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‘Congratulations on your resilience and dedication’ DESPITE a year of disruption and late and incoherent guidance from the Government, record numbers of A-level and GCSE students achieved top grades this summer. NEU joint general secretary Mary Bousted congratulated teachers and students on their “resilience and dedication during an extraordinary year”, but dismissed the Education Secretary’s “hollow” letter of thanks to teachers. “Government has taken school and college staff for granted,” said Mary. An NEU survey showed teachers’ workload soared by an average of 12 hours a week as a result of exam work. However, Gavin Williamson ignored the union’s request – backed by more than 10,000 teachers – that they should be given £500 to recognise their additional work. In Scotland teachers were given £400. Ofqual said fewer than one per cent of grades would need to be reconsidered and teacher assessment “gave a more accurate reflection of what pupils can achieve”. Mary said: “Each student has received a grade which was arrived at using evidence of their own work, rather than relative to the work of others or through a high-stakes, one-
off exam. Emerging from the pandemic should be an opportunity to reassess the established ways in which we carry out our exams and award qualifications. That is why the NEU is
supporting an independent commission on assessment and qualifications, which seeks to meet the future needs of students, teachers, our economy and society.”
n MORE than 112,000 people have signed a petition started by coalition More Than a Score opposing the Baseline assessment introduced at primary schools in England this month. It will be delivered to Downing Street on 16 September and calls on Schools Minister Nick Gibb to scrap the test for four-year-olds, which is “not just absurd but immoral” in a pandemic. (Above) Pre-schoolers and grown-ups descended on Downing Street in April 2019 to demand a halt to Government plans to test children when they first start school. morethanascore.org.uk
Pay freeze compounds a decade of damage THE Government’s proposed pay freeze for teachers and other public sector workers is “completely unacceptable”, says the NEU. As well as amounting to another cut to teacher pay against inflation following the realterms cuts since 2010, it will exacerbate the recruitment and retention problems already facing the profession. The pay freeze comes against the background of significant real-terms pay cuts for teachers in colleges and with support staff facing a below-inflation pay increase (see right). The 2021 report by the School Teachers’ Review Body highlighted the risk of pay freezes “jeopardising efforts to attract and retain the high-quality graduates necessary to deliver improved pupil outcomes”. NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney said: “The pay freeze will compound the damage caused by a decade of real-terms pay cuts for teachers in the 2010s, which has left the teaching profession with major recruitment and retention problems.” 6
Wales and NI pay updates The Welsh Government has proposed a 1.75 per cent pay rise, described as “disappointing” by NEU Cymru. The Department of Education, Northern Ireland (DENI) was considering the teacher unions’ pay claim as Educate went to press. However, it has confirmed that incremental progression increases, due from 1 September, will be paid in the meantime. Possible strike ballot on support pay Unions have rejected the latest pay offer for education support staff and are considering balloting for industrial action. The National Employers side of the National Joint Council (NJC) made what it described as its “final” offer on 27 July. It included a 1.75 per cent rise for the vast majority of staff, but with a 2.75 per cent increase for anyone earning less than £18,198 (full-time equivalent) a year. An earlier offer of 1.5 per cent across the board was rejected by the trade unions represented on the NJC, which include
educate Your magazine from the National Education Union (NEU)
the NEU. The unions’ original pay claim in February was for a minimum of ten per cent and a 35-hour working week. Any final agreement on pay will be backdated to 1 April. Sixth form and FE pay negotiations Negotiations on pay for the sixth form sector will continue in September. Unions are seeking a pay increase from 1 September 2021 and for issues relating to points on the pay scale and London allowances to be addressed. They believe all are affordable for colleges as many have received more funding for students. The Sixth Form Colleges Association has said it believed college funding would not be increased in 2021/22. Discussions are still being held with other unions on a joint pay claim in further education. The claim will be part of the NEU’s campaign on pay this term that will link funding of the sector with pay and workload. The NEU is also working to rebuild collective bargaining in a bid to eliminate the discrepancies in pay awards that exist between colleges.
n Visit neu.org.uk/pay-advice
