In a joint press conference last week, I joined with the general secretaries of the National Association of Head Teachers, National Education Union, and NASUWT in announcing that we intend to coordinate on industrial action over the interlinked issues of pay, conditions, teacher shortages, and inadequate funding.
The word unprecedented is used a lot these days, but this is genuinely new territory in many respects and is a sign of the strength of feeling that exists across the profession about the unsustainable burden which government neglect and complacency has inflicted upon schools and the education workforce.
The trade union I represent – the Association of School and College Leaders – has never before, in our 150-year history, balloted on national strike action. But that is the situation in which we now find ourselves following protracted negotiations with the government that resulted in a pay and conditions offer that was so patently inadequate in all possible respects that it was comprehensively rejected by the memberships of all four trade unions.
Since then the government has made no effort to return to the negotiating table and has said only that the issue of pay will now revert to the School Teachers’ Review Body.
In the absence of any new offer or any meaningful negotiation, our union has been left with no alternative other than to ballot on industrial action. We are taking this step as a last resort and with a heavy heart, but there is no other route available if we are to achieve the sort of settlement that the education workforce, our schools and our children desperately need.
The other trade unions find themselves in similar positions, and it is for this reason that we have joined together to announce the intention to coordinate industrial action.
None of us take this remotely lightly and we fully realise the implications. We are talking here about the possibility of strikes in the autumn term, and clearly, if all four unions were involved in this action it would likely result in the closure of most schools in England.
But the whole point of this display of unity and resolve is that we hope it never comes to this. What we all earnestly want to see is the government return to the negotiating table with a settlement that at last begins to properly address the erosion of pay, the chronic underfunding of schools, and the worsening teacher recruitment and retention crisis.
The government should want to address these matters without the leverage of industrial action. It should want to address these issues because that is the right thing to do for the education system, for the children it serves, and for the future of the country.
But, sadly, it seems very clear that there is no discernible government plan or strategy, other than to limp feebly on to the next general election, while blithely ignoring the deep systemic problems in education and announcing fanciful pet projects such as the intention to extend maths teaching to 18 for all pupils despite the desperate shortage of maths teachers.
On top of this is an accountability system of school inspections and performance tables which pays no heed to the inadequacy of funding and teacher shortages and continues to remorselessly grind down teachers and leaders and stigmatise schools.
I can never remember a time when the morale of teachers and leaders has been so low, and when the feeling in schools has so much resembled a state of being besieged.
I say that with a deep sense of sadness because I, like you, came into this noble profession because of its transformational power to change lives. Teaching, at its best, is always a challenging career, but it should also be a career which is joyful and enriching.
That, ultimately, is what this is all about – returning teaching to being the rewarding and fulfilling career that it should be, attracting graduates into the profession and ensuring that experienced veterans want to continue in teaching and in leadership.
And securing the teacher supply pipeline across the full range of subjects will pay dividends for our young people, giving them the best possible learning experience and outcomes. None of this should need saying. It is obvious.
But the government has lost sight of its fundamental responsibility to ensure that this vital public service has the resources it needs to function properly.
And that is why our unions – ASCL, NAHT, NEU and NASUWT – stand united.
- Geoff Barton is general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders. Read his previous articles for SecEd, via http://bit.ly/seced-barton