Eastern Teachers Union urges Govt. to match ambitions with funding
They plan to improve standards in English and Maths and extend the number of hours students spend in class during the week
Teaching Unions in the East are urging the Government to match their new ambitions with the right funding.
It's after they unveiled plans to improve standards in English and Maths across the board and extend the number of hours students spend in class during a given week.
Along with an annual national behaviour survey of parents, children and teachers, which aims to ensure that pupils aren't being academically left behind in key areas.
Keith Anderson is the NAUSWT's Eastern rep: "We do hope that the ambitions of the White Paper are matched with resources and funding, because we've seen 12 years of a Conservative Government and so far our members are falling well behind in relation to things like wages and with the cost of living crisis in mind, that's having a big impact."
He also told us the Government need to make good on their renewed promise to prioritise staff recruitment and retention.
An aim that he thinks can be achieved by putting staff at the heart of these new plans: "From our surveys two out of three teachers are seriously considering leaving the profession.
"So, we hope that that is a key ambition of theirs, but it needs to be matched with actual resources to achieve it.
"Teachers are the ones that do the job, they are the ones who work day in and day out and have a full understanding about what the implications of this could all be.
"Clearly as a teachers trade union who represents over 300,000 teachers within the local profession, then engagement with the trade unions to ensure that it's going to be fit for purpose and implemented correctly, is very important to us."
He concluded by telling us that it's currently unclear what role the Government want city, district and county councils to play in all this: "What does that mean in practice? Does that mean they're recognising that local authorities do have an important role to play and that they are going to be involved in the development of education, locally, where they've got that accountability?"