Press Release

'Supporting teachers supports schools' NASUWT tells Liberal Democrats

21 September 2009

The NASUWT, the largest teachers' union  is jointly hosting a series of fringe meetings at the party  conferences with UNISON, which represents school support staff, to highlight the guarantees both unions feel the workforce should have in a 21st century school and to seek the commitments of all the political parties to supporting the workforce.

Chris Keates, general secretary of the NASUWT, said:

"Fundamental to the successful delivery of all education policy is the workforce.

"They need pay and working conditions to enable them to work effectively.

"The workforce reform of the last ten years has made major and positive changes to working conditions and pay of teachers and headteachers.

"It has also resulted in support staff at last being recognised as qualified professionals in their own right and for the important role they play in the education team around the child.

"However, there is still more to be done and the NASUWT wants to hear from each of the main parties what commitment and guarantees they are prepared to give to the workforce."

Speaking at the fringe at the Liberal Democrats Conference in Bournemouth, Jerry Bartlett, Deputy General Secretary of the NASUWT, told the delegates at a packed fringe meeting

"The NASUWT supports the principle of a pupil and parent guarantee as proposed in the 21st Century Schools White Paper-Your Child, Your Schools, Our Future and calls on the Government to go further and send a powerful and positive message to the workforce in schools by introducing a clear workforce guarantee for teachers and support staff."