NUT to fight plans by Radclyffe School, Oldham to use classroom assistants for whole class teaching

Doug McAvoy, NUT General Secretary, is meeting 60 NUT members at the Radclyffe School, Oldham, a specialist technology college, at 1 pm today, Tuesday 7 October, to discuss the head’s plans to use unqualified persons to take whole classes.

The headteacher, Mr H Hayer, wants the school’s teachers to prepare, plan, mark and carry out assessment of pupils arising from classes taken by people who are not qualified teachers.

The NUT has consistently opposed an agreement between the Government and the other teachers’ organizations which allows people not qualified as teachers to take whole classes unsupervised by qualified teachers.

“The Union’s advice to its members is to refuse to undertake any work that would facilitate the use of unqualified persons to take whole classes.

“Support staff provide enormous benefits in schools but they are not qualified to teach and should not be used for that purpose. The head claims that unless he uses such people in this way, the teachers will have to provide more cover for absent colleagues or lose time outside the classroom which is used for other work supportive of their teaching.

“This is not so. The school could employ properly trained and qualified cover teachers rather than jeopardizing in this way the quality of education provided to pupils.

“The school’s motto is ‘Working together for excellence’. That aim will be undermined by this plan.”

For further information contact Olive Forsythe:
T: 020 7380 4706 (office) 020 8313 1692 (weekday evenings)
Or, if all else fails:
M: 07879 480061.