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Croeso/Welcome to Powys NUT website. This site is aimed at providing teachers with information and contacts associated with education. You can join Powys NUT, contact NUT Powys, read Powys NUT documents and reply.
Pensions Questions for all members
please respond to secretary@powys.nut.org.uk
The government is still intending to make us pay more, work longer and receive less
Our strikes on June 30 and November 30 had some success - in that they forced concessions from the government which will save the average teacher £20,000 over their lifetime - which certainly makes up for the pay lost If the government gets away with this pensions robbery (albeit after making minor concessions) - one of the next things they have in store for us is regional pay - based on local pay in the private sector - which would be a disaster in Powys - one of the lowest paid areas in the UK
Many more cuts are in the pipeline on top of the devastating cuts which are already taking place in Powys
The NUT has to fight back against these attacks - not only for our own sake but as a union which defends education for everyone, we have to fight for the sake of the children we teach. We are asking for your help in planning the next stage of the campaign. Could you find a moment to answer these questions:
*Would you be prepared to strike for one day this term - probably at the end of June? (This could be with UCAC)
*Would you be prepared to take part in a strike this term of the whole of Wales as a follow on from the one day strike in London?- (this might be sustained - in other words you might not lose your day's pay)
*Would you be prepared to strike next term?
The union is in active negotiations with the NAS/UWT to plan joint action - however if they will not co-operate then the conference decided that we had no choice but to take action anyway and hopefully win them over during the course of the campaign. They are asking us to let them know the willingness to take action in our areas - that's why we are asking you to respond.
Please take a moment to email back your answers and any comment you would like to make.
Thanks
Graham and Mary
Pupil Funding - even more concerns!
NUT: Wales’ Largest Union for Qualified Teachers
Press Release: Immediate Release
Welsh Government Must Release Missing Funding Figures
Wales’ largest teaching union has urged the Welsh Government to ensure that figures for the per pupil funding gap between Wales and England are released as a matter of urgency. The figures were due to be released today. However, without any prior notice, the Welsh Government placed a statement on its website last week to state that this would now not be the case.
NUT Wales Secretary, David Evans, said:
“The Welsh Government was due to announce the figures detailing the per pupil funding gap between England and Wales today. The fact that they have not is an embarrassment that should not be accepted. In their election manifesto, Labour promised that 85% of education funding would reach the front line. In doing so, both the First Minister and the Education Minister pledged to close the spending gap that is increasing at an alarming rate. Unfortunately, we have no real way of assessing if they are delivering on that pledge or not. How can any Government operate without scrutiny?
“We have heard the Minister state that he is examining further ways to ensure the release of these figures. That commitment is welcomed, but it is important that the statement is met with action. To refuse to release crucial figures to parents is unacceptable. This Government cannot simply pick and choose what information it wants to release. The last figures available showed that the gap had risen to £604 a head. Parents across Wales will expect the information on the current situation to be made available to them.”
Contact Owen Hathway, NUT Cymru, T? Sinnott, 18 Neptune Court, Vanguard Way, Cardiff CF24 5PJ. Tel: 02920 431409. Mob: 07921146442 e-mail: cymru.wales@nut.org.uk
NUT: Yr Undeb mwyaf yng Nghymru
ar gyfer Athrawon Cymwysedig
Datganiad i’r Wasg: I’w Ryddhau ar Unwaith
Angenrheidiol bod Llywodraeth Cymru yn Cyhoeddi’r Ffigyrau Bwlch Ariannu
Mae undeb athrawon mwyaf Cymru wedi annog llywodraeth Cymru i sicrhau bod y ffigyrau ar gyfer y bwlch ariannu disgyblion rhwng Cymru a Lloegr yn cael eu rhyddhau fel mater o frys. Roedd y ffigyrau i fod i gael eu rhyddhau heddiw. Fodd bynnag, heb unrhyw rybudd, rhoddodd llywodraeth Cymru ddatganiad ar eu gwefan yr wythnos diwethaf yn nodi na fyddai hyn yn awr yn digwydd.
Dywedodd David Evans, Ysgrifennydd Cymru:
“Heddiw, roedd llywodraeth Cymru i fod i gyhoeddi’r ffigyrau a oedd yn manylu ar y bwlch ariannu rhwng Cymru a Lloegr. Mae’r ffaith nad ydynt wedi yn embaras na ddylid ei dderbyn. Fe addawodd y Blaid Lafur yn eu maniffesto etholiadol y buasent yn sicrhau fod 85% o gyllid addysg yn cyrraedd y rheng flaen. Wrth wneud hynny, fe addawodd y Prif Weinidog a’r Gweinidog Addysg i gau’r bwlch ariannu yma sydd yn cynyddu ar raddfa frawychus. Yn anffodus nid oes gennym unrhyw ffordd wirioneddol o asesu os ydynt yn cyflwyno ar eu haddewid ai peidio. Sut gall unrhyw lywodraeth weithredu heb gael eu craffu?
“Rydym wedi clywed y Gweinidog yn datgan ei fod yn edrych ar ffyrdd eraill i sicrhau fod y ffigyrau yma yn cael eu rhyddhau. Mae’r ymrwymiad hwnnw yn cael ei groesawu ond mae’n bwysig fod y datganiad yn cael ei weithredu. Mae gwrthod cyhoeddi ffigyrau mor bwysig i rieni yn annerbyniol. Ni all y llywodraeth ddewis a dethol pa wybodaeth y maent am ei ryddhau. Mae’r ffigyrau diwethaf sydd ar gael yn dangos fod y bwlch wedi cynyddu i £604 y disgybl. Bydd rhieni ar draws Cymru yn disgwyl i’r wybodaeth ar y sefyllfa bresennol i fod ar gael iddynt.”
School Banding issue
Annwyl gydweithwyr
Yn Rhagfyr, cyhoeddodd Leighton Andrews AC, y Gweinidog Addysg, ei fandiau ysgolion ar gyfer Cymru. Yn y bôn, tablau cynghreirio yw'r rhain er mwyn graddio ysgolion, gan gymharu ysgol yn erbyn ysgol ac athro yn erbyn athro.
Mae gan y weithred hon y potensial i danseilio athrawon yng Nghymru yn llwyr. Mae'r NUT yn llwyr wrthwynebu y polisi hwn ac wedi ymgyrchu yn erbyn y penderfyniad, ei chred yw y bydd yn creu cylch o ddirywiad i ysgolion yng Nghymru, ac mae'n asesiad annheg o ysgolion ac athrawon. Credwn yn gryf mai pwrpas y weithred yw 'brandio' ysgolion yn hytrach na'u bandio.
Mae'n rhaid clywed eich llais chi yn erbyn y cynlluniau er mwyn pwysleisio mor niweidiol y byddant i les ac i ariannu ysgolion. Dyma enghraifft arall fyth o fenter yn cael ei orfodi heb ymgynghoriad addas.
Y ffordd orau i gyfrannu yw i lobio eich AS/AC trwy e bostio www.teachers.org.uk/walescampaigns. Sicrhewch nad yw llais athrawon yng Nghymru yn cael eu hanwybyddu gan Lywodraeth Cymru.
Dewch o hyd i fanylion pellach ar ymgyrchoedd trwy ymweld â www.teachers.org.uk/walescampaigns
Mae gan y drefn bandio ysgolion y potensial i achosi niwed enbyd i allu athrawon i wella addysg yng Nghymru. Nid oes eu hangen ar rieni, ac fe fyddai'n well i ryddhau awdurdodau lleol ac ysgolion er mwyn iddynt adnabod yr heriau a'r cymorth sydd angen arnynt.
Yr eiddoch yn gywir
Christine Blower
CHRISTINE BLOWER
YSGRIFENNYDD CYFFREDINOL YR NUT
Dear colleague
In December the Education Minister, Leighton Andrews AM, published his school bandings for Wales. This is essentially a league table system for ranking schools, pitting school against school and teacher against teacher.
This action has the potential to completely undermine teachers in Wales. The NUT has been vigorously opposed to this policy, believing that it will create a cycle of decline for schools in Wales, and is an unfair assessment of schools and teachers. We believe this exercise is less about school banding and more about school 'branding'.
Your opposition to these plans must be heard in order to highlight how damaging they will be
to morale and funding in our schools. This is yet another example of an initiative being imposed without proper consultation.
The best way you can contribute is to lobby your AM/MP by emailing them from www.teachers.org.uk/walescampaigns. Please help make sure that the views of teachers in Wales are not ignored by the Welsh government.
Further information on the campaign can also be found at www.teachers.org.uk/walescampaigns
Banding schools has the potential to severely damage the ability of teachers to improve education in Wales. Parents do not need them, and it would be better to free local authorities and schools to identify challenges and the required support.
Yours sincerely
Christine Blower
CHRISTINE BLOWER
NUT GENERAL SECRETARY
Wales’ largest teaching union has urged the Government to rethink its approach to education in advance of a Plaid Cymru Assembly debate on school banding. NUT Cymru has welcomed the debate which notes, ‘that banding does not provide a whole view of a school’s performance.’ The debate will be held at the Assembly on Wednesday 11 January.
Commenting in advance of the banding debate, NUT Wales Secretary, David Evans said:
“We are pleased that this debate has been brought forward by Plaid Cymru as it reflects the fact that teachers from across Wales have been left disappointed and angry by the Welsh Government’s approach. The Education Minister repeats his view that banding is not about ‘naming and shaming,’ however, we have yet to see any explanation that justifies that comment.
“The Welsh Government has given its approval to an unfair and unjustified system that, irrespective of what has been said, most definitely does label schools to their detriment. There is serious concern across the profession that the Government’s commitment to this league table style branding will have a long-lasting and damaging impact on the future of a generation of Welsh children.
“The NUT remains vehemently opposed to the banding system which must be scrapped before schools within the lower bands are despatched into a cycle of decline from which there is no escape.”
Commenting on the Welsh Government amendment to the debate that recognises ‘quality of teaching and school leadership are the key drivers of school improvement and pays tribute to the work of the teaching profession in Wales for delivering rising standards over the last decade’, Mr Evans added:
“It is good to hear the Welsh Government praising the profession for its work in improving standards. All too often the rhetoric that we have heard from Cardiff Bay has been focused on undermining teachers. Hopefully the Government will take this collaborative approach further and listen to the staunch, united opposition to school bandings which teachers in Wales have clearly voiced”.
Details of the debate can be found by clicking on the following link. http://www.senedd.assemblywales.or/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=153&MId=784
Early Impacts of Banding Prove Worrying
Wales’ largest teaching union says the Welsh Government’s league table style banding system is having a detrimental impact on schools in Wales, as it predicted. NUT Cymru says that its members in Wales have already been making angry representations to the Union about how the banding process has been compiled and presented.
NUT Wales Secretary, David Evans said:
“It is clear that parents have looked at the league table style bandings introduced by the Welsh Government as a simplistic tool to brand schools as being good or bad. You can’t blame parents for doing that; it was to be expected. What is disappointing is that we warned the Government, before the publication of the tables, that this would happen and, sadly, we are being proved right.
“There is now exceptional pressure on the Government in Wales. It has branded schools in Wales and must now provide the right resources to ensure that its actions do not have the detrimental impact we envisaged. The Government has stated it will not be giving any additional money to schools in the lower bands, yet have not been clear about what tangible support will be made available.
“Our members are very angry about this system. There is a belief that the bandings are not an accurate reflection of school performance. They have been presented too simplistically and are going to lead, inevitably, to an unfair stigma being attached to schools in the lower bands.
“With the Welsh Government going out of its way to introduce a system that has been condemned by the teaching profession; a system which publicly undermines confidence in schools, one thing is clear; the responsibility for any failing school in future will be down to the Welsh Government’s Education Department.”
Winning on Workload
Dear colleague
NUT action on workload next term will focus on performance management pressures and making sure that safeguards against heavy workload are adopted in schools and colleges across England and Wales.
This will build on our recent successes in promoting the Union's classroom observation protocol. If your school has not yet adopted the protocol, call a meeting within your school to discuss how to take this further. Talk to your local association or division secretary - they will be able to advise you on the way forward, sharing the ideas and experiences of colleagues in other schools, and explain the process for balloting for industrial action where you face intransigence.
Talk also to your colleagues in other unions - working together is the key to success. As you will know, the NASUWT is supporting action on workload and it will be helpful to coordinate action within your school or college. It is a key principle that no teacher covers the work of a colleague who is taking industrial action. It is unlikely that any NUT member will be asked to cover the work of an NASUWT member in the current dispute as the bulk of the NASUWT instructions involve asserting rights all teachers already have under their contracts, such as the right to 10% PPA time. Nevertheless if any NUT member is asked to cover such work, they should be advised not to do so, and you should let your local association or division secretary know.
For more information on the Union's workload guidelines and how to get them adopted, follow the link to the Union's website here.
Yours sincerely
 |
Pensions update from Christine Blower
Dear colleague
Despite our lengthy discussions with the Government over the last few days, its current proposals still do not address all of the NUT's concerns. The Government still wants you to work longer, pay more and get less.
Under these circumstances the NUT has not been able to sign up to the Government's headline proposals. In the New Year we expect to receive further documentation from the Government, which we hope will clarify the latest offer. We will keep you fully informed of how these proposals will impact on your pension entitlements.
The NUT will continue to represent your interests in the negotiations, as well as pursuing the court case over the RPI/CPI change.
Your National Executive will meet in January to take a view on progress in the negotiations so far and next steps in our campaign, including any further proposals on industrial action.
Thanks to the many thousands of NUT members who signed Christmas postcards to Michael Gove. I was proud to deliver those to the Department for Education yesterday, with our Deputy General Secretary, Kevin Courtney. That so many of you signed them is a clear sign of the strength of feeling in the profession. Even since yesterday more than 1,000 signatures have arrived at our head office. Please see our website www.teachers.org.uk for a picture of yesterday's hand-in of the postcards at the DfE.
Please continue to check the NUT website www.teachers.org.uk/pensions and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/NUTonline for more information on the pensions campaign in the New Year.
I wish you a very well-deserved holiday.
With best wishes for Christmas and the New Year.
NUT Comment on CDAPs Review
Wales’ largest teaching union has welcomed the announcement of a review into the Welsh Government’s controversial Child Development Assessment Plans (CDAPs). The NUT have been at the forefront of the campaign to overhaul the scheme after raising concerns about the impact it has had on classroom teaching.
NUT Executive Member Beth Davies, who has previously campaigned for changes to the Child Development Assessment Plans, welcomed the Welsh Government’s review:
“I am delighted the Minister has accepted the dissatisfaction that has been voiced by the teaching profession in relation to CDAPs. The scheme has been a disaster for schools, resulting in numerous cases of teachers unable to actually teach children because they have been drowned in a sea of paperwork.
“It was totally unacceptable to ask teachers to assess parenting skills in this way, while neglecting the need to establish a relationship with children entering schools. I very much hope that the Minister will accept that major changes are needed to the scheme, if not scrapping it all together. We simply could not have continued with the current system.
“The concerns that are now being examined were evident during the consultation period but unfortunately were not heeded by the Welsh Government. Regrettably, the rush to implement the plans have resulted in the need to review the system.”
NUT Wales Policy Officer, Owen Hathway, added: “The NUT has highlighted our concerns as teachers have been left frustrated at the way these assessments have restricted their ability to teach children. The scheme has angered many teachers and it is great news that the Minister has listened to our campaign and initiated this review.”
NUT Comment: 21st Century Schools Programme
Commenting on the Welsh Government’s announcement of reduced funding for the 21st Century Schools Project, NUT Wales Secretary, David Evans said:
“We recognise that the Welsh Government are in a difficult position financially, especially in terms of capital spending, given the depth of cuts that have been passed down by the Conservative – Lib Dem Westminster Government. However, with that said, we are disappointed at the scaling back of a project that we publicly welcomed and which was overdue.
“The 21st Century Schools Programme should have been something around which pupils in Wales could have seen major improvements to the quality of their education. We obviously welcome the money that will be spent, but there is no doubt that with such a difference in expenditure between what was originally proposed, and what is to be delivered, the impact that we can expect will not be as radical as hoped at the outset of the project. Every child and every community in Wales deserves to have a good local school that is fit for purpose. There can be no doubt now, that what will be delivered is a mend and make do programme that will not go far enough and may, in some circumstances, amount to nothing more than a false economy falling far short of the aim to deliver 21st Century Schools for this generation of school children.
“The money that will be brought forward for schools will be significantly lower than what local authorities in Wales had identified as necessary to tackle the systematic problems facing schools in Wales. The Welsh Government will now have to examine how they intend to support education in Wales without the financial investment that is required.”
If you have any comments and or suggestions for Powys NUT re this website please email secretary@powys.nut.org.uk
diolch/thanks
