The teacher pay dispute with the government is part of a battle for the heart and soul of education, a headteachers’ leader will say today.
In his speech to the NAHT schools leaders’ union’s annual conference, general secretary Paul Whiteman is expected to call on the government to “come back to the table” to negotiate following the rejection of its pay offer.
It comes as the union announces a fresh ballot of its members for strike action over pay and has made clear it will work with the other main education unions to co-ordinate their industrial action.
Mr Whiteman will strongly criticise the government’s record on education funding.
He is expected to say: ”I genuinely believe what we’re engaged in is a fight for the heart and soul of education. I can’t put it more clearly: if the government cares about the future of young people, then it must massively invest in the whole system: teachers, schools and children. And it needs to happen now.
“No more empty promises and no more smoke and mirrors with numbers - a genuine financial investment.”
Mr Whiteman will add that the ”spectacle of underfunded schools - along with overworked and underpaid staff working within a punitive inspection regime - is, unsurprisingly, not the solution to our recruitment and retention crisis.”
The NAHT conference is meeting after the union’s members voted to reject the government’s teacher pay offer.
On the pay dispute, Mr Whiteman will add: ”The government must now come back to the table. Simply taking their bat and ball home because our members have said no is not the action of a responsible government. It is a demonstration of contempt for the profession and a lack of concern for children.”
An NAHT strike ballot will open in May and ask one question: whether school leaders are willing to take strike action.
Ofsted change ‘has to come quickly’
Mr Whiteman will also speak about the recent tragic death of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Ms Perry’s family have said she took her own life following an Ofsted inspection. The report, published after her death, downgraded the school to “inadequate”.
Unions, including the NAHT, called for inspections to be paused and it is currently considering legal action against the inspectorate.
Ms Perry’s sister, Professor Julia Waters, will speak at NAHT’s conference in Telford tomorrow.
Mr Whiteman will say today: “Ruth was one of us. And she could have been any of us. There are no two ways about it, this has to be a watershed moment for Ofsted. Change has to come and come quickly.
“School leaders have never shied away from accountability and scrutiny. But we do ask for a fair, humane, proportionate inspection system that seeks to support schools, not punish them.
“Our decision to take the first steps towards legal action and issue a pre-action protocol letter was not taken lightly, but it was absolutely necessary. I can tell you that the NAHT lawyers are putting the finishing touches to a legal challenge now.”
