The Live Wire



Press Release

NUT comment on DfE's education business plan

8 November 2010

Commenting on the plans released today, Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, said;

"The proposals contained in the plan to list the qualifications of teachers appears to run counter to the government's plan to let anyone teach in Free Schools despite not having a relevant pedagogical qualification.

"Parents are interested in a school's ability to provide a good education for their children and there is already an abundance of measurements by which a school’s success is judged. What is important for parents and the wider public to know is that teachers are fully qualified, and that they have access to continual professional development to keep ahead of any new educational developments.

"Publishing on a school by school basis the levels of teachers' absence cannot be of any use to a parent. In general, teachers have low levels of absence. When it does occur, head teachers and governors are responsible for ensuring that there is a suitably qualified person to cover the leave, and certainly when the cover is for anything other than a short period that person should be a qualified teacher.

"Within the national pay structure for teachers there is already a great deal of flexibility. A move away from national pay structures will simply add additional burdens onto head teachers and governors.

"For a government that keeps asserting that it wants to reduce pointless bureaucracy in schools, this business plan looks as though it will achieve the exact opposite and have schools drowning in unnecessary and unhelpful paperwork. "



Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to Central Lobby. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the Central Lobby service.

As such, Central Lobby does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.

National Union of Teachers

National Union of Teachers

More from Dods

© Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd