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Balls faces battle with teachers
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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".
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, put 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 put 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."
Reader views (1)
I can't stand the man, he is a unctious slippert professional politician but this is a good idea, what a surprise that Teachers don't want to demonstrate that they are fit for purpose - another example of the Unions worrying about members exclusively with no thought for students or parents are the quality of service provision...just like the unions vested interests in the NHS (another Unite bastion)...Unions need to genuinely move to the 21st century and start thinking about those who pay for their members salaries and not how they can get ever more out of the tax payer - under Gordon a species already underthreat...
- Christian Ball, London, UK, 21/03/2010 15:37
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