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Over the past three weeks, members of four of the major education unions have met for their annual conferences. While our front page report focuses on the pensions debates, a range of other motions were discussed at the events. Daniel White and Pete Henshaw round-up some of the key issues being discussed


ATL – Bullying


More than half of staff who have been bullied are not happy with the way their schools have dealt with the incidents. It follows a survey of more than


900 teachers and school staff by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, which also revealed that half of those who had been bullied were suffering at the hands of a member of the leadership team. The survey, released at the


union’s annual conference, which took place in Liverpool from April 18 to 20, reported that nearly half of staff who have been bullied had not reported it. A secondary teacher in England


said she had left her previous job because of the abuse she received from the headteacher, who she said was herself suffering from stress leading her to lash out at staff. The teacher added: “I asked for


help from other members of the senior management but none of


ATL – Funding


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Teachers have expressed their anger at the coalition govern- ment’s claims that the schools budget has been protected. At its annual conference in


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Liverpool, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers passed a motion calling on the union to mount a campaign to highlight the reality that schools budgets are facing real-term decreases this year.


The motion said: “Conference


deplores the way in which the government attempted to portray the annual 0.1 per cent rise in school budgets in England over the next four years as an increase.


them were prepared to do anything. I was just one of a number of staff in that school who were driven from their jobs or went off on long- term sick leave due to stress as a direct result of the headteacher’s behaviour.” Results of the survey showed


that for 26 per cent of those who had been bullied, the head of department was the perpetrator, whereas 22 per cent said it was a fellow teacher. More than 50 per cent said the bullying had taken place several times and 27 per cent on a regular occasion. More than 70 per cent of staff bullied became stressed because of the problem and nearly 50 per cent considered leav- ing the profession. The most common reason for


being bullied was believed to be because the other person did not like them (41 per cent), but 31 per cent said they did not know why they were being victimised. General secretary of the union,


“Conference notes that the rise


in pupil numbers by two per cent per annum, and cuts to devolved formula capital, the grants replaced by the early intervention grant and the financial provision for school 6th forms, will result in a one per cent average real-terms reduction.” The debate highlighted further


cuts to sports funding, music edu- cation and the educational mainte- nance allowance. The government originally


decided to abolish the £162 mil- lion funding for School Sports Partnership before taking a partial u-turn and announcing a £47 mil- lion fund that will last until the end of the current academic year.


Dr Mary Bousted (pictured, right), said more “adequate” measures need to be brought in to tackle the problem. She also said bullying could be


the result of the long hours teachers work, high workloads and inspec- tions, which can lead to strained relationships because of the pres- sure they bring. She added: “It is unacceptable


for any staff to be bullied by col- leagues, and schools and colleges need robust policies in place to pick up any problems and deal with them promptly. It is not good enough to just tackle the symptoms; schools and colleges also need to tackle the cause of the bullying. “In the case of many staff, they


are under too much pressure in their roles and this needs to be addressed. Without robust policies on bullying and adequate measures to resolve the problem, staff will become demoral- ised and this can only have a negative impact on pupils.”


The government then announced there will be £65 million funding for every secondary school for 2011/12 and 2012/13. Liz Smith, a teacher from York


High School, told the conference: “Funding for school sports is important for education. It enables students to grow in confidence, allows students to go outside of school kayaking, something they would not have the chance to do otherwise. “Students can widen their


horizons, doing activities they wouldn’t have done. It is even important for their diet and enables schools to have important links with primary schools.”


ATL – Stress


Teachers are taking on additional roles within schools because they fear they could be vulnerable to redundancies if they do not, it has been claimed. A debate during the Association


of Teachers and Lecturers’ annual conference in Liverpool claimed that recent policy changes are resulting in an increase in teach- ers becoming stressed, something which is affecting their private and working lives. A motion calling for the union


to “monitor the situation closely and report any deterioration in the emotional health and wellbeing of school staff” was passed unani- mously by members. It added: “Conference believes


that recent changes that have been proposed, enacted and abandoned by government have led to feelings of insecurity and stress for staff as well as pupils.”


2 During the debate, Mary-Clare


Leavold, a teacher at Langley Grammar School in Slough, told delegates that teachers were scared to say no to jobs outside the class- room because of fears they would be seen not to be doing work for their department and that they could face possible redundancies. She added: “Teacher’s expect to


be stressed when they are inside work but not when they are outside of work all of the time. How much more can we take? Staffrooms are empty. Staff are scared of saying no to more work as they have to be seen doing work for their department.” Jenny Inglis, a union mem-


ber from Berkshire, said schools should have assessments for staff and headteachers so problems are flagged up, including any health problems and emotional health issues, instead of schools having to react to problems once they become evident.


SecEd • May 5 2011


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