Commenting on the Government's new education Bill, Daniel
Kebede, general secretary of the National Education
Union, said:
"This is a significant, decisive Bill with an exciting set of
announcements. It's got ambition but also action.
"The NEU thinks this Bill will make a meaningful difference to
the lives of staff and children. It shows a Secretary of State
with a real breadth of vision and determination to get the system
working together better, through collaboration and co-operation,
in the interest of every child in a local area.
"We fully support the announcement that all teachers will be
covered by the same pay and conditions framework (STPCD)
regardless of whether they teach in a community school or an
academy. Having the same pay and conditions framework enables
teacher mobility across the school system and is obviously
fairer, by making sure all teachers work under the same
protections. We hope this takes us closer towards a fair national
pay structure, with no element of PRP, with mandatory pay levels
and with career stages that are sufficient to value, recruit and
retain the teachers and leaders our schools need.
"Ending the presumption that all new schools need to be academies
shows a willingness to set a new and better direction. This is
particularly welcome because it's the first step in responding to
the SEND funding crisis. Local authorities need the power and
ability to open special schools, so we can break the unaffordable
reliance on independent special schools. It's much more cost
effective to let local authorities play this fuller role.
"The Secretary of State pledged a re-set with the profession and
to value the expertise and dedication of the workforce, so it's a
relief to hear the ‘duty' to force schools into multi-academy
trusts will go. It was never evidence-led policy. We're going to
push during the passage of the Bill for the option for schools to
leave MATs so that schools can join local rather than national
‘groups'.
"It should be a source of shame for the Conservatives that after
14 years in power more than four million children now live below
the poverty line. Labour's commitment to breaking down barriers
to opportunity is positive and there is real potential in the
Government's Opportunity Mission. For this to have meaning on the
ground, schools must be adequately funded from next year's
spending review onwards, and properly staffed so children and
young people have the familiar faces and continuity in each
subject that stable staffing brings. The NEU will continue to
press the issue of adequate investment with Labour.
"The new steps around safeguarding are important and the NEU
absolutely supports a register for children who are learning at
home, whilst wanting to boost the capacity of the system to keep
more young people with SEND at school."
