Licence To Bully To Be Given To School Heads

The Con-Dem(ned) coalition government continues its attack on working people's employment terms and conditions with the introduction in September of new rules which will allow continuous monitoring of teaching staff and easier dismissal.

Currently the rules over dismissal are claimed to be complex and mean it can often take at least a year for a headteacher to be able to dismiss a poor teacher. If the person concerned is on sick leave as a result of illness or stress, the procedures can take even longer.

Michael Gove, the Education Secretary, is to issue new regulations that will allow headteachers to dismiss a poorly performing teacher after only one school term.

Worse still, the teacher concerned can be pursued with disciplinary procedures even when the teacher is on long-term sick leave.

Commenting on the consultation document released today by the Department for Education on the performance management and capability procedures for teachers, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT, the largest teachers’ union, said:

“Not content with subjecting teachers to a significant two year pay cut, assault on their pension provision and savage cuts to education budgets causing job losses, Ministers today have added insult to injury by effectively proposing that teachers will be on a permanent capability procedure.

Over 9,000 teachers responded to a recent NASUWT survey that asked them about their job satisfaction. 45% of teachers, almost half of the profession, had seriously considered leaving teaching in the last twelve months. 47% said that their job satisfaction had declined over the same period.

Stripping away safeguards to ensure that teachers are treated fairly and professionally will not deliver high performance. These proposals will give headteachers a licence to bully.”

Source: NASUWT / Guardian

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