Standing up for Education - Tough Times Ahead

The extent of the attack on public services and education is becoming clearer by the day. The statement from the Department of Education setting out funding allocations for next year is not good news for schools, particularly as it comes on top of the cuts already being made by local authorities to the central services provided to schools. These services by and large offer support for pupils with the most difficulties and those from the most disadvantaged backgrounds.

We now see that the Pupil Premium is nothing but a conjurer's trick. The Government is simply moving money around the system. Not only is it not new money, but its pathetically low level means that the impact will be negligible.

All schools are facing extra cost pressures over the next three years. The Pupil Premium will only benefit some schools.  The IFS estimated in October that 60% of primary students and 87% of secondary students would see their school's funding cut in real terms. Now the Government has failed on its promise even to protect overall funding.  Its so-called minimum guarantees will condemn many schools to losing up to 1.5% of their funding per student even before inflation takes its toll.

The raising of tuition fees and cuts to the Education Maintenance Allowance ( EMA) will cause hardship to many families and for some it will mean that further and higher education is put beyond their means. The Union continues to supports the joint UCU and NUS 'Fund our Future' campaign.

There is some good news for a change in this present climate, with the Prime Minister announcing that there has to be a rethink about the proposed cuts to school sports funding. This has come about as a direct result of the messages of dismay and outrage from young people, teachers, head teachers and Olympic champions. It is not clear however what the Government will propose so it is still important we continue to make our voices heard.

Young Ambassadors representing the School Sports Partnerships delivered over a million signatures to the Secretary of State for Education on 7th December. The NUT has already collected over 8000 signatures to add to this total.

There is much to do but there is also the will. We need to continue to oppose all cuts to front line education services, including school sports, music and specialist services such as those to support the achievement of children and young people from minority ethnic backgrounds. To do otherwise will be failing generations.  

Christine Blower
General Secretary
16 December 2010

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Gove admits school funding cuts

So, finally, Michael Gove has come clean about schools funding. George Osborne said that school budgets will rise in real terms. Michael Gove has admitted that this is untrue and that many schools will lose funding. The money for the Pupil Premium is simply being recycled. With student numbers rising, the Government’s failure to provide extra money means funding per student will fall in real terms by over 2%. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates that 60% of primary students and 87% of secondary students will be in schools where funding falls in real terms.

This revelation also lays bare the claim that education spending is protected. Schools are not protected and nor are local authorities. We know that many attacks have been made on additional education funding outside of the core schools budget, with vital frontline services to schools already under threat.

The ending of the Building Schools for the Future programme resulted in the cancellation of over 700 school building projects. The money now allocated for spending on school buildings is a poor substitute and represents a 60% reduction in real terms.

Teachers are faced with a pay freeze and cuts to pensions which mean they have to work longer for less. Teachers will see this as a long way short of the ‘gold standard’ George Osborne describes.

We know are faced with the prospect of Free Schools being able to employ non qualified teachers. Michael Gove needs to come clean about this as he has with the Pupil Premium. It cannot be in the interests of parents, pupils or teachers for this idea to be allowed to go ahead.

Libraries also look as though they will come under threat from the cuts. Our libraries ensure that the door to information and a quiet space in which to learn is kept open to everyone regardless of income. Libraries provide an irreplaceable service and need to be protected.  

The effects of the Comprehensive Spending Review are a retrograde step and will have a devastating impact on vital public services, including education. There are alternatives to the cuts outlined by the Chancellor which would not damage the country’s existing social fabric and future well being. Education spending, like all public sectors spending, is an investment in our future.

Lets make no mistake about it we are only at the beginning of what are going to be extremely difficult times for all but the few. It is vitally important that we continue to work together with the TUC and our sister teacher unions to protect our education services, our pay and pensions and our public services. 

Christine Blower
General Secretary
26 October 2010

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Education: fair for all not a free for all

The Union had a very good TUC Congress. A number of the delegates spoke in debates ranging from Academies and Free Schools to Pensions and many things in between. One delegate was able to ask a question of Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, who agreed that bonuses for bankers are actually unacceptable.

Brendan Barber gave a rousing address saying what we have is a demolition, not a coalition government and urging that as we face the greatest cuts in decades we must work together and co ordinate action and activities across the unions in the public but also the private sector.

At the beginning of the party conference season, the teacher unions did just that. Kevin Courtney spoke on a platform with representatives from amongst others, ATL, NASUWT, GMB and UNISON making the case against the cuts and academies and Free Schools at a lobby of the Lib Dem Conference.

The Lib Dem conference delegates voted overwhelmingly to oppose the coalition commitment to academies and Free Schools. The NUT stand in the exhibition hall is sporting a banner congratulating the Lib Dems on this decision and states that education should be fair for all not a free for all.

The joint NUT, ATL and NASUWT fringe heard excellent speeches from Fiona Millar and Shirley Williams who both put forward the very clear case against continued fragmentation and privatisation of our education service.

There is still a great deal to do and very much to play for in the Anti Academy and Free School campaign. We clearly have significant allies in this fight.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
21 September 2010

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Defending state education and the public sector

Welcome back to what promises to be a very difficult year for the education service and public services in general. I spent several weeks over the summer discussing education policy with teacher trade unionists in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I shared the Union's concerns about the academies and Free Schools programme with them. They in turn shared new research on Charter Schools with me. There are many differences between public education in the US and state school education over here but there are also many similarities and much we can learn from each other in our fight for a good local school for every child and for every community.

The term has begun with only 32 new Coalition academies opening. Of course that's 32 too many but it's a long way short of the 1100 Mr Gove announced had expressed an interest, according to his statement to the Commons in June. The first 16 so-called Free Schools which have passed the first stage have also been announced. There is a great deal of work to do to get the message out far and wide that academies and Free Schools are not the way forward. Look out for a new Union publication: Free Schools: Beyond the Spin of Government Policy. It provides authoritative evidence that free state comprehensive education is the way to organise education for the good of the whole society.

At the TUC Congress next week the ATL and NUT will move and second a composite motion on academies. It calls for a concerted campaign by all education unions. In the NUT we look forward to working with our colleagues in other unions.

This is, of course, the time of year when we are most obviously in recruitment mode. We know that "no one ever asked me" is the most common response from people who haven't yet joined a union. Let's make sure we ask every teacher who comes into our staffrooms and classrooms to join us in the NUT.

A significant campaign for all of us this term will be to work with and through the TUC in defence of public sector pensions. Again the Union will be speaking in the debate at the TUC Congress on this.

With so many attacks on the public sector there will be a great deal to do this term. The Union will be joining both ATL and NASUWT to hold joint fringe meetings at all the party conferences. The key task at the Lib Dem conference will be to expose the differences opening up among their ranks on Free Schools and academies. Come and join the rally if you can get to the Liverpool on Sunday September 19th at 12 noon. Look out for further information on the NUT website.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
8 September 2010

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Save our Schools lobby of parliament

The Save our Schools lobby of parliament was a huge success. Representatives of teaching unions, parents, children, school leaders, Governors and MPs all turned out to give a very clear message to the coalition Government that their Academies Bill and the cutting of BSF is not welcome or needed.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to congregate at Methodist Central Hall in London and those who went on to lobby their MPs about our genuine concerns about the way the Government is rushing this Bill through.

This Government's ideological attack on state education has to be opposed. Legislation to create many more academies and the new so called “free schools” is an attack on the very existence of free, state comprehensive education which is democratically accountable. It is privatisation on a grand scale and is unacceptable.

The combination of this privatisation and the cuts to come will leave schools with larger classes and teachers with deep concerns about how they can provide a high quality of educational experience to all the children they teach.

We must work across the trade union movement and with parents and Governors to make sure that all children have access to a good local school for every child. Education cuts never heal and will leave many children without access to the education which can help to bring greater social justice to our society.

As we all know there is much campaigning that needs to be done but in the meantime I hope everyone manages to get a good break over the summer holidays and look forward to starting afresh in what will be a busy Autumn term.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
30 June 2010

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Pay and pensions under attack

Yet again we see public services under attack and are being told they will bear the brunt of the Government’s cost-cutting agenda. Pay limits and pay freezes in the public sector as announced in the Emergency Budget will simply reduce spending power in the economy. This will delay economic recovery and risk tipping us into a double-dip recession. A pay freeze for teachers for two years from September 2011 will do nothing for recruitment and retention into schools.

The teachers’ pension scheme has already been reformed to make it sustainable in the long term. Teachers are already paying higher pension contributions: new joiners must already wait till 65 for their pensions, and a cost-capping agreement means that employer contributions are already limited to 14 per cent, similar to the average private sector employer contributions. Changing the basis on which teachers’ pensions are increased from RPI to CPI would cost the average teacher retiring now on £10,000 over £48k over 25 years.

Politicians’ and the media’s discussion of public sector pensions persistently implies that public sector workers receive a fortune. In reality, teachers’ pensions average less than £10,000 a year. Local government pensions average far less - around £4,000. The NUT will do all it can to protect the pensions of teachers and other public sector workers.

Academies and free (market) schools

The list of those schools who have expressed an interest in becoming Academies is now out. The small percentage that have done so shows that the vast majority are extremely wary of cutting themselves free from their local community of schools and from the in-depth support and advice provided by their local authority.

We are working with all the education unions to ensure that heads, governors, parents and teachers are aware of the consequences of going down this path. It is vital that this message is heard loud and clear; we cannot stand back and see our state education system broken up.

Equally the Government’s commitment to ‘free schools’ will create planning gridlock and social division.
In Sweden, the birthplace of free schools educational standards have fallen since they were introduced and segregation of education has increased. Free schools in Sweden only employ 65% of qualified teachers compared to 85% in municipal schools.

Colleagues, there will be difficult times ahead. We have a very good level of NUT membership but we need to give a high profile and priority to recruiting and retaining members. Whilst we are proud to have ‘one union for all teachers’ as our aim, whilst there are separate teachers’ unions, encouraging non-members to join the NUT is vitally important. Don’t forget, the most common reason non-members give for not having joined the NUT is that no one has asked them.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
30 June 2010

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The Academies Bill

Two weeks in and the tone has been set by Michael Gove at DFE. He has decided that the break-up of state education is the way forward.

The indecent haste to rush all “outstanding schools” into academies is predictable but nonetheless disturbing for that.

In the Government’s impact assessment document there is a claim that the “monetised benefits by the main affected groups” amounts to £1072 million. And how are these benefits to be achieved? The answer is “Benefits are in terms of the increase in estimated lifetime earnings of the additional number of pupils attending academies and obtaining improved GCSE results”. But isn’t Mr Gove inviting outstanding schools to become academies in this legislation? Aren’t they the schools which will already have Ofsted levels of “good” GCSE passes? Interestingly the figures used to achieve this estimate are “an increase in lifetime productivity of £100,000 for men and £85,000 for women”. The pay gap is not about to close.

This Academies Bill is without a doubt the most serious threat to state education as we know it that we have faced. I’m very pleased that in such serious circumstances the Union has moved swiftly to work closely with our sister unions ATL and NASUWT (NAHT are taking a somewhat neutral stance at this stage).

I have been made aware that some “outstanding schools” are already rebuffing the approach from the Secretary of State. Governing Bodies, far from voting to become academies, are voting to make public their opposition to the idea.

Private companies eager to turn a quick buck are already contacting schools to peddle their wares to assist in the transfer to academy status. These should equally be rebuffed.

The timescales envisaged by the Secretary of State are very tight. If we are to have an impact in holding back what the Government would like to be a flood-tide of conversions to academies, we need to work together with other unions and at all levels of our own Union to get out the message that this proposed wholesale academisation of primary, special and secondary schools is unacceptable and must be stopped. Both jointly with ATL and NASUWT and separately, the Union will be producing materials and briefings to help members campaign locally. FAQs have been posted on teachers.org and Hearth.

Given that this is the biggest fight we have faced in twenty years, here are some key messages:

a) The “outstanding schools” being targeted are not at risk of closure as many previous schools were, so there is no argument that taking the academy route is necessary to save jobs or schools.

b) We know that the so-called freedoms bring with them additional financial responsibilities for governors which many of them won’t want if they realise the implications.

c) If all the “outstanding schools” take the academy route that will be the end of Local Authorities.

d) The “outstanding schools” got to be outstanding from within a Local Authority, sometimes with considerable assistance from them.

And finally, an academy can, of course, change pay and conditions, although TUPE would apply in the first instance.

We want to stop as many of these academies as we can. It will need effort at all levels of the Union. But we can make a real difference.

We will, of course, continue to work with and support members in existing academies and any new ones.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
28 May 2010

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Ending SATs – Building for action

Following the successful ballot to boycott SATs this year, there was a chance that the Union would face a legal challenge. The Secretary of State has today sent out a communication which is a clear indication that a legal challenge is now very unlikely.

This means, of course that, as the Union has said all along, the boycott is legal.

However, the Secretary of Sate has now rather oddly (and provocatively) suggested that governors might:
“instruct the head teacher to remain absent from school” and find someone else to administer the tests.

The Union has responded in a press release to highlight that this is a foolish suggestion and would simply create problems.

The Union is quite clear that members who boycott are fully covered by a lawful trade dispute.

The National Governors’ Association (NGA) advice is very clear:
“If the boycott goes ahead the governing body should not get involved in operational matters and should not get involved in the administration of the tests.”
The NGA goes on the say:
“If the head teacher is undertaking the boycott and is not willing to allow delegation it does not appear to the NGA that there is any power for the governing body to intervene to instruct a third party to do so.”

Despite the last ditch attempt by Ed Balls, yesterday, to seek to undermine the boycott, the Union is clear that it is lawful and will go ahead.

No additional workload should be required of any teacher where the boycott is undertaken.

In Union headquarters we have been receiving great reports about what will be going on in some schools instead of the SATs. Only today we heard of a school which will be doing rocket building and rugby coaching instead of SATs.

In London on Sunday May 9th to celebrate the beginning of “No SATs” week there will be an anti SATs picnic.

If you have an anti SATs story or an event planned, please send details in to your regional office.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
29 April 2010

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The Union's Annual Conference held over the Easter weekend in Liverpool was a great success. Needless to say the thoughts of many delegates turned to Steve Sinnott as we arrived in his home city. The collection for the Steve Sinnott Foundation raised over £1000. Do take a few minutes to sign up on the Foundation’s website if you haven't already done so.

I was delighted to see the licence to practise dropped by Parliament last week. Thanks to the many thousands of NUT members who have campaigned against the licence since our campaign started in June 2009. It was disappointing to see today that Labour’s manifesto includes references to the licence. The NUT will be firm in our opposition to any future proposals for teacher licensing.

In the last week of the ballot for the proposed boycott of SATs in England, the Union have sent a message of congratulations and solidarity to the Australian Education Union which has voted to boycott the national tests due to take place in their country. The action will happen unless the Federal Government agrees not to use the results to produce league tables.

The NAHT and the Union will meet to discuss the outcomes of our ballots in the week after they close. If you haven't voted yet please get your YES vote in by Friday 16th April.

Conference was addressed by Michael Rosen and Alan Gibbons, both passionate anti-SATs campaigners and great writers. The debate on Reading for Pleasure was one of the highlights of conference. At national level we will be working closely with the Campaign for the Book. It's a sobering thought that a prison is statutorily required to have a library but a school isn't.

With the General Election campaign under way and threats to free state comprehensive education from every quarter it is important that we get out our anti-academy and anti-trust-school message.

The rally in London on April 10 called by the National Pensioners’ Convention was well supported by NUT members. I was pleased to have been invited to speak to give the message that the NUT will oppose cuts to jobs, pay and pensions and stand up to defend public services.

Christine Blower
General Secretary
12 April 2010

Click here to view previous messages from Christine Blower, NUT, General Secretary