Education chief tells striking teachers to ‘move on’ amid disruption to pupils

Alec Doyle, Local Democracy Reporter

Striking teachers at a high school need to ‘move on’ to ‘prevent further disruption’ to pupils’ learning, according to the county council’s officer for education.

The robust message from Flintshire County Council’s Chief Officer for Education and Youth, Claire Homard, came as members of the National Education Union Cymru (NEU) continue their industrial action at Flint High School.

Allegations have been made by teachers of ‘bullying behaviour’ from the headteacher and the ‘inability of the school’s leadership to tackle high levels of behavioural issues’.

Solutions

Mrs Homard said governors at the school had dealt with the issues at the heart of the industrial action and union members were ‘unwilling’ to give their solutions time to prove their effectiveness.

But the NEU countered that staff had ‘no confidence’ that the governing body had been given the full picture of the dispute, making teachers and teaching assistants’ refusal to end industrial action until they were allowed to present their evidence to all governors was ‘not an unreasonable request’.

Following a number of meetings that have failed to resolve the situation and with an Estyn inspection looming on November 6, Mrs Homard challenged union members over what she believes is a lack of engagement to resolve matters.

“Senior officers of the council have spent many hours in negotiations with national NEU officials to seek a resolution to the ongoing industrial action at Flint High School,” she said.

“There has been clear recognition by school leaders and the Chair of Governors of the concerns raised by NEU members and a significant number of new approaches to improving communication, staff wellbeing and pupil behaviour have been developed.

“In meetings with council officers, NEU national officials have acknowledged the constructive efforts of the school leadership and Chair of Governors, alongside offers of support from the Education Department of the council, to resolve the concerns of their members at the school.”

Resolution 

Mrs Homard continued: “However, those members have repeatedly shown an unwillingness to allow time for all the proposed changes within the school to take effect and demonstrate their impact.

“The reason NEU members give for not engaging in finding a resolution, despite the many offers being made, is that they have not been given the opportunity to meet with the whole governing body to discuss their concerns.

“The council has repeatedly advised the NEU that such a meeting is not appropriate under the school governance regulations. There are procedures for governors to follow when staff escalate grievances they believe have not been effectively addressed by school leaders.

“Staff bringing grievances to the governing body need to provide clear evidence to support their claims. Governors need to remain impartial and independent to be able to manage those grievances without bias. As the employer, governors need to ensure that all parties are treated fairly and equitably during such processes.

“Governors at Flint High School have appropriately followed procedures in relation to the grievances brought forward by NEU members at the school and these were not upheld. NEU members need to accept that this process has concluded and move on.

“It also needs to be accepted by NEU members that a meeting with the whole governing body would prevent governors from hearing any future grievances related to the current concerns impartially.

“To further reassure NEU members, the governing body has committed to putting a senior representative on the proposed Joint Consultative Committee and has nominated a Link Governor to monitor the effectiveness of the improved strategies being introduced to improve communication, wellbeing and pupil behaviour. The governing body already has teacher and staff representatives as part of its instruments of governance.

“School leaders and the governing body can legitimately do no more to demonstrate that they have taken the concerns of NEU members at the school seriously – they have committed to several important improvements to benefit all staff and pupils at the school and have been open and honest in recognising where, in the past, things may not have been managed as effectively as they might have been.

“This view is supported by ACAS, the Government’s Advice, Conciliation and Arbitration Service, who have also supported negotiations to find a resolution.

“The council urges NEU members at the school to stop their current industrial action, to accept the advice given in relation to the role of the governing body, to work constructively with school leaders to give these improvements time to embed and prevent further disruption to pupils’ learning which is causing them and their families considerable concern.”

Unconvinced

But Senior NEU Cymru officer Daniel Maney said that members remained unconvinced that governors had made their decision based on all the available evidence.

“At the very heart of this dispute is the historical behaviour of the head towards staff at Flint High over many years and the break down in trust that this has caused with the staff,” he said.

“As a result the staff have no confidence that the governing body are being given the full picture of the dispute and behaviour of the head towards staff generally.

“This is why they have requested to meet with the governing body to have the opportunity to provide them with the facts – this is not an unreasonable request.

“No teacher or teaching assistant wants to be taking strike action, they want to be in the classroom doing what they do best, teaching their children. The NEU stands ready to enter into meaningful discussions to find a resolution to this dispute.”