Last Thursday, 48 hours after the pupil protest of 28 February, the Hastings Academy was closed for the day to some or all year-groups when teachers staged a mass walk-out as part of the industrial action taken by members of the National Education Union in England (NEU). 

Other schools across Hastings and St Leonards impacted by the teachers’ strike on 2 March included Ark Alexandra Academy, St Leonards Academy, the Primary Academies of Ark Blacklands, Ark Little Ridge, Churchwood and West St Leonards, and the New Horizons School.

The teachers voted overwhelmingly for strike action in January as part of their ongoing dispute with the Government over pay, following what they called the “failure by the Secretary of State for Education in England to ensure enough money is available to pay a fully-funded increase in pay for teachers which at least matches inflation, and which begins to restore lost pay.”

Jenny Sutton, the secretary of the Hastings District of the NEU, said she regretted having to go on strike. However, she defended the action on the grounds that teachers’ pay has gone down by 24% since 2010, with teaching assistants now being paid less than the minimum wage. In addition, she said most teachers today are working in schools that are in disrepair “with many literally falling down.” As an example, she said that her own school, the Hastings Academy, has not had a properly functioning heating system since December.

The combination of low pay and a poor working environment has resulted in more and more teachers leaving the profession, Ms Sutton said. She pointed to NEU figures which revealed that one in five teachers left the profession in their first two years and one in three in their first five years. This has a direct impact, she says, on the education of children, as many of them end up being taught by people who are not subject specialists. The lack of dedicated maths teachers, for example, means that one in eight pupils are having work set and assessed by people who are not qualified in the teaching of maths. “This is a real scandal and a measure of how little society values children.”

The union are looking to ramp up the dispute with further strikes across the country throughout March aimed at putting pressure on the Government to negotiate a settlement. Last Thursday’s strikes were targeted on the London, South East and South West regions and affected a number of local schools. Dates pencilled in for future action are next Wednesday 15 March and Thursday 16 March, although it is not known at the time of going to press which schools will be affected.

Ms Sutton stressed that the NEU was willing to enter into negotiations “at any time, any place, but this situation cannot go on.”

by Peter Cobrin

I want to talk about accountability

and I want to talk about democracy and I want to start at a school near you. All state schools are local schools. They exist in our community; they draw in leaders, teachers, ancillary staff and young people from our community. Many of those young people will seek their first career steps within a few miles of the school – still within our community. This makes the local school our most important local institution bar none. A great school can do so much to lift the hopes, aspirations and outcomes not only for young people but for an entire community.

What do I mean by accountable?

Our local schools really matter to each and every one of us. But are they accountable to us? Someone who is accountable is completely responsible for what they do and must be able to give a satisfactory reason for it. If we are unhappy, we can call them to account. This is accountability. So if local services are rubbish, we can challenge our local councillor and, come elections, remove our local council. Our local MP is vulnerable every five years both individually and on behalf of her party. For heaven’s sake, we dumped Winston Churchill in 1945, calling him to account for the domestic failures of years of Conservative “misrule”. Unfair? Possibly. Democratic? Absolutely ! And don’t even mention Trump.

How do we call our local schools to account?

Where is the democratic link and process that binds our local schools to our community? Sadly long gone. Since 2010 the tenuous democratic links that bound our community to its schools has been shattered. Now I’m the first one to agree that local authority education departments weren’t always brilliant, but this still leaves us with two questions. Firstly, how do we restore this accountability? Secondly, by what standards should we measure our local schools ?

So how to measure that school’s contribution?

By how it engages with our local economy? By the proportion of young  people engaged in meaningful work within our community? Instead, the accountability that continues to drive school policy will be determined by virtually meaningless league tables. We measure the forces that should shape a young person’s life by his or her performance on a single day in June, not by the enduring contribution that an education contributes to a young person’s life chances – chances which will mainly start right on our doorsteps. We measure the forces that should shape a young person’s life by his or her performance on a single day in June, not by the enduring contribution that an education contributes to a young person’s life chances – chances which will mainly start right on our doorsteps.

What is an education then, and what should we measure?

I question if measure is even an appropriate concept. I go further: I suggest that reducing assessment to the mere measurement of that which is conveniently measurable is a process which only those of mediocre minds could possibly conceive. Such a process would be laughable in the arts. We’d end up measuring the length of a symphony or book.

Great education is about great learning

Great education is about great learning and great learning is that which leads towards outcomes that can surprise, shock, amaze – but which are always life enhancing, transformational, as against predictable and mundane. Great education therefore is virtually immeasurable.

So here’s my definition of great education, with outcomes that should be assessed, valued and enhanced through time – if only we could make the effort.

A school is a series of doors, doors almost without number. Each one is called “My Life”. Each, when opened, represents a pathway rich in both challenges and opportunities, and along these pathways can be found devices, mechanisms, agencies, and even individuals that will support you on your way to a fulfillment of your potential. We don’t close doors. We don’t measure that potential by your class, wealth, colour or ethnicity. We don’t restrict your access to support. As far as you can go, we will support you.

Let’s try measuring that, and then we will be on a worthwhile journey. And it is happening in schools where brave leadership, and the support of their communities and employers, combine to create these pathways. Let’s celebrate these rather than persist with those insidious league tables and those who perpetuate and pander to them. Only closed minds close doors. According to the Edge Foundation report published recently, 60% of schools are busy slamming doors by planning to cut the provision of vocational qualifications as a result of the changes to the school performance tables.

High quality education that is focused on local needs is vital to regenerate the local employment scene for young people. So to quote a recent report:

“While providing bikes for hire on Hastings’ seafront – a city that has the eighth-highest youth unemployment rate of all cities in the UK – may well be a nice thing to have, it will do very little to tackle its economic challenges. Nor will it keep the next generation of Hastings youth from straying elsewhere in search of work”

Or just as bad, staying at home and workless. In August 2016 there were, according to the Government’s statistics, just under 300 18-24 year olds in Hastings and Rye on either Job Seekers Allowance or Universal Credit. This does not include non-claimants obviously. This is higher than Folkestone, Eastbourne and Brighton for example.

If we are to help boost the economic performance of our community,  then restoring the democratic links between our schools and our community is a crucial part. This will help build a culture that moves beyond chasing the latest pot of money on offer and creating real working partnerships between schools and business. Anyone who doubts how effective these partnerships can be should visit the JCB Academy in Staffordshire, a school that combines great results with unrivalled access to the world of work through its partnerships with major employers in the area. Its most impressive statistic is how many young people move into apprenticeships. To quote Ofsted:

” Many students enter apprenticeships, higher education courses and careers which reflect the characteristics of the University Technical College and its high reputation in the engineering and business industries and professions”.

“All Year 11 students carried on into further education, employment or training. All sixth form students leaving the academy went to university, found employment or entered an apprenticeship.

That’s what we should be aspiring to.
I leave you with the voice of a year 10 student in Salford who I’d asked about the impact on him of the choices he had to make the previous year.
“They took away from me an opportunity that might have changed my future.”

• Peter Cobrin is an ex-teacher and now director of Employment Pathways, a campaigning organisation working with employers, educators, training providers and policy makers to make sure that talent is given a chance in the workplace. www.employementpathways.org.uk