http://education.independent.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=621265

Teachers threaten walk-out after deal to cut hours is blocked
By Richard Garner, Education Editor
18 March 2005


Teachers are threatening to walk out of classrooms across the country next
term after an agreement to reduce their workload was rejected by
headteachers.

Heads who refuse to implement the deal were warned by the second-largest
teachers' union, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women
Teachers, that they would face "legal and industrial action". Under the
agreement, all schools should have introduced by September a strict limit on
the hours which teachers spend covering for absent colleagues, and guarantee
them 10 per cent of the school day out of the classroom for marking and
preparation.

In schools where teachers agree to industrial action, union members will
refuse to cover classes once the limit is reached, and insist on taking
their 10 per cent of time for marking and preparation from September. The
union describes its action as a "work to contract". Teachers will remain on
the school premises marking and preparing lessons but refusing to take
classes. The move could lead to unsupervised children being sent home.

A dossier of all schools refusing to implement the agreement is being drawn
up for the union's annual conference this Easter, with the threat that they
will get a letter warning of legal action immediately.

Leaders of the National Association of Head Teachers agreed on Wednesday to
pull out of the agreement, saying ministers had not given their schools
enough money to implement it.

Ministers face a growing revolt over their education reforms. Yesterday, the
influential Labour-dominated Commons Select Committee on Education urged
Tony Blair to rein in his plan for 200 privately sponsored academies to
replace struggling secondaries by the end of the decade. MPs said ministers
should wait till the performance of the first 20 was reviewed before
expanding. GCSE exam results for the first 11 academies showed five had not
improved and two were worse.

Wednesday's decision by heads was narrowly agreed at a special conference of
200 headteachers. Some said jobs would be lost by the squeeze on school
budgets this year. David Hart, the NAHT's general secretary, said he had
fought "long and hard" to keep the NAHT in the agreement, but
added: "The
majority vote must prevail."

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said: "The law is the law
and, whatever some NAHT members may think, they are not above it. There have
always been headteachers who sought to block improvements to working
conditions with threats of job loss. This is the desperate refuge of
ineffective management. Any headteacher who seeks to deprive teachers of
their contractual entitlements should be prepared to face legal challenge
and industrial action."


--
Men are everywhere that matters!





--- UseNet To RIME Gateway {at} 3/19/05 7:59:01 AM ---