Take action now on your right to a private life

We are asking members to respond to the GTC’s revised code of conduct and practice. We are concerned that the GTC is turning aspirations for best practice into rules, the breach of which may result in disciplinary action.

YOUR RIGHT TO PRIVACY – EVERYONE NEEDS A BREAK

The NUT has responded to the GTC’s revised code of conduct and practice to give a voice to the concerns of everyone in the teaching profession. We’ve:

• Reiterated that teachers are skilled professionals doing a vital professional job
• Agreed that teachers should uphold strong professional standards
• Argued that this means they should have a good work/life balance to allow them to carry out the vital job of educating our children effectively
• Insisted on the right to a private life – teachers should not always be ‘on duty’.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

We’re asking members to make these points in their own submissions to the GTC. To feed in your views go to www.opm.co.uk/gtc or visit the main GTC(E) website www.gtce.org.uk. The deadline is 27 February. Go to www.teachers.org.uk to sign our petition and ask your MP to sign our Early Day Motion, which has been tabled in Parliament.

GOVERNMENT SHOULD PAY FOR GTC FEE INCREASE

We’re also appalled by the increase of 12 per cent in the GTC fee from £33 to £37 a year. This breaks the pact that the fee should be fully reimbursed in teachers’ pay. We’ve written to Ed Balls to say that the Government, not teachers, should pay. We’ve also asked the Government to fund the GTC directly, as in the further education sector.

DON’T BE FOOLED

NASUWT GTC members were not the only ones to vote against the increase – NUT members on the GTC also did this.

NUT Acting General Secretary, Christine Blower, said:

“No one can be expected towork 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It’s unacceptable to expect teachers to be ‘on duty’ all the time and to expect anyone to behave every waking moment as they would in the workplace. Act now to join our campaign for the right to a private life.”

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