Four schools across Heartwood Trust in Yorkshire are set to lose essential teaching expertise as part of a shake up in pastoral care, according to NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union.
27 teachers across Vale of York Academy, Manor CofE Academy, Graham School and George Pindar School will be removed from pastoral Head of Year and other roles. Most of their responsibilities will be reassigned to unqualified support staff. NASUWT has initiated industrial action in these schools and strikes could follow in the autumn if a resolution is not found.
Matt Wrack, General Secretary of NASUWT – The Teachers’ Union, said:
“It is of grave concern that Heartwood Trust intend to roll out a new pastoral staff structure in their schools when the structure has already been trialled – and failed – in one of their schools, to the point that it had to be reversed.
“Pastoral care is at the heart of a teachers’ training and practice. Their voices and leadership are crucial within any school staff structure. Teachers are the ones building relationships with pupils in the classroom, and those relationships are the bedrock of any effective behaviour management policy. You cannot achieve improvements in behaviour or inclusion without teachers’ detailed involvement, and you most certainly cannot achieve them with Heartwood Trust’s current proposals.
“As schools struggle to cover costs, we face a worrying trend in unqualified staff being brought into replace teachers. Nobody wins when education is deprofessionalised – the result is falling standards, and pupils and staff pay the price.”
Tim Toepritz, National Executive Member for West and North Yorkshire, said:
“In the proposed restructure at Heartwood Trust, teachers will lose not only their pastoral roles but many of their pathways to job progression. This move doesn’t just deprofessionalise teaching but school leadership as a whole – fewer and fewer teachers will be able to progress into leadership roles. Instead, we face a future where schools are led by staff with little to no experience in the classroom. This will not benefit anyone – including those brought into replace teachers, who are often exploited themselves.
“NASUWT has not seen meaningful consultation from the Trust, or workload impact assessments for the affected teachers, who will be expected to train incoming support staff and find the time to communicate hours of pupil interactions with them every day. This is not workable in the short or long term. The teachers feel they have been ignored.
“Restructures at Heartwood Trust must be halted immediately so that proper negotiations can take place. No cost cutting exercise in education should endanger the futures of pupils or their teachers.”
