Government plans for Minimum Service Levels "shameful" say NEU

Talks between Number 10 and the NEU broke down without agreement

Published 1st Dec 2023

A teaching union's called on the Government to address the root causes of issues in education saying talks over Minimum Service Levels were "never meaningful", says the proposals are "shameful".

Talks between the National Education Union (NEU) and government officials ended on Tuesday without an agreement.

South West Regional Secretary for the NEU, Hannah Packham, said the Government needs to "shift it's priorities" to tackle the problems in the education system rather than "adopting draconian laws that attack democratic freedom."

In their statement, the NEU said: “The attempt to impose further restrictions on our democratic freedoms is shameful. This Government wants to be tough on strikes, but not on the causes of strikes.

“The proposed MSLs are an affront to those who democratically and legally vote for strike action, forcing a large proportion to go into work on strike days.

"This is a fundamental attack on the democratic freedoms and rights of school staff. It also demonstrates the Government’s incredible lack of understanding of the provision that schools already ensure is in place for students on strike days."

The Department for Education has now opened a public consultation on the issue.

Teachers 'overwhelmed' by growing class sizes

Hannah told us that the UK's education system is on it's knees.

"We have a recruitment and retention crisis, rocketing workloads, a crisis in terms of pay," she said, adding: "We've got the largest primary classes in Europe and secondary class sizes are the highest since records began 40 years ago.

"This is an unsustainable situation for pupils."

With class sizes growing, it means teachers time and expertise are being spread more thinly.

Hannah said: "Our members want to give a high quality education to every single one of the pupils that walk through their door, but if they're overwhelmed with the large class sizes, as I say, the largest in Europe in primary schools, that becomes more and more difficult."

"It's not fair on the staff and it's not fair on the pupils," she added.

'Significant' concerns and doubts over future talks

Hannah told Greatest Hits Radio that the education and parents are "hugely concerned" about the governments stance, considering there was little in the way of education support in last weeks Autumn statement.

She said "significant" concerns over workload and pay need to be addressed, but that they hope to avoid strikes.

"No member want's to take strike action, they'd much rather be in the classroom with their pupils."

And while the NEU remains open to further talks, they're pessimistic about the approach of the Government towards them.

"The implementation of minimum service levels will just make the resolution of disputes more difficult and cause further disruption to schools, which is not what we want."

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