NEWS


Angry teachers threaten strikes over pension plans


by Pete Henshaw


Furious teachers and school leaders have threatened strike action this week after proposals were unveiled that would see the value of their pensions slashed. The plans are outlined in the


Hutton Review of public sector pensions and if adopted would see teachers’ final salary pension scheme scrapped and replaced with a scheme linked to average career earnings. The idea behind the move,


which could come into effect by 2015, is to end the huge final salary pension pots that have been paid to “high flyers” in the public sector. However, teaching unions this


week are irate, pointing out that cur- rently teachers’ average pensions are just £12,000 a year, dropping to £4,000 for teaching assistants. The government has said it will


give “careful consideration” to Lord Hutton’s proposals and is expected to respond in the coming weeks. In publishing his final report,


Lord Hutton said: “These propos- als aim to strike a balanced deal between public service workers and the taxpayer.”


Lord Hutton argues that with


increasing life-expectancy, the cur- rent model of pensions are “not tenable in the long-term”. He is also calling for the Normal Pension Age in most public service pension schemes to be linked to the State Pension Age, which is 65 but is set to rise to 66 in 2020 and then to 68. The Hutton Review states:


“Career average schemes allow pension to be accrued on the basis of earnings in each year of service. In these schemes future earnings do not affect past years’ pension accrual so mobility between sectors is easier, salary risk remains with members, and the unfairness of big benefits to high flyers is removed.” Teachers are further incensed


because the proposals come on top of the current two-year public sector pay freeze, while already announced plans to increase pension contribu- tions by 50 per cent – from 6.4 to 9.8 per cent – by 2014 are set to see teachers paying up to £102 a month more. The increased contributions are set to be phased in from April 2012 and it is thought will save the government £1.8 billion. In addition, the government has already changed the annual infla-


Connexions cuts will hit students


More than two million students could miss out on careers advice following the closure of Connexions services, an education union has warned. Connexions services are being


cut and are to be replaced with a new all-age advisory service in September 2012. However, the Association


of School and College Leaders, which hosted its annual confer- ence in Manchester this weekend, fears that a gap in provision until the new service is up and running will see students miss out on cru- cial advice. The union says two million


students currently in years 9, 10 and 11 could be affected by the gap in provision between April 2011 and April 2012. The union is supporting a


campaign by Unison and others to ensure local authorities con- tinue to offer Connexions services until the new advisory service is in place. However, it is estimated that


a quarter of Connexions offices have closed already and frontline staff have been cut in many areas. General secretary Brian


Lightman said: “To find your way into a career as a young person is a daunting task for which access to high quality, impartial informa- tion advice and guidance is an absolute prerequisite. “Yet at a time when this has


never been more necessary, Connexions services are being dismantled around the country and the All Age Careers Advisor Service, which is intended to replace it, is in a very early stage of development. “We need to know where young people are supposed to get


this advice from in the meantime. And the fact that the Education Bill only proposes a requirement for pupils to have access to pro- fessional careers guidance up to the age of 16 makes no sense at all. Surely this should be extended to 18.” Elsewhere, at the conference, a


survey from the union has shown that more than 70 per cent of sec- ondary schools that have convert- ed to academy status have done so for financial reasons. The poll of 1,471 secondary


heads shows that nearly half had converted to academy status or planned to do so, while 34 per cent were undecided. Headteachers told the survey


that with cuts to central budgets they felt there was no option but to convert in order to safeguard jobs and resources. Mr Lightman said the coalition government was using the academies programme as a “carrot” for schools. He explained: “The


Department for Education said in its documentation that there should be no financial incentive or disincentive to become an acad- emy but this is certainly not the message that is getting to schools. “It is very clear that early con-


vertors have gained financially and therefore will be able to protect their budgets in ways which other schools have not. Although they know that this funding bonus will not be sustainable, they see it as a way of cushioning their schools from the cuts of the next few years. “The government has used


greater freedoms as a carrot for academies, but if the argument is that greater freedoms raise stand- ards, logically these should be applied to all schools.”


Nine Mandarin-speaking students are set to scale the heights of the Great Wall of China and explore Beijing’s forbidden city after winning a national competition. More than 400 students from


29 secondary schools took part in X Factor-style heats in London and Newcastle as part of the challenge, before 89 finalists met at the British Museum last Thursday (March 10) to compete for the grand prize. The competition, now in its


eighth year, is organised by the British Council and supported by HSBC.


Students competed as individu-


als or as part of a team performance and were judged by a panel made up of native and non-native speak- ers of Mandarin. The individual section saw


students give a presentation in Mandarin, translate sentences from English, and tested on knowledge of China and Chinese Culture. The group performance saw teams performing a piece of drama in Chinese. The individual winners were


I Kit Cheng from Carre’s Grammar School in Lincolnshire, Mark


Lindberg from Ibstock Place School in Roehampton, Alasdair Falcon from George Heriot’s School in Edinburgh, and Laura Janicka from Millais School in Horsham. The team award went to a group of five students from Calday Grange Grammar School in the Wirral. Martin Davidson, chief execu-


tive of the British Council, said: “Future success for the UK will in large part depend on our ability to communicate internationally – and China will be an important partner for us. Developing a real understanding of China will be cru-


Amazing Mandarin: Students from St Joseph’s College in London compete during the challenge while the nine winners are pic- tured at the British Museum with Christopher Rennie of the British Council and Lorraine Thomas from HSBC


cial to the relationship, and learn- ing Mandarin will ensure that our young people have the intercultural skills to communicate effectively.” For more information, visit www.britishcouncil.org


Professor backs performance-related pay


Teachers should be awarded pay rises based on their performance in the classroom and not on their levels of experience, an education expert has said. Dylan Wiliam, Emeritus


Professor of educational assess- ment at the Institute of Education, was speaking as part of a Question Time-style debate alongside edu- cation secretary Michael Gove and former education secretary Baroness Estelle Morris.


4 Prof Wiliam, said teachers


should always want to improve and new teachers should be rewarded for their good work. He said teach- ers should be assessed on their teaching and rewarded for their efforts, rather than on age. He explained: “Work is chang-


ing quicker than education, schools and children are more intelligent than they used to be, now stu- dents are getting 50 per cent A* to C including English and maths, it


used to be 20 per cent in previous generations. “The pay for teachers should


be incentivised. It is not right for a teacher to get a pay rise because it is their birthday and they are one year older. State secondary teachers’ pay should be based on their performance getting better and better. This would then create a culture in school on teaching improvements.” The claims came as part of a


debate entitled “Are our schools fit for purpose” hosted by Times+ and Teach First. Each member of the panel spoke before answering ques- tions from the audience. Mr Gove used the debate to


reiterate his plans to raise the entry level to the teaching profession to a 2:2 degree or higher. Baroness Morris, meanwhile, said that better teachers should be teaching in more deprived areas and also backed mixed ability classes.


SecEd • March 17 2011


tion-linked pension increase from the Retail Price Index to the lower Consumer Price Index, which one union has said will devalue pen- sions by up to 25 per cent. Even before the report’s publi-


cation, a strike warning had already been sounded by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL). The union’s Action Committee met in January when it agreed to give the union a mandate to ballot its 160,000 members for industrial action. If taken, it would be first time ATL members have gone on national strike since 1979. An ATL spokeswoman told


SecEd this week that any ballot would depend on the government’s response to the Review. She said: “We are waiting to see what the government does, if it is prepared to negotiate on the changes things might not continue to wend towards a strike ballot.” Leadership unions also sound-


ed strike warnings this week. The Association of School and College Leaders released the results of a membership survey which showed that 63 per cent of respondents would consider a form of industrial action – the union has 15,000 members.


General secretary, Brian


Lightman, said: “It’s unusual for this strength of feeling to be so evident among members. They feel that their pension scheme is an integral part of their overall benefits pack- age. Striking would be an absolute last resort, but the government needs to hear the message that feelings are running very, very high and school leaders are prepared to fight.” The National Association of


Head Teachers has carried out a similar survey with its 28,000 mem- bers, with 64 per cent saying they would be prepared to take strike action. General secretary Russell Hobby said: “We’re perfectly happy to talk about the effects of longevity and the state of the public sector purse. We’re not prepared to pay for the mistakes of others or tolerate a change in the rules mid- game. We have not seen conclusive evidence that the teacher’s pension scheme is unaffordable.” Both the National Union of


Teachers and the NASUWT has said it will continue its campaign against the changes to pensions schemes and depending on the gov- ernment’s response say that they have not ruled out strike action.


Speaking at the Association of


School and College Leaders annual conference on Friday (March 11), education secretary Michael Gove said that his government needed to “lead morally”. He added: “We need to ensure that we respect the opinions of teachers.” Elsewhere in his Review, Lord Hutton has said that the gov-


Pension pay-out warning


The government could have to pay out £2 billion in pensions to teachers choosing to retire early, a union has warned. According to estimates by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers


(ATL), 50,000 teachers over 55 could decided to retire and leave the Teachers’ Pension Scheme at the end of the current school year. ATL general secretary, Dr Mary Bousted, said: “Teachers will


be furious that the government is making huge changes to their pensions without providing a full valuation to know whether any of the changes are necessary.” Dr Bousted said that Lord Hutton’s proposals, on top of the


changes the government has already made to pensions (see main article), are the “final straw”. She added: “All these changes mean that older teachers may


be better off taking their pension now. An average teacher will be paying an extra £1,011 a year and getting 25 per cent less after working for an additional five years.”


Youngsters master Mandarin


ernment should “honour in full” the pension promises that have been accrued by scheme members and as such has called for the final salary link for past service for current members to be main- tained, which has been welcomed by unions.


• See page 6: SecEd on Your Side.


Photos: Dave Vickers


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