Latest news with #NASUWT
BBC News
12 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
Strike action at Scunthorpe school over plans to extend day
Staff at a school in North Lincolnshire are set to take part in strike action in protest at an academy trust's plans to extend the day for students and teachers by half an NASUWT teaching union said teachers at a number of schools run by the Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT), including Foxhills in Scunthorpe, were taking part in six days of action, with the first on union said the proposed changes would affect teachers' working hours, workload and the welfare of staff and academy trust said it was "exceptionally disappointed" that "our union partners" had decided to take industrial action. According to the union, OGAT schools currently finish at 14:30 BST, with the trust proposing a later finish to comply with the Department for Education's advised 32.5-hour Matt Wrack, the union's acting general secretary, said the proposals should instead focus on lengthening a 30-minute lunch break to provide adequate time for pupils to queue for and eat their lunch, use the toilets and have a break before resuming lessons."The current lunch break is so short that some pupils are not eating or using the toilets, which has a detrimental impact on their health, welfare and ability to focus on learning," Mr Wrack said. Kath Oliver, the union's national executive member for Foxhills, added: "Staff at Foxhills frequently report that they are unable to take a break at all during the school day."The union is calling for OGAT to agree to resume academy trust said it remained open to "constructive dialogue"."The small change we have proposed will mean students can learn more and achieve even stronger outcomes, and will still mean the school day is within the time as set out in the government's school teachers' pay and conditions document," a spokesperson said."We also want to make sure our students are prioritised and provided with the best possible education."Strike action is planned for 3, 10, 11, 17, 18 and 19 June at the school in Scunthorpe. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
BBC News
a day ago
- Business
- BBC News
Multiple teacher changes in Guernsey 'hard to adjust to'
Guernsey's education department has cut the number of agency staff it uses, however, students say they are still being impacted by the turnover of teaching the 2024/25 academic year, the education department had 151 vacancies and filled 124 permanent appointments - leaving 27 to be filled by agency staff, a drop compared to 2023/24, when there was about 39 agency staff, and 2022/23, when there was more than who studies at the sixth form centre, said to begin with the turnover was "hard to adjust to".Director of Education Nick Hynes said agency staff were "covering either long-term illness, maternity or sitting in posts until the vacant position is filled" permanently. There are about 760 teachers across all stages of education on the island - primary, secondary, special and further education. Ella, who studies the International Baccalaureate Diploma (IB), said she had three French teachers and two maths teachers over a two-year period."To begin with the changes were a little bit of a shock and they were hard to adjust to," she said."Some of the teachers that had been introduced to our course, because I do the IB, which is not as common as the A-level, one of our teachers hadn't been trained as well so the adaptation to the syllabus wasn't as stable as it could have been without the teacher turnover," she added. 'Issue across the British Isles' The teaching union NASUWT said teacher recruitment had been an issue for many years and remained a problem. According to data from the union, in the last year 40,000 teachers have left the profession in the UK. It means that the pool of teachers that Guernsey can recruit from has reduced significantly compared to previous years. NASUWT representative Wayne Bates said: "To be honest, it's an issue across the entire British Isles, particularly in certain subjects and certain areas there is a very very large teacher shortage and if the numbers of agency staff in Guernsey have reduced that is obviously welcome."Investment in education is absolutely imperative to ensure the long term economic benefits to the whole of the population on the Island. Investment in education today will provide those benefits in future years."
The Guardian
6 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
UK teaching union to hold leadership election as challenger emerges
The NASUWT teaching union will hold its first contested leadership election for a generation after a challenger emerged to Matt Wrack, the former firefighters' union general secretary who was initially appointed to the role unopposed. Neil Butler, an NASUWT official who won a legal battle against the union's national executive to run, has passed the threshold required to be a candidate, triggering a members' vote against Wrack later this year. Wayne Broom, the NASUWT's president, said: 'Following the close of nominations, there is now a contested election and we will move to a ballot of members.' Broom said the election would begin on 19 June and close on 23 July. The result sets up an ideological charged contest between Wrack, seen as being on the left of the Labour party, and the traditionally more moderate union mainstream. Wrack was named as the national executive's preferred candidate for general secretary in March. Under the NASUWT's rules, Wrack would have automatically filled the position if no other candidate received enough nominations from local branches. Butler's initial attempt to gather nominations was ruled out by the national executive on the grounds that, as an employee, he was not a member of the union. But Butler started legal proceedings to challenge the executive's decision, with the NASUWT backing down shortly before a hearing at the high court that cost the union at least £70,000 in legal fees. Wrack was then named acting general secretary and nominations were reopened. Now Butler's supporters say he has gained well above the 25 branch nominations required to be a candidate, setting off the union's first ballot for general secretary since 1990. The general secretary selection process has been fraught with difficulty after Patrick Roach's decision last year to step down after only one term in office. Wrack impressed members of the national executive appointments committee when he was interviewed alongside Butler and other candidates, and the executive then announced Wrack as its preferred candidate. But the appointment proved controversial among many NASUWT members, in part because Wrack had been general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) for 20 years until losing his re-election bid in January. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Members who spoke to the Guardian said they were concerned about the fact Wrack had never been a teacher but would be leading a major union that restricts its membership to qualified teachers and lecturers, as well as his outspoken views on politics and the Israel-Gaza conflict. Speaking to the Guardian earlier this month, Wrack blamed a 'ludicrous' and 'coordinated' attempt by political enemies to undermine his position, and vowed to stand in the event of an election. Wrack, who went to a Catholic grammar school in Manchester and studied with the Open University before completing a part-time master's degree at the London School of Economics, said his lack of teaching experience was irrelevant. 'It strikes me that people seem to be able to be the secretary of state for education without any teaching experience,' Wrack said. Butler, the NASUWT's national officer for Wales, is a former teacher.
The Irish Sun
26-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
I was THROTTLED by boy, 14, in front of my class – but was hauled in front of jobsworth school bosses who disciplined ME
A TEACHER was disciplined by jobsworth school bosses after refusing to teach a pupil who throttled her in front of her class, she claims. Mum Laura Linklater was so traumatised by the incident in Bradford, West Yorkshire, she quit her job and now 3 Laura Linklater 'got in trouble' for refusing to teach her attacker Credit: Laura Linklater 3 Laura's attacker returned to her form group the next week without any warning Credit: Getty The 40-year-old said her teacher training did not 'prepare me to handle' such a To make matters worse, she said the following week the While teaching the Year 10 class, Laura said one pupil suddenly became aggressive. She told The Sun: 'He was really tall, really big and very angry. Read more News 'He came into my class one day barging 'Suddenly, he had me up against the classroom wall Laura described how a 'I was left shaking,' she said. Most read in The Sun She went on to say: 'I was only told he'd been 'dealt with', before he turned up to my registration class next Monday, without a "I refused to teach the student. I didn't blame him; but I refused to have my aggressor in my classroom.' Boy, 7, in school 'knife attack' bid In a subsequent meeting with a superior, she claims she was told 'it's your job' to teach the teenager, and so she threatened to quit. 'He (a superior staff member) found this shocking, and I got in trouble for refusing to teach my attacker.' She added: 'I was having to fight for my Laura said after the meeting: 'I held my tears in long enough to find a classroom to After the meeting, a 'But that was only because of the exceptional kindness of this individual.' Months after the incident in late 2012 she left her job, describing the incident as 'the last straw'. Laura added: "My decision to "You'd be stunned by the number of home educators who are teachers - who've seen the system from the inside out and don't want their kids to go through it." I held my tears in long enough to find a classroom to cry in. Laura Linklater former teacher A survey last month by the NASUWT teachers' union shows that Laura's experience is shockingly common in the profession. It showed that two fifths of school teachers have experienced In detail, 20% of the survey's 5,800 respondents said they had experienced being hit or The results also suggested that such abuse is set to get worse, with a staggering 81% of teachers believing the number of pupils showing violent and abusive behaviours had increased. Thankfully, Laura had received basic self defence training while doing a previous job at PREVENT, working with She fears without this previous training, she would not have been able to keep her attacker away until he was removed. Laura explained: 'My PGCE training did not prepare me to handle kids who towered over me. 'I was given one day of theory-based Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) lectures. 'You come out of it blinking in the sun, with no idea what you're doing.' My teen's school referred me to the POLICE because of a few sick days – I'm fuming but people ask why I'm kicking off By Kate Kulniece A MUM has revealed she's been Mum Sara Louise took to TikTok to rant after being notified that the authorities would be coming to do a welfare check on her child, who is in Year 10. The furious mum explained that her daughter has ''some additional needs'' - which Sara felt like were ''not met by the school''. In ''I only had phone calls to check in and see if she was okay. Some of them I didn't even answer,'' Sara said in The outraged mum went on: ''This term, she's been off for 11 days and they've rung me twice in the 11 days. ''And today, when I answered the phone call, she asked me if she could come out and do a welfare check - and I kindly declined. ''I said 'No, I don't want you to come to my house','' Sara said, adding that her teenager was ''absolutely fine'' and didn't ''want any interaction with the school''. Under the Education (Penalty Notices) Regulations, schools usually consider a welfare check when a child has missed 10 school sessions (equivalent to 5 days) of unauthorised absences within a rolling 10-week period. Schools may conduct a welfare check sooner if they have concerns about a child's wellbeing, even if the absence is shorter. Before a home visit, schools will usually try to contact the parents first to understand the reason for the absence. ''I'm fuming. Because I have now declined, they're telling me that they have a duty of care - which is fine - and safeguarding and all the rest of it, to come out and do this check.'' Sara, who is in the process of moving her daughter to another school, noted that getting the police involved felt as if she was ''hiding'' and ''abusing'' the child. ''I know they haven't said that - but the way that comes across is, like, sinister.'' Despite the school notifying Sara, the mum said there was no chance she was going to the child's school to let them know the daughter was fine ''when she's fine''. ''And there's not a cat in hell's chance that they're coming to my house to see that she's fine.'' The furious mother, who insisted the school had never given ''a s**t'' about her daughter, knew there'd be backlash after posting the clip - but said she didn't ''give a crap''. If the authorities do show up, Sara said she'd be having the conversation with the police from her camera. ''This is what you get for doing what's right for your kid.'' Despite the incredibly high rate of pupil assaults, no mandatory training exists for teachers to deal with violent assault, sexual harassment or sexual assault from pupils. Jennifer Moses, National Official For Equalities and Training at the NASUWT explained: 'Schools are only obligated and trained to deal with pupil-on-pupil or staff-on-pupil violence and 'Schools should have something in their anti-bullying policies or staff handbooks that addresses violence and harassment from pupils, but this is not nationally addressed. "There may be schools that provide this specific training, but I would guess it is very limited, and I am not aware of any such schools.' In a situation where The 2023 NASUWT Behaviour in Schools Report showed that just 55% of teachers reported behavioural incidents to their manager within their school or college. Of those who did not report such behaviours, 36% felt their capability would be called into question as a result. In March, another NASUWT survey showed that nearly half (49%) of female teachers had experienced physical abuse or More than double the number of female teachers said they had been hit or punched by pupils (36%) compared to their male counterparts (13%). This kind of violence is often embedded in 'Amy', a former primary school teacher in London who has chosen to remain She said: 'I was teaching a year 3 class, and a 'This boy refused to take any authority from women, and frequently called me a 'black b****'. 'He kept telling me: 'I'm going to hit you, I'm going to hit you.' 'Then he pulled out a pair of scissors and attacked me with them. 'It was only because we had a 'I'm only 5'2' and this boy was incredibly strong. 'Had the TA not been there, this boy could have run out of the school gates with these scissors.' This boy refused to take any authority from women, and frequently called me a 'black b****'. 'Amy' former teacher Training and support for this teacher were, again, worryingly absent in the aftermath of this attack. 'I had absolutely no training for these kinds of incidents,' Amy said. 'After the attack, the teaching assistant asked if I was OK, but there was no 'The lack of help was so normalised that it's only now that I realise I should have been better protected by the school. 'The only feedback I received was the mother of the child on the phone having a right go at me. 'There's no way I would ever go back into teaching of any form because of my experiences - I don't want to be in those environments. 'I don't know how to keep myself safe.' Pupils armed with weapons The April NASUWT survey showed teachers reporting attacks from pupils with more than just classroom scissors - using weapons such as Again this is not limited to secondary schools, as Amy recalls a year 6 student Many teachers feel that while the behaviour of pupils is getting worse, the tools and deterrents they have available to them to maintain order in classrooms are becoming increasingly scarce. "We can't use language like ' She added: 'When I started teaching, you could take designated 'Now there's not a chance you could have that kind of system in place - you can't have anything where you are seen to be punishing or 'When there's no sanctions, when everything has to be positive the whole time, there's no way of managing the class. 'One of the things that schools did have for really bad behaviour situations or children that were repeated offenders, is that they could 'But now, schools are reluctant to exclude kids - because from the top down, they were instructed to reduce the total number of exclusions.' Susan found the consequences of this toothless sanction system were She said: 'I experienced a range of behaviours from 'This included being physically pushed, kicked or spat at. 'I've been in situations where I've had to 'It didn't matter what stage of school you taught at, you could still be assaulted. 'It was scary, even if they were little, because there's so much 'Students wouldn't have to apologise for an attack on a teacher, especially if they have an additional support need.' In 2024, 40.5% of all pupils in 'As soon as a child has an additional support need, it's like you can't separate that need from She added: 'I believe we've got a proportion of children who are diagnosed with having an additional support need, when they have a behaviour issue.' Susan also noticed a A study for the children's commissioner for England in 2023 found that a quarter of 16-25 year olds in the UK had first seen pornography while in primary school, leading to a normalisation of 'There's a lot more primary school children making inappropriate comments against teachers - it was 'I definitely think, you know, part of that problem is because of the rise in social media and children having access to devices much younger.' 'There's a dislike for females and it's obviously derived a lot from Susan quit teaching just before the start of COVID to start a tutoring service, as she felt that as a regular teacher she was spending far more time managing behaviour than actually 'I love 'I felt a lot of the time in the classroom that I was 'Teachers nowadays do much more 'We're the front line for everything, but we're also the first person that gets shot when something doesn't go right. 'I hear from my ex-colleagues who are still teaching that post COVID, it's got much, much worse. 'The demands on teachers have massively gone up, but the funding and support hasn't - if anything, they've been The Sun has approached Laura's former school for comment. Do you have a similar story? Email 3 Two fifths of school teachers have experienced physical abuse or violence by pupils in the last 12 months Credit: Getty
Daily Mail
22-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Labour faces mounting strike threat from doctors, nurses and teachers despite bumper pay hikes of up to 5% set to be unveiled TODAY
Sir Keir Starmer is facing a threat of fresh strikes by doctors, nurses, teachers and other public sector workers - despite Labour offering pay rises of up to 5 per cent. The Government is expected to accept recommendations from public sector pay review bodies, set to be unveiled today, that are much higher than budgeted for. Late last year, in its own submissions to the pay review bodies, the Government recommended only a 2.8 per cent pay rise for millions of public sector workers. But ministers will now reportedly accept recommendations for pay rises at 5 per cent or more for doctors, 3 per cent for other NHS staff, and 4 per cent for teachers. Latest inflation figures, published yesterday, showed the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) rate jumped by more than expected in April to 3.5 per cent. This was its highest rate in more than a year and could complicate arguments that public sector workers are getting a real-terms pay rise. Downing Street previously put itself on a collision course with trade unions by saying there will be no extra funding for any pay rises above the 2.8 per cent it budgeted for. Union bosses have threatened strike action if pay rises are not above inflation, or they have to be funded from existing budgets - which is likely to mean cuts elsewhere. NASUWT, the teaching union, last month warned it will ballot its members for industrial action if the Government offers a pay award that is 'not fully funded'. At the union's annual conference, members voted to 'step up' campaigning to secure a fully funded, real-terms pay award for teachers for 2025/26. The NEU, England's largest teaching union, has also said it will launch a ballot on strike action if the Government's final pay offer for teachers remained 'unacceptable'. The Royal College of Nursing has told ministers to ensure nurses are 'rewarded fairly'. And the British Medical Association, which represents doctors, has already announced it will ballot for strikes over pay demands. Health Secretary Wes Streeting has claimed the union is asking for a rise of more than 10 per cent this year, which he warned is 'undeliverable'. Shortly after Labour came to power last summer, the Government gave public sector workers pay rises of between 4.75 per cent and 6 per cent for 2024/25. This came at the same time as Chancellor Rachel Reeves axed winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners. Following a fierce backlash, the Prime Minister has been forced into a humiliating U-turn and yesterday promised to ensure more pensioners get the cash. But Downing Street failed to offer any details of when retirees might have the payments restored.
