against rural teachers, who were politically targeted during the turbulent 2008 election period.

Other nations must move swiftly to condemn the abuse of human and labour rights in Zimbabwe, the motion being put forward by the NASUWT states, making financial aid and political engagement dependent on a cessation of violence.

ACTSA was established in 1994 as the successor organisation to the Anti- Apartheid Movement (AAM), to develop and promote solidarity in the UK and internationally with Southern Africa. Its AGM sets the organisation’s priorities for the following year. More information about ACTSA and the situation facing teachers in Zimbabwe can be found at www.actsa.org.

Go online: www.nasuwt.org.uk/zimbabwe.


Vote for education campaign launched

In the run-up to next year’s Assembly elections in Wales, the NASUWT has launched its Vote for Education Campaign.

The Union is urging members to use their vote for a party that will defend and maintain a publicly owned and accountable education system that is fully resourced and that respects teachers as highly skilled professionals.

To this end, the NASUWT has established a series of key tests that it will be challenging all of the parties contesting the

Assembly elections to meet. The NASUWT key tests are:

• maintain the teachers’ national pay and conditions framework for England and Wales;
• protect public sector pensions and accrued pension rights;
• protect state education by opposing academies and free schools;
• close the £527 school funding gap with England;
• provide equality of access for post-14 education;
• establish a workforce adjustment fund to avoid compulsory redundancies in the public sector;
• disband the General Teaching Council for Wales (GTCW); and
• protect pupils from the vile agenda of the far right.

NASUWT Cymru has already discussed its objectives with members of Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats at their recent party conference and will be promoting the campaign to the other parties during the conference season. Members will also receive further information as the campaign progresses.