Balls faces battle with teachers
Balls faces battle with teachers
Schools Secretary Ed Balls is facing a pre-election battle with teachers over plans to make them undergo regular check-ups to ensure they are fit to teach.
Three teaching unions are expected to debate motions at their annual Easter conferences on the controversial “licence to practise”.
Ed Balls is facing a battle with teachers over ‘fit to work’ checks
All three resolutions lobby for the proposals, contained in a Bill currently going through Parliament, to be scrapped – with one calling for industrial action if the plans are passed and it proves necessary.
Under Government plans, teachers who fail the regular checks face being banned from the classroom.
The National Union of Teachers’ (NUT) motion, place forward by the Executive, calls for all parliamentary parties to be lobbied to drop proposals for a licence, and for a “high-profile campaign of opposition”.
A motion place forward for debate by NASUWT members calls for the National Executive to oppose the proposals “by all means possible”.
This includes a call for industrial action if necessary, if the proposals are made law and impact adversely on teachers’ workload and career progression.
The third motion will be brought at the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) conference, by union members from Brent and Bradford. Again, it calls for a campaign against the proposals.
The licence will be overseen by the General Teaching Council for England (GTC), with headteachers deciding if they are renewed. To keep their licence, teachers will have to demonstrate they have “up-to-date skills and learning to be effective in the classroom”, or face having it revoked.
Schools minister Vernon Coaker said: “No one wants extra red tape. We’ve been crystal clear that this is not going to add to teachers’ workloads. We want teachers to teach so we’re not going to renege on years of working closely with the unions on cutting working hours and paperwork. This is about boosting the status, professional standing and skills of teachers.”
Related posts
Categories: UK News Tags:
BA cabin crew continue strike
BA cabin crew continue strike
British Airways cabin crew are continuing with a strike over cost-cutting, leading to fresh clashes between the airline and union leaders about the impact of the industrial action.
BA said it was reinstating eight cancelled long haul flights from Heathrow and 18 small haul services from Heathrow and Gatwick this weekend after maintaining that more staff than expected had turned up for work.
The union disputed the claims and insisted that 80% of its 12,000 members had walked out at the start of a three day stoppage, and were expected to remain on strike.
BA countered that 1,157 cabin crew ignored the strike call and reported for duty – equivalent to 97% of Gatwick and 52.5% of Heathrow staff.
Unite said that scores of BA planes were grounded, many left without few passengers on board and described the carrier’s contingency plans as a failure.
The union predicted that disruption would worsen, but BA said Unite’s claims were “rubbish”.
Striking cabin crew plot to gather at a football ground close to Heathrow before taking their turn on picket lines which have been mounted again at a number of entrances to the airport.
The political heat on Gordon Brown is expected to intensify after the Conservatives released a new advert depicting the Prime Minister as a pilot, wearing a Unite cap, and bearing the message: “Gordon’s Doing Sweet BA”.
BA said it had reinstated some long-haul flights because more staff had worked, including services to Miami, Los Angeles, Tel Aviv, JFK in New York and Cape Town.
Related posts
Categories: UK News Tags:
Foreign Office budget move slammed
Foreign Office budget go slammed
The “ludicrous” choice to stop protecting the Foreign Office budget from fluctuations in exchange rates has caused an “unacceptable risk” to its ability to function properly, MPs have said.
A sharp fall in the value of sterling had caused a 13% drop in the FCO’s core purchasing power since the system was axed in 2007, the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee found, sparking cuts in embassies and postings around the world.
MPs slam choice to stop protecting Foreign Office budget from exchange rate fluctuations
The cuts caused a political row earlier this year when the Tories accused the Government of undermining Britain’s global interests by scrapping the special fund that provided insulation from movements in the pound.
And the influential cross-party committee said the financial constraints under which the FCO was now operating were “unacceptably disrupting and curtailing” its work.
“We cannot see that it remains credible to regard the costs of currency fluctuations as predictable ones which the FCO might reasonably be expected to absorb,” the committee said in its report.
Related posts
Categories: UK News Tags:
