SecEd The ONLY weekly voice for secondary education Inside this issue


The impact of government education policy


State of the nations


An analysis of the impact of coalition government cuts on UK education


Public services Pensions


Pay and conditions Pensions anger erupts


Robin Hood Tax Academies Vocational education


www.fivetoseven.co.uk 5to7 five to seven educator 01 FINAL copy.indd 1 SecEd 13/04/2011 16:22


SecEd this week publishes in conjunction with the


NASUWT, State of the nations, a supplement analysing the impact of government education policies and arguing for the alternatives. If you would like further copies of this supplement, email


pete.h@markallengroup.com


The ongoing row over pensions could see hundreds of thousands of teachers and school staff walking out in the coming months after three unions agreed to ballot members for strike action. The trade union conference sea-


son saw members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) agree to ballot for strike action which could take place at the end of June. Meanwhile, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) has agreed to ballot for what would be its first national strike, but this would not happen until the autumn term. The NASUWT has not yet


Exam stress


Chartered psychologist Dr Stephanie Thornton looks at how you can support your students in handling the stress of their examinations Pages 8 and 9


Talking HIV


Charity Body & Soul works with schools to help them raise the issue of HIV and AIDS in the classroom. They offer their advice to SecEd Page 13


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agreed to join any action, saying instead that it will wait to see the outcome of government negotia- tions with the TUC. However, the union has not ruled out continuous strikes this autumn. The NUT and ATL membership


totals around 450,000 profession- als meaning a joint June walkout would likely see school closures across England and Wales. All four unions together have


around 750,000 members, meaning any joint autumn action would have a more severe impact on schools. The impact would be lessened in Scotland, which is not covered by the NAHT or NUT. The ATL, which met in


Liverpool from April 18 to 20, was the first to agree to ballot. General secretary Dr Mary Bousted said these would be co-ordinated with other unions. She said: “Members deeply


regret having to take this step to ballot for strike action, but they believe they need to take a strong stand now to make the government listen. We will not ask members to do anything to upset this summer’s exams, but ATL members are very angry – and it takes a lot to get them this angry.” NUT members, who met in


Harrogate from April 22 to 26, also agreed to ballot for action this June. General secretary Christine Blower said the move was a “clear message to government that teachers will


not stand by as their pensions are eroded”. She added: “The support for this


motion, together with the similar motion passed by ATL, demon- strates the strength of feeling across the profession. We will continue to negotiate with the government, but we are balloting for strike action to help us get a fair deal for teachers. “The government is not taking


these talks seriously. They haven’t carried out the valuation – required by law – which would demonstrate the actual costs of our pensions.” At NAHT, which met in


Brighton from April 29 to May 1, an emergency motion was put to delegates. It read: “Conference calls upon National Executive to take all action necessary to defend pen- sions up to and including balloting on industrial action, in opposition to the changes proposed by the Hutton inquiry. NAHT believes that the proposed changes will seriously damage motivation and morale, exacerbating the already serious problems of recruitment and reten- tion of school leaders.” Ahead of the vote, general sec-


retary Russell Hobby said there was “real anger”, adding “this is going to get serious”. Meanwhile, members of the


NASUWT rejected summer strike action, agreeing instead to see out


the negotiations with government. The union held its conference in Glasgow from April 22 to 25, during which members passed a motion stating: “Conference asserts that unless the coalition govern- ment ceases its attack on public sec- tor pensions, joint union industrial action across the UK is inevitable.” However, general secretary


Chris Keates said it would be wrong to strike this summer while TUC negotiations with the govern- ment are still ongoing and expected to run until June. In moving the motion, execu-


tive member Dave Wilkinson, said: “When we went into these talks, all public sector unions agreed that we would not be taking industrial action until those talks broke down. “Balloting for discontinuous


strike action – a one-day strike only – which is what the NUT and the ATL are planning, does not put pressure on the government. “If it is necessary to take action,


when we take it, our strategy will be to pursue the time when it has the greatest impact ... (with) a range of action options, continuous action short of strike action, as well as strike action. (It will be) meaningful and it will have enormous impact.”


• For a round-up of the union conference season, see pages 2 and 3


Secondary leaders 'sympathetic' to strike threat


Secondary school leaders appeared sympathetic this week to plans by two of the major teaching unions to ballot for strike action on pensions this June. However, speaking anonymously to SecEd, a number of heads were unsure whether strike action would be effective.


“I have every sympathy for the reaction of the profession and feel that the government has no right to retrospectively seek to tear up a previously agreed contractual responsibility. Obviously, I do not want my students caught up in the fall-out and hope that the government will reconsider their ethical responsibility to teachers employed in the state sector.”


“Heads will I am sure be supportive of teachers if the government seeks to change the rules mid-stream. But whether strike action is the most appropriate way to deal with the problem is for debate.”


“I think the action is to little and probably too late. In the 36 years of teaching my pension rights have gradually been eroded away – the size of the lump sum, the amount of pension and the way it is calculated. During these changes the unions did nothing.”


“Regrettably, I can’t see striking as a good way of winning the hearts and minds of the general public. I predict the issue will rapidly become the tactics of the unions and the actual issue will be lost in the controversy.”


“I am very sympathetic to the strike action. I did not want to join the pension scheme when I started teaching back in 1980 but was told I had to. I have now paid in for 31 years and have every intention of retiring before 60 and I cannot believe that the proposal is to not only reduce my pension but also to prevent me from retiring early.”


“Surely a way forward can be found through negotiation? If not, it’s the children that will suffer and, of course, the profile of teachers will sink even lower in terms of how others see us.”


The pensions row explained


Teachers are angry after the Hutton Review of public sector pensions recommended scrapping the teachers’ final salary pension scheme and replacing it with a scheme linked to average career earnings. The idea behind the move, which could come into effect in 2015, is to end the huge final salary pension pots for some workers. However, teachers point out that their average pension pot is just £10,000. Lord Hutton is also calling for the normal pension age in public


service schemes to be linked to the State Pension Age, which is 65 but set to rise to 66 in 2020 and then to 68. The government is expected to decide whether to agree the recommendations this summer. Teachers are also incensed because it comes on top of the two-year


public sector pay freeze and existing proposals to increase pension contributions by 50 per cent – from 6.4 to 9.8 per cent by 2014 – which are set to see teachers paying up to £102 a month more. This is to be phased in from next April. In addition, the government has already changed the annual inflation-linked pension increase from the Retail Price Index (RPI) to the lower Consumer Price Index (CPI), which it is claimed will devalue pensions by up to 25 per cent.


UK news  SecEd: On Your Side  Independent thinking  Moral support  NQT diary  Managing ICT  At the chalkface


Issue 282 • May 5 2011 Price £1.00 www.sec-ed.com


as unions agree ballots Pensions row deepens as two unions threaten June walkout, with others set to take action in the autumn


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