Elect Martin Powell-Davies: 

Defending Teachers, Defending Education

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May 6, 2004

To the Letters Editor

The decision of the annual conference of the National Association of Head Teachers to demand the Government guarantees full funding for the non-contact time promised in the "Workforce Agreement" shows that the National Union of Teachers is far from isolated in its opposition to "teaching on the cheap".

It is estimated that primary schools will need an 8% increase in their budgets to recruit the additional teachers needed to provide colleagues with this much-needed planning and preparation time. The fact that this funding isn’t being released should come as no surprise. After all, the DfES’ leaked "Blue Skies" paper argued "the case for reducing overall teacher numbers" that would allow "more ‘zero-based’ budgeting by schools".

The Government’s real agenda is becoming clear. Their promises to solve the excessive workload of teachers and the low pay of support staff may have fooled some into signing up to their dangerous deal. However, "remodelling" means undermining education by replacing qualified teachers with lower-paid unqualified staff.

Yours

Martin Powell-Davies

Secretary, Lewisham NUT.