Geoff Barton will today call on Education Secretary to stop “trading fatuous
soundbites” and put forward a meaningful offer which brings to an
end the industrial dispute in education.
Mr Barton, General Secretary of the Association of School and
College Leaders, is speaking in a slot
which had been reserved for the Education Secretary at the
association’s Annual Conference after Ms Keegan declined an
invitation to address more than 1,000 school and college leaders
from across the UK.
He will say: “You’ll know that one person who hasn’t shown up is
the Secretary of State for Education. We think that is a great
shame. We believe you deserved to hear from her personally. We
think it was the perfect opportunity for her so early in her
tenure as a senior minister to thank you in person for all that
you are doing in your schools and colleges.
“But she’s not here to do that – the first secretary of state, I
gather, who has not spoken at our conference since 2006. And
says that she can’t be here
because she wants to focus on talks over pay and conditions.
“I hope so. Let’s show a spirit of generosity then, and treat
this as a positive sign that the government is committed to
putting an offer on the table to settle the industrial dispute
and begin to address the teacher recruitment and retention
crisis. Because, to be frank, talks are pretty meaningless if
there is no prospect of an offer, no genuine commitment to
negotiate, no realistic endgame.
“We can’t go on trading fatuous soundbites.
“Indeed, that’s why we joined with other education unions this
week in calling for ACAS to arbitrate. We said: ‘If the
government doesn’t know how to manage negotiations, let’s go to
the professionals.’ But it seems that those constructive
proposals have been rejected by the government, for reasons we
cannot explain.
“So here we are. This cannot go on. Teachers, leaders, families,
communities, and especially the nation’s children and young
people – you all need this matter settled. We need to be able to
recruit and retain great teachers and leaders in a way that isn’t
happening.”
The dispute was triggered by the government’s pay award for
2022/23 which is significantly below inflation and follows a
decade of pay erosion and worsening conditions for teachers and
leaders caused by funding and other pressures on schools and
colleges. Most schools and colleges are experiencing teacher
shortages because of the difficulty in recruiting and retaining
staff in these circumstances.
NEU members are planning to strike again next Wednesday and
Thursday, but the government has suspended talks with all
education unions unless the NEU calls off strike action without
any offer being put forward by the government.
Mr Barton will also say that government plans to defund many
BTECs and similar qualifications are “utterly reckless and
self-defeating”.
He will say: “The aim of these reforms is clearly to drive
students towards T-levels, but this risks leaving a large number
of students with no post-16 pathway which suits their needs or
aspirations. The scale of the risk is very clear.
“Last summer, nearly 117,000 students received grades in these
Applied General Qualifications compared to 1,000 in T-levels. Has
the Department for Education modelled what routes this very large
number of displaced students will take in the future? Has it
risk-assessed whether removing Applied General Qualifications
will in fact lead to an increase in so-called NEETs – that is
young people who are not in education, employment and training?
Or lead to a decline in higher education applications and access?
Or the impact on equalities in terms of the number of students
from disadvantaged and ethnic minority backgrounds who are
negatively affected? From where I sit this feels utterly reckless
and self-defeating.
“A policy which seems destined to dispossess a very large group
of students of a pathway which aids social mobility. It is the
precise opposite of levelling up.”
ASCL’s Annual Conference 2023 is taking place today and tomorrow
(10-11 March) at the International Convention Centre in
Birmingham and is attended by more than 1,000 school and college
leaders from across the UK.
