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NEWS • VIEWS • INFORMATION • ADVICE
Excessive temperatures
The NASUWT has launched a campaign to tackle the problem of excessive classroom temperatures.
The Union has been highlighting the detrimental impact on teaching and learning caused by classrooms that become unbearably hot in the summer or exceptionally cold in the winter for several years.
Members signed up to the campaign are currently gathering data about the temperatures in their school to inform a report to Annual Conference 2012 on the issue. The findings will also form the basis of discussions with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) with a view to commissioning joint research on the impact of excessive temperatures on teaching and learning.
At present, there is no legal maximum working temperature and the NASUWT believes that the issue of excessive classroom temperatures, particularly in the summer, is seriously impacting on teachers’ ability to teach and pupils’ ability to learn.
The Coalition Government’s decision to scrap the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme and the relaxing of planning laws to enable free schools to be set up in disused buildings both impact on the working environment and make the creation of a maximum temperature more urgent, the NASUWT believes.
What you can do
There are a number of actions you can take to ease the problem:
thermometers should be provided within the workplace and if temperatures exceed sensible limits then the employer should put in place measures to tackle the issue;
blinds, fans or additional heaters should be used where temperatures are unreasonably cold or hot;
where appropriate, employers should also provide alternative rooms or, in extreme situations, order the partial or total closure of the building;
adequate ventilation is critical, particularly in classrooms used for subjects such as technology where dust may be generated;
an easily accessible source of drinking water for both staff and students should be available;
the possibility of operating flexible working arrangements to avoid using classrooms particularly susceptible to high temperatures during the hottest hours of the day should also be explored.
The NASUWT has produced further advice on this issue at
www.nasuwt.org.uk/ExcessiveTemperatures
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