St John’s School, Marlborough, is closed to pupils in years 7 to 10 today (Wednesday) due to the strike called by the National Union of Teachers over teachers’ excessive workload, increased bureaucracy and the introduction of a performance related pay system.
The strike has also been called following the NUT’s clash with Education Secretary Michael Gove over pension changes considered unfair.
St John’s announces on its website that, for health and safety reasons, it will partially open for students in Years 11, 12 and 13, but will have to remain closed to students in the other year groups.
Christine Blower, General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers, the largest teachers’ union, told Marlborough News Online: “Teachers deeply regret the disruption caused by this strike action to parents and teachers. The government’s refusal, however, to engage to resolve the dispute means that we have no alternative other than to demonstrate the seriousness of our concerns.
“Teachers’ levels of workload are intolerable – the government’s own survey, published last month, shows that primary school teachers work nearly 60 hours a week and secondary school teachers work nearly 56 hours a week.
Two in five teachers are leaving the profession in the first five years of teaching as are many others. This is bad for children and bad for education.
“Destroying the national pay framework means that in every school head teachers and governors have to worry about developing a pay system instead of focussing on teaching and learning. The government’s performance related pay is unnecessary and will build unfairness and additional bureaucracy.
“Further, international evidence shows that performance related pay does not work for schools.
“Teachers do not believe that they can work to the age of 68 or even later for a full pension – and they don’t believe it is educationally desirable either.
“The NUT recognises that other workers are having their pensions squeezed. We believe that this is wrong too – everyone should be entitled to a decent standard of living in retirement.”
And she added: “Michael Gove can resolve this situation by listening to our concerns and doing something about them. Our concerns are not just for teachers but for the future standard and provision of education”.