NEWS FOCUS SecEd: On Your Side


A shocking assault on your pensions


THE AVERAGE teacher’s pension is £12,000 a year. The average teaching assistant’s pension is £4,000 a year. The government’s


Pete


unbridled assault on teachers’ pensions has caused real anger within the profession – and quite rightly so (see page 4). Three of the major unions are already threatening strike


Henshaw Editor SecEd


action over the cuts to their pensions, which they correctly view as an important part of their package as a teacher. Indeed, many, many school leaders and teachers have


entered into the profession knowing that while the wages would not be spectacular, that the pension settlements are good. They now feel betrayed, and I cannot blame them. As one union said this week, Lord Hutton’s final report


into the future of public sector pensions is the final straw. And this is the point. You would have thought that


any government should wait for the findings of a review before making their decisions. But before Hutton reported, this government had already attacked teachers’ pensions on several fronts, massively devaluing this vital part of teachers’ remuneration. Before Hutton we already knew that teachers will be


paying up to £100 a month more after the government increases contributions by 50 per cent – from 6.4 to 9.8 per cent – by 2014 (saving them £1.8 billion). Before Hutton we already knew that pensions have been


devalued by up to 25 per cent because the government changed the annual inflation-linked increase from the Retail Price Index to the lower Consumer Price Index. And let’s not forget that this all comes on top of the


current two-year public sector pay freeze. All this even before the official report had been published. What a crock. So as you now digest Lord Hutton’s recommendation


to scrap the final salary link for teachers’ pensions and instead link them to average career earnings and his call for teachers’ pensions to be linked to the State Pension Age (65 currently, but rising to 66 by 2020 and then 68), you cannot be blamed for threatening to walk out. And the threat is substantial. The ATL has given its


union executives a mandate to ballot (this would be its first national strike action in 30 years); the membership of the leadership unions ASCL and NAHT have said they would walk out; the NUT and NASUWT are not ruling out strikes and will discuss the issue at their forthcoming annual conferences. And some it seems may walk out forever. One union


has predicted that as many as 50,000 teachers may choose to retire early and take their pension while it is still worth something. If this number leave the Teachers’ Pension Scheme this summer, it’ll cost the government £2 billion. Obviously, the personal impact of all of this on a


teacher’s future is what will be at the fore of many staffroom discussions, but let’s not forget the impact of all this on retention and recruitment in the profession as a whole. At a time when the recruitment of school leaders is a


vital focus, when we are trying to attract the best people into the profession, including career-changers, and when we’re raising the bar on entry to a 2:2 degree or higher, a good remuneration package is vital. And if, as predicted, many teachers and leaders opt for


early retirement, we could face a real recruitment crisis. Teachers are not adverse to some changes to pension


provision as we play our part in these tough times, but this all-out assault by the government, before Hutton had even reported, is too far. And it will get worse. While the government has not yet


accepted Hutton’s recommendations, we all know that they will be adopted in due course. And all this when bankers’ bonuses are back to their multi-million pound heights. The anger at the chalkface is palpable. And your fury at


the government is only going to get worse. Strike action seems inevitable, and I don’t blame you one bit – power to your elbows.


• Pete Henshaw is publisher and editor of SecEd. Email editor@sec-ed.co.uk or visit www.sec-ed.co.uk. Follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SecEd_Education


SecEd


MAJOR CHANGES to the way special needs are assessed, which could lead to a reduction in the number of students labelled as having an SEN, have been unveiled. The plans in the government’s


SEN Green Paper also detail an overhaul of teacher training and changes to funding which could see parents of statemented children receiving personal budgets by 2014. The Green Paper, which sets out


proposals for consultation, outlines the government’s plans to tackle “the practice of over-identification” of children as having an SEN by scrapping the current system of School Action, School Action Plus, and Statements. These would be replaced with


a single school-based category of SEN as well as a single assess- ment process and one combined Education, Health and Care Plan covering a child from 0 to 25. The new plan will afford parents the same statutory protection as the statement of SEN. The system currently consists of:


• School Action: for which a child might receive some one-to-one support.


• School Action Plus: where the child is likely to receive support from external services such as child psychologists.


• SEN statement: for children with the most severe needs. However, the government


believes that performance measures have “created perverse incentives to over-identify children as having SEN”. The proportion of children with


SEN, but without statements, has nearly doubled in the past 15 years. In 1995, it was 10 per cent of all pupils, but by 2010 it had increased to 18.2 per cent, a rise of 1.5 million students. Currently more than one in five children (21 per cent) are identified as having SEN but only 2.7 per cent have statements. As part of the proposals, the


government wants to extend the Achievement for All programme, which has seen the number of chil- dren classified as having an SEN reduce in the pilot authorities. The Green Paper states: “The


Achievement for All programme has led to schools declassifying children previously identified at School Action, because with a cul- ture of high expectations and provi- sion of personalised school-based support the label itself is no longer necessary.” A statement from the Department


for Education added: “To help chil- dren that have a learning need, but not necessarily an SEN, we will extend the Achievement for All programme so personalised support is mainstream in all schools. This programme has seen an increase in results and a decrease in pupils on the SEN register. We are invit- ing bids for an independent organi- sation to extend the programme across the country.” Elsewhere, the proposals out- line an overhaul of teacher train-


www.sec-ed.com


All change for SEN


The coalition government’s SEN Green Paper published this week marks the starts of a four-month consultation on wide-ranging plans


to overhaul the way children are identified as having special needs.Daniel White reports


ing and professional development so that teachers can confidently identify a child’s learning needs, including “the specific needs of children with SEN and those who may just be struggling with learn- ing and need school-based catch- up support which is normally available”. Parental choice is a core theme


of the Green Paper, with local authorities to be compelled to pub- lish their offer for SEN children in relation to the curriculum, teaching, assessment and pastoral support. Parents with disabled or SEN


children will also have the choice of receiving a personal budget from 2014 to give them “a greater say in the way their child is supported and a clear role in designing a per- sonalised package of support”. The Green Paper is seeking views on what this should cover. Also, parents of SEN children


will be given the right to express a preference for any state-funded school for their children, special or mainstream, under the plans, while the government is also keen to “explore” how voluntary groups could co-ordinate the assessment of children.


Children’s minister, Sarah


Teacher said: “We have heard time and time again that parents are frus-


IN RESPONSE…


The Supreme Court’s ruling that the family of Dianne Willmore can keep the compensation awarded after her death from low-level exposure to asbestos while at school could pave the way for more claims, experts have said. Ms Willmore contracted


the asbestos-related cancer mesothelioma after being exposed to the dust while a pupil at her school in Knowsley in the 1970s. She died in 2009 shortly after the Court of Appeal ruled that she was entitled to the £240,000 in compensation that had been awarded at Liverpool High Court in July that year. However, Knowsley Borough Council appealed and the


decision went to the Supreme Court, which this week upheld the judgement.


A statement from John Pickering and Partners, the Willmore’s legal representatives: “Dianne Willmore was diagnosed with mesothelioma at the end of March 2007 at the age of 46. She gave evidence at court that she had had exposure to asbestos while a pupil at Bowring Comprehensive School in Merseyside. She remembered council workmen still being present removing ceiling tiles to re-route cables. She remembered schoolmates removing ceiling tiles to put blazers into the ceilings as a prank. She recalled vandalised stacked tiles in the girls’ toilets.


Some of these tiles turned out to contain asbestos. This case is important for any persons who have small doses of asbestos exposure and get mesothelioma. It is also important for those who have had exposure in schools since it is the first case for a pupil.”


Philip Parkin, general secretary, Voice: “This case highlights that everyone on school premises needs protection against the dangers of disturbed asbestos. More than 75 per cent of schools in the country contain asbestos, with most containing the more dangerous types. In the last 10 years, more than 140 school teachers died of mesothelioma, and teaching assistants, caretakers, cleaners,


school secretaries and nursery nurses have also died from exposure to asbestos. If school staff are being exposed to asbestos, then so are the children in their classes. However, because of the long latency there are no records of the number of children who have subsequently died. Many schools’ staff are not


aware of the dangers of asbestos; they do not know where it is and are not involved in its management. Urgent action is required to improve standards of asbestos management, and to create an action plan for asbestos in schools, including: audits, risk-assessments, relevant training and guidance, and for all asbestos to be identified and removed.”


trated with endless delays to getting the help their child needs, and by being caught in the middle when local services don’t work together. The new single assessment process and plan will tackle this issue and mean that parents don’t feel they have to push to get the services they are entitled to.” However, fears have been raised


that the government’s plans could be threatened by the funding cuts that are hitting local authority edu- cation services. Dr Mary Bousted, general secre-


tary at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, urged the govern- ment to review staffing levels for support services. She said: “Savage cuts are


already being made to many of the specialist services teachers rely on to help them support children with SEN. Educational psychologists and speech and language thera- pists are being made redundant as local authorities cut their funding following budget cuts from gov- ernment. “As schools turn into academies


and start acting independently we are worried that local authorities will have less funding to provide community education services and there will be increasing pressure on services for vulnerable pupils.”


Dr Bousted called for an “urgent


review” of staffing levels in sup- port services and urged the govern- ment to improve training for staff in working with SEN pupils at initial teacher training, during CPD and through stronger links with external specialists. Christine Lenehan, director of


the Council for Disabled Children added: “The Green Paper comes at a challenging time for the sec- tor with substantial uncertainty about the future of jobs and serv- ices. Expectations on the voluntary and community sector are high and these will need to come with real resources and status if we are going to make the impact the government envisages.” Shadow education secretary


Andy Burnham also said the frag- mentation of health and education services would make the Green Papers aims difficult. He added: “Councils are laying


off the specialist teams that carry out the assessments and provide the support these children need. “For one reason or another, one


in five children fall behind their peers in the classroom. We should start from looking at what support they need to overcome their chal- lenges, rather than introducing an arbitrary target to reduce the num- bers of children on the SEN register. “I have concerns about the move


away from an expectation of inclu- sion and will be seeking reassur- ance that this won’t lead to a return to the days of a segregated school system.” The Green Paper consultation


closes on June 30. To read the document and for more details, visit www.education.gov.uk


SecEd • See page 15: Supporting autism


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SecEd • March 17 2011


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