Current affairs

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of ATL, comments on the following issues that affect our profession…

Social segregation in schools in England
“There is a substantial debate going on about social segregation and its many and complex causes. Schools in England are about average in the EU in terms of their degree of social segregation. There have been some slight changes over time, but little real change in the degree of social segregation in English schools. ATL agrees with OECD reports that high levels of social segregation lead to lower overall achievement by pupils. And we believe that more balanced intakes of pupils would lead to better results overall for students in England.”

Widening participation in higher education
“The National Audit Office report reminds us again of the consequences of the government trying to resolve complex issues with one-size-fits-all quick fix solutions, and its failure to understand the impact any measures have.

“Helping under-represented groups of students access higher education requires dealing with a whole range of issues, such as their aspirations and expectations, family pressures and financial problems. None of these are easy to measure and there aren’t any easy ways to tell whether current government strategies are helping.

“We need to look at widening participation and social exclusion as it exists in the real world and not just through ticking boxes to fulfil short-term, half-baked strategies that give the illusion of a solution. Falsely raising pupils’ aspirations with short-lived and unsustainable policies is more damaging than doing nothing as it increases frustration and disillusionment.

“It seems that if the government can’t measure and quantify something, it flounders to find ways of dealing with an issue.”

School/pupil exclusions
“It’s good to see a drop in the number of pupils permanently excluded from school, provided this has not put school staff and other pupils at risk of attack and harassment.

“Swapping aggressive pupils between schools should not be used as an alternative to permanent exclusions without ensuring receiving schools get the support and help they need to deal with these troublemakers.

“Excluding violent and disruptive students only works as part of a bigger package of support for pupils and schools, which includes good risk assessment and staff training, strong and enforced school behaviour policies, and cooperation between all the agencies which deal with difficult pupils.

“Violent behaviour cannot be effectively treated separately from everything else a school does – government policies also need to allow schools to become more interesting and stimulating places for pupils by providing a skills-based curriculum, and a better assessment system.”

Child poverty
“Only a major change of attitude amongst all our politicians will rescue millions of children from misery.

“The government acts like a caring but incompetent doctor, dealing with the symptoms not the disease. It knows lack of work is the main cause of poverty, but will not take action to create jobs.

“It knows minimum wage pay is poverty pay, and it knows the benefits system is so complicated that many claimants just give up.

“Politicians say there is no alternative to the market - but why do we have the most unequal society in Western Europe?”

Teaching assistants
“We have grave concerns about the number of teaching assistants being asked to do more than they are paid to do or feel comfortable doing. It is unfair on them and unfair to pupils.

“Heads are breaking the terms of the national agreement (between unions, employers and the government) if they are using teaching assistants to teach a class of pupils when a teacher is absent. Teaching assistants play an important role supporting teachers, but they should not be taken advantage of by schools.

“There is already national guidance for schools (from the Workforce Agreement Monitoring Group (WAMG)) on the proper use of support staff. And we have been working with other members of WAMG to strengthen the guidance for schools to stop this happening in future.”