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FEATURE
New teachers facing financial timebomb
This generation of new teachers is facing a financial timebomb, the NASUWT’s General Secretary warned as she addressed a packed conference of newly qualified teachers.
The threat to scrap national frameworks of teachers’ pay and conditions and increase pension contributions combined with increased tuition fees, student debt will make teaching a much less viable proposition for future generations of young people, Chris Keates suggested.
Speaking at an NASUWT seminar for new teachers, Ms Keates [above] told delegates they are facing an “unacceptable financial burden”.
Delegates at the event, which was the second in a series of professional seminars provided by the NASUWT to offer support and guidance to new teacher during their first year in the profession, could be the last cohort with qualified teacher status, Ms Keates warned.
The Government’s drive to move teacher training solely into the classroom and out of universities are part of reforms which could “lay waste to the educational landscape as we know it” she said. Ministers view teaching not as a profession which requires academic study and theoretical knowledge but as a “craft which requires only on the job training”.
This move is part of a wider Government attack on the status and role of public services and public sector workers.
“This is designed to make you and other public sector workers feel guilty and turn the public against public services and those who deliver them” she said, adding, “We must see these cuts for what they really are. They are not about tackling the nation’s deficit. They are an ideologically driven assault on public services, borne of an irrational contempt for the public sector. These cuts are not some unpalatable, but necessary medicine.”
Ms Keates outlined that NASUWT’s 10 point alternative plan to tackle the deficit, which the Union has put to the Chancellor.
It includes measures to tackle tax evasion which alone would raise £25 billion; the introduction of a tax on global financial transactions and the capping and redistribution of the £2.3billion in unspent balances in schools in England.
“A government which is genuinely concerned with tackling the deficit would explore all of these options” Ms Keates stated, “but instead they are choosing to continue with its savage package of cuts to public services which will cost thousands of jobs and see vital public services decimated.”
In recognition of the impact of the current financial climate on new teachers, workshop sessions were also organised offering support with financial planning and finding a school job.
Behaviour consultant Moyra Healy led another of her ever-popular sessions in managing pupil behaviour, which armed delegates with an array of hints and tips in maintaining control in the classroom and promoting positive attitudes to learning.
Ever mindful of the need to assist members in maintaining their wellbeing, Claire Dale from Youth Music Theatre was invited to lead a practical workshop showing delegates how to use their voices and bodies to promote a sense of presence and authority to pupils.
Using a series of breathing exercises and posture techniques she showed members how they could reduce stress on their voices and bodies while increasing their sense of gravitas.
Coalition Government: what it means for me…
New teachers gave their views on the Government’s package of spending cuts and education reforms.
Bristol
“I came into teaching a year ago and spent a lot of time reading up on the Alexander and Rose reviews and was filled with energy and enthusiasm, but things feel very different now.
“I think I am going to be forced to focus much more on the core curriculum and I’m not sure if there’ll be much space for arts subjects, which I feel are a really important part of learning.”
Wolverhampton
“Teachers work hard for our pay and there are never enough hours in the day to get everything done, so if our PPA time is cut it would have a massively negative effect.
“Without PPA time I could not do the job at all.”
Leicestershire
“I came from the construction industry and one of the things that attracted me to teaching was the pay framework. If that gets scrapped I may have to consider leaving the profession and going back to construction.
“Scrapping the pay framework would leave teachers at the mercy of their headteacher and if your face doesn’t fit you could end up losing out.”
Online advice for newly qualified teachers:
www.nasuwt.org.uk/NewTeachers.
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