For the past three weeks the National Union of Teachers has been running totally misleading adverts that paint a distorted picture of the national agreement on workload reduction.
These adverts are based on a prejudiced and selective reading of the agreement. Neither the National Association of Head Teachers, nor any other responsible association, would sign up to a set of principles designed to worsen the position of members.
The suggestion that there will, for example, be classes of 60, is not in accordance with the facts, nor is it true that assistants will replace teachers. The agreement states quite clearly that the roles of assistants and teachers are not interchangeable and this will be underpinned by regulations to be agreed with the signatories.
The Government, employers, and unions representing the majority of teachers and support staff, would not reach an agreement which would lead to lower standards, or a cut in teacher or support staff numbers. Your readers should disregard this mischief-making, and focus on the important principles in the agreement which are intended to reduce workload.
For the NAHT, the key issue is the availability of sufficient resources between now and spring 2006 to implement the agreement at each stage of change. We intend to monitor this closely as matters progress.
David Hart
General secretary
NAHT
