Education reforms designed to divide, says union

National Union of Teachers chiefs from the region warned that as more academies and free schools opened increasing numbers of staff could be employed at places which would not recognise national agreements on pay and conditions.

The NUT’s annual conference in Harrogate, which finished yesterday, passed a resolution condemning the coalition’s plans to expand the number of academies and free schools.

Under Government reforms the number of state schools which are run independently from local councils is set to soar.

Academies and free schools get their money direct from central Government and are given greater freedom than local authority schools to set their own pay and conditions for teachers.

Delegates at the NUT’s conference voiced fears that the increasing number of academies would make it harder for trade unions to represent teachers.

Leeds and Kirklees NUT officials put forward an amendment to a motion condemning academies which expressed concern over the impact the policy will have on the union.

It said: “The spread of academies and free schools presents new challenges to the union’s capacity to represent and organise members that are greater than any other than any we have seen in our lifetimes.”

It also called on the union to “urgently consider” how it can continue to support members as the number of academies increases.

Hazel Danson, Kirklees branch secretary and NUT executive member told the Yorkshire Post there were also concerns about the financial security of academies which operated “without the safety net” of a local council. She said teachers were concerned that this could put staff working in these schools under greater threat of redundancy if an academy faced budget pressures.

Academies were originally set up by the last Government a decade ago to replace struggling schools in inner-city areas.

Ministers now want all state schools to apply to operate with the same freedoms. Free Schools – which will run with the same powers as academies – are a flagship policy of the Conservative-led Government.

Groups of parents and teachers are being urged to apply to set up their own schools whenever they are unhappy with the choice on offer. However, delegates at the NUT conference said these reforms would actually result in privatisation as “edubusinesses” applied to run increasing numbers of schools. There are also fears that allowing groups of parents to set up their own schools could lead to increased social or religious segregation.

Another motion at the NUT conference voiced concern about the role of local education authorities being undermined by the number of schools which are opting out of council control. As part of this motion Calderdale NUT officials called on the union to produce material explaining to parents the importance of local authorities in the running of schools.

They said the NUT should seek to “clearly explain why academies and free schools are far less accountable to local communities and lead to segregation, exclusion and division in education.”

Trade union fears over the impact of the Government’s plans were heightened earlier this year when Schools Minister Lord Hill wrote to head teachers who were considering opting out of council control to remind them that once their school became an academy they would not need to retain national pay and conditions agreement with their staff.

The motion passed by the NUT delegates said that Lord Hill’s letter showed the academy programme’s purpose was to undermine national pay and conditions agreements.

Christine Blower, the NUT’s general secretary said: “The academies and free schools programme is an ideologically driven attack on state comprehensive education which has nothing to do with the raising of standards in schools.

“The Government is now encouraging all schools, including special schools and PRUs, to apply for academy status.

“This measure is designed to undermine democratically elected local authorities.”