The department for education has confirmed in writing that they are prepared to have ‘discussions’ with the support staff unions.
For some time now the department for education (England) has been saying it wants to address the problems of excessive teacher workload, and they have also had a series of talks with the teaching unions, following their strike action.
UNISON has raised the issue of the workload concerns of school support staff with the department for education on a number of occasions and we wrote to the secretary of state asking for similar talks, earlier in the autumn.
At the recent national education forum UNISON again raised the issue with department for education officials and they have now confirmed in writing that they are prepared to have ‘discussions’ with the support staff unions: UNISON, Unite and the GMB. Initial discussions will begin in the new year.
Jon Richards, UNISON national secretary education and children’s services, said:
“We are very pleased that the department has accepted our case that workload is an issue for school support staff as well as for teachers. As our surveys have shown some groups of school support staff also work excessive unpaid overtime and their issues also need addressing.
“The department will also need to ensure that any changes to teacher workload agreed with the teaching unions do not just transfer problems to another staff group.”