Teacher strike warning over school day reform
REFORM of the school day and year in Wales has put the Welsh Government on a “collision course” with teachers, the incoming national president of the largest teaching union in Wales, the Nasuwt, has warned.
Angela Butler warned teachers may strike or leave for jobs across the border if school days are lengthened and the summer holiday shortened.
Plans to change school term dates and school hours were announced last November as part of a three-year deal between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru to work together in the Senedd. A pilot of an extended school day got under way in 14 schools last term.
Angela Butler, the new national president of the Nasuwt, which has 300,000 members including 17,500 in Wales, said there had been a lack of consultation with teachers.
There was also no research evidence showing the changes would benefit education, she said.
Mrs Butler, who will continue to work as a chemistry and special educational needs teacher at Newtown High during her presidency of the Nasuwt, claimed there had been no serious attempt to consider the views or effect on teachers and their pay, contracts and working conditions as a result of the reforms.
In an open swipe at the Welsh Government, she said ministers had shown a “lack of respect” for the profession that had filtered down to some members of the public.
Speaking ahead of the Nasuwt’s national conference, which starts today in Birmingham, Mrs Butler, who has spent 26 years in teaching, pulled no punches.
“I think that lack of respect starts
with the government not holding the profession in esteem. I think they don’t value us as a profession,” she said.
“I don’t think that’s a new thing. In Wales I thought we would be better served because we have a Labour government, but I feel they are paying lip service. They don’t understand teaching or the local management of schools.”
She added: “The teaching profession is on a collision course with the Welsh Government over the changes to the school day and year. I don’t think they understand that. Teachers may strike over it.”
She understood the problems some parents have juggling childcare and work over the summer holidays but ministers should be “honest” about the proposals being about childcare and not education.
Mrs Butler said her union’s members were also angry at the way First Minister Mark Drakeford had apparently presented such major changes as a fait accompli during the Welsh Labour conference last month.
“He just dropped it in at the Welsh Labour conference saying ‘ we will reform the school year and the school day’,” she said.
“That showed contempt for the teaching profession. Headteachers don’t want it, teachers don’t want it and supply teachers don’t want it. It is not backed by research that it helps education.
“If you see a lack of respect from leaders it filters down. By referring to the summer holidays like this they have been saying teachers have too long holidays.”
Before the Plaid deal, Welsh Labour had said in its manifesto for the 2021 May elections that it would “explore reform of the school day and the school year to bring both more in line with contemporary patterns of family life and employment”.
But the Nasuwt’s new president said she was disappointed that once again education was being used for political purposes, rather than what was best for children and their teachers.
“[Education Minister] Jeremy Miles will talk to teachers and unions and it’s all very amicable, but I don’t think it’s his decision. It is the Labour-Plaid Cymru deal breaker.
“They are riding roughshod over us. It is all political - education is being used as a political football again.”
She said she had received “an avalanche” of correspondence from members who are angry about the reforms to the school day and year, some of whom are thinking of moving to England as a result.
“People might be looking across the border for work. That’s going to be especially along the border where schools in England are very nearby.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We have engaged extensively with education unions regarding potential reforms of the school day and year, and these discussions will continue.
“Now is absolutely the right time to consider how we can best support learner and staff well-being and narrow educational inequalities.
“We are committed to continue working closely with unions, learners, families and other stakeholders as we explore the structure of the school day and year.”
Mrs Butler, who is from Pyle, near Bridgend, has spent her entire career at Newtown High and will continue to work one day a week while she is national president of the Nasuwt.
The Nasuwt has 300,000 members, including teachers and headteachers. In Wales it said it has the biggest single union membership at 17,500.