HOTS Candidates for the County Council Elections
Our striking Secondary Schools are making national headlines (The Telegraphs Article), Hands of Tamworths Schools have handed their backing to the industrial action.
The strike scheduled to take place tomorrow (Wednesday 20 May) organised by NUT and NASUWT is to protest against changes being made to the secondary school provision within the town; closing sixth forms in all the towns schools and moving 16+ education to a privately funded academy on the Woodhouse site (see original article here). Teachers fear that this could lead to job losses at the schools and a change to their national rights as teachers.
Teachers will form picket lines at each of the secondary schools from 7.15am, with a rally scheduled for 10.30am at the Assembly Rooms. HOTS members will visit the Pickett lines and the rally to show their support.
HOTS issued the below statement in support of the industrial action;
“As parents, our first reaction upon hearing that teachers were considering taking industrial action to defend their conditions of service was, quite naturally, that of concern about the impact on our children’s education. However, given the issues at stake, we feel that a minimal amount of disruption now is a price worth paying if it prevents the devastating consequences that the County Council’s plans will have on our schools and on our children’s educational opportunities if it insists on pushing ahead with its highly flawed plans.
We have five excellent high schools in Tamworth. We are rightly proud of them and of their highly dedicated and motivated teachers. Yes, we could do with some investment in our schools, their buildings, facilities and staff, which would allow each to build upon its unique strengths. However, this must not come at any cost.
Should all our schools lose their Sixth Form provision and Woodhouse School be taken over lock, stock and barrel by a private ‘sponsor’, we run a very serious risk that we would lose many of our best and most highly valued teachers. Our teachers are currently able to teach a range of pupils from Year 7 right up to Sixth Form; if denied the opportunity to expand their professional development into sixth form teaching in Tamworth, they may look elsewhere for jobs offering greater satisfaction and promotional opportunities. This would be a tragedy both for our schools and for Tamworth’s economy. If pushed through, the plans would contribute further to the town’s ‘brain drain’.
Our teachers already work extremely hard. They deserve the protection afforded by national terms and conditions and by recognition of their unions and professional associations. This would be lost under the regime imposed by the sponsor Landau-Forte which has made it abundantly clear that it would tear up existing national and local agreements.
Any changes to the way education is delivered in Tamworth need to have the full support of the educational professionals tasked with delivering a high quality education for every child. They also have to have the backing of parents and the wider community. We are glad to see teachers taking a firm stand against these proposals. We wish them every success in their campaign and we urge the County Council to think again about its proposals”
Tamworth Blog 